Old Testament Queen Esther and P.M. Netanyahu—a straight
Line? Queen Esther and the Jews were
facing the possibility of annihilation at the hands of a Persian King, Ahaserus. P. M. Netanyahu and the Jews are again facing
the possibility of annihilation at the hands of another Persian ruler,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
First, Esther.
She was a Jewish orphan adopted by her cousin Mordecai and was selected
among a number of other virgins to replace Queen Vashti. Initially Mordecai instructed her not to
reveal her Jewishness to the King’s court even after she had been singled out
for favor by the eunuch Hegai, who was in charge of the virgins’ harem.
King Ahaserus allowed himself to be persuaded by Haman, a
mortal enemy of the Jews, to make a thoughtless decree calling for the
annihilation of the Jews.
Though Esther now has access to the king’s court and is
learning of its ways, she did not know of the decree against the Jews and had
to learn this from Mordecai who had learned it at “the gates”. He then persuades Esther to intervene on
behalf of the Jews, at whatever personal cost saying, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as
this” (Esther 4:14b).
This she does using feminine wiles and charms compatible
with the patriarchal system in which she lived, combined with fasting and
prayer among those most closely related to her.
The result: the king not only
executed Haman, but reversed the decree that Jews be annihilated.
Second, P. M. Benjamin Netanyahu. The first Prime
Minister born in Israel after its founding as a nation in 1948. He joined the Israel Defense Force (IDF)
during the Six-Day War in 1967, saw much action in subsequent battles and was
wounded twice, achieving the rank of Captain before being discharged. His older brother Yonaton (Yoni) was a heroic
paratrooper who died commanding the raid to free 105 Israeli hostages hijacked
to Entebbe, Uganda, in July of 1976—a highly successful raid with only four
Israeli persons losing their lives.
Then he entered the political arena where he has been ever
since. Defense of Israel is bred into
his bones and it is out of that high concern for Israel and an awareness of an “Apocalyptic
Islam” ideology which he’s concerned too few in the West understand.
He explained it this way in 2007 in an interview with Joel
Rosenberg. “It is a fanatic, messianic
ideology that seeks to have an apocalyptic battle for world supremacy with the
West. It seeks to correct what it sees
as an accident of history, where the West has risen, and Islam had declined. The correction is supposed to be done by the
resurrection of an Islamic empire and the acquisition of nuclear weapons and
the use of nuclear weapons, if necessary, to obliterate Islam’s enemies, and to
subjugate the rest.”
In the interview he continued, “This is a pathological
ideology, much like Naziism was. It
poses a threat, in my judgment, in many ways bigger than Naziism. Because Hitler embarked on a world conflict
and then sought to achieve nuclear weapons, whereas the leading Radical Islamic
regime -- Iran – is seeking to first acquire nuclear weapons and then embark on
a world conflict. And that is what is
not yet understood in the West, and certainly, if it’s understood, it’s not
acted upon.”
In speaking to a Joint Session of Congress March 3, 2015, P.
M. Netanyahu was “sounding an alarm” to the United States and the whole
world. Ultimately, this was no different
than what Queen Esther had done approximately 2536 years ago. God blessed her venture principally because
there was “fasting” and prayer behind her.
Currently there are those in Israel who believe in “fasting” and prayer,
but it appears to be a minority—but that’s no problem for God. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
