Will Not Kneel and Will Not Bow - Part I: The Jewish Problem

The Jewish Problem

King Achashverosh had a great problem. It was the Jewish problem. You see, King Achashverosh ruled over the entire civilized world - from Hodu to Kush. Everybody paid homage to him as the supreme king. The entire Middle East was Dar al Achashverosh. He could subjugate the whole world and he didn't even need nukes. But these Jews were a pain. It was one thing that they paid homage to a Higher Being. There were many ethnic peoples and each one had their deities. Let the Jews have theirs.

No, the problem was that the dhimmi Jews wanted a piece of the kingdom for themselves. A Dar al Yehud. They used to govern a small province south of Mesopotamia. And they still say it is their land. They plan to resettle that province and claim independence. If this happens it would usurp the totality of the king's dominion and set the stage for an opposing world superpower. That would be a disaster for the king and for the newly established Persian empire.

The Jews haven't been independent for just about 70 years now. They foolishly cling to their tradition that after 70 years their commonwealth will be divinely restored. Utterly ridiculous. Their G-d is as impotent as everybody else's. They are hallucinating. But some hotheaded nationalistic youths are stirring. They want to "manually stimulate" this fictitious repatriation.

The king decides to take matters into his hands. He will put an end to this nationalistic dream and he will do it with cunning. Although the Temple was only destroyed 59 years ago, he will date the apocalypse from an earlier phase and announce that the 70 year interim period has expired and no national restoration has even begun to form. He will commiserate with the Jews that their "G-d" has abandoned them forever. And then he will throw a big celebration welcoming the Jews as loyal and permanent subjects of the Persian empire. All state rights and privileges are open to them. Just forget about your nationalistic fantasies.

Achashverosh was a Persian. He was a son of Yefes, a cousin to the Greeks and the Hellenists. The sons of Yefes thought that the Jews can be won over by acceptance, lavishment, and acculturation. And as King Achashverosh saw the Jews participate in his celebration en masse, he knew his plan was successful and he withdrew into complacency. Yet, some years later he appointed a minister who hailed from the sons of Shem, an Aggagite. He alone knew the stubbornness that was the heart of the Jew (as is the nature of all the sons of Shem). He questioned the loyalty of the Jewish people to the Persian culture. So he devised an even more calculated plan.

He would enact a law that all the peoples of the kingdom must bow down to him. He knew that the Persians would readily comply, they are a very earthy people. But he wanted to test the Jews. If it transpires that each and every Jew will kneel and bow, then we may assure ourselves that their Jewish identity and nationalistic dreams are dead. And mankind need never again feel constrained by the morals of the Torah. BUT...If so much as one Jew will refuse to kneel and bow, then the Jewish cause has not died. For this one Jew may reignite within his fellow Jews the lost spark of the Torah and subdue the dominion of mortal men.

As such...if but one Jew refuses to kneel and bow, all Jews are a lethal risk...

ומרדכי לא יכרע ולא ישתחוה

To be continued...