G'day all,
Merlene sent me an email stating
that as our Thursday session met its inglorious end, she was asking: “you
quoted that some of the people became Jews following the King’s second
decree.? What was meant by that phrase?? Did they accept the Jewish
faith, or become – in today’s words – naturalised?”
Here goes:
The Hebrew word used ??????y?had,?yaw-had' means to Judaize, i.e. become Jewish:—become
Jews.? Strong’s Lexicon actually
defines H5307 as, “to become a Jew (in fact or in fraud), become Judaised.”
Esther 8:17 states: “And in every province and city,
wherever the king’s command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a
feast and a holiday.?Then many of the people of the land became
Jews, because fear of the Jews fell upon them.”
This
certainly seems to imply that while some of the Gentiles converted from
paganism to Judaism to join the party (
), others did so out of fear, possibly
of Jewish reprisals or the heavy hand of the State.? These reasons seem to be fraudulent.? Fear of the Jews is not the same as fear of
the God of the Jews.
Others
may have converted for legitimate reasons, but we don’t know that from the
text.? Proselytes renounced idolatry and
became worshippers of God throughout the Bible.?
Surely some would have waited “for such a time as this.”
It’s
interesting how different Bible commentators interpret this verse. For some, it
is seen as wholesale repentance of those who formerly persecuted the Jews,
something that should be met with joy and a hearty welcome.? For others, the conversion was mere
pretense.? Still others note that by
changing a single Hebrew letter slightly, the term becomes “the people united
with the Jews”.? Others note that the attacks
of Satan tend to drive people to the Church.
What
are we to make of all this?
Well,
if nothing else, it helps underscore why our course tries to focus on what the
text actually says and ignore various dogmas.?
The text suggests that the Jewish author (probably Mordecai) knew that
God wasn’t fooled.? Other Hebrew words could
have been used if the (divine?) author intended a specific message.? They weren’t.
It
usually best to take the view that God means what He says and says what He
means.
Blessings,
Ray
?
Ray