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Lex Talionis


                 Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes. In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, they cast the pur (that is, the lot ) in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar. Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will put ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business.” 
          So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. “Keep the money,” the king said to Haman, “and do with the people as you please.” 
          Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and little children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.         A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day. Spurred on by the king’s command, the couriers went out, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered. (Esther 3:6-15)

 

          Déjà vu, all over again. Yogi Bera

         

          Yes, once again, someone does something in disobedience to the king, and once again, what that person did is generalized to the whole group. According to Haman, the Jews didn’t obey Xerxes’ lawS. Granted, Mordecai may not have been alone in his refusal to bow. Granted, the Jews do tend to respond badly when someone demands that they do something they believe they shouldn’t do. God points out repeatedly that they are a stubborn, stiff-necked people. But as far as the text presents it, Mordecai alone broke one law, but Haman wasn’t stupid. He knew how to manipulate the king. 
          Yes, Mordecai broke the law. It was a stupid law. Mordecai was a conscientious objector who practiced civil disobedience according to Martin Luther King’s practice. I suspect that, like Mr. King, Mordecai was prepared to face punishment for what he did, but the response wasn’t against the person who committed the crime it was against all people who fit in the class. It would be more along the lines of “this (racial slur) is sitting at the wrong lunch counter, let’s kill all the (repeat racial slur.)” And the government said, “OK.”
          There are lots of people who are upset about lex talionis. They object to the idea that we should take an eye for an eye, etc. “How barbaric,” some say. I don’t agree. Lex talionis restricts vengeance to the level of the crime. Lex talionis protects us from the sort of trick Haman set in motion. Mordecai insulted his ego, and perhaps insulted the ego of the king, therefore not only must Mordecai die, but all his people must die as well. 
          The same logic is being used today. Refuse to bake a cake for someone today on conscientious grounds, and the punishment is likely to be the destruction of your professional life. Lex talionis? That’s far too merciful. These people must be destroyed as a warning to all the others who would dare not bow on command.

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