THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS VOLUME IV BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS

B >> BY LOUIS GINZBERG >> THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS VOLUME IV BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS

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The two conspirators sought to escape the legitimate punishment
for their dastardly deed by ending their own life. But their
intention was frustrated, and they were nailed to the cross. (91)

HAMAN THE JEW-BAITER

The conspiracy of Bigthan and Teresh determined the king never
again to have two chamberlains guard his person. Henceforward he
would entrust his safety to a single individual, and he appointed
Haman to the place. This was an act of ingratitude toward
Mordecai, who, as the king's savior, had the most cogent claims
upon the post. (92) But Haman possessed one important
advantage, he was the owner of great wealth. With the exception
of Korah he was the richest man that had ever lived, for he had
appropriated to himself the treasures of the Judean kings and of
the Temple. (93)

Ahasuerus had an additional reason for distinguishing Haman. He
was well aware of Mordecai's ardent desire to see the Temple
restored, and he instinctively felt he could not deny the wish of the
man who had snatched him from untimely death. Yet he was not
prepared to grant it. To escape from the dilemma he endeavored to
make Haman act as a counterpoise against Mordecai, that "what
the one built up, the other might pull down." (94)

Ahasuerus had long been acquainted with Haman's feeling against
the Jews. When the quarrel about the rebuilding of the Temple
broke out between the Jews and their heathen adversaries, and the
sons of Haman denounced the Jews before Ahasuerus, the two
parties at odds agreed to send each a representative to the king, to
advocate his case. Mordecai was appointed the Jewish delegate,
and no more rabid Jew-hater could be found than Haman, to plead
the cause of the antagonists of the Temple builders. (95)

As for his character, that, too, King Ahasuerus had had occasion to
see in its true light, because Haman is but another name for
Memucan, the prince who is chargeable in the last resort with the
death of Vashti. At the time of the king's wrath against the queen,
Memucan was still lowest in the rank among the seven princes of
Persia, yet, arrogant as he was, he was the first to speak up when
the king put his question about the punishment due to Vashti an
illustration of the popular adage: "The common man rushes to the
front." (96) Haman's hostility toward Vashti dated from her
banquet, to which the queen had failed to bid his wife as guest.
Moreover, she had once insulted him by striking him a blow in the
face. Besides, Haman calculated, if only Vashti's repudiation could
be brought about, he might succeed in marrying his own daughter
to the king. (97) He was not the only disappointed man at court. In
part the conspiracy of Bigthan and Teresh was a measure of
revenge against Ahasuerus for having made choice of Esther
instead of a kinswoman of theirs. (98)

Esther once married to the king, however, Haman made the best of
a bad bargain. He tried by every means in his power to win the
friendship of the queen. Whether she was Jewess or heathen, he
desired to claim kinship with her as a Jewess through the
fraternal bond between Esau and Jacob, as a heathen easily
enough, "for all the heathen area akin to one another." (99)

MORDECAI'S PRIDE

When Ahasuerus raised Haman to his high office, he at the same
time issued the order, that all who saw him were to prostrate
themselves before him and pay him Divine honors. To make it
manifest that the homage due to him had an idolatrous character,
Haman had the image of an idol fastened to his clothes, so that
whoever bowed down before him, worshipped an idol at the same
time. (100) Mordecai alone of all at court refused to obey the royal
order. The highest officials, even the most exalted judges, showed
Haman the reverence bidden by the king. The Jews themselves
entreated Mordecai not to call forth the fury of Haman, and cause
the ruin of Israel thereby. Mordecai, however, remained steadfast;
no persuasions could move him to pay to a mortal the tribute due
to Divinity. (101)

Also the servants of the king who sat at the gate of the royal palace
said to Mordecai: "Wherein art thou better than we, that we should
pay reverence to Haman and prostrate ourselves, and thou doest
naught of all commanded us in the matter?" Mordecai answered,
saying "O ye fools without understanding! Hear ye my words and
make meet reply thereunto. Who is man that he should act proudly
and arrogantly man born of woman and few in days? At his birth
there is weeping and travailing, in his youth pain and groans, all
his days are 'full of trouble,' and in the end he returns unto dust.
Before such an one I should prostrate myself? I bend the knee
before God alone, the only living One in heaven, He who is the fire
consuming all other fires; who holds the earth in His arms; who
stretches out the heavens in His might; who darkens the sun when
it pleases Him, and illumines the darkness; who commanded the
sand to set bounds unto the seas; who made the waters of the sea
salt, and caused its waves to spread an aroma as of wine; who
chained the sea as with manacles, and held it fast in the depths of
the abyss that it might not overflow the land; it rages, yet it cannot
pass its limits. With His word He created the firmament, which He
stretched out like a cloud in the air; He cast it over the world like a
dark vault, like a tent it is spread over the earth. In His strength He
upholds all there is above and below. The sun, the moon, and the
Pleiades run before Him, the stars and the planets are not idle for a
single moment; they rest not, they speed before Him as His
messengers, going to the right and to the left, to do the will of Him
who created them. To Him praise is due, before Him we must
prostrate ourselves."

The court officials spake and said: "Yet we know well that thy
ancestor Jacob prostrated himself before Haman's ancestor Esau!"

Whereunto Mordecai made reply: "I am a descendant of Benjamin,
who was not yet born when his father Jacob and his brothers cast
themselves upon the earth before Esau. My ancestor never showed
such honor to a mortal. Therefore was Benjamin's allotment of
land in Palestine privileged to contain the Temple. The spot
whereon Israel and all the peoples of the earth prostrated
themselves before God belonged to him who had never prostrated
himself before mortal man. Therefore I will not bend my knee
before this sinner Haman, nor cast myself to earth before him."
(102)

Haman at first tried to propitiate Mordecai by a show of modesty.
As though he had not noticed the behavior of Mordecai, he
approached him, and saluted him with the words: "Peace be with
thee, my lord!" But Mordecai bluntly replied: "There is no peace,
saith my God, to the wicked." (103)

The hatred of Mordecai cherished by Haman was due to more than
the hereditary enmity between the descendants of Saul and Agag.
(104) Not even Mordecai's public refusal to pay the homage due to
Haman suffices to explain its virulence. Mordecai was aware of a
certain incident in the past of Haman. If he had divulged it, the
betrayal would have been most painful to the latter. This accounts
for the intensity of his feeling.

It once happened that a city in India rebelled against Ahasuerus. In
great haste troops were dispatched thither under the command of
Mordecai and Haman. It was estimated that the campaign would
require three years, and all preparations were made accordingly.
By the end of the first year Haman had squandered the provisions
laid in to supply the part of the army commanded by him, for the
whole term of the campaign. Greatly embarrassed, he requested
Mordecai to give him aid. Mordecai, however, refused him succor;
they both had been granted the same amount of provisions for an
equal number of men. Haman then offered to borrow from
Mordecai and pay him interest. This, too, Mordecai refused to do,
and for two reasons. If Mordecai had supplied Haman's men with
provisions, his own would have to suffer, and as for interest, the
law prohibits it, saying "Unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon
usury," and Jacob and Esau, the respective ancestors of Mordecai
and Haman, had been brothers.

When starvation stared them in the face, the troops commanded by
Haman threatened him with death unless he gave them their
rations. Haman again resorted to Mordecai, and promised to pay
him as much as ten per cent interest. The Jewish general continued
to refuse the offer. But he professed himself willing to help him
out of his embarrassment on one condition, that Haman sell
himself to Mordecai as his slave. Driven into a corner, he
acquiesced, and the contract was written upon Mordecai's
knee-cap, because there was no paper to be found in the camp.

The bill of sale ran thus: "I, Haman, the son of Hammedatha of the
family of Agag, was sent out by King Ahasuerus to make war upon
an Indian city, with an army of sixty thousand soldiers, furnished
with the necessary provisions. Precisely the same commission was
given by the king to Mordecai, the son of Shimei of the tribe of
Benjamin. But I squandered the provisions entrusted to me by the
king, so that I had no rations to give to my troops. I desired to
borrow from Mordecai on interest, but, having regard to the fact
that Jacob and Esau were brothers, he refused to lend me upon
usury, and I was forced to sell myself as slave to him. If, now, I
should at any time decline to serve him as a slave, or deny that I
am his slave, or if my children and children's children unto the end
of all time should refuse to do him service, if only a single day of
the week; or if I should act inimically toward him on account of
this contract, as Esau did toward Jacob after selling him his
birthright; in all these cases, a beam of wood is to be plucked out
of the house of the recalcitrant, and he is to be hanged upon it. I,
Haman, the son of Hammedatha of the family of Agag, being
under no restraint, do hereby consent with my own will, and bind
myself to be slave in perpetuity to Mordecai, in accordance with
the contents of this document."

Later, when Haman attained to high rank in the state, Mordecai,
whenever he met him, was in the habit of stretching out his knee
toward him, so that he might see the bill of sale. This so enraged
him against Mordecai and against the Jews that he resolved to
extirpate the Jewish people. (105)

CASTING THE LOTS

Haman's hatred, first directed against Mordecai alone, grew apace
until it included Mordecai's colleagues, all the scholars, whom he
sought to destroy, and not satisfied with even this, he plotted the
annihilation of the whole of Mordecai's people, the Jews. (106)

Before beginning to lay out his plans, he desired to determine the
most favorable moment for his undertaking, which he did by
casting lots.

First of all he wanted to decide on the day of the week. The scribe
Shimshai began to cast lots. Sunday appeared inappropriate, being
the day on which God created heaven and earth, whose
continuance depends on Israel's existence. Were it not for God's
covenant with Israel, there would be neither day nor night, neither
heaven nor earth. Monday showed itself equally unpropitious for
Haman's devices, for it was the day on which God effected the
separation between the celestial and the terrestrial waters,
symbolic of the separation between Israel and the heathen.
Tuesday, the day on which the vegetable world was created,
refused to give its aid in bringing about the ruin of Israel, who
worships God with branches of palm trees. Wednesday, too,
protested against the annihilation of Israel, saying: "On me the
celestial luminaries were created, and like unto them Israel is
appointed to illumine the whole world. First destroy me, and then
Thou mayest destroy Israel." Thursday said: "O Lord, on me the
birds were created, which are used for sin offerings. When Israel
shall be no more, who will bring offerings? First destroy me, and
then Thou mayest destroy Israel." Friday was unfavorable to
Haman's lots, because it was the day of the creation of man, and
the Lord God said to Israel, "Ye are men." Least of all was the
Sabbath day inclined to make itself subservient to Haman's wicked
plans. It said: "The Sabbath is a sign between Israel and God. First
destroy me, and then Thou mayest destroy Israel!" (107)

Baffled, Haman gave up all idea of settling upon a favorable day of
the week. He applied himself to the task of searching out the
suitable month for his sinister undertaking. As it appeared to him,
Adar was the only one of the twelve owning naught that might be
interpreted in favor of the Jews. The rest of them seemed to be
enlisted on their side. In Nisan Israel was redeemed from Egypt; in
Iyar Amlek was overcome; In Siwan the Ethiopian Zerah was
smitten in the war with Asa; in Tammuz the Amorite kings were
subjugated; in Ab the Jews won a victory over Arad, the
Canaanite; in Tishri the Jewish kingdom was firmly established by
the dedication of Solomon's Temple, while in Heshwan the
building of the Temple at Jerusalem was completed; Kislew and
Tebet were the months during which Sihon and Og were
conquered by the Israelites, and in Shebat occurred the sanguinary
campaign of the eleven tribes against the godless children of
Benjamin. Not alone was Adar a month without favorable
significance in Jewish history, but actually a month of misfortune,
the month in which Moses died. What Haman did not know was,
that Adar was the month in which occurred also the birth of
Moses. (108)

Then Haman investigated the twelve signs of the zodiac in relation
to Israel, and again it appeared that Adar was the most unfavorable
month for the Jews. The first constellation, the Ram, said to
Haman, "'Israel is a scattered sheep,' and how canst thou expect a
father to offer his son for slaughter?"

The Bull said: "Israel's ancestor was 'the firstling bullock.'"

The Twins: "As we are twins, so Tamar bore twins to Judah."

The Crab: "As I am called Saratan, the scratcher, so it is said of
Israel, 'All that oppress him, he shall scratch sorely.'"

The Lion: "God is called the lion, and is it likely the lion will
permit the fox to bite his children?"

The Virgin: "As I am a virgin, so Israel is compared unto a virgin."

The Balance: "Israel obeys the law against unjust balances in the
Torah, and must therefore be protected by the Balance."

The Scorpion: "Israel is like unto me, for he, too, is called
scorpion."

The Archer: "The sons of Judah are masters of the bow, and the
bows of mighty men directed against them will be broken."

The Goat: "It was a goat that brought blessing unto Jacob, the
ancestor of Israel, and it stands to reason that the blessing of the
ancestor cannot cause misfortune to the descendant."

The Water-bearer: "His dominion is likened unto a bucket, and
therefore the Water-bearer cannot but bring him good." (109)

The Fishes were the only constellation which, at least according to
Haman's interpretation, made unfavorable prognostications as to
the fate of the Jews. It said that the Jews would be swallowed like
fishes. God however spake: "O thou villain! Fishes are sometimes
swallowed, but sometimes they swallow, and thou shalt be
swallowed by the swallowers." (110) And when Haman began to
cast lots, God said: "O thou villain, son of a villain! What thy lots
have shown thee is thine own lot, that thou wilt be hanged." (111)

THE DENUNCIATION OF THE JEWS

His resolve to ruin the Jews taken, Haman appeared before
Ahasuerus with his accusation against them. "There is a certain
people," he said, "the Jews, scattered abroad and dispersed among
the peoples in all the provinces of the kingdom. They are proud
and presumptuous. In Tebet, in the depth of winter, they bathe in
warm water, and they sit in cold water in summer. Their religion is
diverse from the religion of every other people, and their laws
from the laws of every other land. To our laws they pay no heed,
our religion finds no favor with them, and the decrees of the king
they do not execute. When their eye falls upon us, they spit out
before us, and they consider us as unclean vessels. When we levy
them for the king's service, they either jump upon the wall, and
hide within the chambers, or they break through the walls and
escape. If we hasten to arrest them, they turn upon us, glare at us
with their eyes, grind their teeth, stamp their feet, and so
intimidate us that we cannot hold them fast. They do not give us
their daughters unto wives, nor do they take our daughters unto
wives. If one of them has to do the king's service, he idles all the
day long. If they want to buy aught of us, they say, 'This is a day
for doing business.' But if we want to buy aught of them, they say,
'We may do no business to-day,' and thus we can buy nothing from
them on their market-days.

"Their time they pass in this wise: The first hour of the day, they
say, they need for reciting the Shema; the second for praying; the
third for eating; the fourth for saying grace, to give thanks to God
for the food and drink He has granted them; the fifth hour they
devote to their business affairs; in the sixth they already feel the
need of rest; in the seventh their wives call for them, saying, 'come
home, ye weary ones, who are so exhausted by the king's service!'

"The seventh day they celebrate as their Sabbath; they go to the
synagogues on that day, read out of their books, translate pieces
from their Prophets, curse our king, and execrate our government,
saying: 'This is the day whereon the great God rested; so may He
grant us rest from the heathen.'

"The women pollute the waters with their ritual baths, which they
take after the seven days of their defilement. On the eighth day
after the birth of sons, they circumcise them mercilessly, saying,
'This shall distinguish us from all other nations.' At the end of
thirty days, and sometimes twenty-nine, they celebrate the
beginning of the month. In the month of Nisan they observe eight
days of Passover, beginning the celebration by kindling a fire of
brushwood to burn up the leaven. They put all the leaven in their
homes out of sight before they use the unleavened bread, saying,
'This is the day whereon our fathers were redeemed from Egypt.'
Such is the festival they call Pesah. They go to their synagogues,
read out of their books, and translate from the writings of the
Prophets, saying: 'As the leaven has been removed out of our
houses, so may this wicked dominion be removed from over us.'

"Again, in Siwan, they celebrate two days, on which they go to
their synagogues, recite the Shema, and offer up prayers, read out
of the Torah, and translate from the books of their Prophets, curse
our king, and execrate our government. This is the holiday which
they call Azarta, the closing festival. They ascend to the roofs of
their synagogues, and throw down apples, which are picked up by
those below, with the words, 'As these apples are gathered up, so
may we be gathered together from our dispersion among the
heathen.' They say they observe this festival, because on these days
the Torah was revealed to their ancestors on Mount Sinai.

"On the first of Tishri they celebrate the New Year again they go
to their synagogues, read out of their books, translate pieces from
the writings of their Prophets, curse our king, execrate our
government, and blow the trumpets, saying: 'On this Day of
Memorial may we be remembered unto good, and our enemies
unto evil.'

"On the ninth day of the same month they slaughter cattle, geese,
and poultry, they eat and drink and indulge in dainties, they and
their wives, their sons and their daughters. But the tenth day of the
same month they call the Great Fast, and all of them fast, they
together with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, yea, they
even torture their little children without mercy, forcing them to
abstain from food. They say: 'On this day our sins are pardoned,
and are added to the sum of the sins committed by our enemies.'
They go to their synagogues, read from their books, translate from
the writings of their Prophets, curse our king, and execrate our
government, saying: 'May this empire be wiped off from the face
of the earth like unto our sins.' They supplicate and pray that the
king may die, and his rule be made to cease.

"On the fifteenth of the same month they celebrate the Feast of
Tabernacles. They cover the roofs of their houses with foliage,
they resort to our parks, where they cut down palm branches for
their festal wreaths, pluck the fruit of the Etrog, and cause havoc
among the willows of the brook, by breaking down the hedges in
their quest after Hosha'not, saying: 'As does the king in the
triumphal procession, so do we.' Then they repair to their
synagogues to pray, and read out of their books, and make circuits
with their Hosha'not, all the while jumping and skipping like goats,
so that there is no telling whether they curse us or bless us. This is
Sukkot, as they call it, and while it lasts, they do none of the king's
service, for, they maintain, all work is forbidden them on these
days.

"In this way they waste the whole year with tomfoolery and
fiddle-faddle, only in order to avoid doing the king's service. At the
expiration of every period of fifty years they have a jubilee year,
and every seventh year is a year of release, during which the land
lies fallow, for they neither sow nor reap therein, and sell us
neither fruits nor other products of the field, so that those of us
who live among them die of hunger. At the end of every period of
twelve months, they observe the New Year, at the end of every
thirty days the New Moon, and every seventh day is the Sabbath,
the day on which, as they say, the Lord of the world rested." (112)

After Haman had finished his arraignment of the Jews, God said:
"Thou didst well enumerate the holidays of the Jews, yet thou didst
omit the two Purim and Shushan-Purim which the Jews will
celebrate to commemorate thy fall."

Clever though Haman's charge was, the vindication of the Jews
was no whit less clever. For they found a defender in the archangel
Michael. While Haman was delivering his indictment, he spoke
thus to God: "O Lord of the world! Thou knowest well that the
Jews are not accused of idolatry, nor of immoral conduct, nor of
shedding blood; they are accused only of observing Thy Torah."
God pacified him: "As thou livest, I have not abandoned them, I
will not abandon them."

Haman's denunciations of the Jewish people found a ready echo in
the heart of the king. He replied: "I, too, desire the annihilation of
the Jews, but I fear their God, for He is mighty beyond compare,
and He loves His people with a great love. Whoever rises up
against them, He crushes under their feet. Just think of Pharaoh!
Should his example not be a warning to us? He ruled the whole
world, yet, because he oppressed the Jews, he was visited with
frightful plagues. God delivered them from the Egyptians, and
cleft the sea for them, a miracle never done for any other nation,
and when Pharaoh pursued them with an army of six hundred
thousand warriors, he and his host together were drowned in the
sea. Thy ancestor Amalek, O Haman, attacked them with four
hundred thousand heroes, and all of them God delivered into the
hands of Joshua, who slew them. Sisera had forty thousand
generals under him, each one commander of a hundred thousand
men, yet they all were annihilated. The God of the Jews ordered
the stars to consume the warriors of Sisera, and then He caused the
great general to fall into the power of a woman, to become a
by-word and a reproach forever. Many and valorous rulers have
risen up against them, they all were cast down by their God and
crushed unto their everlasting disgrace. Now, then, can we venture
aught against them?"

Haman, however, persisted. Day after day he urged the king to
consent to his plan. Ahasuerus thereupon called together a council
of the wise men of all nations and tongues. To them he submitted
the question, whether the Jews ought not to be destroyed, seeing
they differed from all other peoples. The sage councillors inquired:
"Who is it that desires to induce thee to take so fatal a step? If the
Jewish nation is destroyed, the world itself will cease to be, for the
world exists only for the sake of the Torah studied by Israel. Yea,
the very sun and moon shed their light only for the sake of Israel,
and were it not for him, there were neither day nor night, and
neither dew nor rain would moisten the earth. More than this, all
other nations beside Israel are designated as 'strangers' by God, but
Israel He called in His love 'a people near to Him,' and His
'children.' If men do not suffer their children and kinsmen to be
attacked with impunity, how much less will God sit by quiet when
Israel is assailed God the Ruler over all things, over the powers in
heaven above and on earth beneath, over the spirits and the souls
God with whom it lies to exalt and to degrade, to slay and to
revive."

Haman was ready with a reply to these words of the wise: "The
God who drowned Pharaoh in the sea, and who did all the wonders
and signs ye have recounted, that God is now in His dotage, He can
neither see nor protect. For did not Nebuchadnezzar destroy His
house, burn His palace, and scatter His people to all corners of the
earth, and He was not able to do one thing against it? If He had had
power and strength, would he not have displayed them? This is the
best proof that He was waxed old and feeble."

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