The position of the Jews after the royal edict became known beggars
description. If a Jew ventured abroad on the street to make a purchase,
he was almost throttled by the Persians, who taunted him with these
words: "Never mind, to-morrow will soon be here, and then I shall kill
thee, and take thy money away from thee." If a Jew offered to sell
himself as a slave, he was rejected; not even the sacrifice of his
liberty could protect him against the loss of his life. (121)
Mordecai, however, did not despair; he trusted in the Divine help. On
his way from the court, after Haman and his ilk had informed him with
malicious joy of the king's pleasure concerning the Jews, he met Jewish
children coming from school. He asked the first child what verse from
the Scriptures he had studied in school that day, and the reply was:
"Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked
when it cometh." The verse committed to memory by the second was: "Let
them take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught; let them
speak the word, but it shall not stand; for God is with us." And the
verse which the third had learnt was: "And even to old age I am He, and
even to hoar hairs I will carry you: I have made and will bear; yea, I
will carry and will deliver."
When Mordecai heard these verses, he broke out into jubilation,
astonishing Haman not a little. Mordecai told him, "I rejoice at the
good tidings announced to me by the school children." Haman thereupon
fell into such a rage that he exclaimed: "In sooth, they shall be the
first to feel the weight of my hand."
What gave Mordecai the greatest concern, was the certainty that the
danger had been invited by the Jews themselves, through their sinful
conduct in connection with the banquets given by Ahasuerus. Eighteen
thousand five hundred Jews had taken part in them; they had eaten and
drunk, intoxicated themselves and committed immoralities, as Haman had
foreseen, the very reason, indeed, he had advised the king to hold the
banquets.
Thereupon Satan had indicted the Jews. The accusations which he
produced against them were of such a nature that God at once ordered
writing materials to be brought to Him for the decree of annihilation,
and it was written and sealed.
When the Torah heard that Satan's designs against the Jews had
succeeded, she broke out into bitter weeping before God, and her
lamentations awakened the angels, who likewise began to wail, saying:
"If Israel is to be destroyed, of what avail is the whole world?"
The sun and the moon heard the lamentations of the angels, and they
donned their mourning garb and also wept bitterly and wailed, saying:
"Is Israel to be destroyed, Israel who wanders from town to town, and
from land to land, only for the sake of the study of the Torah; who
suffers grievously under the hand of the heathen, only because he
observes the Torah and the sign of the covenant?"
In great haste the prophet Elijah ran to the Patriarchs and to the
other prophets, and to the saints in Israel, and addressed these words
to them: "O ye fathers of the world! Angels, and the sun and the moon,
and heaven and earth, and all the celestial hosts are weeping bitterly.
The whole world is seized with throes as of a woman in travail, by
reason of your children, who have forfeited their life on account of
their sins, and ye sit quiet and tranquil." Thereupon Moses said to
Elijah: "Knowest thou any saints in the present generation of Israel?"
Elijah named Mordecai, and Moses sent the prophet to him, with the
charge that he, the "saint of the living generation," should unite his
prayers with the prayers of the saints among the dead, and perhaps the
doom might be averted from Israel. But Elijah hesitated. "O faithful
shepherd," he said, "the edict of annihilation issued by God is written
and sealed." Moses, however, did not desist; he urged the Patriarchs:
"If the edict is sealed with wax, your prayers will be heard; if with
blood, then all is vain."
Elijah hastened to Mordecai, who, when first he heard what God had
resolved upon, tore his garments and was possessed by a great fear,
though before he had confidently hoped that help would come form God.
He gathered together all the school children, and had them fast, so
that their hunger should drive them to moan and groan. Then it was that
Israel spoke to God: "O Lord of the world! When the heathen rage
against me, they do not desire my silver and gold, they desire only
that I should be exterminated from off the face of the earth. Such was
the design of Nebuchadnezzar when he wanted to compel Israel to worship
the idol. Had it not been for Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, I had
disappeared from the world. Now it is Haman who desires to uproot the
whole vine." (122)
Then Mordecai addressed all the people thus: "O people of Israel, that
art so dear and precious in the sight of thy Heavenly Father! Knowest
thou not what has happened? Hast thou not heard that the king and Haman
have resolved to remove us off the face of the earth, to destroy us
from beneath the sun? We have no king on whom we can depend, and no
prophet to intercede for us with prayers. There is no place whither we
can flee, no land wherein we can find safety. We are like sheep without
a shepherd, like a ship upon the sea without a pilot. We are like an
orphan born after the death of his father, and death robs him of his
mother, too, when he has scarce begun to draw nourishment from her
breast."
After this address a great prayer-meeting was called outside of
Shushan. The Ark containing the scroll of the law, covered with
sackcloth and strewn with ashes, was brought thither. The scroll was
unrolled, and the following verses read from it: "When thou art in
tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, in the latter
days thou shalt return to the Lord thy God, and hearken unto His voice,
for the Lord thy God is a merciful God: He will not fail thee, neither
destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of they fathers which He swore
unto them."
Thereunto Mordecai added words of admonition: "O people of Israel, thou
art dear and precious to thy Father in heaven, let us follow the
example of the inhabitants of Nineveh, doing as they did when the
prophet Jonah came to them to announce the destruction of the city. The
king arose from his throne, laid his crown from him, covered himself
with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, and he made proclamation, and
published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles,
saying, 'Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let
them not feed, nor drink water, but let them be covered with sackcloth,
both man and beast, and let them cry mightily unto God; yea, let them
turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in
their hands.' Then God repented Him of the evil He had designed to
bring upon them, and He did it not. Now, then, let us follow their
example, let us hold a fast, mayhap God will have mercy upon us." (123)
Furthermore spake Mordecai: "O Lord of the world! Didst Thou not swear
unto our fathers to make us as many as the stars in the heavens? And
now we are as sheep in the shambles. What has become of Thine oath?"
(124) He cried aloud, though he knew God hears the softest whisper, for
he said: "O Father of Israel, what hast Thou done unto me? One single
cry of anguish uttered by Esau Thou didst repay with the blessing of
his father Isaac, 'By thy sword shall thou live,' and now we ourselves
are abandoned to the mercy of the sword." (125) What Mordecai was not
aware of, was that he, the descendant of Jacob, was brought unto
weeping and wailing by Haman, the descendant of Esau, as a punishment,
because Jacob himself had brought Esau unto weeping and wailing. (126)