Cruelty or Self-defense in the Book of Esther

Violence in the Bible has become a sore point in our times. There are thousands of killed enemies of Jews in the ninth chapter of the book of Esther. Was Esther really a bloodthirsty queen? Are Jews really a violent nation? The civil war depicted in the book of Esther is historically not verifiable in the Persian kingdom. The mentioned violence serves as a "counter-history" (J. Assmann). The past is described from the point of view of the beaten and the oppressed in the manner that the oppressors appear as pitiful persons and the winners as beaten. The biblical text does not celebrate the violence; it wants to prevent such events as the annihilation of the whole nation.

Keywords: Old Testament; Exegesis; Violence in the Bible