God and Politics in Esther

Book Description

This book addresses the radical theology underlying the political worldview of Esther in the Bible. The Book of Esther begins during the exile of the Israelites in Persia, when the prophets had been silenced and the Jewish people had come to rely on brave men and women for political action. Queen Esther risks her life to save the lives of her people and inaugurate God’s justice into the world. Hazony discusses how Esther handles the issues of submission and rule, political favor, idolatry, anti-Semitism, and the morality of the war, among others.

How It Connects To Hebraic Thought

God and Politics in Esther answers growing scholarly and popular interest in the Book of Esther with a reevaluation of its plot, characters, theology, and political philosophy. Author Yoram Hazony demonstrates why he has long believed the Esther story to be a crucial text that reifies the worldview of Hebrew Scripture and of the broader Jewish tradition. Through this story—unusual in the canon of Scripture—the Hebraic tradition manifests a serious political philosophy, which Hazony captures and explains in his book. His exegesis of key historical events and the political meaning of idolatry reveal Hebraic political principles for the ages.