Opus 2015-58: Esther and the Second Amendment

Who would have thought that the principles of the Second Amendment would would be demonstrated in the Old Testament?

I am listening to Alistair Begg preach through the book of Esther.  For those who have not read it recently, it is a short book that tells of a young woman who risked her life to save her people. 

It is on pages 532 to 540.

The bad guy in the story, Haman, had conned the king of Persia.  He had convinced the king to give him authority to kill all the Jews in the kingdom. 

(Esther 3:9 NAS77)  "If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king's business, to put into the king's treasuries."

And the king gave him the authority.

It is not a long book.  You can read it in one setting if you want.  My point deals with the solution.

Esther, who was queen, was a Jew.  She used a convoluted method to get the king to turn agains Haman, but that left a problem.  When the king of the Medes and the Persians made a declaration and put his seal on it, it could not be revoked.  Esther and her adoptive father, Mordicai, came up with a solution.

(Esther 8:11 NAS77)  In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil,

The answer was to allow people to arm themselves.  The followers of Haman who wanted to follow the get rich quick scheme suddenly realized that the victims were armed and dangerous.  Somehow the permission they had been given to slaughter the Jews lost its luster.

The average citizen was not allowed to have weapons.  They were not highly trained and were being attacked by professional soldiers.  Being allowed to arm themselves was enough.

The same should apply today.  We as citizens were originally guaranteed the right to defend ourselves.  The same would work today.  You don’t need to be a ninja or Navy Seal.  If the criminal knows you can fight back he will look for an easier target.

“A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

Maybe the Founders knew something the Progressives are trying to hide.

homo unius libri