Ask Rabbi Miller: What Really Happened in Shushan

by Rabbi Avigdor Miller

Q: How do we answer the argument that these characters (of Megilas Esther) are not found in Persian history?

A: Persian history is recorded in detail in the Tanach. You want Persian history? Look in the Tanach, that’s Persian history. The Persian history written by Persia is a history written by liars.

If you’re going to look in the annals of Egypt to discover the defeats that every Paroh suffered, you’ll look in vain because when these descriptions were made only to tell the victories of Pharoah. You’ll never find that Sancheirev was turned back at the gates of Yerushalayim in the days of Chizkiya Hamelech. The inscriptions of Sancheirev which speak about his victories tell us that he conquered another city in Yehuda, and the names are mentioned, but Yerushalayim is not mentioned, isn’t that a queer thing? Yerushalayim is a main city in Yehuda and it’s not mentioned among the conquests of Sancheirev!

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Historians are interested only in the victories. If you want the truth, you must look in the Tanach

The answer is that boasters and liars will never tell anything that’s detrimental to themselves. Since these kings were all boasters, why would they tell of their downfall? All they speak about are victories. And therefore you never find anything about a woman who sassed the king, who actually spoke back to the king, insulted the king. That won’t be in the king’s record. Historians are interested only in the victories, in the conquests. If you want to find the truths about the nations you must look in the Tanach. That’s the only true history because there things are written even if it’s detrimental to the honor of our kings.

That Dovid Hamelech did something that earned him the opprobrium, the anger of Hashem. expressed through the mouth of the navi (prophet), that’s mentioned again and again. It’s remarkable. But no gentile historian would write such a thing about his king.

That Moshe Rabbeinu was punished by Hashem and not permitted to come into Eretz Canaan, that’s written in the Torah. But such a thing wouldn’t be written about Mohammed. There’s not one word criticizing Mohammed in the Koran, I can guarantee that. There are only shiros v’sishbachos (songs and praises) about him. Not one word criticizing J—— in the New Testament, only songs of praise.

Our great men are criticized in our history. But in the histories of the other nations they don’t criticize their kings. And therefore the fact that some things are not found there is meaningless. It’s only when you look in the Torah that you’ll find a chronicle that’s completely frank and sincere, without any pulling of punches and trying to cover up. — Hand of Hashem II (#442)