On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo compared President Donald Trump to the biblical Queen Esther, who saved the Jewish people from the wicked Haman. He spoke on Purim, the Jewish holiday commemorating Esther’s achievement.
Pompeo made the remarks in an interview with CBN News.
“Today’s being Purim, a celebration of Jews worldwide and here in Jerusalem we’re talking about the fact that Esther 2500 years ago saved the Jewish people with God’s help from Haman, and now, 2500 years later, there’s a new Haman here in the Middle East that wants to eradicate the Jewish people just like Haman did, the State of Iran, could it be that President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from an Iranian menace?” CBN asked Pompeo.
“As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible,” the secretary of State replied.
“It was remarkable, so we were down in the tunnels where we could see 3,000 years ago and 2,000 years ago, if I have the history just right, to see the remarkable history of the faith in this place and the work that our administration has done to make sure that this democracy in the Middle East, that this Jewish State remains,” Pompeo added.
“I’m confident that the Lord is at work here,” he said.
President Trump has proven himself a strong ally of Israel, recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish State and just recently urging the U.S. to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights — in the face of a U.N. declaration.
The comparison to Esther is a bit far-fetched, however. In the biblical book of Esther, this Jewish woman rises to become queen of the Persian Empire, the political unit that ruled over Jews in Israel and throughout the Ancient Near East. Haman sent out an order that all Jews throughout the empire would be put to death.
While the modern predicament with Iran does indeed echo the book of Esther — Iran is the modern descendant of ancient Persia, in roughly the heartland of the Persian Empire — Iran cannot eradicate the Jews in the same way Haman could. The Jewish people are spread across the world, and even if the worst should happen and Iran wiped Israel from the face of the Earth, the Jews would survive.
That said, Trump has been a powerful friend to Israel, and he may help save the Jewish State from Iran’s aggression, echoing the role of Esther. Perhaps that is the reason why Pompeo hedged in his answer, saying it is “possible” Trump is a modern Esther.
Trump’s support for Israel has inspired many Bible comparisons, most notably that of the Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great, who saved the Jews from the captivity in Babylon.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member