P. Wilson
On October 15, 1946, Julius Streicher and nine others were hanged at Nuremberg, after having been condemned by the International Military Tribunal. Particular attention is directed to this man who generally was mentioned as the "Jew Baiter." He was one man, more than any other, who persecuted the Jews of Europe in the past years and instigated the murder and starvation of thousands and thousands of them.
It is more than 2500 years since God, acting according to His righteous government, turned His earthly people, the Jews, over to the Gentiles for chastisement. The sentence of "Lo-Ammi" (meaning "not My people"), pronounced by Hosea the prophet, still hangs over that people. But Gentiles who were only too ready to wreak their own vengeance on the Jews have not been wanting from that day to this. It is true that God has allowed much suffering and many troubles to come to that erring nation and has allowed the Gentiles to be the instruments in His hand for this purpose; nevertheless, He still has His eye on them and is taking careful note of the actions of the Gentiles against His people.
In Isaiah 10 the Assyrian is spoken of as "the rod of Mine anger, and the staff in their hand is Mine indignation." That Gentile power was to be used "against a hypocritical nation... to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets." But the Assyrian did not act as though he were merely the instrument in the hand of God to punish His guilty people, for we read: "Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.... Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord bath performed His whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.... Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith?... as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up." (See Isaiah 10:5-195O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. 8For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? 9Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? 10As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; 11Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? 12Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 13For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: 14And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. 15Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. 16Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. 17And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; 18And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. 19And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them. (Isaiah 10:5‑19).)
As the Assyrian was punished for his malice toward the Jews, so will God yet punish those nations that persecute His people who are suffering under His hand for their sins. The time has not yet come for the Lord to come forth in power and glory and punish the Gentile nations and exalt Israel. The Jews still have many hard trials and much suffering ahead of them before they, as a nation, will be made the head of the nations and not the tail. God has, as it were, withdrawn from the earth and is not actively intervening on behalf of His earthly people. Nevertheless, He is still overruling in a providential way.
The book of Esther stands alone among all the books of the Bible in that it shows the very condition of God's disowned people while He overrules in a providential manner. His name is not once mentioned in the book. That fact has caused many to think that it is of small value or that it is not rightly a part of the Holy Scriptures, but the absence of His name is only in keeping with the character of the book. The Jews there were out of their own Land and under the power of the Gentiles. The great Persian Empire was at its zenith in the days of Esther, and the Jews were only a small minority within its borders.
A great enemy of the Jews within the Persian Empire made plans for their extermination.
Haman was the prime minister with more than ordinary power.
He was a descendant of Agag of the royal family of the Amalekites—the avowed enemies of the Jews from the days when God was leading them through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. At that time God said that He would "have war with Amalek from generation to generation" (Ex. 17:1616For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. (Exodus 17:16)).
But in the days of the book of Esther the Amalekite was next to the throne of the kingdom, empowered with the king's seal to issue irrevocable laws.
Haman took special dislike and hatred to a Jew named Mordecai who, acting according to God's edict toward Amalek, would not bow down to him.
“Wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar" (Esther 3:6-76And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had showed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. 7In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar. (Esther 3:6‑7)).
After the twelfth month was decided upon, by a lottery system, as the month for the slaughter of the Jews, Haman asked the king for the needed authority which was immediately granted. Then letters commanding the destruction of "all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month" were dispatched by posts (it is said that the Persians started the postal system) to every province in the empire.
Where was God in all this? His name is not mentioned, but the history here shows His secret providential workings. Through a certain act of displeasure of the queen to the mighty king, she was displaced; God overruling saw to it that a Jewish maiden was elevated to be the queen. All seemed to be just ordinary circumstances, but God was ordering every movement from behind the scenes. He caused the king to lose a night's sleep and then to ask for records of the kingdom to be read before him that the king might learn of Mordecai's faithfulness and so desire to honor him.
Haman also was allowed to proceed farther, and even to build a great gallows in his own yard for the purpose of hanging Mordecai thereon. But all the while things were shaping up to bring down evil upon the head of the man who plotted the Jews' slaughter. God was not in all their thoughts. Read the book of Esther and see God's overruling hand.
Finally the time came when Queen Esther told the king of her nationality and begged for her life and the lives of her people. The king became furious at the thought of anyone seeking to destroy the queen, and before long he issued the order to hang Haman on the very gallows that was built for Mordecai. Thus we see divine retribution in the case of Haman and God's deliverance so that none of the Jews were murdered. It was true that "he that toucheth you [the Jewish people] toucheth the apple of His eye" (Zech. 2:88For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. (Zechariah 2:8)). For one to lay his hand to the Jews is to bring damage to himself.
Instead of the slaughter of the Jews came the right to stand for their lives and "to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them." Thus God, acting providentially, cared for the Jews and turned the hatred of their enemies on their own heads.
As a conclusion to their happy deliverance, the Jews celebrated a feast which they named "Purim" from the word "pur" or "lot." They also decided that the days of Purim should be remembered and kept throughout every generation. This feast is still kept each year by the Jews.
Now, to return to 1946 and the hanging of Julius Streicher, this man will go down in history as one of the worst enemies the Jews ever had. And while God has allowed intense suffering to come to that people who cried, "Away with Him," when their Messiah was presented to them, He nevertheless does take knowledge of those that vent their wrath and hatred against the people that "are beloved for the fathers' sakes." And it is striking that this man was ordered hanged by the Military Tribunal. A number of others were hanged at the same time who were more or less guilty of the same atrocities, but Julius Streicher stands out alone. He was the only one of those executed that gave trouble to the executioners; he had to be pushed across the floor to the gallows.
The most remarkable thing connected with hanging this enemy of the Jews, on a gallows as was Haman, was what, came from Streicher's own lips just before his execution he turned to the witnesses and shouted: "Purimfest, 1946. "He connected his own hanging with Haman's and the Jews' triumphal celebration of "Purimfest" or "Feast of Purim." Although the Jews are suffering for their sins under the government of God, woe to any who would persecute them or augment their sufferings.
May all Christians remember their own heavenly calling and consider that we poor Gentiles have been brought into rich blessing through the fail of the Jews. Let us not boast against the Jews, nor have anything to do with anti-Jewish propaganda. While they suffer, they are still "beloved for the fathers' sakes" and will someday come back into blessing from God—a richer blessing than they have ever yet known.