… Although the Book of Esther is a novel in historical form, it is of interest to see that here the conquest of pagans by the Jews took place in a diaspora setting, in Persia. The Persian king issued an edict for “the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to slay, and to annihilate any armed forces of any people or province that might attack them . . .” (Esther 8:11); “. . . the Jews were to be ready on that day to avenge themselves upon their enemies” (8:13); “. . . and many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them” (8:17). In the Septuagint, Esther 8:17, it is further specified how the gentiles became Jews: “and many of the Gentiles were circumcised and became Jews, for the fear of the Jews.” Also Josephus, Antiquities 11:285, mentions circumcision. …