Netanyahu gives Obama the Book of Esther. Biblical parable for nuclear Iran?

Some time later, Mordechai overhears a plot against the king and transmits the warning through Esther. But Mordechai's role is unknown and he runs into trouble when some time after that, Haman is elevated to vizier – the king's prime minister and right-hand man. Haman is not a nice man. After Mordechai refuses to bow down before the vain and bullying Haman, the vizier decides to eradicate all Jews in Persia in revenge. With a honeyed tongue in the king's ear warning that Jews are disloyal and dangerous, he wins approval. On a set date, all the Jews in the empire will be slaughtered.

Mordechai learns of the plot, and sends word to Esther that she must intercede with the king. He beseeches her: "If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this." (As quoted in the New International Version of the Bible.)

So she arrays herself in finery and presents herself to Ahasuerus, who promises to give her anything she wants. She finally reveals she's a Jew and that Haman's plan means the destruction of her own people, and Mordechai – whose role in uncovering the assassination plot against the king has by now been revealed.

The furious king shifts positions, and gives the Jews permission to destroy their enemies. The story ends with Haman, his brothers, and 75,000 other Persians put to the sword. Mordechai is elevated to vizier, and given wide latitude to make policy.

It appears that in a modern context, Netanyahu sees himself as Mordechai, Iran's leaders as Haman, and Obama perhaps as Ahasuerus, the powerful but easily influenced king who almost led to the Jews' downfall but saved them in the nick of time. There isn't an obvious Esther figure at the moment (though fans of the evangelical Christian politician Sarah Palin often compared her to Queen Esther, come to save her people "at a time such as this," during her vice presidential run). But I think that's enough of the plot to get the point.

The holiday itself, though very Jewish, is really a celebration of man (and woman) taking action to save themselves rather than waiting for divine intervention. There are no miracles but human ingenuity and intelligence, no great lessons beyond a reminder that the Jews have enemies, and when the chips are down they'd better look to themselves first (as Netanyahu told AIPAC, "The purpose of the Jewish state is to defend Jewish lives and to secure the Jewish future. Never again will we not be masters of the fate of our very survival. Never again. That is why Israel must always have the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any threat.")

The holiday has evolved down the centuries into a cross between Halloween and Hogmanay. There will be readings from Esther in synagogues tonight, but also kids running around in costumes gobbling sweet Hamantaschen ("Haman's hats," though in modern Hebrew they're called "Haman's ears"). Their elders generally indulge in the harder stuff. It's a celebration of victory and survival.

In the modern tale being told by Netanyahu, with his frequent warnings that Iran's nuclear program is the gathering storm of a new Holocaust, the Islamic Republic of Iran is the one "trying to kill us." War talk has been quieted slightly by Obama's skillful handling of his own meetings with Netanyahu and AIPAC this week. But the biblical underpinnings of Netanyahu's and many others Jews fears promise to, eventually, ratchet up the heat again.

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