So the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they pleased to those who hated them, demonstrating that the Jews, now authorized and supported by the administrative apparatus, engage in comprehensive destruction of those who had sought to implement Haman's original decree. This language of comprehensive slaughter and destruction represents the military response of the Jews to the threat that had been posed against them. The verse demonstrates the reality that when genocidal threats are confronted with organized resistance and when the targets of genocide are given the means to fight back, the balance of power can be completely reversed.

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