We continue our lessons in Megillat Esther, and today we’re moving on to pasuk 11-12 in the first chapter. In pasuk יא, Ahashverosh sends for Vashti the Queen, to come before him, with her royal crown, to show off her beauty to all the nations.
לְ֠הָבִיא אֶת־וַשְׁתִּ֧י הַמַּלְכָּ֛ה לִפְנֵ֥י הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ בְּכֶ֣תֶר מַלְכ֑וּת
Here, she is called Vashti the Queen.
In the next pasuk it says that Queen Vashti refuses to come,
וַתְּמָאֵ֞ן הַמַּלְכָּ֣ה וַשְׁתִּ֗י לָבוֹא֙ בִּדְבַ֣ר הַמֶּ֔לכוֹ׃
But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command.
Here she is referred to as Queen Vashti.
Why the switch in word order from Vashti the Queen to Queen Vashti? What do we learn here? Where’s the miracle?
The commentary Yosef Lekach explains that when they wanted to bring her in, she was a person; Vashti, the person, who happens to be the Queen.
When she refused to come, she indicated that she was the Queen first and foremost, then Vashti.
In a sense, she was saying, “You married the Queen and therefore I’m refusing because of my lineage. (And of course, as we have mentioned, this was part of the setup for the miracle. Later on, when Ahashverosh was looking for a new wife, he’d purposely seek out someone without lineage, and he would prefer someone without parents at all).
When his officers came to get her and she refused, the king got extremely angry because she used her Yechus, her lineage, in the insult. The Gemarah says that she told him, “My grandfather was able to drink and hold his liquor but you, the stable-boy, can’t hold yours.” (And as we know, he was previously a stable boy, who managed to build himself up.)
Now here he is, at the epitome of what should have been his glory and greatness, in the final hour of this whole, long journey to prove himself, and she let all the air out of his balloon. He’s explosive.
It took 12 pesukim to get there, but that’s the crescendo.
Pasuk 13 tells us,
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ לַחֲכָמִ֖ים יֹדְעֵ֣י הָֽעִתִּ֑ים כִּי־כֵן֙ דְּבַ֣ר הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ לִפְנֵ֕י כָּל־יֹדְעֵ֖י דָּ֥ת וָדִֽין׃
Then the king consulted with the wise men who “knew the times” and those that knew how to judge.
The Yosef Lekach explains that Ahashverosh had two separate courts in his legal system, and one was dedicated specifically to making “executive order” emergency types of decisions based on the time, albeit going through the usual channels of passing laws.
A little further along in Pasuk טז 16 ,it says ויאמר ומומכן , this is actually Haman, who jumped up and advised Ahashverosh to kill Vashti, and furthermore, to implement a new rule to enable the king to make emergency decisions in a time of need without asking anyone. In order to build up his power after Vashti went and let all the air out of Ahashverosh’s balloon,
Haman’s plan was to give the king the ability to turn his decisions into law.
Later on, when it was discovered that two guards were plotting to kill the king, they too were killed as an outcome of this executive order law that Haman created and Ahashverosh loved it.
This aspect of the story very much relates to one of the main themes of the Megillah- that G-d uses the very idea of the enemy against them. He lets it backfire to bring them down.
We see this later on, when Ahashverosh has Haman hung. He doesn’t have to ask anyone. And who gave Ahashverosh this permission to do so? Haman himself.
So, this first chapter shows how G-d sets everything up, and shows how it was Haman himself, that gave the advice that would ultimately kill him, and save the Jewish people.
That’s how Hashem works.
As you may recall, this party took place about five years in advance of when Haman would get killed. But all of this was decided at the very party where the Jews were sinning (because they shouldn’t have been there). So, at the very party the caused the decree against them, G-d was already setting up their salvation, using the very person that would get them into the trouble, and years in advance of the action.
These are more of the beautiful hidden secrets of the Megillah.
BeH to be continued.