Book of Esther: Secret Hidden Layers of the Megillah: King Ahasuerus & Vashti’s Rebellion

going to the book of Esther. I just want to have a couple of minutes of introduction. Um, Jewish writings in general and certainly the books of the Tarak, the Hebrew Bible, have many different messages to communicate and those messages are on different levels and there are even different methodologies that are used for expounding those messages. >> [snorts] >> So um and and general no one of them has precedence over the others. There is I think a very widespread prejudice especially among people who haven't learned Torah sources that what it literally says is what it says and all the rest is fluff. That's just nuts. You only understand the meaning of a of a book if you know what the author's intentions were and you know what the so the use of the book in the culture is. Um there are many very important books where the simple literal reading of the words every sentence is false. They're called novels. Novels aren't a waste. They just aren't intended to teach you the true facts. they're intended to teach you other things. So each each dimension is a is is a is a legitimate dimension and the book con communicates many messages at once. Now I'm going to explain one way of looking at the verses in the migilla one among 62. And I'm not claiming in any way that my way is superior to anybody else's. I have what I know and what I don't know. And I also have my preferences in the way I look at things. So it's just the migilla according to godly. That's all it is. It's a way of looking at it. And it's something which gives certain rich background to what goes on in the migill. And I do one just programmatic idea the McGill um well one feature of the McGill which sort of summarizes it's it's um presentation is that the book is about a a miracle talk about the miracle of Purum but God's name is not mentioned in the book anywhere so that means the miracle in story is something that you have to make an effort to see and appreciate. It's not written on the surface. That tells you immediately that there are two levels. There's the surface level and then there's the message behind the surface level. And by the way, for those who want to think about the fact that it doesn't have God's name in it, there is in fact another book of the Hebrew Bible that doesn't have God's name in it, and that's the Song of Psalms. So, it isn't unique to this book. Okay, let's start and I'll fill in the background as we go. This is a page 1252 of the blue books. 1252. It came to pass in the days of Akashro. Most of the books of the Hebrew Bible are life stories or sections of life stories. They're about particular people. Aside from the antecedent material, the five books of Moses end with the death of Moses because essentially it's his story. The prior part is a lead leadup to that story. And so the books they called after the names of the prophets because the book of Isaiah is largely about what happened to Isaiah, what Isaiah did and so forth and so on. There are exceptions that some chapters are added on but the vast majority are that way. Now the very first words in the book are came to pass in the days of and the very last words in the book are on page 1261 kingash levit taxes in the mainland and the islands on mighty and powerful acts written the book of chronicles and then there's a caption about morai at the very very end but from the beginning to the end it's a story about what happened to that's what it is on the surface. So we will have to try to appreciate eventually why should be the one who the story is about. After all Morai and Esther play a very large role in the in the in the in the book but it doesn't say that happened in the days of Morai or happened the days of Esther. I just introduced something. It's a promisory note. Now who is this who reigned from the Kush over 127 provinces? So he had an empire under his control and who reigned it in other places in the Torah in the Tanakh. It wouldn't it didn't use the the word reigned in the past tense. He was he was the king of with a noun rather than reign as a verb. This is an illusion to the fact that and this because this is crucial for the rest of the story that he was not a hereditary king. He was not the child of prior kings. He assumed the control and because he didn't have the royal blood flowing in his veins, his legitimacy for him was always a serious problem. And we'll see a dozen places in the story where he's worried that maybe it won't go down well or maybe people won't agree or stepping out of line and maybe not doing what's traditional. He's always concerned about his uh popularity and his control. So what happened in those days when King Gasher set royal throne which was in Shush the capital in the third year of his reign. So this is not the beginning the third year into his reign. The story starts, he made a feast for all his officials and his servants, the army. Now, um the Hebrew word here just means a large body of people who are in service. Doesn't have to mean soldiers. Persia and Media, the nobles and officials of the provinces being present. He made a celebration for them. What is he celebrating? Why is he doing it? We'll have to we'll have to explore. What did he do at this party? He displayed the riches of his glorious kingdom. He's showing off his wealth. Why is he showing off his wealth? There's got to be a reason for this sort of thing. And displayed the riches of his glorious kingdom. And the splendor of his excellent majesty for many days. 180 days. This is a sixmonth bash. Even Los Angeles could take a lesson from this. They don't they don't make parties for six months straight. A ro he's going six months straight. So something spectacular has to be happening here. And when these days were fulfilled, the king made a week-long fast feast for all the people who are present in Shushan, the capital, great and small alike. These aren't nobles. These aren't leaders. These aren't people of authority. These are everyone in the city of Shushan which is the capital in the courtyard. I don't know why the English translates court for is a courtyard. It's not you know like where the Supreme Court sits. It's not where there are judges. It's a courtyard courtyard of the garden of the king's palace. Now the book describes the riches that were on display. There were hangings of white fine linen, blue wool held with cords of fine linen and purple wool upon silver rods and marble pillars. The couches of gold and silver were on a pavement of green and white and shell and onyx and mar onx marble. So it was absolutely splendid. Absolutely splendid. The drinks were served in golden goblets. No two goblets alike. We'll come back to that phrase because the Hebrew is a little tricky. And royal wine in abundance according to the bounty of the king. The barrels are open, no limits. And the drinking was according to the law. Law or custom without coercion. Nobody was forced for. So the king had ordered all the officers of his house that they should do according to every man's pleasure. So let's see. First of all, if I invite you to my house for dinner, you'll eat my menu because that's what I'm serving. You wouldn't dream of saying, "Oh, you're having chicken. I want to feel that menu. Please rust up, you know. What? You're coming to my party and I'm serving the food. No, not at's party. No, the cooks were on on on board and they were everything was ready. Tell them what you want. Every man should have what what he pleases. Okay. And by the way, this is called a mishta. Mishtan in Hebrew means drinking. Now you know there are different kinds of meals and different kinds of celebrations. It's a meal where you have uh duck for the four spice and then you have fon with something in between and truffles for for dessert and so on and the so on and accompanied by a nice wine. That's a suda. That's a meal. But a misha is a drinking party. Yes, you may have some popcorn in between drinks. Make sure that you you know. So now um he's he it's it's something which has to please everybody. So obviously he's concerned with pleasing everybody. Um I told you a moment ago that he's concerned about his popularity. So this is really an exercise in popularity. Now why should he show off his riches? Because one of the weaknesses of kings is that they are subject to influence by those who pay for their extravagances like wars or luxury and so and so on. So if he's leaning on someone rich to uh to do that then he's he's can be influenced and what he's doing is sending a signal you can't influence me because I'm fabulously wealthy on my own. I'm above that. And by the way, I will add a political footnote. I don't know if you're aware of this, but President Trump does not take a salary. Um, >> so $1 >> in order to make sure that you're really employed, >> right? Anyway, so now, um, that that's the second element here. And then the people in the in the capital are people who know things. They have friends that have inside leverage and so forth and so on. You want them on your side. You want them to be see uh if you'll study the history especially the history of of uh of dictatorships autocracies um there's always a worry if there was one person at the top that other people are going to look for ways to take his place at the top and if you trust somebody if you need somebody like a great general in the army or a great politician who can who can do negotiations for you there's a chance of his forming allies with in the various underlings and then leading a kind of revolt that happens all the time. Stalin was famous for every 20 years killing all of his closest people because otherwise he would be vulnerable. So didn't have the support or strength to do that. So he tried to do it with favors. So he makes the six-month bash for all the people who are people of authority and he makes another week bash for the people in in in this in this in the capital. Now one what's triggering this is at this particular time in the middle of the third year of his reign. So the the um McGill in English says the drinks were in gold gold cups. Um verse seven and it it translates no two goblets alike. That could be true and and it's it's a nice thought. uh sort of the Neiman Marxists of the ancient world, you know, the all one of a kind. But the Hebrew is a little more peculiar. It says shim vessels from various vessels. Uh you know, if they're glasses, I guess they're going to be vessels for various vessels. Those words don't seem to add anything at all. And in some places, if you listen to the way it is read and sung by the reader who's reading it, McGiller, you'll hear that he switches the tune. And it's because this is an illusion to the vessels that were stolen from the temple by the Babylonian armies. And he took out those vessels to use in his celebration. And therefore the the tune becomes the tune of a of lamentations to signify that. And what he's celebrating is this Yo the prophet told the people there's going to be an exile. The Babylonians are going to conquer and after 70 years it's going to be restored. The temple will be restored. Uh but Yel didn't say when the 70 years is supposed to start from. So this is one of the there are a number of places in the Tanakh where the words are ambiguous can be read in various ways and the Jewish people were famous and the Jews god was famous and uh they knew that uh you know you should pay attention [clears throat] well king before Bhatzar made a calculation and he figured out that the 70 years have passed already, which means that the prediction didn't come true for whatever reason and he's saved because now there isn't going to be a cataclysm like for example the Exodus from Egypt where the whole Egyptian Empire was decimated. No, it's not going to happen to him. He's saved. So he made a celebration. He made a party. He took out the vessels that had been taken from the temple to celebrate with. And that night he was assassinated. Oh, so they put the vessels away again. Looks like there was some some kind of miscalculation there, right? Well, had his own calculation and that's what he's celebrating. He's celebrating the failure of Jewish prophecy. He's safe as the emperor because nothing like what happened to the ex Exodus is going to happen. So this is what's provoking and therefore he used the vessels from the temple and this time nothing happened to him. So part of the story now is he's carrying out this foundation that I don't have to worry about the Jews. I don't have to worry about the Jewish prophecy because it's not going to happen. Now the oral tradition tells us everybody's there 127 provinces all the leaders of all those 127 provinces are there were Jews at this party or not? So the oral tradition tells us they were and it tells us I'm quoting now to explain how they got there. There was a Sanhedrin after all which was running Jewish affairs as it had been for centuries and these people went to the Sanhedrin and Morai was on Sanhedrin remember Sanhedrin and said you know everybody's going to be there shouldn't we send a delegation also I mean be very peculiar if everybody goes and we don't go and Morai said don't go don't Oh, okay. But but you know how are we going to explain it? How are we going to justify it? And Morai said, "I'm telling you, don't go." So there was a group who said, "Listen, Morai, you're a great scholar. Go back to your ivory tower and write your commentaries on Jewish antiquities. Leave practical politics to us. We can read the signs. We know the customs and we know the consequences. This is much too dangerous. Take a chance up. And they went to the party. Well, remember the instructions to the servers was do what each person wants. So this person says no lobster for me and only kosher slaughtered meat. And and they got everything they wanted. They got everything they wanted. And the result of this event is nothing happens to them. Nothing. Years go by, nothing happens to them. And this becomes the beginning of a subtext, the Jewish experience of these events and how to interpret it which we will carry out. I just want you to know that they're participating in this in this celebration and the celebration is motivated by the failure of Jewish prophecy. So, it's like attending a celebration over your own death. You can see why that would be perhaps perhaps something that would require some careful thought as to whether you should do it or not. But that's what's going on in the background here. Okay. Now Vashi the queen also made a feast for the women in the royal house of Kashro. So as we'll see the Ma points this out sometimes it's Vashi the queen and sometimes it's the queen Vashi. You'll see it varies and the rough difference is one she does as her own person who's functioning as queen and that's vashi the queen and then when it's reversed it means her position requires it but or it's relevant to it but she as an individual person is not the driving force behind it. Now Vashi happens to be the granddaughter of Aash of of Nebuchadnezzar. She is royal. She is royal and she has her own authority. And what does it say here? Vash the queen also made a feast for the women. She made it. He didn't make it for her and he didn't tell her to make it. She just made it. And where did she make it? in the royal house of Aashro. She made it in his house. That's quite bold. She's queen. No, she's not queen. She's granddaughter of the conqueror. Queen is a function visav the king. That would be defined by her relationship to veros. No, she's vashi. And so she makes it in in his house. So on the seventh day when the heart of the king was married with wine, he ordered seven personal servants, chamberlins if you like French, who attended king of ro. He ordered these seven close personal servants to bring Vashi the queen before the king wearing the royal crown to show off to the people and the officials her beauty. She was beautiful to look upon. Okay. Now let's pay pay attention here. He's sending seven personal servants to bring her. Gee, when you're married, I hope you don't do that. [laughter] You don't do that. What? Send her invitation. Would you like to join us? Your majesty or you know, Bashi, my dear, I'm sending you in. No. Get her. Get her and bring her. Wearing the royal crown. What would you expect? not to wear the royal crown. She's queen. Why should she wear the crown? To show off her beauty. So the oral tradition says she's wearing the royal crown. To show off her beauty means only the royal crown. That's all she should wear. This is an exercise in utterly degrading her. This is a power play. He's got he thinks the whole kingdom on his side. He just entertained them for entertained them for six months. And now he made a party for the people in in in Shushan. You're on my team. You're on my side. And now he's going to disambiguate his reign. Is he leaning on Vashi? Does he need Vashi's approval? And she's asserting herself. She makes a a festivity for the women in his house because she wants to because she does it. So he makes this into a challenge. Bring her now. How is she going to respond to this challenge? 12. Queen Vashi refused to come at the king's commandment conveyed by the chamber. Her attitude is drop dead. I don't need you. I don't need you. I'm the queen because I'm Nets's granddaughter and you came from nowhere. He was a general in the army. Some say you're not royal material at all. You said that to bring me go fry. Well, now he's in trouble. Now, of course, he did this when his heart was merry with wine. Maybe he wasn't totally in charge of his of his of his calculations. He didn't ask anybody's advice to do this. He did this on his own as you'll see. He typically asks ask people's advice and now he's in trouble because she has publicly defied him. The queen Vashi refused to come in the king's commandment commandment conveyed by the chambers. King therefore became very incensed. his anger burned in him because now he's got a he's got a crisis. What is he going to do? Give in? He's that means from then on she's running the show. Not give in, but then she's she is the granddaughter of not easy to somehow depose her or get rid of her and then face how the people are going to look at it. So he has a problem. Well then 13 King conferred with the experts who knew the times. For such was the king's procedure to turn to all who knew law and judgment. Because whenever he had a decision to make, he wanted to make sure that was consistent with traditional policies of the of the of the of the um malus the the kingdom. Since he wasn't an insider, he didn't know all the ways the kingdom works. So he made always made sure to consult with his with his um with his adviserss and he didn't dare to exert real absolute authority like an absolute dictator because again he's not doesn't have that legitimate legitimacy and it gives the names of the seven of who were closest to him had access to the king sat first in the kingdom. These were the highest of the officials of the kingdom. As to what should be done legally, the queen Vashi now she's queen Vashi, not Bashi the queen, right? She after all is your queen and it's question between king and queen. So now you have to do something for not obeying again obeying the commandment. She should obey was conveyed by the chamberlain. What to do? Mean who might have been h or might not. I mean some some say yes. Declare before the king of the officials. I have a spin. I can spin this event and spin your response to this event to your great advantage. O king. It is not only the king whom Vashi the queen has wronged, Vashi the queen because she did it because who she is but also all the officials and all the people in the provinces of King. This is a monumental rebellion against the authority of the king. monumental concerning everybody in the whole entire in the entire empire. Really? How do you get to there? Watch. He says, watch me spin it. For this deed of the queen will come to the attention of all women. H what do you have there in Shushan? Well, you have the king of ro and the queen. And look at this. He said to her command, she thus said, "Go away. I don't need you. I don't care for you. I do as I please. Well, if the queen could do that to the king, why can't I do that to you, George? This is sad speaking. Why can't I do that to you? You know better than the king. I'm as good as the queen. So, why can't I do it to you? Making their husbands contemptable in their eyes by saying, "Kash commanded Vashi the queen to be brought before him. She did not come. So, if she doesn't have to obey him, we I don't have to obey you either. And this day the princesses of Persia Aidia who have heard the queen's deed will cite it to all the king's officials and there will be much contempt and wrath. The men are going to be very upset. They're going to be very upset that the wives have the to speak vernacular Hebrew to to spite them to their faces and not to obey them. That's what the queen has engineered by her action. Now, truthfully, when you're doing politics, it doesn't matter too much whether she thought of it or not. It's not the question of the viciousness of her intent. It's the consequences of her action that count. If this is the way the world is going to to evolve, then it's not going to be good. If it pleases the king, let there go forth a royal edict from him, a royal pronouncement, let it be written in the laws of Persians and the Mes that it not be revoked. That's going to be very important. I'll explain that in a minute that Vashi never again appear before King. She's banished. She's deposed. She's not queen anymore. and let the king confer her royal estate upon another who's better than she. Take all of her property away, impoverish her. In other words, take this as the challenge to your authority that it is on her part, but spin her action as one which is going to provoke rebellion among all the women of the kingdom. And you now become out become the savior of all the men in the kingdom by making sure that their wives don't rebel against them. And that makes you popular where you want to be. After all, it's really only worthwhile being popular with the men. You don't need to be popular with the women because the men control the women. So, no problem. So, you're going to be a you're going to be a prize winner for the whole kingdom if you follow my advice. Then, when the king's decree shall proclaim and be resounded throughout all his kingdom, great though it be. It's a gigantic kingdom, but it's going to be promulgated throughout the entire kingdom. All the wives will show respect to their husbands, great and small. Ah, can you imagine? Wow. Is over the top. He spun it in such a way that he can rightly take revenge against her as an act of protecting all the men's superiority in their marriages and get all of their their support and get rid of her once and for all. This proposal please the king of the officials. Nothing illegal here. wrote and the king did according to the word of muhan and he sent letters to all the king's provinces to each province in its own script. He had a bunch of translators there in the capital and when a pro when a a law was promulgated was a proclamation was made the royal pro translators translated it right away. to as sent out in the language and in the script of each of the provinces that every man should rule in his own home. That's the real bottom line. Yet it also said about Vashi and so forth and so for people who are thousand miles away, you know, that's what's happening in the capital. They can all play their games in the capital. Oh, but I can be really get my own home. That's good mood. That's good news. And speak the language of his own people. Why would the royal decree have to somehow ensure that America can speak his own language? And one of the commentators has a very brilliant move here. You have an empire of 127 provinces. They are economically interdependent upon one another and there's a lot of migration from one to the other. There are a lot of intermarriages, marriages between two people from two of the two different provinces. Well, they don't speak the same language. They may have enough pigeon or enough translation to be able to speak, but they don't always speak the same language. Now, they have children. How shall the children be raised? According to whose language? Well, since the mother's taking care of the children, you would naturally assume that it'll be the mother's language. No, the mother has to break her teeth to speak the father's language so that he can speak fluently to his children. So in his house, his language is spoken. The mother's feelings, who cares about that, right? You know, women need to express their feelings to their children. They want to express it in a language that's familiar to them. It's comfortable for them. To have to break her teeth in a foreign language and speak to their own children is a great burden for her. But they didn't care about that. The idea was that he should be the one who's in charge. Now it says here that it's a royal decree that it should not be revoked. There was a rule in the kingdom. This is going to be very important in a a few chapters down the line. There was a rule in the kingdom that a decree from the king cannot be overturned. It cannot be overturned. And if you think about it again I'm quoting one of the commentators I don't remember who. This is a a matter of practical urgency. Remember the empire is large as you'll see it takes I think six weeks with the fastest transportation fast of animals to get from the c capital to all of the provinces. Suppose it would be possible for the king to issue an order and then later to contradict it, take it back and you're living six weeks travel from the capital and the couriers come in with the latest royal decree. Uhhuh. Right. That's what he said six weeks ago. Six weeks ago. [sighs] Is he still of the same mind? Will he change his mind? Who knows? Should we hedge our bets? You know, have a plan if it stays the same and plan if it changes. Maybe we should have spies who give us other information to protect ourselves and so and so on. The idea that a king could change his order introduces instability in the administration of the kingdom. And therefore the rule was if a royal decree comes that's it forever later means can be can be can be used by adding something but never contradicting never contradict that's one feature of the way the kingdom was run if you think about it it's a I say it's a it's a practical move to ensure the stability of the the administration of the kingdom and by the way having said this I want to to a foot dog. There's interesting things about how how politics is done. [clears throat] You probably have heard that in medieval times where you had absolute monarchs, there was someone called the court jester. Maybe you think you know kings have heavy business and difficult things and from time to times of humor would be uh would be good for his mood. No, that's not the purpose of the court gesture. Those kings were absolute. You couldn't contradict the king. You couldn't contradict them off of your head. You'd be killed right away unless unless the contradiction was made in a joke where the unlooker could say he was only joking. You know, he didn't really mean it. And that's how the king got real feedback about what he was doing and the mistakes he was making because otherwise you couldn't do it. So the the court jester was the one who could express critique of the king in a joking manner so the king could get some valuable feedback. So again there's a there's a a certain certain wisdom here that's being that's being acted out at any rate that's where the chapter one ends the sequence of the removal of ash. Now the oral tradition says that she was executed as well. That it doesn't say in the text because nothing later on in the text hangs on it. Idea is simply that he uh he got he got rid of the of the queen. And now comes the beginning of chapter two where there's something extremely important. Um after these things when the wrath meaning the anger of king of kaseros subsided he remembered rashi and what she had done what had been decreed against her and now he sets about getting a new queen. Now I want to ask you uh after these things the wrath of king subsided he remembered I haven't seen her around in a while. Is she in Akapokco running up THE CREDIT CARDS? OH slipped my mind. Yes. Right. We deposed her. Do you really think he forgot in between? I don't think that's conceivable. So if he didn't forget in between, what does the text mean when it says he remembered? And the answer is it didn't say he remembered. That's only the English translation. The Hebrew word is lur. And lore in Hebrew doesn't have to mean remember something you forgot. Doesn't have to mean that. Liskor in biblical Hebrew can mean that now is the time to take an action on the basis of a past event. It now becomes irrelevant to a decision and his decision is to get a new queen. So it means he now took this into account and this is very important to know because just as you the last two days and you said six times that you're asking that should remember and taken literally in English that's very peculiar as they remember mean no possibility of forgetting it's not not in possibility for the creator to forget. at something. So once you understand that what it means here is that it's taking account of a past fact, making a present decision, you understand that doesn't have to happen always. And you also understand why in the first blessing of the of the where it says it describes God as present tense. So present tense would mean remembering continuously the loving kindnesses of the of the of the patriarchs. It means the contribution to the world of the patriarchs is a constant theme that's always taken into account. It's not the only thing that's taken into account, but it's always there. It's never irrelevant. When God runs the world, the are always part of the picture. Well, something which that the the patriarchy accomplished. Now, let's look at the assignment to the to the to the method of getting a new queen. And you'll see in in in spades what I told you at the beginning. Uh this is verse two in chapter 2. Then the king's pages said, "Let [clears throat] there be sought to the king beautiful young maidens and let the king appoint commissioners and all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather together every beautiful young maiden to Shushan the capital to the herum under the charge of he's chamber guard and women. Let the cosmetics be given to them. Then let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of ashi. Wow. The king says bingo. That's great. It's great. What about thinking? What's the procedure here? Well, you need a queen. What are the qualification for the queen? Two. Beautiful. It pleases the king. Gee, I don't know. If you're king, you have a queen. Would you look for someone who might have brains to help you make decisions or might have connections that were useful for you? Solomon married the women for king because they make the political political connections or maybe she has wealth that you can lean on. No, just beautiful and pleases the king. You want to can you figure out why he doesn't want another bashi? He doesn't want another one who can proclaim, "I'm here because I'm important. I'm here because I have some some superiority or something the king needs." No, he wants a girl who's totally dependent upon his pleasure so that when she makes the slightest false move, he can say, "Get me another one. I don't want this." This is aasher, the fearful aasher is the one who's worried about his authority and his and his and his power who has to protect himself. Get me the least qualified girl follows from his general position and his the history of it up until now that time as perfectly. And you will see that Esther is very careful to walk this line. She's very careful to walk this line. Not to challenge his authority in any way or even to appear to challenge his authority. Okay, this is the groundwork and Mashem, you're having a trip tomorrow. I understand. So I'll see you mashem on Sunday. I bless