Post date: Feb 26, 2012 6:24:58 AM
ויודע הדבר למרדכי ויגד לאסתר המלכה
“Vayivada hadavar l’Mordechai vayageid l’Eshter hamalka”
(2:22)
Mordechai told Esther about the assassination plot so that Achashveirosh would not be killed. But if Achashveirosh was so bad to the Jews, why did Mordechai bother to warn him? Why didn’t he just sit back and let the plan unfold?
Targum Sheni explains that “Vayivada” means that Mordechai was told about the plot through Ruach Hakodesh. Mordechai understood that if he was given a message in this manner, it must be something that he was supposed to act upon it.
The Gemara (Megilah 13b) takes a slightly different route, but ends up in more-or-less the same place. The Gemara says that Mordechai overheard Bigsan and Seresh and understood the foreign language in which they spoke because he was a member of the Sanhedrin. It’s highly unusual for people to plot a murder in public, even if they are conversing so in a foreign language. To do so goes against conventional wisdom. Because of this, Mordechai understood that what he was witnessing was all part of Hashem’s grand orchestration, and that it must be His will that he was to act on what he was hearing.
[Inside Purim]
The Beis Halevi asked his son R’ Chaim Brisker (as a child), “Why did Mordechai reveal the plot of the assassination to Achashveirosh? What is so terrible if an evil person would die?”
To which R’ Chaim responded, “And what’s so terrible if two evil people would die?”
[Talilei Oros by way of Zvi Fleisher @ shemayisrael.com]
בימים ההם
“Bayamim haheim”
(2:21)
The Megilah doesn’t overtly explain why Bigsan and Seresh hatched a plot to assassinate Achashveirosh. For that, we must turn to the Gemara.
The Gemara (Megilah 12b) explains that their job in the palace was to fetch water for Achashveirosh at night—a job that, until recently, had not been much of a problem for them. However, once Esther became queen, things changed dramatically. Achashveirosh’s constant thirst, from being with Esther every night almost all night, kept the two of them very busy. Their complaint was that they were getting no sleep because of the king’s constant beckoning for more water.
We see this allusion in the words “Bayamim haheim,” which the Gemara is explaining to mean “in those days when nights were turned into days” (for them).
[Zvi Fleisher @ shemayisrael.com]