Post date: Feb 17, 2012 2:5:21 AM
ויקצוף המלך מאד וחמתו בערה בו
“Vayiktsof hamelech m’od, vachamaso ba’ara vo”
(1:12)
Vashti has just refused Achashveirosh’s demand that she parade herself into his party and he’s seething. The first half of the phrase tells us that “the king was very angry.” Then the Pasuk continues by telling us that “the rage burned within him.” What does the second phrase add to the description that wasn’t already illustrated in the first phrase?
When the king’s chamberlains returned with Vashti’s response, they did not publicly announce her response. Rather, they relayed the message directly to Achashveirosh in a hushed, private manner. It was quite obvious to everyone present that Vashti had chosen to refuse his request. But the specifics of her response were incredulous. Vashti reminded Achashveirosh that he was originally just a stable boy, and that his current position was purely a result of his having married her. She was the one with royal blood and he was an outsider. She also insulted his inability to hold his liquor, and claimed that her father could have consumed tremendously more alcohol than Achashveirosh without exhibiting the type of behavior he was currently exhibiting. The insults she heaped upon him were enough to make him angry to no end. But because the message was given to him privately, the rage burned within him as he kept her comments to himself, not wanted to share them with anyone else because the truth of her words stung.
[Al Hanissim]