Post date: Mar 13, 2016 3:20:31 AM
“Vayehi bimei Achashveirosh hu Achashveirosh”
And it was in the days of Achashveirosh, he was Achashveirosh
(1:1)
The repetitiveness of the Pasuk is curious. Who else would Achashveirosh be if not Achashveirosh? Rashi tells us that the point is that we should be aware that the evil king named Achashveirosh who was quick to give permission to annihilate the Jews at the beginning of the Megilah, is the same evil king named Achashveirosh who sent royal letters allowing the Jews to protect themselves. Not only was it the same person, but we shouldn’t be fooled by his later actions and think that he had repented his earlier bad deeds. He was still the same evil person at the end of the Megilah that he was at the beginning of the Megilah.
The Mishkanos Yaakov reminds us that the reason Achashveirosh invited the Jews of Shushan to his seven day party (after the party of 180 days) was in order to entice them to sin. Regardless of whether you follow the opinion that there was kosher food for the Jews at the party or you follow the opinion that the Jews were served non-kosher food, the entire motive behind the party was absolute and total physical pleasure without any limitation in such a manner so as to cause the Jews to stumble and anger their G-d. The Mishkanos Yaakov implores us recognize that the king who ordered our annihilation later in the Megilah was the same king who invited us to his party of depravity, and that our horror and shock at this invitation should be no less now than it was when he gave the order to wipe us out. From the very beginning he was a ruthless king who wanted nothing short of our destruction, and we shouldn’t let any outward show of seeming kindness on his part (ie, the letter allowing them to defend themselves from attack) cloud our recognition of his true inner feelings. His desire to cause us to sin should be viewed in the same light as his desire to wipe us out.
When Mordechai and Esther recorded the events of the miracle as they authored Megilas Esther, it was at a time that Achashveirosh was still in power. That being the case, they weren’t in a position to record all of the details in straight forward, crystal clear language. They needed to find a balance between recording what had transpired so as to save the story for posterity, with awareness that it would be impossible to save such a book from being destroyed, possibly censored, or, perhaps worse, edited to suit the fancy of Achashveirosh. And if the final product painted Achashveirosh in any position other than that of savior of the Jews, that was a reasonable concern. That being the case, they hinted to the reality of the situation, in this case with the double usage of Achashveirosh’s name. When Chazal started producing commentary on the various books of Tanach, they were able to broaden our understanding of what this hint (and plethora other hints) meant in the Megilah and all of the Sifrei Tanach. Achashveirosh was bad to the core, and Esther and Mordechai did their best to ensure that fact would be preserved.
[A Glimpse of Light, p. 55]