Post date: Mar 01, 2017 5:58:37 AM
“Vayomer Hamelech maharu es Haman”
And the king commanded, “Hasten Haman.”
(5:5)
What was the urgency that caused Achashveirosh to command that Haman be brought hastily to Esther’s first party?
The Yalkut Me’am Lo’ez says that the urgency was purely one of logistics. The food for Esther’s party had already been prepared and Achashveirosh didn’t want any of it to spoil while they waited for Haman to arrive.
The Melo Ha’omer says something completely different. He explains that Achashveirosh understood that if Esther was willing to endanger her life by appearing before him uninvited, it must be that she had something urgent to discuss. Not wanted to unduly delay Esther’s request, he had his servants hurry Haman.
[Megillas Esther: The Answer Is..., p. 152]
“La’asos es d’var Esther”
To fulfill Esther’s word
(5:5)
Achashveirosh tells his servants to hasten Haman (to the first party) “to fulfill Esther’s word.” Why does Achashveirosh add these final words?
The Malbim says that Achashveirosh was stressing to Haman that he, Achashveirosh, was in fact the true guest of honor at the party, and that Haman’s inclusion was simply to fulfill Esther’s request that he join them.
The Manos Halevi tells us that Achashveirosh was not pleased that Haman was invited to the small party hosted by his wife, the queen. The fact that Haman was invited actually made him suspicious that there might be some kind of relationship between Esther and Haman. However, he did agree to Esther’s invitation of having both of them at her party. Therefore, when he had Haman summoned to join him at the party, he stressed that Haman’s presence was only possible because he wished “to fulfill Esther’s word,” but that he was certainly not pleased about the situation.
R. Shmuel di Uzida explains quite simply, that Achashveirosh desired to fulfill the wishes of his queen without any undue delay. Since this was important to him, he included this detail in his command to the servants when he charged them with fetching Haman for the party.
[Megillas Esther: The Answer Is..., p. 152]