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Ahasuerus Cannot Please Both Haman and Mordecai

Cups kept filling in Shushan while God asked how one wind could push two ships two ways at once. Tomorrow those ships would have names.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The King Ordered Pleasure For All
  2. Two Ships Want Opposite Winds
  3. Mordecai Dreamed of Dragons
  4. Eighteen Thousand Sat at the Trap
  5. The Torah Met the Accuser in Widow's Clothes
Ahasuerus Cannot Please Both Haman and Mordecai Click for full size

The King Ordered Pleasure For All

Ahasuerus filled the palace at Shushan with wine until the floors stuck. He told the officers of his house to do according to every man's pleasure (Esther 1:8). Guests chose their own cups. They chose their own couches. They chose who sat beside them. The king smiled as if desire itself took orders from a steward.

God answered him in wrath.

"Thou villain, canst thou do every man's pleasure? Suppose two men love the same woman, can both marry her? Two vessels sail forth together from a port, the one desires a south wind, the other a north wind. Canst thou produce a wind to satisfy both?"

The musicians found the next note. Servants ran with trays. None of them heard the veto land on the king's open mouth. God had one more question. "On the morrow Haman and Mordecai will appear before thee. Wilt thou be able to side with both?"

Two Ships Want Opposite Winds

Mordecai sat at the king's gate with an older grudge already in the air. He descended from Saul, who had struck Amalek from Havilah to Shur and put more than five hundred thousand of that people to the sword. Haman descended from the same Amalekite line. He carried the memory under silk, like a knife.

Hatred in Shushan was not a new fashion. It was an inheritance that had found new titles.

The king's command still hung over the feast. Please every heart. Pour every cup. God had already named the two men who could not share one policy. Haman would want a nation erased. Mordecai would want that nation alive. No steward could pour one cup that satisfied both.

Mordecai Dreamed of Dragons

In the second year of Ahasuerus, Mordecai dreamed. The earth shook. Wailing rose from the land. Two immense dragons went against each other with a noise that sent people running toward the fight. A small nation lived among the watching peoples. The nations around it rose to wipe its memory off the earth. Darkness thickened until it was hard to breathe.

Then a thin brook ran between the dragons. It grew. It became a flood like the Great Sea and covered the earth. The sun came back. The small nation stood exalted. The proud lay low.

At the gate, in waking life, Mordecai overheard Bigthan and Teresh whispering. They meant to take the king's head from the bed and send it to Macedonia, whose empire was at war with Persia. He told Esther. Esther told the king. The conspirators hung. They had been Haman's counselors. The rope only fed the Amalekite's rage. The dream still waited for faces.

Eighteen Thousand Sat at the Trap

Haman did not trust steel alone. He told Ahasuerus that the God of Israel hates lewdness, then staged a feast of lewd women and open desire, hoping Jews would sin and lose protection. Mordecai warned the people not to go.

Eighteen thousand five hundred sixty went anyway. They sat at Haman's table and drank until the wine did the work the women had been hired to do.

Above, while those mouths were still wet, Ha-Satan, the Accuser, stood before God.

"How long wilt Thou cleave to this nation who turn their hearts from Thee? Let them perish from the world."

God asked what would become of the Torah.

"Let it remain for the higher beings," Ha-Satan said.

For a terrible span, agreement hung in heaven like a drawn decree. God told the Accuser to bring a scroll, so destruction could be written on it.

The Torah Met the Accuser in Widow's Clothes

Ha-Satan went for the scroll. The Torah herself met him in widow's garments, groaning. Ministering angels heard her and wept.

"If the Israelites are to be destroyed, what is the use of us?"

Sun, moon, stars, and planets put on sackcloth. The heavens clothed themselves in blackness. Then Elijah ran to the patriarchs with the news that heaven and earth were already mourning a people not yet erased.

"Do you not know," he said to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, "that the whole world is like a woman in travail, while you remain silent?"

Back in the palace, Ahasuerus still believed a host could please every heart. Haman wanted a nation gone. Mordecai wanted that nation alive. The two ships had names now. The brook between the dragons had not yet become a sea. Esther still wore a crown that cost her silence. The Accuser still wanted a scroll. The king still thought power meant pleasing everyone at once.

Officers poured wine. The decree of annihilation waited its hour. Between those two pours, the king of Shushan had already been answered from above. He could not do every man's pleasure. Tomorrow would prove it with two names he could not hold in one hand.

EstherAhasuerusHamanMordecaiPersia
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From the tradition

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The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Legends of the Jews 12:20Legends of the Jews

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909) · Public Domain

It all revolves around King Ahasuerus, the ruler of Persia. Now, Ahasuerus wasn't exactly known for his, shall we say, subtlety. He wanted to throw the biggest, most extravagant party the world had ever seen. And he wanted everyone to have a fantastic time.

The idea? Let every single guest indulge in whatever their heart desired. As it says, Ahasuerus commanded his officers to "do according to every man's pleasure." Sounds generous. Like, ultimate host status. But according to the Sages, this is precisely where Ahasuerus crossed a line.

God, as the story goes, wasn't exactly thrilled with this proclamation. We can almost hear the Divine voice, laced with righteous indignation: "Thou villain! Canst thou do every man's pleasure?" The nerve!

I mean, think about it logically. Can anyone really satisfy everyone, all the time?

The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), specifically Midrash Rabbah, elaborates beautifully on this. Imagine, God continues, two men in love with the same woman. Can both marry her? Of course not! Or picture two ships setting sail from the same harbor, one yearning for a southerly breeze, the other for a northerly one. Can Ahasuerus conjure up a wind that pleases them both? Impossible.

The implication is clear: Ahasuerus's hubris – his excessive pride – blinded him to the limitations of human power. He presumed to be able to grant every wish, to reconcile every desire, a power that belongs to God alone.

And then comes the kicker: "On the morrow," God continues, "Haman and Mordecai will appear before thee. Wilt thou be able to side with both?"

This, of course, foreshadows the central conflict of the story. Haman, the wicked advisor, and Mordecai, the righteous Jew, represent opposing forces, diametrically opposed desires. Ahasuerus would soon be forced to choose between them, revealing the emptiness of his boast to satisfy everyone.

That true leadership isn't about empty promises of universal satisfaction. It's about wisdom, discernment, and the humility to recognize our own limitations. Ahasuerus thought he was being generous. Instead, he was setting himself up for a fall, a fall that would have devastating consequences for his kingdom and, ultimately, lead to its salvation. As Ginzberg retells this in Legends of the Jews, it serves as a potent reminder of the dangers of unchecked ego and the importance of recognizing the limits of even the most powerful earthly rulers.

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Chronicles of Jerahmeel LXXIXChronicles of Jerahmeel (Gaster, 1899)

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Chronicles of Jerahmeel, trans. Moses Gaster (1899) · Public Domain

The hatred between Haman the Amalekite and Mordecai the Jew had deep ancestral roots. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Mordecai was a descendant of Saul, who had destroyed the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur, slaying more than 500,000 men, women, and children. Haman descended from those same Amalekites and nursed that ancient grudge against all of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin.

While sitting at the king's gate, Mordecai overheard two Persian chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, plotting to behead Ahasuerus and deliver his head to the Macedonian king, whose empire was then at war with Persia. Mordecai told Esther, who told the king. The conspirators were hanged, but because they were Haman's counselors, their execution only deepened his rage.

Mordecai remembered a dream from the second year of Ahasuerus's reign. A great earthquake shook the earth. Two immense dragons fought each other with terrible noise while a small nation lived among the watching peoples. All the surrounding nations rose to destroy this small nation. Thick darkness fell. Then Mordecai saw a small brook of water flow between the two dragons, separating them. The brook grew into a flood like the Great Sea, covering the whole earth. The sun returned, the small nation was exalted, the proud were humbled, and peace was restored.

When Haman's plot took shape, Mordecai told Esther to remember that dream and go before the king. Then Mordecai himself prayed with extraordinary intensity: "It is well known to the throne of Thy glory, O Lord, that it was not from pride or haughtiness I refused to bow to this Amalekite. I would prostrate myself to no being except Thy holy presence. But for Israel's salvation I would lick the shoe upon his foot and the dust upon which he walks."

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Chronicles of Jerahmeel LXXXIIChronicles of Jerahmeel (Gaster, 1899)

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Chronicles of Jerahmeel, trans. Moses Gaster (1899) · Public Domain

Haman did not just plot in the Persian court. He plotted in heaven. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Haman's banquet was designed as a spiritual trap. He told Ahasuerus that the God of Israel hates lewdness, then arranged a feast with lewd women and decreed that every desire be fulfilled, hoping the Jews would sin and lose divine protection. Mordecai warned the people not to attend, but 18,560 Jews went anyway.

While the Jews feasted at Haman's table, Ha-Satan, the Accuser, appeared before God. "How long wilt Thou cleave to this nation who turn their hearts from Thee?" he demanded. "Let them perish from the world." God asked what would become of the Torah. Ha-Satan replied, "Let it remain for the higher beings." And for one terrible moment, God agreed. He told Ha-Satan to fetch a scroll so He could write the decree of Israel's destruction.

When Ha-Satan went to get the scroll, the Torah herself appeared before him in widow's garments, groaning and weeping. The ministering angels heard her cries and wept, saying, "If the Israelites are to be destroyed, what is the use of us?" The sun, moon, stars, and planets clothed themselves in sackcloth and cried out: "Shall Israel be destroyed, for whose sake we were created?"

Elijah raced to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and told them heaven and earth were weeping for Israel. Moses asked whether the heavenly decree had been sealed with clay or with blood. If clay, prayers might still overturn it. Elijah went to Mordecai, who gathered all the schoolchildren, stripped them of food and water, dressed them in sackcloth, and set them on ashes. Their mothers brought bread, begging them to eat before they died. The children refused, clutching their Torah scrolls to their hearts.

That night their cries reached heaven. God heard and said, "I hear the voices of kids and goats." Moses corrected Him: "These are not kids and goats, but the young of Thy people, fasting three days and three nights in chains of iron." God's mercy was stirred. He broke the seals, tore the decree, and frustrated Haman's plans, fulfilling the verse: "I shall cut off the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous shall be raised on high."

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