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Haman Was Fattened for Slaughter, Not for His Own Good

The Midrash explains Haman's sudden rise: a sow fed without limit is fed for slaughter. Every accusation he made against Israel was answered in heaven.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Promotion
  2. The Sow Fed Without Limit
  3. What His Eyes Did to Him
  4. The Accusation and Its Answer
  5. The Silver and the Gallows

The Promotion

After all these matters, after the king had been served by Mordechai's warning about the assassination plot, after that service had been recorded in the chronicles and immediately forgotten, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hamedata the Agagite and raised him up and set his seat above all the princes of Persia.

The Esther Rabbah read the verse against the grain of what it appeared to say. A promotion is an honor. But the midrash went immediately to a verse from Psalms: "The wicked will perish, and the enemies of the Lord will be like the fat of rams." They are not fattened for their own good. They are fattened for slaughter. Haman's elevation was not reward. It was preparation.

The Sow Fed Without Limit

The Midrash offered a fable to make the mechanism visible. A farmer had three animals: a horse, a donkey, and a sow. He fed the horse and donkey measured amounts, they worked for him, they earned their keep, they got enough to sustain their labor. The sow he fed without limit. She ate all day. She grew fat without restraint.

The horse said to the donkey: what is this fool doing? We perform the owner's labor and he feeds us measured amounts. The sow does nothing and he feeds her everything. Why?

Then the slaughterer came and took the sow away. The horse and donkey understood. The sow's feasting had been its funeral preparation. What looked like favor was the cultivation of a victim. The farmer had been feeding the animal toward a specific end, and the end was not the sow's benefit.

Haman was the sow. His sudden elevation above all the princes of Persia was the feeding without limit. His power was real; his access to the king was real; his ability to issue decrees was real. None of it was for his benefit. It was the accumulation of resources that would be stripped from him at the moment the purpose was fulfilled.

What His Eyes Did to Him

When Haman saw that Mordechai was not bowing and not prostrating himself, he was filled with wrath. The Esther Rabbah read this through a verse from Psalms: "May their eyes grow dim so they cannot see." The eyes of the wicked take them down to Gehenna. A catalog of damaging sight: the children of the great who saw the daughters of men; Ham who saw his father's nakedness; Esau who saw that the daughters of Canaan were objectionable in his father's eyes; Balak son of Tzippor who saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. Each act of destructive looking had led to catastrophe for the one who looked.

Haman looked at Mordechai and saw a man who did not bow, and his wrath from that seeing was what destroyed him. If he had not looked, if he had passed the gate and not noticed, the decree would never have been issued. His own eyes led him to Gehenna.

The Accusation and Its Answer

Haman went to the king with a careful indictment. There is one people scattered and dispersed in all your provinces. Their laws are different from every other people's. They do not keep the king's laws. It is not worthwhile for the king to tolerate them.

The Esther Rabbah heard something hidden in the Hebrew word Haman used for "there is", yeshno, which could also be read as yashen, sleeping. There is, he is asleep. Haman was saying, in the Midrash's reading, that God was asleep with regard to His people, inattentive, not watching. God heard the accusation.

"There is no sleep before me," God answered, not to Haman but to the logic of what Haman was claiming. The Psalm was quoted: "Behold, the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps." You say I sleep? By your life, I will awaken against you and eliminate you from the world.

The Silver and the Gallows

The king gave Haman the ring and handed over Israel's fate with a phrase that looked like generosity: "The silver is given to you, and the people are yours to do with as you see fit."

The Midrash counted. The Hebrew letters of "the silver", hakesef, added up to one hundred and sixty-five. The Hebrew letters of "the gallows", haetz, also added up to one hundred and sixty-five. The number was the same. The bribe Haman had paid for permission to destroy the Jews was numerically identical to the instrument of his own execution. God had hidden a signature in the arithmetic: the price of the plot was the price of the gallows, and both prices would be paid by the same man.

The sow had been fed to its measure. The slaughterer was already on his way.

EstherHamanHolidaysIsraelTorah
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From the tradition

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Esther Rabbah 7:1Esther Rabbah

“After these matters, King Aḥashverosh promoted Haman son of Hamedata the Agagite, and he raised him up and set his seat above all the princes who were with him” (Esther 3:1).“After these matters, King Aḥashverosh promoted Haman son of Hamedata” – that is what is written: “But the wicked will perish, and the enemies of the Lord will be like the fat of rams” (Psalms 37:20). They are not fattened for their own good, but for slaughter; so was Haman only made great for his downfall. This is analogous to a person who had a filly, a donkey [the mother of the filly], and a sow. He would feed the sow without limit, and the filly and the donkey measured amounts. The filly said to the donkey: ‘What is this fool doing? We, who perform the owner’s labor, he feeds us measured amounts, and the sow that is idle, without limit.’ She [the donkey] said to her [the filly]: ‘The time will come and you will witness its downfall, as they are not feeding it more for its benefit, but rather, to its detriment.’ When the calends1The first day of the Roman month, which was often a feast day. arrived, they immediately took the sow and slaughtered it. They began placing barley before the daughter of the donkey, and she blew on it and wouldn’t eat. Her mother said to her: ‘My daughter, it is not the food that causes it, but rather the idleness causes it,’ as it is written: “He set his seat above all the princes who were with him” – therefore, “they hanged Haman” (Esther 7:10).

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Esther Rabbah 7:9Esther Rabbah

“Haman saw that Mordekhai was not bowing and prostrating himself to him and Haman was filled with wrath” (Esther 3:5).“Haman saw that Mordekhai was not bowing and prostrating himself to him” – Rabbi Aivu said: “May their eyes,” of the wicked, “grow dim so they cannot see” (Psalms 69:24). Because the sight of the eyes of the wicked takes them down to Gehenna; that is what is written: “The children of the great saw the daughters of man”5The children of the great sinned in doing so. See the following verses. (Genesis 6:2); “Ham, father of Canaan, saw [the nakedness of his father] (Genesis 9:22); “Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were objectionable [in the eyes of Isaac his father]”6Esau had previously married two women from Canaan. (Genesis 28:8); “Balak son of Tzippor saw [all that Israel had done to the Emorites]”7He subsequently hired Bilam to curse them. (Numbers 22:2); “Bilam saw that it was pleasing in the eyes of the Lord to bless Israel,”8Despite his efforts to curse them. (Numbers 24:1); “Haman saw that Mordekhai was not bowing and prostrating himself to him.”However, the sight of the eyes of the righteous brings light, as the sight of the eyes of the righteous elevates them to the highest heights; that is what is written: “He [Abraham] lifted his eyes and saw, and behold, three men” (Genesis 18:2); “He [Abraham] saw, and behold, a ram” (Genesis 22:13); “He [Jacob] saw, and behold, a well in the field” (Genesis 29:2); “He [Moses] saw, and behold, a bush” (Exodus 3:2); “Pinḥas saw”9He saw the Israelites sinning with the daughters of Midyan and arose to put a stop to it. (Numbers 25:7). Therefore, they are happy with the sight of their eyes, as it is stated: “The upright see this and rejoice” (Psalms 107:42).

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Esther Rabbah 7:12Esther Rabbah

“Haman said to King Aḥashverosh: There is one people that is scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from every people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws; it is not worthwhile for the king to tolerate them” (Esther 3:8). “Haman said to King Aḥashverosh: There is [yeshno] one people” – the one of whom it is stated: “The Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4); He is asleep [yashen] for His people. The Holy One blessed be He said to him [Haman]: ‘There is no sleep before Me; that is what is written: “Behold, the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Psalms 121:4), and you say that there is sleep before Me? By your life, I will awaken from sleep against that man and eliminate him from the world;’ that is what is written: “Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep…He drove his foes into retreat” (Psalms 78:65–66).Another matter: “There is one people” – he [Haman] said: ‘Their teeth are big, as they eat and drink and say: Delight in Shabbat (the Sabbath), delight in the festivals. They cause a decrease in the assets of the world; once every seven days – Shabbat, once every thirty days – the New Moon, in Nisan – Passover, in Sivan – Shavuot (the Festival of Weeks), in Tishrei – Rosh Hashana and the great fast [Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement)], and the festival of Sukkot (the Festival of Tabernacles).’ Aḥashverosh said to him: ‘So they are commanded in their Torah.’ Haman said to him: ‘Had they observed their holidays and our holidays, they would have done well, but they treat your holidays with contempt. “And they do not follow the king’s laws” – as they observe neither calends nor Saturnalia.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Wicked one, you are casting aspersions on their festivals, I will bring you down before them and they will add another festival over your downfall.’ These are the days of Purim; that is what is written: “A fool’s mouth is ruin for him” (Proverbs 18:7).“It is not worthwhile for the king to tolerate them.” For everything that Haman denounced Israel below, [the angel] Michael would advocate for them above. He said before Him: ‘Master of the universe! Your children are being denounced not because they engaged in idol worship, and not for engaging in licentiousness, and not for bloodshed; rather they are being denounced for observing your laws.’ He said to him: ‘I have not, and I will not forsake them.’ That is what is written: “For the Lord will not forsake His people for the sake of His great name” (I Samuel 12:22). Whether they are guilty or innocent, in any case it is impossible to forsake them, because the world cannot exist without Israel.“If a man were to give all the wealth of his house…” (Song of Songs 8:7) – that is Haman the wicked, who gave ten thousand silver talents to obliterate Israel, “…he would be scorned” (Ibid.).

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Esther Rabbah 7:21Esther Rabbah

The midrash reads a hidden sign of justice into the moment King Ahasuerus hands Israel's fate to its enemy: "The king said to Haman: The silver is given to you, and the people are yours to do with them as you see fit" (Esther 3:11). The sages apply the method of gematria, the counting of the numerical values of Hebrew letters, to uncover a meaning beneath the plain words.

The phrase singles out the word for "the silver," hakesef, the bribe Haman had offered for permission to destroy the Jews. Its letters add up to one hundred and sixty-five: the heh is five, the kaf is twenty, the samekh is sixty, and the peh is eighty. That same total, the sages note, is the numerical value of the word for the gibbet, haetz, the gallows: its heh is five, its ayin is seventy, and its tzadi is ninety, again one hundred and sixty-five. The total of the one is exactly equal to the total of the other. The midrash thereby reveals a measure-for-measure verdict folded into the very transaction. In the same breath that Haman secures his silver to buy the death of a people, the count of the letters already names the gallows on which he himself will hang. The instrument of his triumph and the instrument of his downfall share one number, and the reader sees that his doom was sealed within his own bargain.

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