“On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he

Midrash Rabbah Esther Rabbah 3:11
Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team ·

“On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he said to Mehuman, Bizzeta, Ḥarvona, Bigta, and Avagta, Zetar, and Kharkas, the seven officials who attended King Aḥashverosh,” (Esther 1:10).“On the seventh day” – Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: That was the day of Shabbat (the Sabbath). “When the king was merry with wine” – idolaters do not have good [tova], as it is written: “And good [vetov] will not be for the wicked…” (Ecclesiastes 8:13). They objected: Is it not written: “When the king was merry [ketov lev hamelekh]14Literally, when the king’s heart was good. The question arises from the fact that the king’s heart was good even though he was an idolater. with wine”? He said to him [the person who raised the objection]: “In the good [betov] of the king’s heart” is not written here, rather “like the good [ketov] of the king’s heart” – good but not good.15Ketov is usually translated as “when [the king’s heart was] good,” i.e. when he was merry. The midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) is reading the prepositional prefix ke- to mean approximately, i.e. the king’s heart was approximately good, i.e. good but not good. However, the good for Israel is complete good, as it says [regarding Israel after the inauguration of the first Temple]: “…they went to their tents, joyful and good of heart over all the goodness that the Lord had shown…” (I Kings 8:66).

Themes

Divine justice Temple Shabbat Holy Land

Biblical References

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