Megillah

It has been taught to the same effect: There was yet another year left to Babylon,1 and Darius arose and completed it. Raba said: Daniel also made a mistake in this calculation, as it is written, In the first year of his reign, I Daniel meditated in the books [etc.].2 From his use of the words ‘I meditated’ we can infer that he [at first] made a mistake. All the same, there is a contradiction between the texts [is there not]? It is written [in one], when there are accomplished for Babylon,3 and it is written [in the other], for the desolations of Jerusalem? — Raba replied: [The first term] was for visitation [pekidah] only, and this was fulfilled, as it is written, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord, the God of the heavens, given to me, and he hath charged [pakad] me to build him a house in Jerusalem.4 R. Nahman son of R. Hisda gave the following exposition. What is the meaning of the verse, Thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden.5 Now was Cyrus the Messiah? Rather what it means is: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to the Messiah: I have a complaint on thy behalf against Cyrus.6 I said, He shall build my house and gather my exiles,7 and he [merely] said, Whosoever there is among you of all his people, let him go up. The army of Persia and Media, the nobles. And elsewhere it is written, [The chronicles] of the kings of Media and Persia.8 [How is this]? — Raba replied: They [the Medes and Persians] made a stipulation with one another, saying, if we supply the kings, you will supply the Governors, and if you supply the kings we will supply the Governors. When he showed the riches of his glorious [tif'ereth] kingdom. R. Jose b. Hanina said: This shows that he arrayed himself in priestly robes. It is written here, ‘the riches of his glorious [tif'ereth] kingdom’, and it is written elsewhere [in connection with the priestly garments], for splendour and for glory, [tif'ereth].9 And when these days were fulfilled.10 Rab and Samuel interpreted this differently. One said he was a clever king, and the other said that he was a foolish king. The one who held he was a clever king said that he did well in entertaining11 his distant subjects first, because he could win over the inhabitants of his own city any time he wished. The one who held that he was foolish says that he ought to have entertained the inhabitants of his metropolis first, so that if the others rebelled against him, these would have supported him. R. Simon b. Yohai was asked by his disciples, Why were the enemies of Israel12 in that generation deserving of extermination? He said to them: Do you answer. They said: Because they partook of the feast of that wicked one.13 [He said to them]: If so, those in Susa should have been killed, not those in other parts?14 They then said, Give your answer. He said to them: It was because they bowed down to the image.15 They said to him, Did God then show them favouritism?16 He replied: They only pretended to worship,17 and He also only pretended to exterminate them; and so it is written, For he afflicted not from his heart.18 In the court of the garden of the king's palace.19 Rab and Samuel gave different interpretations of this — One said that those who had the entree20 of the court were [entertained] in the court, and those who had the entree of the garden in the garden, and those who had the entree of the palace in the palace. The other said: He first put them in the court, and it did not hold them — Then he took them into the garden and it did not hold them; and finally he had to take them into the palace, and he found room for them. In a Baraitha it was taught: He took them into the court and opened two doors for them, one into the garden and one into the palace. White [hur], fine cotton [karpas] and blue.21 What is hur? — Rab said, fine lace-work. Samuel said: He spread for then, carpets of white silk. Karpas: R. Jose b. Haninah said: [this means] cushions of velvet.22 Upon silver rods and pillars of marble; the couches were of gold and silver.21 It has been taught: R. Judah said: Silver for some and gold for others, according to their degree. Said R. Nehemiah to him: If that were so, there would have been23 jealousy at the banquet! No; the couches themselves were of silver and their feet of gold. Green [bahat] and white marble.21 R. Assi said: [This means] stones that flash back at their owner;24 and so it says, as the stones of a crown, glittering over his land. 25 And shell [dar] and onyx marble [sohareth].21 Rab said: This means rows [dari] upon rows.26 Samuel says: There is a precious stone in the seaports called darah. He put it in the midst of the guests, and it lit up the place as at midday [Sahara].27 In the school of R. Ishmael it was taught: It means that he gave a remission of taxes [deror] to all who dealt in merchandise [sehorah]. And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, the vessels being diverse [shonim] one from another.28 It should have said, in different vessels? — Raba said: A bath kol29 went forth and said to them, Your predecessors30 met their end on account of vessels, and yet you use them again [shonim]?31 And royal wine in abundance:28 Rab said: This teaches that each one was given to drink wine older32 then himself. And the drinking was according to law.33 What is meant by ‘according to law’? — R. Hanan said in the name of R. Meir: According to the law of the Torah. Just as according to the law of the Torah the [quantity of] food exceeds the drink,34 so in the feast of that wicked one there was more food than drink. None did compel.33 R. Eleazar said: This teaches that each one was given to drink from the wine of his own country.35 That they should do according to every man's [ish, ish] pleasure.33 Raba said: This means that they should do according to the will of Mordecai and Haman.36 Mordecai [is called ‘man’] as it is written, A Jewish man;37 and Haman, [as it is written], a man, an adversary and an enemy.38 Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house.39 It should have said, ‘the women's house’? — Raba said: Both of them [Ahasuerus and Vashti] had an immoral purpose. This bears out the popular saying, He with large pumpkins and his wife had subdued Jehoiakim, and not seventy as reckoned above. without intent (Maharsha).] only after many trials (,ubuhxb)’.]