Megillah

He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous?1 In reward for the modesty displayed by Rachel, she was granted to number among her descendants Saul; and in reward for the modesty displayed by Saul, he was granted to number among his descendants Esther.2 What was the modesty displayed by Rachel? — As it is written: And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother.3 Now was he her father's brother? Was he not the son of her father's sister? What it means is this: He said to her, Will you marry me? She replied, Yes, but my father is a trickster, and he will outwit you.4 He replied, I am his brother in trickery. She said to him, Is it permitted to the righteous to indulge in trickery? He replied. Yes: with the pure thou dost show thyself pure and with the crooked thou dost show thyself subtle.5 He said to her, What is his trickery? She replied : I have a sister older than I am , and he will not let me marry before her. So he gave her certain tokens. When night came, she said to herself, Now my sister will be put to shame. So she handed over the tokens to her. So it is written, And it came to pass in the morning that, behold, it was Leah.6 Are we to infer from this that up to now she was not Leah? What it means is that on account of the tokens which Rachel gave to Leah he did not know till then. Therefore she was rewarded by having Saul among her descendants — What modesty did Saul display? — As it is written, But concerning the matter of the kingdom whereof Samuel spoke he told him not.7 He was therefore rewarded by having Esther among his descendants. R. Eleazar further said: When the Holy One, blessed be He, assigns greatness to a man, he assigns it to his sons and his sons’ sons for all generations, as it says, [With kings on the throne;] He setteth them for ever and they are exalted.8 If, however, he becomes arrogant, God humiliates him, as it says. And if they be bound in fetters etc.9 For Esther did the commandment of Mordecai.10 R. Jeremiah said: [This means] that she used to show the blood of her impurity to the Sages. Like as when she was brought up with him.10 Rabbah b. Lema said in the name of Rab: [This means] that she used to rise from the lap of Ahasuerus and bathe and sit in the lap of Mordecai. 11 In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh were wroth.12 R. Hiyya b. Abba said in the name of R. Johanan: The Holy One, blessed be He, [once] caused a master to be wroth with his servants in order to fulfil the desire of a righteous man, namely Joseph, as it says, And there was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, etc.;13 and servants with their master in order to perform a miracle for a righteous man, namely, Mordecai, as it is written, ‘And the thing was known to Mordecai etc. ‘ R. Johanan said: Bigthan and Teresh were two Tarseans14 and conversed in the Tarsean language. They said: From the day this woman came we have been able to get no sleep.15 Come, let us put poison in the dish so that he will die. They did not know that Mordecai was one of those who had seats in the Chamber of Hewn Stone,16 and that he understood seventy languages.17 Said the other to him, But are not my post and your post different?18 He replied: I will keep guard at my post and at yours. So it is written, And when inquisition was made, he was found,19 that is to say, they were not [both] found at their posts. After these things.20 After what? — Raba said: After God had created a healing for the blow [which was about to fall]. For Resh Lakish has said: The Holy One, blessed be He, does not smite Israel unless He has created for them a healing beforehand, as it says . When I have healed Israel, then is the iniquity of Ephraim uncovered.21 Not so, however, with the other nations: He smites them first, and then creates for them a healing, as it says: The Lord will smite Egypt, smiting and healing.22 But it seemed contemptible in his eyes to lay hands on Mordecai alone.23 At first he aimed at ‘Mordecai alone’, then at ‘the people of Mordecai’ — and who are these? The Rabbis; and finally at ‘all the Jews’. They cast pur, that is the lot.24 A Tanna taught: When the lot fell on the month of Adar, he rejoiced greatly. saying, The lot has fallen for me on the month in which Moses died. He did not know, however, that Moses died on the seventh of Adar and was born on the sixth of Adar. There is one people.25 Raba said: There never was a traducer so skillful as Haman. He said to Ahasuerus, Come, let us destroy them. He replied: I am afraid of their God, lest He do to me as He did to my predecessors. He replied: They are ‘negligent’26 of the precepts. He said, There are Rabbis among them.27 He replied. They are ‘one people’.28 Should you say that I will make a void29 in your kingdom, [I reply], they are ‘scattered abroad among the peoples’. Should you say. There is some profit in them, I reply, ‘they are dispersed’ [nifredu], like an isolated bough [peridah] that does not bear fruit. Should you say that they occupy one province, I reply, ‘they are in all the provinces of thy kingdom’. ‘Their laws are diverse from those of every other people’: they do not eat of our food, nor do they marry our women nor give us theirs in marriage, ‘Neither keep they the king's laws’, since they evade taxes the whole year30 by their loitering and sauntering.31 ‘Therefore it profiteth not the king to suffer them’, because they eat and drink and despise the throne. For if a fly falls into the cup of one of them, he throws it out and drinks the wine, but if my lord the king were to touch his cup, he would dash it on the ground and not drink from it. ‘If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver’: Resh Lakish said: It was well known beforehand to Him at whose word the world came into being that Haman would one day pay shekels for the destruction of Israel. Therefore He anticipated his shekels with those of Israel. And so we have learnt: ‘On the first of Adar32 proclamation is made regarding the shekalim33 and the mixed seeds’.34 And the king said to Haman, The silver is given to thee and the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee.35 R. Abba said: is Passover’.