Commentaire sur Esther 5:17

In majesty. Regal clothing. But our Rabbis said that Divine Inspiration enwrapped her,¹Maseches Megillah 14b. The text should have stated בגדי מלכות [regal clothing]. The inference is that she was cloaked in majesty itself, i.e., in Divine Majesty. as it is says, “And a spirit enwrapped Amasai.”²I Divrei Hayomim 12:19.

Up until half the empire. A thing that is in the middle and at the halfway mark of the empire; that is, the Beis Hamikdosh, which they started to build in the days of Koresh, and he reneged and commanded to discontinue the work.³See Maseches Megillah 15b. And Achashveirosh, who succeeded him, he too discontinued the work. The simple meaning of the verse is, “Even if you request half of the empire from me, I will give it to you.”

Let his majesty and Haman attend. Our Rabbis listed many reasons for the matter.⁴Ibid. What did Esther see [i.e., what motivated her] to invite Haman? In order to make the king and the princes jealous of him, [or], so that the king should think that he desired her and kill him; and many other reasons.⁵Another reason given is that she felt that the Jews would rely on her influence with the king rather than on G. She therefore created the impression that she abandoned them in favor of Haman, so that they would concentrate fully on prayer and penitence. (Megillah 15b)

At the feast. Every feast is called מִשְׁתֶּה on account of the wine, which is the principal feature.

And tomorrow I shall comply with his majesty’s command. That which you requested of me all these days, i.e., to reveal my nationality and lineage to you.

[Haman] restrained himself. He strengthened himself to control his anger because he was afraid to take revenge without [the king’s] permission. וַיִּתְאַפַּק is e se retint in O.F. [and he controlled himself].

[This] is meaningless to me. I do not care for all the honor that I have.

Whenever, etc. Our Rabbis said that he [Mordechai] would show him [Haman] a deed that he had sold himself [to Mordechai] as a slave because of lack of food when they were appointed—Mordechai and Haman as commanders of troops—in the same war.⁶Maseches Megillah 15a-b.