Midrash sur Esther 1:16

“Memukhan said before the king and the princes: It is not against the king alone that Vashti the queen has sinned; rather, it is against all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of Aḥashverosh the king” (Esther 1:16).
What did Memukhan see that led him to leap and offer counsel first? [One can learn] from here that the ignorant leap first. Rabbi Pinḥas and Rabbi Ḥilkiya in the name of Rabbi Simon, and Rabbi Elazar, and Rabbi Yoḥanan. One said: Our legal system is like their legal system, and one said: Our legal system is not like their legal system. The one who said our legal system is like their legal system, it is as we learned (Sanhedrin 32a): In monetary laws, and in matters of ritual impurity and purity, one commences from the greatest judge. In capital laws, one commences from the side.¹⁴Meaning., the lowest ranking judge. The one who said that our legal system is not like their legal system, what is the significance of “Memukhan said?” [It is comparable to:] The statement of Rabbi Yehuda appears to be correct. [Likewise:] The statement of Memukhan appears to be correct.¹⁵There is no indication who spoke first, and the reason only Memukhan’s counsel is mentioned is because his counsel was that which was accepted.
Rabbi Yoḥanan said there are three amora’im [who explained why Memukhan sought to depose Vashti]. One said: Because she would slap him with her slippers on this side and that. Another said: Because she did not invite his wife to the women’s banquet. And the other said: Because he had a daughter and he sought to marry her to royalty. The one who said: Because she would slap him with her slippers on this side and that, it is as he said: “It is not against the king alone that Vashti has committed an offense” (Esther 1:16). And the one who said: Because she did not invite his wife to the women’s banquet, it is as he said: “For the queen’s deed will get out to all the women, rendering their husbands contemptible in their eyes” (Esther 1:17); that [indicates that] she was not there. And the one who said: Because he had a daughter and he sought to marry her to royalty, as he said: “And may the king grant her queenship to another who is worthier than she” (Esther 1:19).¹⁶This opinion is alluded to by the fact that Memukhan brings up the possibility of a better queen.

Rabbi Zechariah said: || Merit is transmitted by the hand of the worthy. By the hand of Daniel the sovereignty was transferred to Esther, because he said to the king, Let not the king weep, since all that thou hast done thou hast done according to the Torah. And whosoever keeps the Torah, the Holy One, blessed be He, preserves his kingdom; for thus the Torah says that the man shall rule his wife, as it is said, "And he shall rule over thee" (Gen. 3:16). The king sent in all the provinces to do according to his words, as it is said, "That every man should bear rule in his own house" (Esth. 1:22). He also said to the king: "Let there be sought for the king fair young virgins" (Esth. 2:2). Not "all young virgins," but "fair young virgins." "And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti" (Esth. 2:4); and it is written elsewhere, "And the maiden pleased him" (Esth. 2:9). This refers to Esther. The Holy One, blessed be He, invested her with grace and love in the eyes of all who saw her. "And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her" (Esth. 2:15 ).