Мидраш к Бамидбар 33:55

And it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus. "Woe, woe," remarked Rab, "it was then that the prophecy in the Torah was fulfilled (Ib. 28, 68) And there ye will offer yourselves for sale unto your enemies for bondwomen without anyone to buy you." But Samuel explained: "(Lev. 26, 44) I will not cast them away, neither will I loathe them, to destroy them utterly; i.e., I have not cast them away, refers to the times of the Greek government; and I have not loathed them, refers to the time of Vaspasian, the Roman emperor; to destroy them, refers to the time of God and Magog." In a Baraitha it was taught: I will not cast them away, refers to the times of the Chaldeans, as in that time I set up for them Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; and I have not loathed them, refers to the time of Haman when I raised for them Mordecai and Esther; to destroy them, refers to the Greek, when I gave them Simon the Just and Mattathias b. Jochanan the High-priest and his sons, the Hasmoneon (Maccabias); to break My covenant, refers to the time of Rome when I gave them the House of Rabbi and the sages of that generation; for I am the Lord their God, refers to the Messianic future, when no nation or people will dominate over them. R. Levi based his [Purim] lecture on the following passage (Num. 33, 55) And if you will not drive out, etc. R. Chiya based his lecture on the following: (Ib.) And it shall come to pass that as I proposed to do unto them, so will I do unto you.

Rabbi Levi began: “But if you will not dispossess the inhabitants of the land from before you, those who you leave will be like thorns in your eyes, and like stones in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land you inhabit” (Numbers 33:55). [This verse] refers to Saul. When Samuel said to him: “Now go and smite Amalek” (I Samuel 15:3), he said to him: You went innocent and you returned guilty and spared him, as it is stated: “Saul and the people spared Agag” (I Samuel 15:9). A scion will remain from him, who will perform harsh actions against you; “will be like thorns in your eyes, and like stones in your sides.” And who is that? It is Haman, who said: “To destroy, to kill, and to eliminate” (Esther 3:13). When everyone saw that it was so, they began screaming: ‘Woe [vai];’ “it was [vayhi] during the days of Aḥashverosh” (Esther 1:1).