Komentaryo sa Ester 1:12: Tze'enah Ure'enah & Rashi

“And the queen refused” [1:12]. Vashti did not want to come. Rabbi Yose said: she became leprous and she was ashamed. Some sages say that the angel Gabriel came and gave her a tail on her forehead.¹⁹B. Megillah, 12b. One asks a question. Scripture says, “to display her beauty to the people and the ministers” [1:11]. Why did they first show the queen to the ordinary people and afterwards the ministers? The answer is that the ordinary people were at the end of the table and thus they would see the queen first, before the ministers. Another explanation is that one should show the ordinary people the crown, which is something they desired, but to see precious stones and gold that shines. Therefore, it is written, “with the royal crown to show the people” [1:11], and afterwards it is written “and the ministers her beauty” [1:11]. That is, the ministers were not interested in seeing the crown, but would rather see the beauty of the queen.

One asks a question. Why is it written, “to bring Vashti the queen” [1:11]? It says Vashti first and afterwards queen. In the next verse it says, “and the queen Vashti refused” [1:12]. The explanation is that the queen responded to the king, I am a queen without you. I am a queen because my father was a king.²⁰B. Megillah, 10b. Thus, I was a queen even without you. Therefore, don’t command me too much. She also said, you fool, perhaps other wives are more beautiful than me and you will be a liar. If I am more beautiful, the ministers will kill you and take me as a wife.²¹Esther Rabbah, 3.14.

And the king laid the judgment before the ministers and said, “what shall be done to the queen Vashti, according to the law?” [1:15]. The king was ashamed that she should be killed. Therefore, he said, “with queen Vashti” [1:15]. That is to say, she was a queen before she became my wife.

Queen Vashti refused. Our Rabbis said because leprosy broke out on her,²⁴Ibid. Vashti did not refuse out of modesty. She was as lewd as her husband and would have attended had she not broken out with leprosy. Another opinion is that the angel Gavriel caused her to grow a tail. so that she should refuse and be executed. Because she would force Jewish girls to disrobe and make them do work on Shabbos, it was decreed upon her to be stripped naked on Shabbos.²⁵This punishment was in the form of מדה כנגד מדה, just as she had done, so it was decreed upon her. (Maseches Megillah 12b)

Angered. Because she sent him words of insult.²⁶ And that is why the king was extremely angered. (Maseches Megillah 11b)