מדרש אויף אסתר 3:12

וַיִּקָּרְאוּ֩ סֹפְרֵ֨י הַמֶּ֜לֶךְ בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁ הָרִאשׁ֗וֹן בִּשְׁלוֹשָׁ֨ה עָשָׂ֣ר יוֹם֮ בּוֹ֒ וַיִּכָּתֵ֣ב כְּֽכָל־אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֣ה הָמָ֡ן אֶ֣ל אֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנֵֽי־הַ֠מֶּלֶךְ וְֽאֶל־הַפַּח֞וֹת אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ עַל־מְדִינָ֣ה וּמְדִינָ֗ה וְאֶל־שָׂ֤רֵי עַם֙ וָעָ֔ם מְדִינָ֤ה וּמְדִינָה֙ כִּכְתָבָ֔הּ וְעַ֥ם וָעָ֖ם כִּלְשׁוֹנ֑וֹ בְּשֵׁ֨ם הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרֹשׁ֙ נִכְתָּ֔ב וְנֶחְתָּ֖ם בְּטַבַּ֥עַת הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃

און ד שרײַבער פֿון מלך זײַנען גערופֿן געװאָרן אין ערשטן חוֹדש, אין דרײַצנטן טאָג אין דעם, און עס איז געשריבן געװאָרן אַזױ װי אַלץ װאָס הָמָן האָט באַפֿױלן, צו די סאַטראַפּן פֿון מלך, און צו די פֿירשטן װאָס איבער איטלעכער מדינה, און צו די האַרן פֿון איטלעכן פֿאָלק; איטלעכער מדינה לױט איר כּתב, און איטלעכן פאָלק לױט זײַן לשון, געשריבן אין נאָמען פֿון מלך אַחַשוֵרוֹש, און געחסמעט מיטן זיגלרינג פֿון מלך.

Esther Rabbah

“The king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written in accordance with everything that Haman had commanded the king’s satraps, and the governors who were over every province, and the princes of every people; to every province in its script, and to every people in its language. It was written in the name of King Aḥashverosh, and it was sealed with the king's ring” (Esther 3:12).
“The king’s scribes were summoned...and it was written in accordance with everything that Haman had commanded.” It is written: “Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying: Every son who is born, you shall cast him into the Nile…” (Exodus 1:22). Pharaoh commanded, but the Holy One blessed be He did not command. You [Haman], what power do you have? “Who is this, who said and it occurred, if the Lord did not command?” (Lamentations 3:37). What did He command? “For with a powerful hand he will send them out” (Exodus 6:1); and so it happened to him. Moreover, “He tossed Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea” (Psalms 136:15).
Similarly, “in accordance with everything that Haman had commanded” – he commanded, but the Holy One blessed be He did not command. Haman commanded “to destroy, to kill and to eliminate” (3:13), but the Lord did not command. What did He command? “May his evil plot that he had devised against the Jews return upon his head” (Esther 9:25), and so it happened to him, “and they hanged him and his sons on the gibbet” (Ibid.).
It is written: “He who elevates his entrance seeks destruction” (Proverbs 17:19). One who elevates the pronouncements of his mouth and utters inappropriate matters from his mouth, the Holy One blessed be He breaks him, and in the pot in which he cooked, he is cooked. Likewise, with Yitro it says: “As it was in the matter that they conspired against them” (Exodus 18:11).
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Bereshit Rabbah

“They came to the threshing floor of Atad that is beyond the Jordan, and they lamented a very great and substantial lament there and observed mourning for his father for seven days” (Genesis 50:10).
“The inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, and they said: This is a substantial mourning for Egypt. Therefore, he called it Avel Mitzrayim, which is beyond the Jordan” (Genesis 50:11).

“They came to the threshing floor…” – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: We have reviewed the entire Bible and did not find a place whose name is Atad. Is there a threshing floor for a thorn bush [atad]? Rather, these were the Canaanites. It teaches that they were fit to be trampled like a thorn bush. By what merit were they spared? It is due to the kindness that they performed with Jacob our patriarch. What kindness did they perform? Rabbi Elazar said: They untied the belt of their loins.24They allowed their garments to hang down, which is inappropriate for labor or battle, as a sign of mourning. Reish Lakish said: They untied the ties of their packs. Rabbi Yehuda bar Shalom said: They pointed with their finger and said: “This is a substantial mourning for Egypt.” The Rabbis said: They straightened their postures.25This was a sign of respect (Matnot Kehuna). Alternatively, they stretched themselves in order to see Jacob’s bier (Maharzu).
The matters can be inferred a fortiori: If these, who did not move, neither with their hands nor with their feet, but merely because they pointed with their finger, were delivered from punishment, Israel, who perform kindness with their prominent ones and their common ones, with their hands and with their feet, all the more so. Rabbi Abahu said: Those seventy days between missive and missive26The first missive called for the utter destruction of the Jewish people (Esther 3:12), and the second missive allowed the Jews to assemble and defend themselves (Esther 8:9). correspond to the seventy days that the Egyptians performed kindness with Jacob our patriarch.27Jacob’s merit saved the Jews from destruction, but this merit was suspended for seventy days, corresponding to the days on which the Egyptians mourned Jacob.
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