Ester 1:10-11 - A Little Purple Goes a Long Way

Ester 1:10-11: “On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was merry with wine, he told Mehuman, Bizetha, Charvona, Bigtha and Avagtha, Zethar and Karkas, the seven officers who attended Achashverosh, to bring Queen Vashti before the king [adorned] with the royal crown, to show the nations and the officers her beauty, for she was of pleasant appearance.”

Targum: “The righteous Mordechay prayed before HaShem (G-d), from the first day of the feast until the seventh day, which was the Sabbath. He ate no bread and drank no water, and on the seventh day which was the Sabbath, his supplication and the supplication of the Sanhedrin ascended before HaShem (i.e. was accepted), and when the king’s heart was merry with wine, HaShem unleashed upon him an angel of confusion, to agitate the feast.”

[The Targum has provided us with the background to the divine decree that the following events unfold as they do.]

“With this, [Achashverosh] spoke to Mehuman, Bizetha, Charvona, Bigtha and Avagtha, Zethar and Karkas…”

[The Targum now proceeds to expound upon each of the names of these attendants, demonstrating how the name carries the connotation of the corruptness of character of each respective personage. However, for our purposes, we’ll skip this stage of the Targum and proceed with the action:]

“…the seven officers whom the Master of the Universe shall ultimately eliminate and annihilate, who attended King Achashverosh during these seven days, and the king decreed upon these seven officers to bring Queen Vashti naked. [This was a punishment] for having [forced] the daughters of Israel to work naked, and to comb wool and flax on the Sabbath day.”

[Again the divine hand, unbeknownst to everyone else, is revealed, through the Targum, within the events of the megilah.]

“Therefore it was decreed upon her to die naked. However, the royal crown was [to be] on her head, in the merit that her grandfather, Nevuchadnetzar, clothed Daniel in purple garb.”

[In the book of Daniel, ch. 5, we read of the Babylonian King Belshatzar (Belshazzar) who makes a great feast at which, similar to the Targum's rendering of Achashverosh's feast, the Temple vessels are used to drink wine by the king, his wives and concubines. At this party, a mysterious hand appears and inscribes a cryptic message on the wall. After all attempts fail to interpret the "writing on the wall" (this is indeed the original story from which the famous phrase derives its origin), the Jewish sage/visionary Daniel, member of the royal Babylonian court, is called upon to demonstrate his interpretive skills and succeeds to the king's satisfaction. Belshatzar rewards Daniel with a purple garb and a golden chain. According to Jewish tradition, Belshatzar was Nevuchadnetzar's grandson. Curiously, the Targum seems to attribute this event to Nevuchadnetzar, in condradiction to the biblical narrative. In addition, Beshatzar was Vashti’s father, and Nevuchadnetzar was her great-grandfather. While true that the term “grandfather” could refer to an ancestor such as a great-grandfather, in this case Nevuchadnetzar, the problem would still remain that the book of Daniel is explicit that her father Belshatzar was the one to clothe Daniel in purple. Perhaps there is an error here in our text of the Targum and indeed “Belshatzar” should be substituted for “Nevuchadnetzar,” as well as “father” for “grandfather.”

In any event, the “purple” garment mentioned here is of a particular purple color known in Hebrew as “argaman,” and was a rare and expensive purple color generally reserved for royalty or nobility. For granting Daniel this dignity, a descendant of this wicked Babylonian king was likewise granted a commensurate dignity. We see therefore, that even the slightest good deed of even the most wicked does not go unrewarded. Vashti was to die for her wickedness, but the merit of her father was to grant her the final respect of dying with the dignity of royalty.]

“Therefore he decreed that she come before him [adorned] with the royal crown, to show the nations and the officers, for she was of pleasant appearance.”