Esther 7:7, Question 1. Why does Achashverosh leave?

ז וְהַמֶּלֶךְ קָם בַּחֲמָתוֹ מִמִּשְׁתֵּה הַיַּיִן אֶלגִּנַּת הַבִּיתָן וְהָמָן עָמַד לְבַקֵּשׁ עַלנַפְשׁוֹ מֵאֶסְתֵּר הַמַּלְכָּה כִּי רָאָה כִּיכָלְתָה אֵלָיו הָרָעָה מֵאֵת הַמֶּלֶךְ

7. And the king rose in his fury from the wine feast to the garden of his house. And Haman stood to ask for his life from Queen Esther because he saw that evil was decided on him from the king.

  • It is very likely that Achashverosh left to “cool off.”
  • The Yad HaMelech points out that the verse stresses that Achashverosh left specifically when he was “in his fury.” Otherwise, he would have realized that it would be unwise to leave Esther alone with the murderous Haman. Alas, anger causes people to make silly mistakes.
  • Similarly, the Maharal sees the verse as stressing that Aschashverosh left from the feast.
  • Megillas Sesarim explains that his current state of inebriation increased his anger.
  • Rav Galico points out that although Achashverosh went to cool off, this is actually another example of hashgacha pratis (H-Shem’s supervision of the world) in order to incriminate Haman more.
  • On the other hand, R’ Moshe David Valle explains that Achashverosh was really upset with himself for giving Haman authority in the first place.
  • Perhaps Achashverosh was actually looking for a way to scapegoat Haman and consequently rid himself of him without seeming politically weak.

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