(20) And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,

Esther sent to the sages saying: Establish me for future generations. They replied: You will incite the jealousy of the nations against us. She sent back reply: I am already recorded in the chronicles of the kings of Medea and Persia.

Resh Lakish began his discourse on this section with the following text: “As a roaring lion and a ravenous bear, so is a wicked ruler over a poor people” (Proverbs 4:7). “A roaring lion”: this is the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, of whom it is written, “A lion is gone up from his thicket” (Jeremiah 4:7). “A ravenous bear”: this is Ahashverosh, of whom it is written, “And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear,” (Daniel 7:5

Ahashverosh: Rav said The brother of the head and the counterpart of the head — “The brother of the head”: the brother of Nebuchadnezzar the wicked who was called head, as it is written, “You are the head of gold” (Daniel 2:38). “The counterpart of the head”: the one slew, the other sought to slay; the one laid waste, the other sought to lay waste, as it is written, “And in the reign of Ahashverosh, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem

“That (hu) is the Ahashverosh. — [this means that] he persisted in his wickedness from beginning to end. [Similarly] “This is [hu] Esau”: he persisted in his wickedness from beginning to end.

“And the king was very angry”: Why was he so angry? Rava said: She sent back to him: Son of my father’s stable master, my father drank wine in the presence of a thousand, and did not get drunk, and that man has become senseless with his wine. Straightway, his wrath burned within him.

“And when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her for his own daughter” (Esther 2:7). A Tanna taught in the name of R. Meir: Do not read “for a daughter [le-bat],” but “for a house (i.e. wife) [le-bayit].”

Our Rabbis taught: What did Esther see that she invited Haman? R. Elazar said: She set a trap for him, as it says. “Let their table before them become a snare” (Psalms 69:23). R. Joshua said: She learned to do so from her father’s house, as it says. “If your enemy be hungry give him bread to eat” (Proverbs 25:21-22). R. Meir said: so that he should not form a conspiracy and rebel. R. Judah said: So that they should not discover that she was a Jew. R. Nehemiah said: So that Israel should not say, We have a sister in the palace, and so should neglect [to pray for] mercy. R. Yose said: So that he should always be at hand for her. R. Shimon b. Menassiah said: [She said], Perhaps God will notice and perform a miracle for us R. Joshua b. Korha said: [She said], I will encourage him so that he may be killed, both he and I. Rabban Gamaliel said: [She said; Ashvesosh] is a flip flopping king. R. Gamaliel said: We still require the Modai, as it has been taught: R. Eliezer of Modiin says, She made the king jealous of him and she made the princes jealous of him.. Rabbah said: [She said], “Pride goes before the fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Abaye and Rava both of whom said: [She said], “With their poison I will prepare their feast” (Jeremiah 51:39). Rabbah b. Abbuha found Elijah and said to him: Which of these reasons prompted Esther to act as she did? He replied: [All] the reasons given by all the Tannaim and all the Amoraim.