Achashverosh's Shock and Fury/2

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Achashverosh's Surprise

Exegetical Approaches

Unaware and Fickle

Achashverosh had been unaware of Esther's Jewish identity, and being both drunk and foolish, did not immediately make the connection to Haman's edict.

Haman's request – This position assumes that Haman was upfront when discussing his plan to annihilate the Jewish people and that Achashverosh knew from the beginning both which nation was referred to and what Haman planned to do them.
10,000 pieces of gold – This approach might suggest that Haman offered the money as a bribe to the king, assuming that the foolish king would be swayed more by riches than by logical explanations or principles.
"לֹא הִגִּידָה אֶסְתֵּר אֶת עַמָּהּ וְאֶת מוֹלַדְתָּהּ" – This approach might assert, as does Lekach Tov, that Mordechai insisted that Esther hide her identity knowing that such secrecy might later play a role in saving the nation.  Had anyone known her religion, they would have surely kept her in the dark about any plots regarding the Jews.  Moreover, if Haman knew that his plot was to affect the queen, he would have likely been more careful in its execution.
How did Esther hide her identity?
Honor to Mordechai
Significance to hanging?
Esther's tactics

Misled by Haman

Achashverosh had been deceived by Haman, who had hidden the identity of the nation he was planning on destroying and/or misled him regarding what he intended to do to that nation.  Thus, it was with Esther's comment that Achashverosh first realized that Haman planned to annihilate the Jews.

Haman's request - "יֶשְׁנוֹ עַם אֶחָד" – These commentators point out that throughout Haman's speech, he never mentions which nation it is that he is referring to,2 calling them only "עַם אֶחָד".  Achashverosh, either due to trust in his closest adviser,3 or from ineptitude,4 did not ask questions and gave his stamp of authority without ever knowing that it was the Jewish people Haman sought to harm.
Haman's request - "יִכָּתֵב לְאַבְּדָם" – According to most of these commentators, when speaking to the king, Haman was purposefully misleading in choosing the language of "לְאַבְּדָם", a word which can sustain more than one meaning.5 Only in the official letters to the various states did Haman disambiguate, adding ‎"‏‎לְהַשְׁמִיד לַהֲרֹג וּלְאַבֵּד‎".6 The exegetes disagree, though, regarding what it was that Haman meant for Achashverosh to understand:
  • Religious persecution – Malbim asserts that the word "לאבד" can refer not only to physical destruction, but to spiritual destruction as well.7 Haman convinced the king that the nation's observance of different religious customs were detrimental to the kingdom and that they should be forced to abandon their faith.8
  • Exile – Y"S Reggio points to the verse, "וּבָאוּ הָאֹבְדִים בְּאֶרֶץ אַשּׁוּר "‎9 as evidence that the root can refer to exile and suggests that Haman told the king that it was best to banish the lawless nation10 from his empire.11
  • Enslavement – R. Astruc12 suggests that Haman told Achashverosh that the nation was rebellious13 leading Achashverosh to conclude that they needed to be subdued and enslaved.14
  • Despoiling - Alternatively, Haman hoped the king would assume that he wanted to plunder the problematic nation, understanding "לְאַבְּדָם" to mean that they would be dispossessed and lose their property.15
10,000 pieces of gold – Haman's offer is understood differently by the commentators, in line with their individual understandings of the connotations of "לְאַבְּדָם" above:
  • Self-financed – According to Malbim, Haman was saying that, in their religious fervor, the officers would be so happy to fulfill the decree that they would finance it by themselves. 
  • Tax replacement - Y"S Reggio might suggest instead that Haman was offering to pay the amount that would be lost in taxes if the nation was to be exiled.16
  • Profits – According to those who suggest that Haman's words were understood as either selling the nation into slavery or dispossessing them, Haman might be telling the king that the profits from such a sale/plundering would go to the royal treasury.17 
Different letters – Malbim points out that Haman sent out two sets of letters, sealed missives which contained the the identity of the nation to be killed and which were not to be opened until the thirteenth of Adar, and open letters which simply told the provinces to prepare themselves for war on that date.  Haman thus attempted to ensure that word of his true plans did not get back to Achashverosh until it was too late.
Did Achashverosh know Esther was Jewish? According to this approach it is possible that Achashverosh knew all along that Esther was Jewish; he simply did not know that the edict referred to Jews.18  As support for this hypothesis one might note that when pleading for her life, she never explicitly mentions her nationality as would be expected if it was unknown.  In addition, Acahshverosh's surprise is aimed not at who she is but at who could have devised such a decree.
Honor to Mordechai – According to this approach Achashverosh's honoring of Mordechai is not attestation of a fickle king who decides to exterminate the Jews one day and revere them the next, but part of a consistently positive attitude towards the Jewish nation.  In fact, according to most of these sources, this very attitude is what led Haman to hide the identity of the nation he wanted to harm.
Mordechai's report – Y. Grossman suggests that Mordechai told Esther both about the money that Haman meant to give the treasury "לְאַבְּדָם" and the letters that were sent "לְהַשְׁמִידָם"‎19 because he wanted to share not just the impending tragedy, but more importantly, the fact that  Haman had misled the king,20 telling him one thing but writing another.21
Esther's tactics - "וְאִלּוּ לַעֲבָדִים וְלִשְׁפָחוֹת נִמְכַּרְנוּ הֶחֱרַשְׁתִּי" – With these words Esther tried to make a rift between Achashverosh and Haman, suggesting that one was in the right and the other wrong.22 She thus "innocently" suggests that if the only wrong done was to sell her nation into slavery (what Achashverosh assumed he agreed to),  that would not be worth troubling the king over, but when the stakes are life and death she could no longer remain quiet.
Significance to hanging? Haman was perhaps killed by hanging specifically since this was the general punishment for treason against the king, and he was viewed as a rebel for having veered from Achashverosh's desired edict.23
Biblical Parallels – Y. Grossman points to several linguistic parallels24 between this incident and the story of Achav and Navot's vineyard, pointing out that in both cases someone acts with the king's seal to send a message that will decree death on another.  The allusion suggests that just as in the story of Achav the king was unaware of his proxy's actions, so too Achashverosh was not privy to Haman's real plan.

Playing Innocent

Achashverosh immediately understood that Esther was referring to Haman's plan which he himself had approved, but he feigned innocence so as to cast the blame solely on Haman.