Megillah, Daf Tet Zayin, Part 1

לא נעשה עמו דבר, אמר רבא: לא מפני שאוהבין את מרדכי, אלא מפני ששונאים את המן.

"There was nothing done for him" (Esther 6:3).

Rava said: [They answered him thus] not because they loved Mordecai but because they hated Haman.

Ahashverosh’s ministers answered that nothing had been done for Mordecai not because they loved him or the Jews so much. Rather, they hated Haman. Since it was Haman’s job to reward those who had helped Ahashverosh, by saying that nothing had been done for Mordecai, they were making Haman look bad.

+אסתר ו‘+ הכין לו, תנא: לו הכין.

"He had prepared for him" (Esther 6:4): A Tanna stated: [This means], he had prepared for himself.

Haman walks in on Ahashverosh, after having just prepared the tree on which to hang Mordecai. But a tanna reads this as foreshadowing Haman had prepared the tree for himself, for in the end, Haman, not Mordecai is hanged on that tree.

ועשה כן למרדכי, אמר ליה: מנו מרדכי? – אמר ליה: +אסתר ו‘+ היהודי, – אמר ליה: טובא מרדכי איכא ביהודאי. – אמר ליה: +אסתר ו‘+ היושב בשער המלך. – אמר ליה: סגי ליה בחד דיסקרתא, אי נמי בחד נהרא! – אמר ליה: הא נמי הב ליה, אל תפל דבר מכל אשר דברת.

"And do even so to Mordecai" (Esther 6:10).

Haman said to him: Who is Mordecai? He said to him: "The Jew."

He said: There are many Mordecais among the Jews.

He replied: "The one who sits in the king’s gate."

Haman said to him: For him [the tribute] of one village or one river is sufficient!

Ahashverosh said: Give him that too; "Let nothing fail of all that you have spoken."

The full verse states, "And do even so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits in the gate. Omit nothing of all you have proposed." The midrash adds in some dialogue to break up and better explain Ahashverosh’s rather long directive.