As the great banquet nears its conclusion, a critical turning point emerges. The festive atmosphere deteriorates into drunkenness and boasting, culminating in a shocking royal command. While this decree is intended to shake the royal court, it is actually driven by Divine providence to prepare the ground for the salvation of the Israelites. The event unfolds on the seventh and final day of the feast. The king waits until this last day because, having finally shed his anxieties about the banquet's success, his mind is free to boast about his wife's beauty [שלום אסתר]. The primary approach among commentators is that this timing is not coincidental; the seventh day is the Sabbath. A stark contrast is drawn here: while the Israelites utilize their Sabbath eating and drinking for spiritual elevation and Torah study, the feasts of the surrounding nations descend into frivolity, immorality, and foolishness [אור חדש, מנות הלוי]. The king originally planned to cause the Israelites to sin throughout the entire seven-day festival. However, on the Sabbath, God intervened, sparking a chaotic sequence of events that would end the queen's life and abruptly halt the continuous chain of sin [מגילת סתרים].
Intoxicated, the king experiences a temporary high that quickly strips away his self-control. The joy experienced by the wicked is fundamentally flawed and incomplete because it is rooted in material desires, inevitably culminating in anger and destruction, which stands in sharp contrast to the pure joy of the Israelites [תורה תמימה, נחל אשכול, אור חדש]. The alcohol acts much like the venom of a serpent, ultimately severing the bond between the king and his queen [תורה תמימה]. Unlike the righteous who master their impulses, the king acts on a fleeting, drunken urge, issuing immediate orders without any prior consultation [אלשיך].
The royal decree demands that the queen be brought before the officials. According to the primary approach among commentators, the ministers had been bragging about the beauty of their respective wives. Eager to prove his wife's absolute superiority, the king orders her to appear completely naked, wearing nothing but the royal crown. This is intended to prove that her beauty is entirely natural and not the result of elegant clothing or cosmetics [תורה תמימה, מנות הלוי, צאינה וראינה]. Beneath this degrading demand lies a profound act of Divine justice, operating measure for measure. The queen had a history of cruelty toward Israelite women, stripping them naked and forcing them to perform labor on the Sabbath, thereby humiliating them and degrading their Divine image. Consequently, her punishment mirrors her crime: she is condemned on the Sabbath to stand naked before a crowd, a humiliation that ultimately costs her life [תורה תמימה, יוסף אבן יחיא, אור חדש].
Alternatively, this shocking demand is viewed not merely as the result of intoxication or Divine retribution, but as a calculated political maneuver. The queen, descending from Babylonian royalty, views herself as a monarch in her own right. The king seeks to publicly humiliate her, demonstrating that her royal status depends entirely on her physical beauty and his favor, rather than her noble lineage [מלבי״ם, אלשיך].
To deliver this summons, the king dispatches seven of his personal royal servants. These men are eunuchs, whose physical condition allows them to move freely between the men's quarters and the women's chambers [רלב״ג, ביאור שטיינזלץ], though some interpret their title simply as senior officials [רלב״ג, עמנואל הרומי]. By sending his own staff rather than the queen's personal attendants, the king deliberately underscores her degradation, treating her as nothing more than a common concubine [מלבי״ם].
The names of these seven servants are of Persian origin [אבן עזרא, עמנואל הרומי, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. However, some commentators uncover hidden layers within these names, viewing them as subtle allusions to destructive forces operating behind the scenes. They argue that such a deeply irrational command could not stem from human foolishness alone, but requires the intervention of disruptive, impure forces designed to destabilize the empire and ultimately save the Israelites. Consequently, the servants' names linguistically echo concepts of chaos, plunder, and absolute destruction [מגילת סתרים, אור חדש].