ויאמר מומכן [ממוכן] לפני המלך והשרים
“Memuchan declared in the presence of the king and the ministers.” (Esther 1:16)
The Gemara says that the name ממוכן in Megillas Esther refers to Haman who was: מוכן לפורענות – “Prepared, or destined, for punishment”. How does the name ממוכן imply punishment? And secondly if Haman was “prepared for punishment,” he should have been called מוכן not ממוכן. What is the purpose of the extra letter mem?
Rabbeinu Bechaye (Bereishis 36:12) writes that the Name of Hashem which has the power to defeat Amalek is the Name of forty letters. Therefore, Haman was called Memuchan, Muchan because he was prepared for punishment and Memuchan because it is the Holy Name of forty letters (the gematria of “mem” is forty) which would bring about that punishment.
The number forty is mentioned in several places in the context of Haman's defeat. The Medrash states that the pole upon which Haman was hanged was fifty amos high, but ten amos were embedded into the ground, and thus Haman’s body was suspended forty amos above the ground. The Targum (Esther 9:14) says that the bodies of Haman and his sons, who were hanged one after the other, occupied forty amos of the fifty-amos pole. In that sense Haman indeed was punished by the number forty (the forty amos of the pole).
Additionally, the Targum Sheini (2:5) says that Mordechai was exactly the fortieth generation after Yaakov Avinu. Hence, Mordechai and his generation were the “forty” that struck Haman.
Why the “Vav” Is Between the Two “Mems”
Why in the aforementioned pasuk is his name now written with the “vav” between the two “mems” (מומכן) and not with the “vav” after the two “mems” (ממוכן), as in 1:14 and 1:21?
The Chida in Nechel Eshkol explains as follows: The Gemara in Megillah (12b) teaches that Memuchan is Haman, who was “muchan” — “destined” (מוכן) for trouble (to be hung). The Medrash (Manos HaLevi) says that Haman’s reign lasted only seventy days. This is derived from the pasuk: כי כן צוה לו המלך - “For so had the King commanded concerning him” (3:2) — since the word כן has the numerical value of seventy.
When Memuchan is spelled with a “vav” between the two “mems,” it is a combination of two words “mum chein” meaning that Haman was a blemish (מום) and indicating prophetically that the Jewish people would suffer from this blemish only “chein” (כן) for seventy days.
