The king removed the ring from his hand and gave it to Haman ..., the adversary of the Jews. (Esther 3:10) The Gemara, Megillah 14a, states concerning this Posuk: The removal of Achashveirosh’s ring for the sealing of Haman’s decree was more effective than the forty-eight prophets and the seven prophetesses. For, they were all unable to bring the Jewish people back to the right way, but the removal of Achashveirosh’s ring returned them to the right way, since it brought them to Teshuvah, repentance. It is interesting to note that the Gemmara says, that the 48 prophets introduced no changes or additions to the mitzvos except for the reading of the Megilla, which they added as an obligation for all future generations. This fits beautifully: since the 48 prophets foresaw the powerful force of Teshuva that emerged from the miracle of Purim, they saw fit to add a Mitzvoh of reading the Megillah on Purim.
In retrospect, the Yidden respected Achashveirosh and held him in esteem as being a friend of the Yidden. On the other hand, Haman was known to be the arch-enemy of the Yidden. However, when Achashveirosh removed his ring, which had the royal seal, this revealed to the Yidden that Achashveirosh despised the Yidden even more then Haman. He was so anxious to sell the Jews out that he demanded no money from Haman. This brought the reality to their attention that they had a vicious enemy on the throne. This caused their souls to awaken to do Teshuvah. There was no where to turn, only to Hashem. When Hashem saw the sincerity of the Teshuvah, He performed unbelievable miracles. This scenario always follows Klal Yisrael throughout history. They settle in a country and feel some security and trust in a king or leader there. Yet suddenly out of nowhere, it is proven that the hatred is so great, that our friend is really our arch-enemy. The Gemara, Sotah 49a, states:
Upon whom can we rely? Only upon our Father in Heaven.
(Yehuda Z. Klitnick)
