Almost every Sunday School child knows the story of Queen Esther, and how she bravely faced King Ahasureus (Xerxes, reigning from 486-465 B.C.) in order to spare the lives of her people, the Jews. When we’re young, we’re not told the whole story, really, because of some of its “adult content”!
In the third year of Ahasureus’s reign, he gave a sumptuous banquet for his military officers and the nobles and princes of the 127 provinces he ruled. For six months, he displayed the opulent wealth of his empire and his personal splendor. When that was over, he gave another banquet for all the people (men), great and small, in the courtyard of the palace. The garden was decorated extravagantly, with gold and silver couches arranged on a mosaic pavement of costly stones. Drinks were served in golden goblets, and the royal wine flowed freely, for the King had instructed his palace staff to serve each man as much as he wanted. And this feasting and drinking went on for a week!
Meanwhile, in the palace, Queen Vashti, the reigning queen, was hostess at a banquet for all the women. I am intrigued by Vashti’s story, although we are given the barest of details. We don’t know what the women drank—Kool-Aid maybe? I think they were not drinking a great deal of wine, because Vashti still had her wits about her, completely, as we shall see. On the seventh day, the King, in high spirits because of the wine, (he was just plain drunk!) sent seven of his attendants to call Queen Vashti. She must come to the King’s feast, wearing her royal crown which would signal to all who she was—and to whom she belonged. He wanted the nobles and all the other men to gaze on her beauty because she was a very lovely woman. Imagine! Several hundred drunken men ogling one beautiful woman—and who knows what other lascivious behavior would have ensued.
But Vashti refused! The King was furious. He consulted with his accustomed counselors who knew all the laws and customs. “What should be done to Queen Vashti?” he demanded. What penalty does the law provide for a queen who dares to refuse the King’s orders?”
One of the wise men answered, "It's not only the king Queen Vashti has insulted, it's all of us, leaders and people alike in every last one of King Xerxes' provinces. The word's going to get out: 'Did you hear the latest about Queen Vashti? King Xerxes ordered her to be brought before him and she wouldn't do it!' When the women hear it, they'll start treating their husbands with contempt. The day the wives of the Persian and Mede officials get wind of the queen's insolence, they'll be out of control. Is that what we want, a country of angry women who don't know their place?
"So, if the king agrees, let him pronounce a royal ruling and have it recorded in the laws of the Persians and Medes so that it cannot be revoked, that Vashti is permanently banned from King Xerxes' presence. And then let the king give her royal position to a woman who knows her place. When the king's ruling becomes public knowledge throughout the kingdom, extensive as it is, every woman, regardless of her social position, will show proper respect to her husband.’ The king and the princes liked this. The king did what [the counselor] proposed. He sent bulletins to every part of the kingdom, to each province in its own script, to each people in their own language: ‘Every man is master of his own house; whatever he says, goes.’ " (Esther 1:16-22)
After the King had calmed down a bit, he began to have second thoughts about the beautiful Vashti and what he had ordered. Since the ruling could not be rescinded, the King’s young attendants suggested that a search be conducted throughout the kingdom to bring every beautiful young virgin to the royal harem. There they would all be given twelve months of beauty treatments, and after that, the young woman who most pleased the King would be made queen, replacing Vashti. Each young woman in turn was to spend one night with the King, thus becoming a “secondary wife” who could not marry any other man. She must live as a recluse unless the King specifically sent for her again. And that is how Esther became the queen, for she had a lovely figure and beautiful face, which naturally pleased the lustful king.
Read the whole story of Queen Esther again; she was indeed very brave. She said, “I will,” and risked her life. I will go in to the King although he hasn’t sent for me. I will expose the wicked man who has plotted against my people. I will stand up for my Uncle Mordecai who has taken me as his own daughter. I will find a way to save my people. “And if I perish, I perish.” But Vashti too was enormously courageous. She said, ”I will not,” and lost her throne. We never hear of her in Scripture again.
Probably Vashti was not a believer in the God of Israel, but she was a woman who had the moral strength to tell her evil husband “no.” In those days, women—even queens— did not tell their husbands what they would or would not do, especially not with a whole empire of subjugated women watching. But Vashti did not let fear prevent her from doing right. And for that, I have to admire her.
MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)
Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com
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