Tag Archives: Ahasuerus

Esther – Star of her People

God is not named even once in the book of Esther. And yet this story is really all about God and His sovereignty. This story relates how God took care of His people even in captivity. The Israelites were in captivity in Babylon because of their sin and rebellion in worshipping other gods while in the Promised Land. God punished them by allowing the Babylonians to carry them off out of the Promised Land and into captivity. But God did not forget them any more than He forgot His people when they were in captivity in Egypt 700 years before this.

God used Moses to lead His people out of the Egyptian captivity and into the Promised Land. He warned them that if they continued to sin against Him by worshipping other gods, they would be punished. He punished them by sending enemies to defeat them and carry them off into captivity.

God still loved His people and would preserve them in the land of Babylon. He would save them through the faithfulness of a woman this time – Esther. Later God would lead a remnant of the people back to the Promised Land during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

“Then let the young lady who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti.” And the matter pleased the king, and he did accordingly. … A Jew named Mordecai… was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. (Esther 2:4-7)

So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal palace in the tenth month which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. (Esther 2:16,17)

In last week’s story, King Ahasuerus had deposed his beautiful and virtuous queen Vashti. Eventually his anger over being rebuffed by this gracious woman subsided and he sought to get himself another wife. His advisors came up with a great idea, one sure to please this selfish, lecherous king. Let the king choose from among all of the beautiful virgins in the land by selecting the one that pleased him the most in the royal bed. King or not, this sin is horrible in the extreme. We must not underestimate the wickedness of the king’s actions.

esther's royal robesAnd so, King Ahasuerus chose Esther to be his queen. He apparently loved her very much. Perhaps Esther’s inner qualities of beauty stood out from among the rest of the women. She was certainly an obedient child in Mordecai’s care. Esther followed Mordecai’s command to keep her kindred a secret. If the king had known she was a Jew, he would not have been pleased.

Esther proved not only her faithfulness, but also her courage while she was queen. Soon after Esther became queen, Mordecai uncovered a plot to assassinate the king. He told Esther about it and she in turn told King Ahasuerus about the conspiracy. The incident was recorded in the king’s chronicles. At this time nothing was done to reward Mordecai.

During this time, the king’s highest official in the land was a wicked man named Haman. He hated the Jews and especially Mordecai. Mordecai refused to bow down when Haman passed by and this infuriated Haman.

To get revenge, Haman came up with a plan to exterminate all of the Jews throughout every place in the Babylonian kingdom. King Ahasuerus went along with Haman’s plot and the two of them set a specific date for the genocide.

Letters were sent throughout all of the land so the people would be ready to kill all of the Jews on the specified date. Mordecai learned about the plans and went to Esther immediately.

Esther was alarmed but she was not sure what she could do to help. If she tried to talk to King Ahasuerus without his permission, she could be killed.

Mordecai challenged her with these words –

Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this? (Esther 4:13,14)

Esther told Mordecai to have the Israelites fast and pray for three days and she and her maidsesther fasts and prays would do the same. She dared not approach the all-powerful king without the Lord’s protection. Here we see the hand of God in the background even though He is not mentioned by name. Esther and Mordecai had the faith to believe that God would preserve His people.

Taking her life into her hands, Esther approached the king. She had come up with a carefully devised plan that would save the king’s face while undoing the wicked Haman’s plot. She had several banquets designed to please the king. Haman was the only one invited. Haman was feeling mighty important and he even had a gallows constructed on which to hang his enemy Mordecai.

In the meantime, God intervened. One night the king couldn’t sleep and had his chronicles read to him. He found out about the plot to assassinate him and that somebody named Mordecai had saved his life. He asked his officials, “What had been done for Mordecai?”
“Nothing has been done for him,” they replied.

The king decided to honor Mordecai and asked Haman, “What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?” Naturally Haman thought the king meant him and so he advised the king to honor the man who saved the king greatly. How mortified Haman was when it was Mordecai who was honored!

esther's banquetAt the second banquet the king asked Esther what he could do for her. She admitted that her people were the Jews and that there was a plot to have them annihilated. The king (who apparently did not remember that he was involved with Haman) was outraged and asked Esther what should be done. She asked that the tables be turned on the perpetrators. She denounced Haman as the enemy. Haman was hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai and all of Haman’s possessions and titles were given to Mordecai.

The king decreed that the Jews were allowed to defend themselves. They would be allowed to destroy any army that tried to fight them and the Jews would be allowed to take the plunder for themselves.

The Jews rid themselves of all of their enemies and rejoiced in their deliverance. They instituted the festival of Purim. It is still celebrated to this day.

God had made Esther queen in order to meet the challenge that Haman constructed. Esther showed wisdom, patience, and much courage to do her part. She relied on God for His help. When we find ourselves in strenuous circumstances we should remember that God might have reasons for the difficulties we face. We can follow Esther’s example of seeking God’s face with fasting and praying and then totally trusting Him to lead us to do His will.

 

 

 

 

Queen Vashti of Persia

Now it took place in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to
Ethiopa over 127 provinces, in those days as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne which was at the citadel in Susa, in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants, the army officers of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of his provinces being in his presence… And he displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty for many days, 180 days. When these days were completed, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all the people who were present at the citadel in Susa, from the greatest to the least, in the court of the garden of the kings’ palace. …

MHH_map_Persian-Empire_500-BC
Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. Then the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him. (Esther 1:1-12)

Originally I was going to put Queen Vashti’s story with the stories of two other “evil” queens in the Old Testament. Vashti has generally been portrayed in a negative fashion and so my thought was to include her along with the other two “bad” queens, Jezebel (See post August, 2010) and Athalia (See post March, 2015).

Queen Vashti has been the poster woman for bad wives for many years. According to most sermons one hears, what happened to Vashti is a warning to all disobedient wives. After all, men have the right to expect their wives to obey no matter what.

So I was taught that Vashti was an arrogant, disobedient, ungrateful queen, but now I have studied the facts and I have a different opinion.

The bible says that King Ahasuerus wanted Queen Vashti to come into the court and display her beauty. At first, this doesn’t sound too bad.

However, historians tell us what went on at these Eastern banquets. The drunken friends of Ahasuerus were probably indulging in the pleasures of naked women for many days. The wine sodden Ahasuerus was insulting Queen Vashti by demanding that she appear, some say, wearing nothing but her crown.

Even if Vashti was not to appear naked in front of the king’s drunken friends there were other reasons for her to refuse.

  1. Queens usually appeared with the kings at festivals and sat beside them. However, if there was to be rioting and drinking, the queen was usually sent away and the king’s concubines participated instead. Perhaps Vashti refused to go to the king when his servants came to get her because the servants should have known that the queen was to be in seclusion while the orgy was going on. The queen did not have to lower herself to the position of the concubines or harlots at the banquet.
  2. Only the king had the right to gaze at his wife’s beauty. Vashti refused to debase herself by appearing in front of all the other drunken men. Though she knew she would anger the king, his command to her to appear offended her sense of propriety too much. Not only did the king’s demand lower her dignity as a queen, it was insulting to her as a modest woman.

Yes, wives are to obey their husbands generally. But wives do not need to obey if the husband Vashti refuses Ahasuerusis commanding sinful activity that goes against God’s laws. Ahasuerus was demanding his virtuous queen to be sinful. Vashti was very courageous to refuse her drunken husband’s command. In this case her disobedience is to be praised!

Vashti’s disobedience made the king very angry. His advisors came up with a plan that basically gave the king revenge on her. One of the king’s clever “yes-men” said to the king:

Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the princes and all the people who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on their husbands by saying, “King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to this presence, but she did not come.” This day the ladies of Persian and Media who have heard of the queen’s conduct will speak in the same way to all the king’s princes and there will be plenty of contempt and anger. (Esther 1:16-18)

This advice pleased the king of course. He acted immediately to protect husbands everywhere from disobedient wives. He sent letters throughout all of his provinces demanding that all women give honor to their husbands, great and small. This command is very humorous in light of the fact that Persian law already proclaimed that the husband was the master in his household. Husbandly rule in the household was already a well-established custom throughout the Eastern world.

Another aspect of this action that does not “ring true” is that immediately upon deposing Vashti, Ahahuerus was able to pick out another queen. The selection process for this queen would basically be a beauty contest. King Ahasuerus would test each and every virgin out in the royal bed. What a delightful solution for his dilemma.

That new queen of course would be Esther. I do not mean to take anything away from Esther’s obedience to her uncle and to God. She was faithful and God used her in His sovereign plan to rescue the Jews. Queen Vashti’s refusal to obey Ahasuerus was a part of God’s plan also. God used this situation to preserve His people while they were in exile for their own disobedience.

What can we learn from Queen Vashti? Should she be the poster child for disobedient wives? I don’t think so. Queen Vashti chose to risk the king’s anger rather than exhibit herself in a demeaning fashion and lose her modest dignity. Her own conscience was higher than the debauched demand of her husband. Along with her regal charm and beauty, her husband should have noticed that this woman was a woman of character. Ahasuerus sinned against Vashti. Queen Vashti had the courage of her convictions in the face of losing her position. She is to be admired for honoring the dignity of women’s modesty and for maintaining her self-respect.

Christian women today can follow Vashti’s example to honor the life that God has given them. Christian women can be careful about modesty and refuse to wear clothes that are immodest just because they are fashionable. Though women with high ideals may be ridiculed for their “old fashioned” values, women of courage who are after God’s heart will stand up to the ridicule and preserve God’s laws and their dignity.

We do not know if Vashti ever became a God-fearer, but her high idealism is an example for us even in this day of irresponsible moral values.