Overview of the Book of Esther
Friday, August 23
Read Esther 1
Think About It:
Vashti is usually remembered as the queen who disobeyed the King and it is suggested that her disobedience set a bad example for all the women of the court and of the land. King Ahasuerus has been feasting for about six months, this is followed by another feast for all the people, (men) from the least to the greatest, which lasted for seven days. It was the habit of a Persian king to have his queen beside him at a banquet, but when he wished to riot and drink, he sent his queen away and called in the wives of inferior rank—his concubines. Perhaps that is the historic clue to Vashti’s indignant refusal for she knew only too well that Persian custom dictated that a queen be secluded during the feasts where rare wines flowed freely.
- Why did King Ahasuerus want Vashti to appear before him and the many men who had been drinking and feasting? Was this a request that a sober man who truly loved his wife as Christ loved the Church, make of his wife? Had the king been sober he would not have considered such a breach of custom, for he knew that Eastern women lived in seclusion and that such a request as he made in his drunken condition amounted to a gross insult. What Ahasuerus demanded was a surrender of womanly honor, and Vashti, who was neither vain nor wanton, was unwilling to comply. To Vashti, the command of the king—her husband, who alone had the right to gaze upon her beautiful form—was most revolting to her sense of propriety, and knowing what the consequences of her refusal to appear before the half-drunken company would entail, refused in no uncertain terms to comply with the king’s demand. She stood strong in womanly self-respect and “refused to come at the king’s commandment.”
- Was Vashti wrong to refuse the King? Why or Why not?
Let’s look at this situation in another light. Suppose that you have a daughter, she is lovely, Godly, upright and behaves with dignity. However, her husband is a drinker, a boaster, he treats her as if she was his property, he has a controlling nature and expects your daughter to be submissive and obedient to his wishes. Now, your son-in-law has a week-long party with all of his friends, they have been drinking the whole time and in their drunkenness, they start arguing about whose wife or girlfriend is the most beautiful. Your daughter has been staying at your home during this time, and seven of her husbands’ friends come to your home and tells her that her husband wants her to come home with them so all the guys can see how beautiful she is.
- Do you encourage your daughter to go with these men because it would be wrong to disobey her husband? Or do you support her decision to disobey her husband’s unreasonable, insulting and disrespectful request? I realize that this is a long devotional. But I also think that we need to address the treatment of women in the Book of Esther. After rashly getting rid of Vashti, the King decides he is lonely. So Esther becomes one of hundreds of young women torn from their families to serve the selfish pleasure of an evil king. There is no love story here. Esther is forced to compete with other women to please the King and become his Queen. Just as God was able to turn the evil that Joseph’s brothers did in selling him into slavery, to a good purpose that benefited His chosen people, God was able to turn the evil perpetrated upon Queen Vashti, Esther and hundreds of other young women into a way to save his chosen people once again. God did not condone the behavior of Joseph’s brothers, nor did God condone the treatment of these women by an evil and selfish King and a society that did not value women except as property. But God was and is able to turn traumatic and evil situations around and bring about something good from them.
Family Time:
- The King had a banquet. Who else was having a banquet?
- What made the king so mad at the queen? What did he do with his anger?
- Don’t you think it would be hard to leave your own party for someone else’s?
