But when the attendants delivered the king’s command, Queen Vashti refused to come... Esther 1:12
I wrote last time about the book of Esther, and how God intervened in the crisis confronting the people of Israel when the Persians threatened them with extermination. Especially, how he used Esther, an ordinary young woman, to bring about their rescue.
The story featured three main characters, apart from Esther - Xerxes the king, who stupidly allowed the plot to be hatched; Mordecai, Esther’s uncle and guardian, who advised her and used his influence with the king; and Haman, the cruel official behind the whole thing.
It’s a powerful and stirring story.
But wait a minute... Isn’t there someone else? Someone else it’s easy to overlook? Isn’t there another woman as well as Esther?
Yes, there is. Queen Vashti disappears from the story after the first chapter. But if it hadn’t been for her the whole thing would never have happened.
The story is simple... King Xerxes, drunk on his own power and magnificence, puts on a massive, garish display for around six months, and then throws a fantastic party that goes on for seven days. As a climax to the festivities - when he is “in high spirits from wine” (note that!) - he decides it would be a good idea to put his beautiful wife, Queen Vashti, on display for everyone to gawp at. He sends a group of servants to fetch her.
But... “Queen Vashti refused to come.” If ever there were five explosive words, there they are.
I wonder what Xerxes’ face looked like when they told him? “Sorry, my lord, but her majesty says she won’t come...” “She won’t come! What are you talking about? Of course she’ll come. Bring her here immediately!” He is “furious and burns with anger”.
But no... Queen Vashti refused to come.
As a result she is banished from the palace - and the way is opened up for a replacement. Enter Esther... and the rest, as they say, is history.
It’s hard to exaggerate the courage of Vashti in this episode. Throughout the ancient world women were expected to be subservient to men, especially wives to husbands. And when your husband is the king...! and such a king as Xerxes...!
In recent times especially, Christians have argued over exactly how the New Testament verse “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22) should be applied today. I don’t think the Vashti story should be pressed into service in that debate - the historical and religious context is completely different.
But even so, I’m glad that the Bible itself gives us this striking example of a woman who, well, simply refused to submit to her husband. And I find it hard to imagine anyone reading the story at any point in history without responding with a heart-felt “Good for you, Vashti!”
How far Xerxes and Vashti are from the innocence and purity of Eden before the fall, when Adam and Eve worked together as equal partners in God’s clean, beautiful, new creation. How far too from those other New Testament words of Paul: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...” (Ephesians 5:25). For Xerxes, it seems that Vashti was just a piece of property, not a partner to be cherished and valued. A trophy wife if ever there was one.
What a stain on human history is the disgusting brutishness with which untold numbers of men have treated women - and still do, of course. And what a burden - and privilege - rests upon the church to demonstrate to our fallen world something of what God intends for relationships between husbands and wives in particular, and between men and women in general.
If Vashti hadn’t “refused to come”, we can only guess what might have happened. Presumably Haman would have gone ahead with his plan and his genocidal intentions would have been carried out.
But God saw the end from the beginning, and just as he had Esther lined up to play a key role in the deliverance of her people, so also he had Queen Vashti lined up to set the ball rolling. If Esther was courageous in the way she acted (“and if I die, I die”), you could say that Vashti was even more so.
I wonder if Queen Vashti can stand as an example to some of us today, men as well as women, as we find ourselves confronted by cruelty, stupidity, injustice and prejudice.
Whatever, how about a round of applause for perhaps the bravest woman in the Bible: the woman who refused to come.
Lord God, hear our prayers for all people, men and women, individuals and groups, who are victims of bullying, prejudice and injustice. Give them the courage of Vashti and Esther, and give us the concern to stand for them in any ways we can. Amen.
I wrote last time about the book of Esther, and how God intervened in the crisis confronting the people of Israel when the Persians threatened them with extermination. Especially, how he used Esther, an ordinary young woman, to bring about their rescue.
The story featured three main characters, apart from Esther - Xerxes the king, who stupidly allowed the plot to be hatched; Mordecai, Esther’s uncle and guardian, who advised her and used his influence with the king; and Haman, the cruel official behind the whole thing.
It’s a powerful and stirring story.
But wait a minute... Isn’t there someone else? Someone else it’s easy to overlook? Isn’t there another woman as well as Esther?
Yes, there is. Queen Vashti disappears from the story after the first chapter. But if it hadn’t been for her the whole thing would never have happened.
The story is simple... King Xerxes, drunk on his own power and magnificence, puts on a massive, garish display for around six months, and then throws a fantastic party that goes on for seven days. As a climax to the festivities - when he is “in high spirits from wine” (note that!) - he decides it would be a good idea to put his beautiful wife, Queen Vashti, on display for everyone to gawp at. He sends a group of servants to fetch her.
But... “Queen Vashti refused to come.” If ever there were five explosive words, there they are.
I wonder what Xerxes’ face looked like when they told him? “Sorry, my lord, but her majesty says she won’t come...” “She won’t come! What are you talking about? Of course she’ll come. Bring her here immediately!” He is “furious and burns with anger”.
But no... Queen Vashti refused to come.
As a result she is banished from the palace - and the way is opened up for a replacement. Enter Esther... and the rest, as they say, is history.
It’s hard to exaggerate the courage of Vashti in this episode. Throughout the ancient world women were expected to be subservient to men, especially wives to husbands. And when your husband is the king...! and such a king as Xerxes...!
In recent times especially, Christians have argued over exactly how the New Testament verse “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22) should be applied today. I don’t think the Vashti story should be pressed into service in that debate - the historical and religious context is completely different.
But even so, I’m glad that the Bible itself gives us this striking example of a woman who, well, simply refused to submit to her husband. And I find it hard to imagine anyone reading the story at any point in history without responding with a heart-felt “Good for you, Vashti!”
How far Xerxes and Vashti are from the innocence and purity of Eden before the fall, when Adam and Eve worked together as equal partners in God’s clean, beautiful, new creation. How far too from those other New Testament words of Paul: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...” (Ephesians 5:25). For Xerxes, it seems that Vashti was just a piece of property, not a partner to be cherished and valued. A trophy wife if ever there was one.
What a stain on human history is the disgusting brutishness with which untold numbers of men have treated women - and still do, of course. And what a burden - and privilege - rests upon the church to demonstrate to our fallen world something of what God intends for relationships between husbands and wives in particular, and between men and women in general.
If Vashti hadn’t “refused to come”, we can only guess what might have happened. Presumably Haman would have gone ahead with his plan and his genocidal intentions would have been carried out.
But God saw the end from the beginning, and just as he had Esther lined up to play a key role in the deliverance of her people, so also he had Queen Vashti lined up to set the ball rolling. If Esther was courageous in the way she acted (“and if I die, I die”), you could say that Vashti was even more so.
I wonder if Queen Vashti can stand as an example to some of us today, men as well as women, as we find ourselves confronted by cruelty, stupidity, injustice and prejudice.
Whatever, how about a round of applause for perhaps the bravest woman in the Bible: the woman who refused to come.
Lord God, hear our prayers for all people, men and women, individuals and groups, who are victims of bullying, prejudice and injustice. Give them the courage of Vashti and Esther, and give us the concern to stand for them in any ways we can. Amen.
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