Originally I had titled this post, "Thoughts on Esther." Then I wrote a giant post on just the first chapter and I'm not even done with the whole book. So look for a later post with the rest of my thoughts on Esther.
Vashti. The displaced queen from the beginning of Esther.
She's quite a minor character in the grand scheme of things, but her story is well known.
Was she wrongly deposed? Should women everywhere stand up for poor Vashti? Was this random queen condemned for standing up against sin and wickedness?
I have often heard that Vashti was right in refusing to come to her husband when he called for her because he was asking her to come dance for them naked. Well of course she should refuse! How wicked! What a sinful man to ask such a thing of his wife!
Let's read the verses:
Esther 1:10-12 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.
Huh. Where's the nakedness? Where's the dancing? It must be in there somewhere.
So I looked at the Hebrew.
It's not there either.
So why did Vashti refuse to come? Surely she must have had a reason. Here all of the even slightly probable reasons I could come up with for why Vashti wouldn't come:
- She was trying to save her husband from the embarrassment that would come to him when he recovered from his drunkenness and recalled what he had done. (It was not considered acceptable at that time for the queen to attend a party of men. The queen was protected and shielded from the public eye as much as possible in this culture; the other wives and concubines of the king were usually the ones called on to appear in such a public fashion.)
- She thought it was degrading for her to be asked to attend his party (as mentioned above, this would normally be the job of those considered "lesser" wives).
- She didn't want to be paraded in front of a bunch of drunken men simply because she was beautiful. (Talk about awkward.)
- She was busy with her own party (Esther 1:9) and didn't wish to leave it.
- She was also drunk, and not in her right mind either.
- She had just stubbed her toe and didn't want to walk on it. (Hey, I said even slightly probable!)
I simply don't think that not wanting to sin was one of her reasons. There is nothing in Scripture that indicates what he asked her to do was sinful.
"But wait!" you say, "Ahasuerus was a drunk, heathen king surrounded by drunk, heathen men! Surely he must have been asking her to do something sinful!"
Perhaps. I mean it's possible. But it's not in Scripture.
Another thing to consider is that although Ahasuerus was a heathen king, Vashti was a heathen queen. She wasn't a Jew like Esther who cared about what God thought. We don't even know that had he asked her to do something sinful that she would have been that put off by it. And that's the conclusion that I came to after all the study I did.
We don't know.
The reason Vashti refused the king is not there. You can argue one way or the other. You can try to read between the lines. But you can never be 100% sure because the answer is not there.
And do you know what I learned? That not knowing why Vashti refused her husband's orders is okay. because the story of Esther is about so much more than that.
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