Esther 1

Hello!

I have never read Esther before and I thought it would be really cool to read and study it together! Here is the link to read chapter 1 of Esther, if you haven’t read it already.

I didn’t really know a whole lot about the book of Esther, so I did some research. The story of Esther took place 100 years after the Babylonian exile. Some Jews did return back to Jerusalem, but most of them did not. The story of Esther took place in a Jewish community in Susa (which is the Persian capitol). The author of this book is unknown and God is not mentioned in this story, but you can see God's hand throughout.

In Chapter 1, King Xerxes threw a banquet (party) for 180 days straight. First off, I could not imagine celebrating like they did for 180 days. I don’t know about you but I would be all peopled out and I am not one to enjoy drinking that much. During these banquets, King Xerxes would lay out all of his best dishes and decorations. He would wear his best and most expensive attire and show off all of his wealth. This is normal for someone in this power. They would wear their finest gemstones, clothes, and gold.

While King Xerxes threw his banquets (which women were not welcomed), his wife, Queen Vashti threw her own banquet for the women in the royal palace. On the last day of the celebration, King Xerxes drank way too much and decided to make a rash decision and have a few men under his command to retrieve his wife, Queen Vashti, and bring her to him. When these men went to grab her, she resisted and told them no. This is probably because it was against the Persian law for a woman to appear in front of a group of men.

Obviously, King Xerxes was drunk and decided that he wanted to flaunt his beautiful wife in front of all the men who were also drunk. We all have seen what happens when people are drunk. They don’t make rational or smart decisions. When Queen Vashti turned down the men, the men reported back to King Xerxes. Of course, he is embarrassed in front of all these men and became fueled with anger. His wife just disobeyed a king’s order. In his drunken state he decided to meet with his wise advisers (which knew the law and customs). King Xerxes wanted to know what kind of punishment does the law say for a queen who disobeys the kings order. One of the men stated that Queen Vashti not only disobeyed the king but the people. He said that every women will look at Queen Vashti as an example and start disobeying their husbands as well. The group of them came up with an idea to create a new law that will banish Queen Vashti from the presence of King Xerxes and the king would be able to choose a new queen.

The Bible states that wives should submit to their husbands as to the Lord (Ephesians 5:22). This does not mean that you have to obey/submit to the things of wrong doing. The husband should be leading towards Christ and not for his own flesh. When King Xerxes wanted to flaunt his Queen in front of the men who were also drunk, this was against the law/customs which means that King Xerxes was not leading his wife as he should. I just got done with going through Ephesians at church and I think this ties well with Esther 1.

I hope you enjoyed reading through chapter 1 and I look forward to studying Esther 2 with you next week!

Created for a purpose.