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- When King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to attend his banquet wearing her crown to display her great beauty, he was entirely within his rights as a King and a husband. It was a state function and she was to attend in her capacity as a Queen (wearing her crown).
- There is nothing in the text that even suggests there was anything improper in his command.
- Queen Vashti ignored an official request made before a multitude of people at an official banquet. Her behavior could not be ignored.
- Queen Vashti’s refusal to appear is in stark contrast to Queen Esther’s reluctance to appear before King Ahasuerus. At one point Queen Esther had not seen her husband in 30 days because he had not asked for her.
- Haman, the King’s second in command, had a plot to exterminate all the Jews. If Queen Vashti were still Queen he would have had no opposition.
- God dethroned Queen Vashti and elevated Esther to take her place as Queen and protect his people.
- Esther and her fellow Jews were Jews who decided to stay in Persia and not be repatriated to Judea.
- One lesson from the Book of Esther is that God protects his people wherever they are. Even if they decide to stay in a foreign land.
- How many wives and concubines did King Ahasuerus have? Who knows? King Solomon had 1000 wives and 300 concubines.
- Now we see why King Ahasuerus made it a crime punishable by death to approach him in his inner court uninvited. If you have over a thousand women and their children in your harem you might like some alone time.
- King Ahasuerus was about 36 years old when he became King. 39 years old when Vashti ignored his command. 43 years old when he married Esther. The time spent between Vashti and Esther was four years. Ahasuerus was busy invading Greece during this time. Ahasuerus and Esther had been married about 5 years when Haman plotted to kill all the Jews.
- Esther was not involved in a beauty contest where there is one winner and everyone else goes home. They were all concubines of the King except Esther who was wife and Queen. They would live the rest of their lives in the King’s Harem.
- Esther was a willing participant in the Queen contest.
In the Book of Esther we are introduced to King Ahasuerus (Xerses I) of the Persian Empire. We find in the story that King Ahasuerus commands Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, to come before him so he could show off her great beauty. This was not merely a command from a husband to a wife but a command from a King to a Queen. She refused to come before him.
Keep in mind that a Persian Queen could not, of her own will, come to the King under the penalty of death. Even when Esther became Queen she was afraid to come before her husband without being summoned and at one point she hadn’t seen her King/Husband for 30 days.
Queen Esther was afraid to come before Ahasuerus without being summoned... Queen Vashti ignored Ahasuerus when she was summoned and invoked his great wrath. Who was the better wife?
So this caused a huge problem in the court of King Ahasuerus... the Queen ignored his command in a very public setting. Everyone knew it was a problem and knew the disastrous consequences. People follow the example of their leaders and rebellion against a King and a husband could create problems with citizens in general and with families specifically. So the wise men of the day advised King Ahasuerus to command that since Queen Vashti refused to come into his presence that she would forever be banned from his presence and also lose her Queen-ship. In addition, an edict would go out throughout the land that wives should respect and honor their husbands.
You see King Ahasuerus understood something the President of the United States and its other leadership does not understand; the foundation of a great nation is its families. If the families are weakened and re-defined... the nation is weakened. If families are strong... the nation is strong.
Imagine if the leadership of modern nations should send out a proclamation like King Ahasuerus did stating that “every man should be the master in his own house” (Esther 1:22). That takes moral courage and foresight, something that is lacking in our day and age.
Thank-you, almighty God, for granting me another day to breathe on this earth, to feel the sun on my body and to look upon your wonderful creation.
I think I lived sin free yesterday. Did I honor you yesterday? I did say some encouraging words to someone who was down hearted. Please examine my heart and if you find some impurity bring it to my attention. Help me to live this day without sin and to live honorably in your sight. Be with my mother and with Julie’s mother. Thank you for your power of healing that you’ve granted to my cousin Mark.
Thank you for my wife and all of my family.
Thank you for bringing Walker and Jo-Len together and for blessing them and me with their children. Protect my grand-daughters. Thank you for blessing my daughter with a man of faith.
Be with my brother who is struggling to become a man of faith. Thank you for David and Gus as we work to lead the congregation. Bless us with wisdom and insight.
Help me to be a better teacher. Help me Lord as I study to increase my knowledge and give me vision to see what is revealed in them. Bless me with wisdom and spiritual insight.
Say hello to all my loved ones and tell my father that I love and miss him. Thank you for Jesus Christ who has meant everything to me. It’s because of his blood that I’m your son and it is in his name that I pray.
The prophet Daniel had a regular schedule of prayer. He prayed three times per day on his knees. The enemies of Christ are also engaged in regular prayer… the Muslims pray on their knees five times per day.
“… our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the powers, the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness…” Ephesians 6:12
The Soldier of Christ fights on his knees in prayer. Dedicate yourself to the fight. Pray with regularity. Practice the art of prayer and become proficient at it. Defeat the Soldiers of Satan.
“The theory states that maintaining and monitoring urban environments to prevent small crimes such as vandalism, public drinking and toll-jumping helps to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness, thereby preventing more serious crimes from happening.”
It is well recognized among law enforcement officials that when small crime is ignored it leads to large crime. That goes against the idea that some have which is to ignore the small crime and focus on big crime.
You see similar attitudes about sin… ignore the small sin (white lies, immodesty, selfishness, bitterness, jealousy) and come down hard on big sins (Homosexuality, murder, adultery, theft).
Take for example sexual impurity. God wants his people to be sexually pure… no sexual intercourse except for between a man and a woman who have exchanged marriage vows. The small things that could lead to the big thing include; immodesty (the revealing of too much skin or clothes that are too tight revealing too much anatomy), physical contact (kissing, sitting in laps, touching private places) and inappropriate speech (of a sexual nature). In the case of sexual impurity if we control the small things usually the big thing will be controlled too but if we don’t then pretty soon God’s laws on sexual intercourse are violated and you find people becoming living together sexually or having multiple sexual partners or exploring sex homosexually.
A rock thrown through a window can lead to home invasion, theft and murder and small sin can lead to huge sin. Focus on the small sin and protect yourself from things that you never could have imagined yourself doing.
A mistake Bible students sometimes make is to read a passage superficially or fail to consider other relevant passages and make inappropriate applications.
Take 1 John 5:14, for example… “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us”
A superficial reading might lead one to believe that we can pray for “anything” and fail to consider that the “anything” is modified by “according to his will”
That’s why you see people praying for things like winning the lottery or that a boy or girl might “like” them or for one’s favorite sports team to win or for someone we don’t like to suffer misfortune.
This type of prayer reflects poor Bible study.
Consider James 4:3 “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures”
It is not “according to God’s will” that we pray for things that are self-serving. It is “according to his will” to pray for the necessities and not the extravagances of life.
It’s important that we become good Bible students so that we can make the proper applications of God’s word. God will not answer silly prayers and I suspect is insulted by them. Let’s make God proud of us in our prayer lives.
In Isaiah 58, God’s people are described as being eager to know and understand God. They prayed to Him every day. They prepared themselves for prayer by fasting and humbled themselves even in their clothing by wearing sack cloth and ashes. And yet they noticed and complained that God was not listening to their prayers and they didn’t understand why.
God reveals that he was ignoring their prayers because they were ignoring Him. Among other things they were not keeping the Sabbath Holy. They were doing whatever they wanted to on the Lord’s Day. In addition, they were ignoring the needs of others and only taking care of themselves.
It’s not enough just to pray every day and have the proper form of prayer. Something else is needed… obedience.
How about today? Does going to church mean anything? Is it easy to miss church services for any reason? Are we keeping ourselves sexually pure? Are we looking to help others who have needs? Do we dishonor God in our speech?
Don’t expect God to listen to your prayers without first listening to what God has to say. The communication goes both ways. Listen to God and obey him and your prayers will be answered bountifully.
