The Book of Esther opened with the king holding a banquet for all the princes and nobles of his great realm that included one hundred and twenty-seven provinces. The glorious event lasted for one hundred and eighty days, and after it was over and the princes and nobles returned to their cities and provinces, the king held a second banquet for all the people, princes, nobles and commoners who lived in the capital of Shushan. While the second banquet, which was held in honor the king’s majesty and to celebrate his great wealth and glory, began as an accommodating affair that didn’t violate anyone’s individual sensibilities (Esther 1:7-8), it didn’t remain so. As the wine poured in abundance, the king became intoxicated, and the event turned quite ugly. Ahasuerus sent for Vashti, the queen, commanding his seven eunuchs to bring her to him, because he wished to show off her beauty to his princes and everyone else with them (Esther 1:10-11).
It was on the seventh day of the feast, that everyone, whose sensibilities didn’t keep them from drinking wine (cp. Esther 1:8), was quite inebriated, and this included the king. Ahasuerus sent his eunuchs to bring the queen before him, so he could show her to his princes, but the matter was a very crude thing to do in that Oriental culture. Had the king been sober, he would never have done such a thing, and would have slain anyone in his presence who might have suggested it. The king’s harem was not to be violated by anyone except the king himself, or his eunuchs who were no longer physically able to desire a woman. To make a great show of the beauty of the king’s wife amid a drunken audience was not only crude, it was a great insult to the queen (Esther 1:10-11).
Therefore, Vashti became outraged by the king’s request and refused to go to him in the company of the seven eunuchs, and Ahasuerus descended into a drunken rage over the queen’s refusal to submit herself to his desires (Esther 1:12). Present with the king were his seven princes, vis-à-vis those who were the leaders of the seven families of Persia, who were first in rank. Therefore, to save face Ahasuerus inquired of his wise men what should be done with Vashti. These men knew the law of the land, its customs and its history, and Vashti’s disobedience needed to be addressed in that context and not on a mere whim (Esther 1:13-15). His action was surprising, considering his drunken state, but wisdom would not prevail in this matter. At this point, one cannot help but be reminded of another drunken banquet in which Herod Antipas, in order to save face before his guests, had John the Baptizer beheaded (Matthew 14:7-10). While it is true, that the event concerning Vashti is told to introduce Esther into the record, the queen was innocent of wrongdoing. It is the king who behaved himself in a crude and ugly manner.
Nevertheless, instead of recording what the wise men told the king, the text mentions that Memucan, one of the seven princes of the Medo-Persian Empire, addressed the king. He, no doubt, was in the same drunken state as the king. He claimed that Vashti not only dishonored Ahasuerus but did wrong to all the princes of his realm, even doing evil to the commonest of his subjects. If nothing was done, the women of his kingdom would, no doubt, imitate her and rise up against their husbands, and refuse their commands, causing much contempt and wrath throughout the empire (Esther1:16-18).
Therefore, it was drunkenly put to the king to write out a decree, an unalterable command, to banish Vashti, so that she may never come before the king again, and let her royal estate fall to another. Let the king decree that all wives in the kingdom, whether great or small, honor their own husbands (Esther 1:19-20).
Memucan’s advice pleased both the king and the other six princes with him, and Ahasuerus did according to the advice given. Moreover, he sent letters to all the king’s provinces that the husband should bear rule in his own house. Thus, the drunken request of the king, rightly refused by the queen, became the impetus for more wrongdoing throughout the empire (Esther 1:21-22).
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