Vashti: More Than Just Another Pretty Face

Vashti: More Than Just Another Pretty Face

How did Esther, a Jewess, ever become queen to Persia’s King Xerxes? She was chosen from among the most beautiful virgins from all 127 provinces under Xerxes’ rule. They were taken into his harem, given special beauty treatments, and then paraded before Xerxes so he could select “the girl who pleases him to be queen instead of Vashti” (2:4 NIV ).

Whatever happened to Xerxes’ previous queen, Vashti? She was deposed for doing what no woman in that culture dared to do – she disobeyed the king’s command to “display her beauty to the people and the nobles” at the end of his week-long drinking party (1:11).

One commentary says she refused “to make a lewd display” of herself. Another says she refused “to do something beneath her station.” A third says “she refused to degrade herself to satisfy the king’s drunken whim.” While the biblical text and historical depictions of Persian culture support her reasons for saying no to Xerxes, the bottom line is that the king’s “experts in matters of law and justice” warned that “the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women” and they “will respond ... in the same way. There will be no end of disrespect and discord” (1:13-18).

In other words, during one of the darkest periods in Jewish history, God used the threat of a possible women’s liberation movement ignited by Vashti, to bring Esther to the throne and thereby save His chosen people from annihilation. The Book of Esther ends with the Jews creating the joyful holiday of Purim to celebrate the victory over the evil, conniving Haman.

Next March, when my Jewish friends celebrate how God used beautiful Esther to save His people from massacre, I’m going to remember how God also used another beautiful woman named Vashti to bring Esther to the place where she could be used.

By Larry Ondrejack