Esther 1:16

10-22 Ahasuerus's feast ended in heaviness, by his own folly. Seasons of peculiar festivity often end in vexation. Superiors should be careful not to command what may reasonably be disobeyed. But when wine is in, men's reason departs from them. He that had rule over 127 provinces, had no rule over his own spirit. But whether the passion or the policy of the king was served by this decree, God's providence made way for Esther to the crown, and defeated Haman's wicked project, even before it had entered into his heart, and he arrived at his power. Let us rejoice that the Lord reigns, and will overrule the madness or folly of mankind to promote his own glory, and the safety and happiness of his people...

Verse 16. _VASHTI - HATH NOT DONE WRONG TO THE KING ONLY_] This reasoning or arguing was inconsequent and false. Vashti had not _generally_ disobeyed the king, therefore she could be no _precedent_ for the general conduct of the Persian women. She disobeyed only in one _particular_; and this, to serve a purpose, Memucan draws into a _general consequence_; and the rest came to the conclusion which he drew, being either too drunk to be able to discern _right_ from _wrong_, or too intent on reducing the women to a state of vassalage, to neglect the present favourable opportunity....

EXPOSITION THE DISGRACE OF VASHTI (Esther 1:10). On the seventh day of the feast "to all in Shushan" (Esther 1:5), the king having excited himself with drink, took it into his head to send a message to Vashti, requiring her to make her appearance in the banquet of the men, since he desired to exhibit her beauty to the assembled guests, as "she_ _was fair to look on" (Esther 1:11). His design must have been to present her unveiled to the coarse admiration of a multitude of semi-drunken revellers, in order that they might envy him the possession of so lovely a wife. Such a proceeding was a gross breach of Persian etiquette, and a cruel ou

AND MEMUCAN ANSWERED BEFORE THE KING AND THE PRINCES,.... Who was the last, and perhaps the least and the youngest of the counsellors; it being appointed by the king, according to the latter Targum that when his counsellors sat, the least should give their counsel first; just as puisne judges, and the youngest peers with us, give their opinion in a case first: VASHTI THE QUEEN HATH NOT DONE WRONG TO THE KING ONLY, BUT ALSO TO ALL THE PRINCES, AND TO ALL THE PEOPLE THAT ARE IN ALL THE PROVINCES OF THE KING AHASUERUS; he means, by setting a bad example to their wives, as after explained; it is an exaggeration of her crime, and made with a design to incense the king the more against her....

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS THE BANQUETS AND QUEEN VASHTI DISOWNED CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The first feast of the king (Esther 1:1)_ 2. The king's feast unto all the people (Esther 1:5) 3. The queen's feast for the women (Esther 1:9) 4. The queen's refusal to appear at the king's feast (Esther 1:10) 5. The queen put away (Esther 1:13) Esther 1:1. King Ahasuerus, one of the leading characters of this book, is known in history as Xerxes I. The n

ESTHER 1. THE ROYAL FEAST. VASHTI'S DISOBEDIENCE AND DEGRADATION. The opening words in MT (and it came to pass) are in good Heb style, which shows that an able scribe wrote here. But they prove that something once stood before them. Even Paton translates, And afterward! After what? He says strangely, This expression is used in continuation of a historical narrative, and adds, lamely and incorrectly, It is an imitation of the beginnings of the older histories. The tale has clearly been truncated here, doubtless because the original spoke of Yahweh. A version of the original still exists in LXX: it is a sort of preface, saying that a Jew lived in Shushan (Daniel 8:2 *), who had a Perso-Babylonian name Mordecai, i.e. related to Marduk, Lord of Fate which the scribes would dislike and he was descended from the house of king Saul, also disliked by scribes. He was a court servant of king Artax...

Vashti's disgrace 10. _he commanded Mehuman etc._ The names of the seven chamberlains, or rather, eunuchs, who were sent to fetch Vashti, vary much in their form in the LXX. and other versions. Their derivation is, like their nationality, quite uncertain, inasmuch as the Persian market was largely supplied with men of other races for this purpose....

C. Decree TEXT: Esther 1:13-22 13 Then the king said to the wise men, who knew the times, (for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment; 14 and the next unto him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king's face, and sat first in the kingdom,) 15 What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not done the bidding of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? 16 And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the peoples that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. 17 For this deed of the queen will come abroad unto all women, to make their husbands contemptible in their eyes, when it shall be

THE DISOBEDIENCE AND DISGRACE OF QUEEN VASHTI 1. Ahasuerus] LXX has 'Artaxerxes,' but probably 'Xerxes,' the son of Darius Hystaspis, is meant, who succeeded his father in 485 b.c. INDIA.. ETHIOPIA] India here means not the peninsula of Hindostan, but the region near the Indus: ETHIOPIA is the modern Nubia....

GOD IS IN CONTROL Book of Esther _ROBERT BRYCE_ ABOUT THE BOOK OF ESTHER The events that the first chapter of the book of Esther describes happened about 483 BC (Before Christ). Over 100 years earlier, Nebuchadnezzar (the king of Babylon) had attacked Jerusalem. He overcame the *Jews and he took many *Jews to Babylon. Almost 70 years after that, the king of Persia defeated the armies of Babylon in battle. Then the people in Persia allowed the *Jews to return to their own country, but not many *Jews did return. When the story of Esther happened, most *Jews were still living in the country called Persia. We do not know who wrote the book. It may have been Mordecai or Ezra. Whoever wrote it knew the customs of Persia well. We know this from other history. The Bible does not mention the book of Esther anywhere else. Some people think that it is only a story. They think that it is not t...