The next several articles are from the book of Esther. Of the many different forms of writing in the Bible, this one is a narrative of good and evil, peril and heroism. Even if you read through the next few articles with us, I hope that you’ll take some time to read through the entire book on your own. It’s just 10 chapters, and God delivers the original account much better than I ever could annotate on my own.
To establish the historical context for the book of Esther, it describes events from the time of the Medo-Persian empire (who we encountered in previous articles from the book of Daniel, when Darius took over Babylon after King Belshazzar was killed). While it has been more than 70 years since Jewish people were first exiled under Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, there are still plenty of Jewish people throughout the Medo-Persian empire, including in Susa (where one of the king’s palaces was located) [Thompson, p.192]. In fact, portions of the palace at Susa have been excavated by archaeologists [Thompson, p.194], so we have even more information about it than certain other places documented in the Bible
Xerxes is the current king, having succeeded Darius. Xerxes ruled from around 486-465 B.C. If I’ve got all my dates right, he ruled prior to the time of Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s recorded work in Jerusalem, in-between the end of the Babylonian empire and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. However, some of the Jewish people had been allowed to return to Jerusalem through a decree from King Cyrus. [Thompson, p.192; Mangano, p.11].
Apparently, Xerxes was kind of a womanizer / playboy (not to mention an adulterer), and there is corroborating evidence from a Greek historian named Herodotus that he had expanded his harem at another one of his palaces [Thompson, p.194]. His behavior recorded throughout the book of Esther is generally not something for us to emulate.
In chapter 1 of the book of Esther, King Xerxes just had an “open house” for 180 days, followed by a party lasting 7 days. Like Belshazzar’s feast when he literally saw the writing on the wall (see Daniel 5), the wine was flowing, and the “bartenders” had instructions from the king not to cut anyone off even if they had had too much.
On the last day of this week-long party, the king decides to summon the queen, who was named Vashti, in order to show her off to the people at the party. (Per verse 9, the queen had been hosting a separate banquet for “the women”.)
On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Karkas— to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at.
Esther 1:10-11 NIV
For reasons we can only speculate about, Queen Vashti refuses the king’s summons. This (and perhaps too much wine) makes the king angry, so after consulting with some advisors, the king banishes the queen and removes her from her role. Their logic isn’t very deep, though: they suggest that if the queen gets away with not obeying the king, women everywhere will start to not obey their husbands, and they don’t want that!
By the way, the list of eunuchs in this passage might just seem like names that we find hard to pronounce, but if you have a Bible handy, at least two of these names show up later in the book of Esther, and may be referring to the same people. Bigtha shows up un-favorably in Esther 2:21-23, referenced again in Esther 6:1-2. And, Harbona speaks up at an opportune time in Esther 7:9.
At the start of Esther 2, the king decides to replace the queen, so his advisors suggest something of a competition, a convoluted contest of sorts that falls somewhere between a beauty pageant and human trafficking. Beautiful young women from the empire are to be brought to Susa, given beauty treatments for a year, and then be evaluated by the king for the role of his new queen.
So, we have a start to this account. While we might applaud the queen who stood up for herself, the rest of this cast of characters doesn’t seem particularly noble or worth emulating. Let’s keep reading, though, both in the upcoming articles and in your own study, and see where things take a turn.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for July 7, 2024
References:
- The Lookout, July 7, 2024, © 2024 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The Bible and Archaeology, by J.A. Thompson, © 1962, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., p.166-171.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Esther & Daniel, by Mark Mangano. © 2001 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 