5 16 03

9:30a

Esther

Basic overview: The book of Esther is a story about a young, Jewish girl who gets selected as a replacement for the queen after the queen (Vashti) embarrassed her husband, King Xerxes. The story unfolds that one of the King�s most favored advisors, Haman, has it in for the Jews and intends to have them slaughtered. Because of Esther and her dedication to God, through prayer and fasting, she is able to alter the king�s decision slightly, and though the king can not rescind his decree that the Jews will be hunted down and destroyed, he sends out another decree which says the Jews can defend themselves. They do so and win and because they were saved, they set up an anniversary � a memorial of sorts � to celebrate their victory. This celebration is known as Purim.

This story has long-been one of my favorites. Some new thoughts occur to me this time through, though. First off, Vashti was deposed because she refused to obey the command of her king.

Mom brought up a point about this a little while back. King Xerxes was having a party for his subjects and the high-muckety-mucks of the nation. During the third year of his reign he had a six-month party. At the end of these six months, he gave a special banquet � for seven full days � at which the wine was free flowing. The queen was also giving a banquet for the women of the kingdom and the wives of the high-muckety-mucks.

On the seventh day of his feasting when Xerxes was in �high spirits from wine� (Est. 1:10) he commanded Vashti to come to him. His intention was to show her off as she was quite beautiful. She refused and this really ticked off Xerxes. So, he asked his advisors for suggestions on what to do. One of his most trusted advisors said that Xerxes should make an example of her; that he should make it a law that Vashti would never be allowed to be in the presense of the king and that her position be given to someone else.

Now, imagine this� you have a young king who has been showing off for six months. He�s been the big guy and getting so much ego-play that his opinion of himself has reached epic proportions. On top of this, he�s been partying with his buddies for seven days straight, getting a serious buzz on. Personally, I think he was drunk off his ass, but I�m not sure. The Bible isn�t really up on current inebriation lingo.

Anyway, he�s three sheets to the wind or so, and has been for seven days. Trust me, his brain is pickled. Meanwhile, Vashti is having her girlfriends over and they�re bitching and kvetching about the men and how they drink all the time and stay out till all hours of the morning and how they drink so much they can�t perform sexually. At the end of this estrogen-fest, the drunken sot sends seven men to tell Vashti she has to go into the King�s chambers so he can objectify her.

She doesn�t want to put on her skimpiest bikini. She�s just been eating chocolate and Ben & Jerry�s for a week straight. She doesn�t feel sexy, she hasn�t been emotionally nurtured and she�s not all that keen on being drooled on by all the king�s smelly, drunk poker buddies. So, to put down her foot and say she isn�t going to be exploited by men, to stand up for herself and refuse to be the playboy bunny, she refuses the king�s order.

Oops. Wrong time to burn your bra, honey. Here you go, a one-way ticket to exileville. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Mom�s point was that maybe Vashti refused Xerxes� order because she didn�t want to be ogled, touched, played with, drooled on, whatever. Maybe Vashti�s decision was the correct one for her personal safety. I mean, in this day and age, how many of you would volunteer to be pulled away from your girl�s night out to be objectified by a bunch of drunks?

Anyway, she ticked off the king by having an opinion (gasp gasp) and was rewarded for that opinion by not only being removed from the queenship but also by having a restraining order against her making it impossible for her to be in the same area as the king.

And why was that the decree? Because in his drunken state, Xerxes asked his advisors (who were also drunk, remember) for suggestions on what to do. The buddies were scared that their own girlfriends/wives would start having thoughts of their own too, following Vashti�s example. So, the buddies convinced their drunken king to make sure the women remained docile and subservient.

How�s that for a claim to fame? Vashti goes down in history as the chick who re-affirmed female subservience.

Okay, so there�s more to it than that, but still�

Anyway, that�s chapter one. Heh. I�ll go into chapter two tomorrow.

Just remember, girls, when your guy calls for you to put on the playboy bunny suit, you might want to think about Vashti. Of course, the fact that I watched The Full Monty adds an interesting twist. How far the world has come. Wouldn�t king Xerxes have a fit if he saw that movie? Heh

Interesting to think about.