We continue today with the reading of the Rev. Louis Debord's commentary on the book of Esther. Last time Rev. Debord, in the introduction, related that the name of God is not mentioned in the book. However, he noted that God does reveal himself in various ways. These include that he reveals himself by his creation, by his word, and by his providence. The book of Esther is a written revelation of God working through Providence. We see God working through Providence first in chapter 2, a royal divorce. After identifying Ahasuerus as Xerxes, that is Darius Hystapis' son, king of Persia, we are told of the circumstances of the divorce of Vashti, the queen. This concerns the second part of chapter 2 of which we will read today. Esther chapter 1 verse 2, that in those days when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom which was in Shushan the palace, having identified Ahasuerus we are next told where he is. First we are told he is on his throne for many kingdoms that would settle the entire question of where he is and where our story takes place. But the kings of Persia were always on their throne, even in their travels and in their battles they were always seated on a throne. But the writer specifies that it is the throne of his kingdom, that in itself might be an indication that he is on the main throne in the capital of his kingdom. But the writer goes on and specifically answers this question also. Ahasuerus is in his palace in Shushan. The biblical city of Shushan is the city that is otherwise known as Susha. It is located between the rivers Shafur and Dizful on the southeast end of the Great Mesopotamian Plain. It is a very old city, having been the ancient Elamite capital. Its history dates back to the days of Abraham and Shadolaomer, king of Elam. But by Ahasuerus' time, it was the new capital of the Persian Empire. The old capitals were Ekbatana in the north, and Persepolis in the south. These were located in Persia proper, the modern country of Iran. Ecbatana was the traditional Persian capital, but Darius Hystapus had made another capital in Persopolis. These may have been the respective summer and winter capitals of Persia. As the empire grew, and the newly acquired western provinces such as Mesopotamia, the kingdom of Lydia Asia Minor, and Egypt became the more important parts of the empire. The capital was moved westward. It was especially important for the capital to move west of the Zagros Mountains, which made travel westward from the old capitals virtually impossible in the winter months. so Shushan became the new capital of the expanded Persian Empire. Esther chapter 1 verses 3 and 4 In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants, the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him. when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and four score days. The author of this inspired tale of sacred history is still in the process of giving us the complete setting for the drama that is to follow. Having identified the reigning monarch and the place, we now have the time In ancient days the time was reckoned differently from today. The calendar contained the months of the year as ours does, but the years were calculated in a more parochial way. Years were generally counted as the year of the reign of the current king. In a way we do the same thing, as all our years are dated A.D. for Anno Domini. Latin for the year of the Lord. We count the years from the birth year of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but we count the years from Adam to Christ simply as years BC, that is years before Christ. This way we can arrange things chronologically very simply without being an expert in ancient history. But obviously it is not possible for the writer to use that system, and he merely tells us that the time is in the third year of the reign of Ahasuerus. There is an event that takes place at this time and at this place that triggers the whole chain of events that is recorded in this book. The writer directs our attention to this event, a great feast at the royal palace of Shushan. Esther chapter 1 verses 3 through 5. In the third year of his reign he made a feast unto all the princes and his servants, the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces being before him, when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and four score days. And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Sushan the palace, both under great and small, seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace." The text can sometimes be misunderstood here. Some may gain the impression that there are two feasts, and that the first feast lasted a grand total of 180 days. there is only one feast. In verse 3 we are told that Ahasuerus made a feast for his princes and servants. This is the only feast that takes place. The rest of the verse 3 and verse 4 gives the occasion of the feast and its exact timing. When Ahasuerus had assembled the power of Persia and Media, and the princes and nobles in his presence, and when he had impressed them for a hundred and eighty days with the wealth, splendor, and power of his kingdom, then he holds this feast. The power of Persia and Media means the military forces, or what we would call the army. This undoubtedly refers to his generals and other military commanders. The civil administrations of the various provinces were represented by the princes and nobles. Ahasuerus had gathered the civil and military might of his empire into Shushan for a period of 180 days. Why would he do such a thing? We have indication from sources in secular history. There we are told that about this time in his reign Xerxes gathered the chief men of his kingdom to Susha to consult with them concerning his planned military campaign against Greece. The military campaign of this magnitude, involving logistical and military support from many of his 127 provinces, would take months of planning. It would also explain why he spent so much time impressing his guests with the wealth and power of his kingdom. It was more than mere vanity. Ahasuerus needed to strengthen weak hearts and ensure any waverers in his kingdom that he was so powerful that he could not lose. He could not afford a lot of fence-sitters, or worse, those that might take the occasion of his preoccupation with an extended campaign against Greece to revolt. Esther chapter 1 verses 5 through 8. And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Sushan the palace, both under great and small, seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace, where were white, green, and blue hangings, fasted with cords of fine linen, and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble. The beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble. And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, the vessels being diverse one from another, and royal wine in abundance according to the state of the king." and the drinking was according to the law. None did compel, for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house that they should do according to every man's pleasure. After six months of planning and preparation, it is logical that there would be a great feast to toast the coming enterprise. The entire royal court, all those present in the palace, are invited to this seven-day feast. We can envision the excessive luxury. We sit down to dine. The Persians, as many other Orientals, recline on couches to feast. The lavishness of the setting, of the couches, and of the utensils are described in verses six and seven. We can imagine the Great Hall with its hundreds or thousands of guests ringing with toast after toast to the great king and his glorious enterprise. One could easily become inebriated, especially if one felt compelled to join in every toast because of political expediency. So the writer points out to us that, as provided by law, none were required to drink more than they freely choose to. Esther 1.9. Also Vashti, the queen, made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to King Ahasuerus. It seems that the men were dining by themselves at this feast. This may have been because military campaigns are man's business, or because this was the custom of the Persians as some commentators believe. At any rate, the women are not included in the great feast of the Hashuiris. Instead, they are entertained at a lesser feast hosted by Vashti, the queen. Again, everyone in the palace, all the females of the royal court, are invited. Commentators have had no success in trying to identify this queen from sources in secular history. The name Vashti itself may not be her real name, but merely an appellation, for Vashti means beautiful woman in Persian. Esther chapter 1 verses 10 through 12. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was murrayed with wine, he commanded Mahuman, Bista, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas. the seven chamberlains, that served in the presence of the Hasheurus, the king, to bring Vashti, the queen, before the king with the crown royal, to show the people and the princes her beauty, for she was fair to look upon. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains. Therefore was the king very wrought, and his anger burned in him. As the feast reaches its Bacchanalean climax, Ahasuerus calls for his wife to entertain his guests. He instructs the Chamberlains to fetch her. The word for Chamberlain is eunuch in the Hebrew. Eunuchs were generally in charge of the king's harem. This was to ensure the sexual purity of the king's wives and concubines. The politics of a polygamous household are extremely competitive, as the rival wives jockey for position and influence. This is even evidenced with Sarah and Hagar, as with Leah and Rachel. The chamberlains can be very influential in promoting one wife or demoting another. They can constantly bring one to the king's attention. and cause another to be perpetually ignored. The temptations they face with power over so many beautiful women, all anxious for their influence on their behalf, causes kings not to entrust their harems to normal men, but only to those who have been emasculated and cannot be tempted. But when they instruct Vashti to come at the king's command, they are met with a determined refusal. Why did Vashti refuse to come? It seems almost impossible that she should have refused to come. Ahasuerus was such a great and tyrannical potentate. To intrude into his royal presence without authorization was a death sentence. Women in such cultures were expected to obey. It seems incredible that she would refuse to obey and defy the king. The only two reasons that seem logical are either modesty or pride. Historians tell us that the kings of Persia normally dined with their wives. However, when the feast turned riotous and drunken, and all decorum was cast aside, they would dismiss their wives and call for their concubines. Wives were often married for reasons of state, but concubines were married for their beauty. The concubines would then entertain the king and his guests as Salome, the daughter of Herodias, entertained Herod at his birthday feast. In modern parlance they were calling for the dancing girls to provide some immodest entertainment. All this gives us two reasons why Vashti may have refused to come, and either one or both could apply. First of all, it may have been modesty. At the end of the feast, when men were the most riotous and drunken, she had no inclination to use her beauty to incite lust and to provide the subject for crude humor and immodest jesting. Secondly, she may have refused out of pride. She was a legitimate wife, and it may have been beneath her dignity to be treated as a common concubine. Whatever the reason is, we can only speculate. The writer does not explicitly tell us why, but only states her refusal. as on that fact the entire story of Esther hinges. Esther chapter 1 verses 13 through 15. Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment. And the next unto him was Carshina, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Marais, Marcina, and Mamucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face, and which sat the first in the kingdom. What shall we do unto Queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by his chamberlains? The disobedience of a wife is obviously an unusual circumstance, so unusual that Ahasuerus is clearly perplexed and decides to consult his advisors for an appropriate response. Wise men who knew the times probably refers to astrologers whose counsel is determined by the timing of certain celestial bodies in their courses. In verse 15 Ahasuerus makes it clear that he wants to deal with Vashti's disobedience according to the law, and it is in that context that we ought to interpret the parenthetical statements in verses 13b and 14. We have already been told that the king had burned with anger at Vashti. He could have simply and immediately ordered her death. While it is true that the laws of the Medes and the Persians do not change, there was nothing prohibiting Ahasuerus from making such a decree. The immutability of the law simply made such decrees irrevocable. His predecessor Darius the Mede discovered that to his chagrin, when he was reluctantly compelled to cast his most beloved counselor Daniel into the den of the lions." Ahasuerus could have dealt with Vashti in his anger he seems to have had the wisdom not to do so but to wait until he had time to properly reflect and having reflected he now seeks out his counselors he wants to deal with her according to the law and that is what the parenthetical statement in verse 13 means It is saying that when he wanted to deal with things in anger and fury he did so, but when he appealed to his counselors it was because he wanted advice with respect to law and justice. Verse 14 then simply goes on to list seven of the princes of Persia and Media who were among his trusted counselors and had regular access to the king. Esther chapter 1 verses 16 through 20. And Mamucan 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 people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women. so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported that King Ahasuerus commanded Vashti, the queen, to be brought in before him, but she came not. Likewise shall all the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king's princes which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath. If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it was not altered, that Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, for it is great, all the wives shall give to their husband's honor, both to great and small." Mamucan gives the response on behalf of the council, the king's question is what shall be done to Vashti for her disobedience, this precludes any thought of defending Vashti. The council's commission from the king is to formulate the punishment that she deserves, the counselors are wise men, they probably appreciate the fact that halfway measures could be disastrous for them. They must either vindicate Vashti, of course not open to them, or see that her power is entirely and permanently broken. To be the instruments of her temporary disgrace would leave them open to her future retribution. If she were to regain the king's capricious favor, their heads might not be safe. This is evidenced by how Esther's royal favor later spelled doom for Haman, the king's favorite, and the second most powerful man in the kingdom, once he became her enemy. Accordingly, the seriousness of her alleged crime is greatly exaggerated. What may have been no more than modesty or a defense of her status as a legitimate wife is transmuted into an incipient feminist revolt threatening the social fabric of the empire. The sentence is that she is to be deposed as queen. To ensure that this deposition sticks, it is proposed that it be done by an act of irrevocable law and that her position as queen be filled by another. One thing that is not clear in the text is the exact nature of Vashti's position after her disposition as queen. Is this a royal divorce? It is hard to imagine that she would be truly divorced and free to marry another. To marry a queen is to establish a claim to the throne. It is because of exactly such a potential claim that Solomon had Adonijah put to death when he requested the hand of Abishag, the fair maiden that David married when he was on his deathbed. There is a note here. Abishag having undoubtedly been made David's concubine, there is therefore also the matter of incest, Adonijah would have been marrying one of his father's wives. The mosaic penalty for such incest was also the death penalty. It seems more likely that her deposition would include becoming merely another concubine in the king's harem, just one of hundreds. Forgotten and isolated in the vast harem of an oriental potentate, she would be in fact sentenced to a living death. Hers would indeed be a cruel fate, and Ahasuerus would have a kind of ironic vengeance on her. She would become the lowest of the concubines, exactly what, by her disobedience, she had refused to be treated as. This is one of the unanswered questions of the Book of Esther about which one can only speculate. At any rate, Mamucan's proposal is quite comprehensive. Vashti's iniquity is to be published throughout the Persian Empire. Ahasuerus, whose riotous feast was the occasion of these unhappy circumstances, is to have his vindication and his royal justice proclaimed throughout the known world. Mimoukin must have been pleased with himself. He had fulfilled the royal commission par excellence. Now some of the above is obviously based on logical speculation and not on explicit statements in the text, but one cannot be struck by the writer's description of Mimoukin's overstatement of Vashti's guilt. The above is merely one way of reasoning according to that fact. Ahasuerus reminds me of King Henry VIII of England with his mistresses, his six wives, his marriages and divorces. Henry would go to his counselors and tell them what he wanted and then demand that they accomplish it legally. Similarly, Ahasuerus once Vashti punished but insists that it be done not arbitrarily but according to law and justice. History tells us that in both cases the counselors were sufficiently endowed with the wisdom of this world to fully comply. They were dealing with autocrats. Esther chapter 1 verses 21 and 22. And the saying please the king and the princes and the king did according to the word of Mimucan. For he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people. These verses briefly record the acceptance of Mamucan's proposal and its publication by royal decree throughout the empire. The last verse is rather poorly translated in the authorized version, and its meaning is brought out more clearly in alternate translations such as the following, and this is from the New King James Version, that each man should be master in his own house, and speak in the language of his own people. Since the issue was to crush an alleged feminist revolt sparked by Vashti's conduct, the decree addresses that particularly. Each man is to be master in his own house, maintaining patriarchy by royal decree, and each household is to speak the language of the master of the house. Wives and servants in this polyglot empire of countless ethnic groups and languages are to submit and speak not in their own language, but in that of their husbands and masters. And this ends chapter two, The Royal Divorce.