Esther 1:12-2:1, The Fall of Vashti

Let us begin our journey through Esther with a simple overview:

·       Ch. 1: The fall of Vashti.

·       Ch. 2: The rise of Esther.

·       Ch. 3: The rise of Haman.

·       Ch. 4: Esther’s renewed mind.

·       Ch. 5: Answered prayer and antisemitism.

·       Ch. 6: Delayed reward (the fall of Haman and the rise of Mordecai).

·       Ch. 7: The Defeat of Satan (Haman).

·       Ch. 8-9: The Mortification of Sin (Haman’s legacy).

·       Ch. 10: The exaltation of Christ (Mordecai’s legacy).

In 1:10-12 we read of Vashti’s refusal to come to the king’s feast and show off her beauty.  What was the problem here?  One of the first sermons by Billy Graham that I heard and that stuck with me was the one (he preached it more than once) where he described Vashti as a virtuous woman.  He saw the king’s request, as have some commentators, as wanting her to display her beauty in a wicked manner, perhaps being naked on the stage before the king and all his friends.  That is quite possible.  It does, in my view, put Esther in somewhat of an evil position, in that she was put in some sort of “fornication” situation, going in to the king and trying to please him sexually more than the other candidates for queen (Ch. 2). 

The Bible doesn’t tell us much about Vashti.  What it does say is that, on advice of council, Ahasuerus’ motivation to remove and replace her was that she refused to do what her husband asked and this could make a problem all over the kingdom. 

But an interpretation of Vashti is not important.  In the story, Mordecai will suggest to Esther that she came to be queen at that time for the carrying out of her part in the deliverance of the Jewish people.  For that to happen, Vashti must be gone and Esther must be chosen.  Remember: it is the “times of the Gentiles.”  Ahasuerus is not a “Davidic king.”  He is a typical tyrant, operating within the boundaries of the laws of the Medes and Persians.  And there is Someone working here who, as Daniel put it, “rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses” (Dan. 4:25).  That is a profound “devotional” thought!  It is still true.