Last week we left off with Xerxes throwing an outlandish party in order to influence the princes and leaders of the kingdom that he was rich and powerful enough to take on the Greeks in war. This plan was going off well until Xerxes got drunk.
Now, one thing we are going to find out about Xerxes was that he was really good at getting drunk. That is a problem in general but it is also a problem when you are the leader of the most powerful empire in the world and when you make extremely ill conceived decisions when drunk.
Xerxes, on the final day of his grand party, was drunk. Thus, he had an idea: Let’s bring the queen, Vashti, out and have everyone look at her beauty. Let’s remember that most of these men were drunk, they were not withheld from any alcohol in the entirety of this party. Let’s also remember that they were very wicked men. The plan that Xerxes had for Vashti was not wholesome. Xerxes intender to put Vashti in a compromising and disgraceful situation.
Sometimes we accidentally treat Vashti like she is one of the villains of this story, but I have to strong disagree with any thought of that. I believe that Vashti showed great character in refusing to go to the king. I believe that she absolutely did what was right in standing up for herself in this passage. That does teach us a lesson though: Sometimes you do not get rewarded for doing what is right, sometimes you end up going through more difficulties for doing what is right. But we ought to do what is right regardless of what we will get out of it. Doing what is right is a reward in and of itself.
Xerxes gets mad that Vashti will not attend his party and present her beauty to everyone. But there is a little more to this. The whole point of this party is to show off how rich and powerful he is. What message about Xerxes’ power is made if his own wife is not obeying his commands.
One of his advisors, Memucan, picks up on this, and tells the king that what Vashti did was a horrible offense not just to him, but to all the princes and all the nation. And *GASP* this offense might lead to an uprising of wives not obeying the commands of their husbands. The only solution was to take Vashti’s position of queen away from her and replace her with someone else.
Xerxes liked this idea and decided to sign the decree making Vashti no longer the queen.
Vashti did what was right, it might not have felt like it after she received such a harsh punishment but that does not take away from the fact that she did the honorable thing. We ought to learn from Vashti’s example and do what is right, no matter what the consequences may be!