The book of Esther opens up with King Ahasuerus putting on a party.
At this point in history, the Medo-Persian Empire is the greatest Empire in the world. They defeated the Babylonian Empire, who had brought the nation of Judah into exile. The book of Daniel shows us that many young people were taken from Judah and brought into Babylon, where they were assimilated into Babylonian culture. For some part, this worked. But there were those, such as Daniel and his three friends who determined to stay distinctly Jewish. This was also the point in time that the synagogue was established, in order to help preserve Jewish culture, teaching, and religion while they were so far away from their homeland.
King Ahasuerus, otherwise known as King Xerxes, opens the book of Esther with a party. And it is the biggest party we have ever seen! It ultimately lasted for 187 days (vs. 4,5). Xerxes pulled all the stops for this grand party. For the first 180 days, everyone who was anyone was invited and for the last 7 days, literally everyone was invited. The palace was decorated lavishly (v. 6), everyone drank out of golden vessels (v. 7). It is clear that this was a drunken party. The alcohol flowed freely and they could drink as much as they wanted (v. 8). We will see in next week's post how this drunkenness led to some very inappropriate behavior and that drunkenness really became a key feature in Xerxes’ reign. The last detail we see about the party, for now, was that the Queen, Vashti, also had her own party for the women in a separate place.
Why would Xerxes put on such a party? Xerxes certainly liked a good party, but there was a big reason why he was putting on such a display of extravagance and wealth. You see, there was something really big on the horizon and that was a war with Greece. This Persian-Greek War will be one of the most important wars in history. It ultimately shifted world power from the East to the West, leading to the rise of the Roman Empire, which was the time period in which Christ was born. But for all of the conquering the Persians had done, the Greeks were a formidable foe and growing in power. Xerxes needed to rally his princes and governors behind him for this big, costly war. The message that he was sending out with this party was, "If I have enough money and riches to throw away at a party like this, then I am more than capable of going war with Greece!”
It is in understanding the historical context of the book of Esther that we can get a better understanding of the people's mindsets, motivations, and actions.
Next week we will see how Xerxes’ party goes off the rails on the final day.