For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Esther 1:1-8

1 This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush: 2 at that time King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, 3 and in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials. The military leaders of Persia and Media, the princes, and the nobles of the provinces were present.

4 For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendour and glory of his majesty. 5 When these days were over, the king gave a banquet, lasting seven days, in the enclosed garden of the king’s palace, for all the people from the least to the greatest who were in the citadel of Susa. 6 The garden had hangings of white and blue linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple material to silver rings on marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and other costly stones. 7 Wine was served in goblets of gold, each one different from the other, and the royal wine was abundant, in keeping with the king’s liberality. 8 By the king’s command each guest was allowed to drink without restriction, for the king instructed all the wine stewards to serve each man what he wished.

A. Find Out:

1. In whose reign did all this happen? v.1
2. Where did he reign? v.2
3. What did he do and who were invited? v.3
4. After that, how long did it last? v.4,5
5. Note the extent of the expense? v.6
6. What was the sign of the king’s liberality? v.7,8

B. Think:

1. What was the extent of this king’s kingdom?
2. What seems to have been the purpose of this banquet?

C. Comment:

   You may wonder at this passage, that there seems little of any spiritual interest. Look again. This passage explains the environment in which everything happens. We need to understand the power of this king in order to understand the significance of the things that happen.

   This king reigns over an area from India to Egypt, a large area that would include Israel which it’s freshly populated Jews. The power base has moved from Babylon to Susa. After three years in power, feeling well established, the king holds a national celebration that lasted for six months, the purpose of which was to display the immense wealth and power of the kingdom. He obviously is very rich and very powerful. At the end of these six months, the king holds a banquet for all the men of Susa (the Queen holding one for the women, we’ll see later) and all his officials from across the kingdom. This is a party to exceed all parties! It is a seven-day feast of eating and drinking. It has money thrown at it and exudes his wealth. It’s a showpiece party! Unfortunately, one of the aspects of this party is that drink is unlimited and, as we’ll see, excess drink can cause people to do foolish things.

  So this is the setting of this story. An incredibly powerful king holding a celebration to show his power and his wealth. It is an exercise of pride, to show off how great he is. Such times are dangerous. They show the folly of mankind and then foolish things happen.

D. Application:

1. Beware pride; it leads to further folly.
2. Beware great affluence; it leads to pride.

Passage: Esther 1:9-12

9 Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes.

10 On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him – Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Karkas – 11 to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at. 12 But when the attendants delivered the king’s command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned with anger.

A. Find Out

1. What was the Queen doing all this time? v.9
2. What state was the King in at the end of the week? v.10a
3. Who did he order to do what? v.10b,11
4. What was the Queen’s response? v.12a
5. What was the King’s reaction? v.12b

B. Think:

1. What was motivating the King’s actions?
2. Why do you think the Queen refused him?

C. Comment:

     There are occasional times in Scripture where, if we’re honest, we say, “So what’s the significance of this? This seems so ordinary!” Well, as we said yesterday, look again!

     First, we have the king’s actions. We have said he is very rich and very powerful and now we see that he considers that his power has no limits – and that includes his wife. On a normal day he might not have done this, but this day is the last day of the feast, and he is drunk! When people are drunk their inhibitions are removed and they sometimes do foolish things. The king is about to start off a train of events that will have incredible outcomes, but he doesn’t know that, so he sends for the Queen to show her off as one of his possessions.

    Next, the Queen. Whatever anyone else thinks about the king’s power, she isn’t impressed, so she is going to do something that furthers this chain of events that will have incredible outcomes. She doesn’t know it either, so she simply refuses; she will not be treated as a display item, she will not be demeaned in this way. As a result, the king is very upset. Before all the men he’s been put in his place by his wife, and he is embarrassed and so is angry.

    Now we’ve commented twice about the train of events that were being started off here. The end result of this chain of events is that the Jewish nation was saved, but there is no inkling of that at the moment. Two actions that will lead to big things!

D. Application:

1. Sometimes our actions seem inconsequential, but they’re not!
2. Don’t demean the things you do in life. You don’t know their effects.

Passage: Esther 1:13-16

13 Since it was customary for the king to consult experts in matters of law and justice, he spoke with the wise men who understood the times 14 and were closest to the king – Karshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memukan, the seven nobles of Persia and Media who had special access to the king and were highest in the kingdom.

15 ‘According to law, what must be done to Queen Vashti?’ he asked. ‘She has not obeyed the command of King Xerxes that the eunuchs have taken to her.’ 16 Then Memukan replied in the presence of the king and the nobles, ‘Queen Vashti has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes. 

A. Find Out

1. Who did the king consult and why? v.13
2. Who specifically did he speak to? v.14
3. What did he ask? v.15
4. What was the pronouncement against the Queen? v.16

B. Think:

1. What do you think is the king’s motivation here?
2. What does this law-seeking process say about the king?
3. How was the Queen’s action seen as a wrong against the king?

C. Comment:

     The chain of events moves on. The king had been affronted by the Queen’s refusal to come in response to his very public command. He is angry and wants to do something about it. He could have simply sent a harsher demand that she attend him with dire threats attached, but something in him drives him to take action that is going to have great implications. He wants to bring the full might of the law down on her – whatever the consequences. He appeals to his wise men, the top seven nobles. Now there may be an element of wanting to shift the onus for acting against her from himself to the wise men. Is there a cowardly element in all this? Is he afraid of the tongue of his wife? Someone has suggested that a husband is often afraid of his wife’s tongue because of her greater capability with words and her ability to harness emotion to be cutting. Perhaps it is so with the king.

     The fact that the king has these seven rulers as his wise men seems to indicate that he isn’t as powerful as he might seem. On occasion he is still subject to the law and uses that here to deal with his wife.

     The fact of the matter is that she has slighted him publicly. Yes, it was petty of him to issue this command and, yes, it was bad that he treated her like a possession, but it wouldn’t have cost her a lot to come in all her beauty and splendour and pander to his silliness. There are signs here on both sides that this relationship was rocky to start with!

D. Application:

1. Does pride lead us to do foolish things?
2. Does pride stop God’s grace flowing in us?

Passage: Esther 1:16-22

16 Then Memukan replied in the presence of the king and the nobles, ‘Queen Vashti has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes. 17 For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, “King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.” 18 This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen’s conduct will respond to all the king’s nobles in the same way. There will be no end of disrespect and discord.

19 ‘Therefore, if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed, that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the king give her royal position to someone else who is better than she. 20 Then when the king’s edict is proclaimed throughout all his vast realm, all the women will respect their husbands, from the least to the greatest.’

21 The king and his nobles were pleased with this advice, so the king did as Memukan proposed. 22 He sent dispatches to all parts of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, proclaiming that every man should be ruler over his own household, using his native tongue.

A. Find Out

1. What did one of the wise men say the Queen had done? v.16
2. What did he say will be the result of that? v.17,18
3. What twofold edict did he recommend? v.19
4. What result did he think that would have? v.20
5. What was the king’s response to this? v.21
6. So what was done? v.22

B. Think:

1. Read Gen 3:15c / 1 Cor 11:3 / Prov 27:15. What do these say?
2. What is usually meant by “the battle of the sexes”?
3. How do the verses of this study fit the Bible’s teaching?

C. Comment:

     We may just see these verses as these men and the king reacting in what is sometimes called, “the battle of the sexes”, the struggle of male versus female. Why is there a struggle? Because of sin in the world and Satan seeking to counter God’s design. God’s order in creation was male then female and the apostle Paul reasons this out in 1 Cor 11:8-10 indicating that in God’s order the man is to lead and be responsible and the woman to follow. This is not supposed to be a negative thing for the woman (Eph 5:25 -29) but a major caring thing. Even Solomon knew the awfulness of it going wrong (Prov 27:15).

     So, in this passage we find these men seeking to preserve their dignity and avoid disrespect and discord (v.18c). Perhaps this seems strange to our Western way of thinking, but their fear was a very real one that Vashti had brought before them. If we look at marriages (partnerships) in the West, how often do we find a husband who is ‘respected’ and a relationship that is completely free from discord? Yes, we may also ask, how often to we find husbands laying down their lives for their wives as Christ did for us (Eph 5)?

     The decree that is issued is twofold: Vashti is never again to come near the king and another Queen is to be found. Remarkably humane really, Vashti could have been put to death.

D. Application:

1. Is my relationship based on God’s instructions and design?
2. Do I respect / love as required by God?