A Terrible King (Esther 1:10-2:4)

Introduction

Last week, Gordy provided us with a great introduction to the book of Esther. We were introduced to King Ahasuerus, king of the Persian empire. I agree with him that I would have loved to use a translation that refers to him as King Xerxes. For all our movie buffs out there, this is the same King Xerxes that is included in the movie 300. And while we do not derive our theology from movies, that movie does capture the personality of Xerxes pretty well, as we will see from today’s passage.

But before we get into today’s passage, let’s take a few minutes to review what happened in the first 9 verses of chapter 1. Gordy outlined those verses well when he spoke about Ahasuerus’ earthly power, which can certainly be intimidating. But he also encouraged us that God’s power is greater than any human authority we can encounter. We must always yield to the supremacy of God over any human rulers. Secondly, he noted the pomp with which Ahasuerus carried himself, especially during this six-month feast. We read of beautiful drapery, couches made of precious metal, and costly floors and roads. All of this was not directed at God’s glory but was meant to puff up Ahasuerus and his wealth. Thirdly, we were met with the earthly definition of freedom. We read of the king’s edict that there was to be no compulsion upon anyone’s drinking during the feast. Yet, we know that this self-autonomy does not lead to true freedom but only bondage to sin, as Paul reminds us in Romans 6.

That sets the stage for the main thrust of not just this passage but the whole of the book of Esther - God’s providence. As Gordy pointed out, the name of God does not appear anywhere in the book of Esther; however, his providential fingerprints are all throughout the events of the book. And it is this that I hope you see and keep in mind as we work our way through this book. If we take any one section of this book and fail to put it in the appropriate larger context of the whole book, we are doing ourselves a disservice in this study. So as we move forward, let’s do so with the reminder we need to see how God is at work in this exciting story.

The Angry King (1:10-1:12)

"On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigha, and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him.”

Our first encounter with King Ahasuerus in this text reveals his temper and anger. Again, we must read this book as a whole if we are to do it justice. In verse 10, we see that the king is “merry with wine” - he’s drunk. He just held a six-month feast with his royal officials, servants, nobles, and governors. That wasn’t enough for him. He then threw a seven-day feast for all the inhabitants of Susa. And this incident happens on the last day of this feast. Thus, it is likely that those who were in his presence were in the same state - drunk.

We can learn from Ahasuerus here. While the Bible does not prohibit one from drinking any alcohol, which is made clear by Jesus turning water into wine in John 2, we do have clear warnings about not being drunk. We read stories like Noah in Gen. 9:20-29 and see the misery caused by his drunkeness. We can look at the sexual immorality between Lot and his daughters in Gen. 19 as a result of his drunkeness. We read of Nabal refusing David’s request, getting drunk, and dying 10 days later in 1 Sam. 25. Perhaps with all of these examples in mind, Paul gave the warning in Eph. 5:18 that we should not be “drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” Brothers and sisters, we must not allow this worldly pleasure of alcohol to consume us and cause us to sin. Today’s passage serves as a reminder of the dangers of being drunk and the impaired decision-making that accompanies it.

We can see how Ahasuerus allowed his state to guide him to improper requests and ultimately caused his great anger. He demands that his beautiful wife come out so that he and his friends could gawk at her. There are some rabbinic traditions, albeit not completely reliable, that indicate this request may have been for her to appear in only her royal crown. Even if this is not true, this request is still certainly humiliating for Queen Vashti. Certainly, it is not improper for a husband to compliment his wife’s appearance, even in the presence of his friends. Ahasuerus took this way over the line though when he demanded his wife to be paraded around like a prized beauty pageant queen.

Matthew Henry reminds us, “he dishonored himself as a husband, who ought to protect, but by no means to expose the modesty of his wife.”