And the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for so was the king's business [conducted] before all that knew law and judgment;
The king is furious at Vashti's refusal, but he does not pass sentence himself. He hands a private insult at his own feast to the men who "knew the times" — and it becomes business of state.
The verse calls them wise men who knew the times. One writer names who they were, and what the king then did with the case.
At once the king called the wise men — the astrologers, the magi and the sorcerers. His private council was made up of seven princes, the princes of Persia and Media, who ranked next to the king. They sat with him and the wise men to take up this serious matter. The question is what should be done to Queen Vashti according to law, because she has not obeyed the command King Ahasuerus sent through his officials. So the king hands the case over to the wise men and the seven princes.
The insult was personal to the king. His advisers told him it struck at the whole state — and that, one writer says, exposes the king himself.
Violence is never a sign of strength. On the contrary, it shows the weakness of a man who cannot govern himself. That weakness shows itself again in another way. Ahasuerus claimed to be a god-like ruler, yet he is the plaything of his favourites. He lets them take his place, and the price is that he turns on them in revenge if they displease him. Let us add this too. The decision about Queen Vashti concerned him alone, yet he surrounds himself with counsellors who persuade him that the queen's act strikes at the whole organisation of the state.
The king asks what should be done according to law. That one phrase separates Persia from an older kind of kingship.
The Medes and Persians took pride in having just laws that could not be changed. So the king's question was what should be done according to law. Nebuchadnezzar would not have needed such advice. He was an absolute dictator: he executed anyone he wished, kept alive anyone he wished, raised up anyone he wished and put down anyone he wished.
The advisers were not weighing Vashti's motives. They were weighing the example she set for everyone else in the empire.
In the chapter before us now, we see Vashti, the Gentile wife, showing her rebellion, her disobedience and her lack of submission toward the one whose favour had lifted her up to the throne. She is proud of her position and her privileges. She is not afraid to show her independence from the head she depends on, and she refuses to display her beauty in public. According to the wise men who surround Ahasuerus, Vashti's revolt, if it were tolerated, would give approval to individual independence throughout the kingdom.
The king had to call a council because he could not get what he wanted by ordering it.
One weak woman resists Ahasuerus, and she holds his limitless power in check. A grain of sand humbles all the pride of this huge and well-organised empire. Vashti may be divorced, but what she did stands, and the humiliated king has no power to make her appear in public.
The counsellors thought they were settling a quarrel in the palace. One writer names their advice as a step in something much larger.
How clearly all this is seen in the book of Esther. Vashti's beauty, the king's pride in it, his improper command, her angry refusal, the advice of the king's counsellors — all of them are simply the unfolding of the Lord's ripening purposes. Of all the beautiful young women gathered at the palace in Shushan, not one could be allowed to win the king's heart except Esther, the daughter of an unknown Jewish family, an orphan left all alone.
- Anger — the king's fury at a refusal shows a man who cannot govern himself, and who lets his favourites take his place.
- Counsel — the king calls in astrologers, magi and seven ranking princes, and a matter that touched him alone becomes business of state.
- Law — he asks what to do according to law, because Persian rule bound even the king, unlike the absolute rule of Nebuchadnezzar.
- Limit — one woman's refusal stops the whole machinery; a grain of sand humbles the pride of the empire.
- Providence — the pride, the refusal and the advice all worked out purposes no one in that room could see. They cleared the throne for an orphan girl.
and the next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, [and] Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king's face, and who sat first in the kingdom),
The king's week-long feast has ended in crisis: Queen Vashti has refused to appear, and the king turns to his advisers. The record stops to name seven men who stood nearest the throne, and their advice sets the whole story of Esther moving.
One writer names who was called in and the question they had to answer.
At once the king called in the wise men — the astrologers, the magi and the sorcerers. His private council was made up of seven princes, the princes of Persia and Media. They were next to the king, and they sat with him and the wise men to take up this serious matter. The question is, "According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?"
The order of the names matters too. Memucan comes last, and one writer takes that as a clue to how the council worked.
It seems most natural not to place "the president" last among the seven princes who served as counsellors of state. It is better to conclude that they were asked for their judgment in turn, beginning with the youngest. His opinion on the question before them was so convincing that all accepted it at once.
A king with this much power did not have to ask anyone. One writer finds the reason in Persian law, and contrasts it with the way Babylon was ruled.
The Medes and Persians were proud of having just laws that could not be changed. So the king's question was: what should be done according to law? Nebuchadnezzar would not have needed such a consultation. He was an absolute dictator: "whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled."
The phrase is a title of rank. One writer reads it as a picture of serving God today.
"They will see His face." In a spiritual sense this is a present privilege for His servants. Does it not have a special bearing on us now, when we seek to serve the Lord? In Esther 1:14 we read, "the men next to him being … the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king's face". Then in 1 Kings 10:8 the Queen of Sheba exclaims to king Solomon, "Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!". It was a privilege for these servants to serve the king, because they were able to look on the king's face.
Another writer connects the phrase to angels who stand in the Father's presence:
Each of these little ones had an angel to represent them in the presence of the Father. Seeing His face means that they are always in divine favour. Compare 2 Sam. 3:13; 14:24-33; Esther 1:14; Rev. 22:4.
A council this powerful also exposes the king. One writer shows a ruler run by his favourites, who let a private insult become a matter of state.
This weakness shows itself again in Ahasuerus. He claimed to be a god-like ruler, yet he is the plaything of his favourites. He lets them take his own place, and the price is that he turns on them in revenge if they displease him. Add to this that the decision about queen Vashti touched him alone. Even so, he surrounds himself with counsellors, and they persuade him that the queen's act strikes at the whole organization of the state.
The council settled Vashti's case. One writer shows whose plan was really moving forward.
Here, from the very beginning, we find the hidden providence of God at work. Man is full of grand plans. A feast lasting seven days, the crowning event of these long ceremonies, leads to Vashti's revolt against the king's decision. Her rejection is decreed and cannot be reversed, yet it is not carried out until Ahasuerus returns. Only then can the Jewish wife, prepared by Providence, come on the scene and take the place of the Gentile wife at the right moment.
The same writer notes that God's name is missing from the whole book, and explains why.
Notice how the name of God does not appear anywhere in this book. If His name were openly used in its course, the book would be badly spoiled. The main object is to show His hand working in secret, where it would not have been fitting to proclaim His name. Far from being a fault, this is one of the most strengthening thoughts we can have, when we remember that we deal with the same kind of secret providence every day.
- Face. "Who saw the king's face" is the language of nearness — the seven who sat first in the kingdom were the men admitted to the royal presence.
- Favour. The same phrase speaks of unbroken favour — and of servants whose privilege is to look on the face of the one they serve.
- Law. The king asked what should be done according to law. Persia could not reverse a decree; in Babylon one man's will was the law.
- Weakness. Behind the pomp stood a ruler ruled by his favourites, who turned a personal insult into a matter of state.
- Providence. Seven advisers cleared the throne for Esther without knowing it — God at work in a book that never names Him.
What shall be done to the queen Vashti according to law, because she has not performed the word of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?
Vashti has refused the king's summons, and instead of punishing her on the spot, the furious king asks his advisers what the law requires. That one question — a king reaching for legal cover in a private quarrel — sets in motion everything that follows in the book.
The wording of the king's question matters. He does not ask what he wants; he asks what is lawful. The Persian king had less freedom than the ruler of the empire before him:
The king then consulted seven leading princes of Persia about what should be done over Vashti's defiance of his order (vv. 13-15). The Medes and Persians were proud of having just laws that could not be changed (Dan. 6:12), so the king's question was: what should be done according to law? Nebuchadnezzar would not have needed such a consultation. He was an absolute dictator.
That unchangeable law cut both ways. It flattered the king's sense of being untouchable while handing his nobles a lever against him:
His pride rests on a custom that great men and governors have always upheld: the law of the Medes and Persians could not be undone. This custom gave the king the illusion that he was a sacred person who never changed. At the same time it gave the great men of the empire a way to escape the power of the judge on the throne.
The men the king summoned included the empire's religious experts. He handed the whole case over to them:
At once the king called the wise men — the astrologers, the magi and the sorcerers (Dan 2:2). His private council was made up of seven princes, the princes of Persia and Media, who ranked next to the king. They sat with him and the wise men to take up this serious matter… So the king turns the case over into the hands of the wise men and the seven princes.
The quarrel with Vashti was the king's own. He did not keep it that way:
Violence is never a sign of strength. On the contrary, it shows the weakness of a man who cannot govern himself. This weakness shows itself again in Ahasuerus. He claims to be a god-like ruler, yet he is the toy of his favourites, and he lets them take his place… And let us add this: when he had to make a decision about queen Vashti, a matter that concerned only him, he surrounds himself with advisers who persuade him that the queen's act strikes at the whole structure of the state.
The verse names the charge: she did not obey the command the officials brought to her. Scripture never says why she refused, and commentators differ:
People have explained her refusal in different ways. By Persian custom the Persian king treated everyone as a slave except his lawful wife. Was her refusal defiance of the king's order, or self-respect? She may have refused in order to show that a drunken husband could not order her about, and that she would not display herself in the middle of a drinking party. Perhaps she did not want to come, because she had a feast of her own.
Others judge her more sharply, weighing what obeying would have cost her:
If the king's demand was unusual, the queen's refusal was an insult that could not be passed over. The king properly sent the seven court officials to escort her, but she rebelled — when obeying would have done her no real harm.
The whole empire cannot make one woman appear. That failure is where God's work begins in this book:
A weak woman resists Ahasuerus and holds his limitless power in check. A grain of sand humbles all the pride of this huge, well-ordered empire. The king may divorce Vashti, but her act stands, and the humiliated king has no power to make her appear in public… Here, from the very beginning, we find the hidden providence of God at work.
The removal of one queen opens the place a Jewish woman will fill, and writers see a larger picture in it:
The great king's Gentile wife is cast aside, and then comes the remarkable fact that a Jewish woman takes her place… Vashti is the Gentile wife who is cast aside for her disobedience, and for her failure to display her beauty before the world.
- Law — The king asks what should be done "according to the law." A Persian ruler was tied to decrees he could not later undo.
- Council — The king does not settle the case alone. It passes to seven princes and to the empire's wise men, astrologers and magi.
- Weakness — He hands a private matter to favourites, and they persuade him it threatens the whole state. His rage shows a man who cannot govern himself.
- Silence — Scripture never explains why Vashti refused. Commentators differ: self-respect before a drunken husband, or plain rebellion she could have avoided at no cost.
- Providence — One woman's "no" stops an empire, and from that check God begins to clear the throne for Esther.