For the queen's behavior will be made known to all women, causing them to look at their husbands with contempt, since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’
Queen Vashti refused to appear at the king's banquet. His adviser Memucan now argues that her refusal threatens every household in the empire, because what she did will not stay inside the palace.
Whose Word This Is
The verse is not the king's verdict but his adviser's argument, and the shift from private offence to public emergency is itself part of the story. A man with absolute power hands a domestic quarrel over to his counsellors, who promptly enlarge it.
H. L. RossierThis weakness shows itself again. Ahasuerus claims to be a ruler treated as a god, yet he is the toy of his favourites. He lets them take over his place, and they pay for it with his revenge if they displease him. Add to this that he had to make a decision about queen Vashti which concerned no one but himself. Even then he surrounds himself with counsellors, and they persuade him that the queen's act strikes at the whole organisation of the state.
The Refusal Behind the Charge
Memucan treats the queen's motive as settled. Writers do not, and they differ on why she stayed away.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHer refusal has been explained in different ways. By Persian custom the Persian king treated everyone as a slave except his lawful wife. Was it in defiance of the king's order or out of self respect? She may have refused to show that a drunken husband could not dictate to her, and that she was not willing to display herself at a wild party. Or she may not have wanted to come, because she had a feast of her own.
Another writer reads it as plain rebellion, since obeying would have cost her nothing:
William KellyIf the king's demand was unusual, the queen's refusal was an insult that could not be passed over. The seven officials were properly sent to bring her; but she rebelled, when obeying would have done her no real harm, and would have put any blame that was due on her husband.
The Fear of Spreading Example
Memucan's case is about reach — one act reported to every woman in the empire.
Leslie M. GrantHe said that Vashti had wronged not only the king, but also all the princes and all the people in every province of King Ahasuerus (v. 16). No doubt it was true that all women would hear of Vashti's behaviour, and would then feel free to despise their husbands' authority unless someone took strong action at once (vv. 17-18).
What a Decree Cannot Do
The council's answer is law: remove the queen and publish an order. Even so, the king is still the man Vashti walked away from.
H. L. RossierA weak woman resists Ahasuerus and holds his limitless power in check. A grain of sand humiliates all the pride of this huge, carefully organised empire. The king may divorce Vashti, but her act stands, and the humiliated king cannot force her to appear in public.
This king once had the sea whipped with rods for wrecking his bridges. One writer sets that story beside the decree:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinBut it was easier for him to beat the sea than to get what his edict demanded.
A Picture Beyond the Palace
One writer sees more than palace politics here. He takes the queen's failure to show her beauty as a picture of something far larger.
William KellyIn the reality this pictures, how true it is that the Gentile has been unfaithful and rebellious, bent on self-will and failing completely to show the world the beauty of one so favoured! The result will be what it was here: the call of Zion to be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah and a royal diadem in the hand of her God, when she shall no longer be called Forsaken, nor her land Desolate.
Small Beginnings, Large Ends
A queen's temper at a banquet looks like nothing at all. One writer weighs what God did with it.
after-note:
J. G. BellettIt was a small beginning, poor and mean in its character and material. Vashti's temper drove her into a course of conduct that put her life in danger. That temper was the "little fire" which kindled this "how great a matter." It is a miserable, despicable circumstance. What could be meaner? The temper, we may say, of a domineering woman! And yet God works results by it — results then known to Himself in His counsel.
Summary
- One act — a refusal at one banquet concerned the king alone. The counsellors turn it into a crisis for every province.
- One fear — the report will travel, and other wives will learn to despise their husbands' authority.
- One decree — the answer chosen was law: depose the queen and publish an order.
- One limit — the decree could not undo the act; it was easier for this king to beat the sea than to get what his edict demanded.
- One purpose — out of this mean, despicable circumstance God works results that were then known to Himself alone.