Esther 1:9

Queen Vashti is now introduced. Her name means "beautiful woman." She made a separate feast for the women in the royal house that belonged to her husband, the king. Royal women of the East often gave such feasts. The account does not say how long her feast lasted.

Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women at the same time. So the celebration of the kingdom's splendour was complete.

It is a vivid picture of earthly splendour, without a thought of God, true or false. Nebuchadnezzar brought in a religion of a low kind, and tried to force it on everyone. Xerxes appears to be the king who now holds the general title used here. He showed himself, as Daniel had said long before, "far richer than all before him." He thought of no one higher than himself. He gave himself up to showy indulgence, all the more so after his invasion of Greece failed completely.

Ahasuerus was proud of his unlimited power, and with that pride went a violent temper whenever an obstacle or any resistance appeared in his path. Again and again in this account the king bursts into anger and his fury blazes. Violence is never a sign of strength. On the contrary, it shows the weakness of a man who cannot govern himself.

But a check came, and gloom fell over everything when it was least expected, right at the close. The princes and nobles had been honoured with a feast, and then came the seven days for all the people, small and great, who were in Shushan.

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. The king decrees that she is rejected, and the decree cannot be reversed. Yet it is not carried out until Ahasuerus returns. Then the Jewish wife, prepared by Providence, can come on the scene and take the place of the Gentile wife at the right moment.

Many have noticed that the name of God is not found in the Book of Esther. This is characteristic. God does not show Himself. The government of the world had fallen to that throne, with all its power and all its mistakes. Behind it, God holds the reins by His providence. He watches over the carrying out of His purposes, and over everything needed to fulfil them. And He cares for His people, whatever their condition and however strong their enemies.

The great Gentile wife of the great king is discarded, and the remarkable thing is that a Jewish woman takes her place. I have no doubt that this is what will follow when the Gentile has proved himself disobedient, and has failed to display the beauty that should be seen in the testimony of God before the world.

Vashti was a Gentile and she is set aside; Esther replaces her. Vashti pictures the lifeless part of professing Christendom — pleased with itself, unwilling to submit to the Lord, and set aside in the end.