HealingStrong's Around the Word

Episode 43 - The Esther Series: Royal Pride and Defiance (Esther 1:1-12 NIV)

• HealingStrong • Episode 43

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We dive into the dramatic opening of Esther, where King Xerxes throws an extravagant 180-day party to display his wealth and power before Queen Vashti's defiant refusal sets the stage for a royal crisis. This colorful introduction reveals the Persian king's pride and pompous character while highlighting the courage of a queen who stood her ground against an unreasonable demand.

• King Xerxes (also called Ahasuerus) ruled the Persian Empire over 127 provinces
• The king hosts an excessive 6-month banquet to showcase his wealth and power
• Queen Vashti refuses to appear before the king and his drunken guests
• Vashti's refusal may have been based on cultural norms or personal dignity
• The king becomes furious at being publicly embarrassed
• This confrontation sets up the circumstances that will eventually bring Esther into the story

Suggested Resources:

BIBLE PLAN - Trusting God's Plan When You Don't See Him: Lessons From the Book of Esther

PODCAST - Genesis to Revelation Bible Reading

TOOLS - Refresh Your Spirit through God's Word


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Speaker 1:

Have you ever been around a person that they're showing off all their toys because they want you to think that they're important, or it's almost a power play. I feel like what he's doing. Hey, there, I'm Cheryl, and you're listening to. Healing Strong's Around the Word. We're a group of friends sitting around a table that love God and we love digging deep into His Word. Each day you'll hear me reading a Bible passage and then you'll hear us chatting about what we're learning from it. Today, I'll be reading Esther, chapter 1, verses 1 through 12. So join us Around the Word. Esther 1, verses 1 through 12.

Speaker 1:

This is what happened during the time of Xerxes. These Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Kush. At that time, king Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, 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 For a full 180 days. He displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty. 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. 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. 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. By the king's command, each guest was allowed to drink with no restrictions, for the king instructed all the wine stewards to serve each man what he wished. Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him Mehumen, biztha, harbana, bigtha, abagtha, zether and Carcas 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.

Speaker 1:

But when the attendants delivered the king's command, queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned with anger. That was our Bible passage for the day. Now let's see what Jeff, susie, angie and myself were talking about around the word. This is a fun scene. This I mean we start off the story super like colorful.

Speaker 2:

Let's party. It's a party.

Speaker 1:

It's a big party, 180 day party. By the way, this guy okay, we got two names for one of our lead characters, xerxes, or he's also called Ahasuerus. Why is that? Why do we have two names, angie?

Speaker 3:

Well, we're talking about the king here, which is one of the prominent characters in the story, and different translations will say Xerxes and some say Osiris, but I think it has to do with the Greek, Persian and Greek and in one name. Maybe the Greek name would be Xerxes and Persian the other. So it's the same character and I think we should just call him the king today, and rather than trying to say that it's a hard name to say.

Speaker 1:

Let's just call him the king. Yeah, the king, the king works. Yeah, so he's the king of the persian empire, essentially, which is the biggest empire at this time in, uh, the world history. This guy really existed, by the way. You can look him up, that you just do a search on google. He, he, really did exist, and there are ruins of his castle still today. It's a palace, it's a palace. I like calling it the castle. It's a palace, it's a palace. It's just ruins anyway. So when we start the story off, it's telling you the very first line this is what happened during the time of Xerxes, or during the time of the king, and he's ruling over 127 provinces. So his empire is pretty huge.

Speaker 3:

He's important and he is wealthy, so he's got all that the world esteems. You know, he's got tons of wealth, he's got tons of power, and he's only been in office what three or so years at this point. So he is really going to exercise his muscles, so to speak, and some of the commentaries I read think that maybe he was having this big party. One of the reasons was to gather all his people, let the rest of the world hear about this grand party, the grand wealth of this nation, because he was planning to do another invasion soon and actually he did. So he's trying to get ready to invade even more countries at this point in time, so he is showing everybody how wealthy he is.

Speaker 4:

It's interesting because you know, when you set the scene up and you're looking at the scene, it's all the important people, all the nobles, the princes, all the military people, like you were saying they're all there and none of Esther's people were invited. Right, oh, that's right, I didn't even think about that None of them were there.

Speaker 4:

It was all the important people, but we'll see later on who's actually holding the golden scepter later on, you know, in the story. But it is interesting how the scene is set and we and you know we're from the outside looking into this how in the world could what happens in the story of Esther actually happen, with those people being killed, the ones that he's choosing to honor, and the whole scene starts like that.

Speaker 1:

And show off. Yeah, he's literally showing off. Have you ever been around a person that they're showing off all their toys because they want you to think that they're important? Or it's almost a power play, I feel like what he's doing he's trying to show. It's almost like big countries that will also do these big parades with all of their tanks and weapons and all that stuff to show how big and powerful they are. So nobody tries to make war with them.

Speaker 4:

essentially, Isn't that what you know the Nazis did? Oh yeah, they absolutely did Parading down the streets and seeing who's elevating who's up. You know who's in charge. So yeah, what did you see in this?

Speaker 2:

Well, when we look at this, I find it interesting. He's trying to put the fear of his kingdom and his vastness, his wealth, to the other countries. But I find it interesting because in Judges in the Old Testament, there was a Jewish king that showed off everything, all of his wealth, and the prophet came and said you were foolish in doing that, because that opened up a door of opportunity for the enemies of the Jewish people. So I find that very, very interesting. I don't quite understand how one is promoted, so to speak, and the other was brought to ruins.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, oh, he's invited many of his enemies. What he has actually done is just shown his cards, so to speak. He brought the neighboring country officials to him and they got there and saw how wealthy this king was and all the fruits of that country, and that would have just made them want to conquer him. More than so, his pride and his boastfulness probably didn't work in his favor in the long run.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'll take it. I'm not like really liking Xerxes. He's just like he's one of these pompous kind of guys that it's all about me. And then one of our key parts in this passage is he's got a beautiful wife that's having her own banquet. Her name is Vashti and he one night gets drunk pretty drunk. He's high in spirits, which that's code word for he's drunk, and he wants to show off his wife to all these people he wants to show. But what happens? Whenever he calls for her, she's not having it.

Speaker 2:

She is not about to be in the presence of a drunkard.

Speaker 1:

And his drunk friends too. Yes, All of his drunk friends.

Speaker 3:

Well, and there's a lot of different theories. I'm sure you've read about why she responded like she did. Of course, the culture at that time. It would have been outrageous for a woman to come in the presence of a group of men, particularly with her face unveiled, so he was asking her to do something that was in total violation of their culture. It would have been embarrassing to her, it would have been humiliating to her. So she could have been standing her ground for good reasons, or she could have been taking her position because she was just fed up with this dude that was so boastful and I, you know, if I were her, I would have said well, you can push all of these other guys around, but you're not going to push me around, buddy. So it could have been sort of that attitude Push me around buddy. So it could have been sort of that attitude. We don't know, and there's theories that he may have said bring her before us with just a crown.

Speaker 3:

And nothing else she was you know, not clothed, so, which I'm sure this guy could have done that. I mean, he had bukus, hundreds of concubines and everything else. I wouldn't put that past him that he would demand this woman to come before all of these men. So, for whatever reason though, she responded like she did, and how did that go over with the king?

Speaker 1:

No, bueno, no bueno. He was not happy, it says. The king became furious and burned with anger, and that's where we end our passage for the day. I can't even imagine how mad the king must have been because he was made to look like a fool in front of all of his friends. This is good drama. This is fun. I love learning this. Anyway, it's in your Bible. How fun is that? Thank you so much for joining us for Healing Strong's Around the Word podcast. I hope you are encouraged to read God's Word, open it up, see what it says, and please visit us at healingstrongorg, where you can find out more about our mission and our community groups. Until next time, remember faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.