Today in our Not So Little Women series, we are looking at Vashti, a Babylonian queen who was married to the Persian king, Xerxes.
Who is Vashti? Xerxes had many wives and concubines; God shows us what happened to Vashti, one of the relatively unknown wives. The Babylonian rabbis cast Vashti in a negative light, saying she was a “wicked Jew-hater.” The rabbis of Erez Israel (meaning from the land of Israel) portrayed her in a mostly positive manner. They describe Vashti as a “scion of a royal dynasty and deported herself with the proper honor and nobility.”
What happened? Almost all Jewish scholars agree that Vashti was commanded to come before King Xerxes and all of his inebriated officials wearing only her royal crown (naked). Xerxes treats Vashti like property, not like a wife. Esther 1:12 But when the attendants delivered the king’s command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Vashti refuses to come and is most likely punished with death. The king’s ego suffers a blow, and he passes laws (while intoxicated) decreeing that all women must obey their husbands.
• What do we learn from Vashti? Honor. She spoke and acted in accordance with her principles, and she lived and died for the sake of it. You see Vashti fulfill her role as a queen and member of the royal household until it violated honor.
