Vindictiveness

9/20/2011 8:49:27 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                                                             Focus:  His vindictiveness

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                                         Reference:  Ester 1:13-22

                Message of the verses:  “13  Then the king said to the wise men who understood the times-for it was the custom of the king so to speak before all who knew law and justice 14  and were close to him: Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media who had access to the king’s presence and sat in the first place in the kingdom- 15  "According to law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?" 16  In the presence of the king and the princes, Memucan said, "Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. 17  "For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on their husbands by saying, ’King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to his presence, but she did not come.’ 18  "This day the ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s conduct will speak in the same way to all the king’s princes, and there will be plenty of contempt and anger. 19  "If it pleases the king, let a royal edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she. 20  "When the king’s edict which he will make is heard throughout all his kingdom, great as it is, then all women will give honor to their husbands, great and small." 21  This word pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memucan proposed. 22  So he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, to each province according to its script and to every people according to their language, that every man should be the master in his own house and the one who speaks in the language of his own people.”

Toward the end of his commentary on this first chapter of Ester Warren Wiersbe writes the following:  “The more you know about Ahasuerus and his philosophy of life, the more you detest him.”  It is not hard to disagree with that quote after reading how he handled the situation with Queen Vashti.  We have here a drunk, prideful king who wants to save face after making a ridiculous statement.  It reminds me of Herod who had John the Baptist killed after making a ridiculous statement about watching his wife’s daughter dance before him and his guests. Both of these events involved wine, women and lustful men, and the three together will likely cause trouble as it did here.

Queen Vashti was nobler than the king and if the king would have taken time to get sober and think about what he did then it would have probably blown over, but he had to solve this “problem” right away and so he called his “experts” in to discuss this pressing issue.  These were probably men who looked at the stars for all of the answers, something like is seen in the book of Daniel.  They had to flatter the king so that they could keep their jobs and as it has been discussed before the king was gullible and trusted these men too much, something we will see later in this drama.

One might wonder what happened to Vashti, for the Bible does not say anything about her after this incident.  Many Bible scholars believe that she was pregnant at this time and that was another reason that she did not want to parade before a lot of drunken men.  Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “Many biblical scholars believe she was Amestris, the mother of Artaxerxes who ruled from 464 to 425 B. C. It’s likely that Ester was either out of favor or dead; for Amestris exercised great influence as the queen mother during her son’s reign.”    

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that what I can learn from this situation is to stop and think about what needs to be done on a certain situation rather than rush into it without thinking like the king did.  He was angry and he was drunk and he made the wrong decision because he did not stop and let his anger and drunkenness settle down before acting.  Proverbs 12:16 reads as follows, “A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.”  Good advice. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.       Continue to work on a more productive prayer time.

2.       Continue to learn contentment.

9/20/2011 10:52:55 AM