Queen Vashti or Queen Esther

This writing is particularly a different view which I want to share. As women, we have come a long way from the days of our mothers and grandmothers. We have choices, freedom, ideas, etc. Yes indeed, we have come “a long way, baby”.

So, with that thought, allow me to share something that I have seen and it causes me to think about the story of Queen Vashti. 

Let’s look at Esther 1: 9-12 together;

Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which

belonged to king Ahasuerus. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar,

and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king,

To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on.

But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.

I have read this portion before and my thought was how foolish the king behaved and that his motives for summoning the Queen was for his own selfish pride; Translation, He was drunk and he wanted to show off to all his men in attendance, the beauty of His Queen.

I thought, how insulting it must have been for Queen Vashti to be summoned to come out in the presence of the drunk men, and good for her to stand up to him. But as I read it today, she was wrong because, he was the king.

Ephesians 5:33

So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Also note, she was hosting her own feast with the women of the royal house whom belonged to the King. Here again, Queen Vashti was wrong to refuse the summons by the King in the presence of these women. As their Queen, she portrayed a bad example of defiance towards the King, and as a wife, she depicted a bad example of not submitting to her husband.

1 Peter 3:1-2 

In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives.

We can make arguments here for both parties as to who was right and who was wrong. That is not the point I want to make here. Vashti, as a woman and as a leader to the other women of the royal house, would have been wise, to have shown herself submissive to her king and her man, even in his foolishness. Then things for this couple could have been worked out between them privately.  

 Heart Question

·        If you are a married woman, ask yourself if you can practice being more submissive in your home?

·        As a mother, are you being a true example of a submissive wife?  Our children learn by what we do and not by what we say!

·        Ask yourself, "is my heart like Queen Vashti, or is my heart like Queen Esther"?

To all the single ladies, this is good Godly counsel, that you begin to practice submission Allow God to teach you how to be a woman after His heart with true humility.

As a single women today, I notice that I lack submission. In the workplace, I need to practice being submissive to others. At church, I need to practice submission to God and to leaders.

I believe that, as women, we have a place of honor and respect. Therefore, we can all put into practice the learning of submission.

1 Peter 3:4

You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.

Let Us Pray 

Beloved Lord, teach me to have a heart of true humility and submission, I long to be clothe in your beauty. Dress me up Lord, that I may please You.