Queen Vashti

Why does her story matter?

I wrote a paper on Queen Vashti a year and half ago for class my Women in Old Testament. There were many other women I could have chosen but her story fascinated. The more I read and looked into I realized hers is a story worth telling. I have not made any edits to the paper. I hope as you read about it may show that her story does matter and it add to our understating of the book.

QUEEN VASHTI

I believe her story may have been overlooked and misused as teaching against being “unsubmissive” to your husband and the dangers of that. I find this very problematic and suggest that women have no right to question their husbands but should fulfill all their demands. The question I am asking myself is, who was Queen Vashti? And why does she matter?

She is only mentioned Esther 1 and 2. In Esther 1 On the seventh day of the feast, when King Xerxes was in high spirits because of the wine, he told the seven eunuchs who attended him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas—the King to bring Queen Vashti to him with the royal crown on her head. He wanted the nobles and all the other men to gaze on her beauty, for she was a very beautiful woman.^[1]  

She refuses to appear before the King and because of this, the King’s advisers tell him to issue a decree Esther “So if it pleases the king, we suggest that you issue a written decree, a law of the Persians and Medes that cannot be revoked. It should order that Queen Vashti be forever banished from the presence of King Xerxes, and that the king should choose another queen more worthy than she. 20 When this decree is published throughout the king’s vast empire, husbands everywhere, whatever their rank, will receive proper respect from their wives!”  ^[2]"She is at the mercy of Ahasuerus's cohort, viewed only as bringing a threat of female uprising. She is even at our mercy as readers, as an echo chamber of our social culture and attitudes about marriage, power, and the role of women"^[3].

^[4]" Vashti, a Persian pet name meaning "desired," "best," or "beautiful one," is- in a sense-a mirror, reflecting scorn, compassion, or indifference. There is also another interpretation of Vashti’s name that it was a symbolic name or honorific title suitable for a queen. ^[5] Although she is not mentioned after Esther 1 and 2 in the Bible, she is believed to be found in different historical texts.