The 'No' That Changed History | Sunday, May 23, 2021

These events took place during the days of Ahasuerus, who ruled 127 provinces from India to Cush. (Esther 1:1)

A single woman's "no" to a Persian king sets the stage for God to quietly write history through ordinary people.

Background to the Book of Esther

Before we dive in, there is some background that will help us see things more clearly. The book of Esther was almost not in the Bible. There is no mention of God, no mention of prayer, and no mention of worship or the Torah anywhere in the book. No New Testament author quotes it. So its place in the canon was somewhat tenuous—but thankfully it made it in, and we can be confident in that.

Esther takes place between 483 and 473 BC, during the reign of Xerxes. Scripture calls him Ahasuerus, which is simply a different translation of the name Xerxes. So as we go forward, Ahasuerus equals Xerxes if you're trying to keep up historically.

One thing that should make your spiritual antenna vibrate is the mention of banquets. The Hebrew word for banquets appears 20 times in Esther alone, and only 24 times in the rest of the Bible. That should tell us it's significant as we move through the book.

Esther's Place in the Timeline of the Jews

This is important. Cyrus the Great had defeated the Babylonian Empire, as prophesied in 2 Chronicles 36:23. Cyrus freed the Jews to return and rebuild the temple, and about 50,000 had already left—this is talked about in Ezra. Darius later reinforced Cyrus's decree, and the temple was finished around 516 BC. Ezra led a second band of returning Jews, and Artaxerxes later sent Nehemiah to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

During this whole period, God uses the events in Esther to protect the Jews who had not returned to Israel when they had the chance. They chose to remain in the provinces of the Persian Empire—in the land of their captivity—despite the opportunity to return to the promised land of their fathers. This indicates we're probably dealing with more ethnically Jewish people than religiously Jewish people. They decided to remain in captivity as free men rather than return to the land God had called them to inhabit.

The Overarching Plan—and Your Place In It

God has an overarching plan through all of this. It starts in the Garden of Eden, leads to the cross, and looks forward to the time when Jesus is on the throne, ruling and reigning, with us all there with Him. All of history is part of this story.

Sometimes when we look at this we can feel insignificant. In the span of human history, who am I? Who is Ahasuerus or Vashti or Esther? All of us occupy such a tiny portion of the story. But be encouraged. You may feel insignificant historically, yet look instead at the value placed on you by the cross. You and I—and Ahasuerus and Vashti and Esther—were all deemed worthy of the sacrifice Jesus made so we could be redeemed and given a right relationship with God.

We have the advantage of an outside perspective. But to those living out this story—Esther, Mordecai, Ahasuerus, Vashti—it was just like any other Tuesday, people walking along unaware of the part they were playing in the larger story God was writing.

The Power and Wealth of Ahasuerus

The book opens, "These events took place during the days of Ahasuerus, who ruled 127 provinces from India to Cush." Ahasuerus ruled most of the known world—from Libya in the west to India and Kazakhstan in the east, from modern-day Romania in the north down to Sudan in the south. The empire included territory in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Bulgaria, Greece, India, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, and Libya. It was a massive empire ruled by a king with great wealth and immense power.

Verse 3 says he held a feast in the third year of his reign for all his officials and staff, the armies of Persia and Media, and the nobles and officials of the provinces. He displayed the glorious wealth of his kingdom and the magnificent splendor of his greatness for 180 days.

Remember, this is early in his reign—he's looking to establish his throne in the minds of his people, not his father's throne. Scholars also think this is when he was planning his unsuccessful attempt to conquer the Greeks. So for 180 days he gathers all 127 provinces into Susa and shows them the power of the empire, because he's about to head off and display that power against the Greeks.

The Week-Long Banquet

At the end of this time, the king held a week-long banquet in the garden of the royal palace for all the people, from the greatest to the least present in Susa. The hangings were white and blue linen, fastened with white and purple cords to silver rods on marble columns; gold and silver couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of precious stone. Once again he is displaying the wealth and power of the empire as embodied in his palace.

Drinks were served in an array of gold goblets, each with a different design, and royal wine flowed freely. The drinking was by royal decree—no restrictions. The king ordered every wine steward to serve whatever each person wanted. Meanwhile, Queen Vashti gave a feast for the women of the palace, which would have included the wives and consorts of all the leaders who came to Susa.

Note that this is a very male-dominated, gender-segregated society. The king had a harem, but only one woman held the position of queen, and as we go through Esther we'll see women treated more like possessions than people. We need to remember that God works through imperfect and often corrupt tools, and that customs differ in different times and places. This is not God approving of Ahasuerus as a man or a king, but a sovereign God using people and events to further His plan.

Vashti's Refusal

On the seventh day, when the king was feeling good from the wine—which tells us how the days had been going—he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him to bring Queen Vashti before him with her royal crown. He wanted to show off her beauty to the people and officials, because she was very beautiful.

This is the setup for the conflict. There's much speculation about what the request was. Some scholars think she was asked to appear in an inappropriate or immodest fashion, but like most events in Esther, we simply don't have the inside information. We don't know her motivations or specifically why she refused.

What we do know is that "Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command... The king became furious and his anger burned within him." Her value to the king was in how she looked; he wanted to display her, much as he was displaying his wealth. She had become nothing more than a symbol of his power.

Be Careful Not to Inject Your Own Interpretation

Was she right or wrong to refuse? Was this a courageous stand based on a clear violation of her morals, or a petulant refusal because she was tired or drunk herself? We just don't know. When reading Scripture where we aren't given the information, we have to be careful not to inject our own interpretation. We don't have enough to decide whether she was right or wrong, so we must be careful not to assign motives or lend meaning where Scripture is silent.

What we do know is that she said no, the king is furious, and his response changes the course of an empire.

Consult the Right Counsel

The king consulted the wise men who understood the times, "for it was his normal procedure to confer with experts in law and in justice." This leads us to a biblical principle: whom you seek advice from will very often determine the quality of the advice you receive.

If you want financial advice, don't go to someone with a terrible track record with money. For medical advice, try a doctor—if you Google your symptoms, you'll likely find out you're going to die. I had this last summer when I was stung by a stingray; one of the first things Google said was "you're going to die." But the lifeguards weren't acting like it was fatal, so I rechecked my sources and found out, no, I wasn't going to die. For legal matters, check with a lawyer, not a baker.

One caution, though: when seeking advice, make sure you're not just looking for someone to corroborate your own opinion. If you've checked with several experts and none of them agree with you, be very careful about going your own direction. Here the king shows some wisdom by checking with his council rather than acting alone.

The Verdict Against Vashti

The king asked, according to the law, what should be done with Queen Vashti for refusing to obey. Notice the question: what should be done with Vashti—not why had she done what she did. The assumption of the one in power is that refusal to obey is synonymous with guilt. She's clearly guilty because she didn't do what he wanted.

Again, we don't have the information to decide whether she was a courageous hero standing up for her rights or defying the king for selfish reasons. We tend to stick up for the underdog and side against those in power, and this will color our interpretation. We need to be conscious of that so we don't lead the text and draw false conclusions.

Memucan answered that Vashti had wronged not only the king but all the officials and people in every province, because her action would become public knowledge to all women and cause them to despise their husbands. Their response was: if we don't nip this in the bud, it will spread everywhere.

To us this can seem laughable—how could one woman's "no" threaten the empire of the Medes and Persians? But remember, all the noble women were at Vashti's banquet and likely witnessed the request and the refusal. In the eyes of the king's experts, one woman's example had the power to derail the entire kingdom. That is the amazing power that one person's example carries.

The Cost of the "No"

The advice was that the king issue an irrevocable royal decree: Vashti is never to enter his presence again, and her royal position is to be given to someone more worthy, so that all women will honor their husbands from the greatest to the least.

What does this mean for Vashti? Her influence and power came from her proximity to the king. She wasn't queen because of herself; she was queen because he chose her and put her there. By barring her from his presence, her power, prestige, and influence were gone.

We need to remember that sometimes the squeaky wheel gets replaced. We're passionate about many things, and we'll take bold stands, but as Christians we need to be careful that the stands we take are the stands Jesus took. It's easy to justify in our own minds that an issue or cause is biblical—often by proof-texting or twisting a verse or two. But Scripture tells us in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it's desperately wicked, who can know it?" We need to step back from our desires and our rights and test them against the plumb line of Scripture.

Serving Unfaithful Masters

From VeggieTales to movies to books, Vashti is often cast as the righteous heroine standing against an overbearing king. But does Scripture support this view, or do we just like the David-and-Goliath aspect and build a narrative that isn't there? We don't know why she did it or her motivation.

So we're left with this question for our own lives: how do we remain faithful servants while serving unfaithful masters? Are we always called to resist any authority we feel is unjust? Are there times when God uses unjust masters to further His will? Think of Joseph and Daniel—both served ungodly masters in exile because of their people's rebellion, yet served faithfully and rose to positions of influence.

We have New Testament passages that call us to submission. Titus 3:1: "Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work." 1 Peter 2:13: "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be the emperor as supreme or to governors... For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people." And 1 Peter 2:18: "Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust."

Balancing Submission and Obedience to God

Yet we must balance these with other Scriptures. In Acts, Peter and John answered, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." When brought before the council in Acts 5 and charged not to teach in this name, "Peter and the apostles answered, 'We must obey God rather than men.'" In the Old Testament you even have Jael, who soothed the king to sleep and then drove a tent peg through his head—that is resistance to authority.

Consider Daniel. He served faithfully because of the excellent spirit within him, and Daniel 6 tells us he distinguished himself above all the governors and satraps, so that the king thought to set him over the entire realm. His enemies could find no charge against him except concerning the law of his God—so they set him up to disobey the king precisely because he was following God.

So how do we choose which issues to stand on—what hill to die on? We look at the hill Jesus died on and line our values up with His, not the other way around. It's easy to take our values and declare, "This is what God wants." The only right way as a Christian is to look at His will, His desires, what He did, and His revealed word, and align ourselves with that.

This is the blessed messiness of the Christian walk. In seeking to follow Jesus, we often look more like a tightrope walker balancing between submission to authorities on one side and submission to God on the other—wobbling, swaying, occasionally falling off the wire. Thankfully we have the net of grace to catch us when we mess up. But each decision carries consequences. For Vashti, it was expulsion from the king's presence; she likely lived out her days in obscurity in a part of the harem reserved for those out of favor.

The Stage Is Set

The king and his counselors approved the proposal, and he sent letters to all the royal provinces—each in its own script and language—that every man should be master of his own house. The decree went out to all 127 provinces, all saying the same thing: every man should be master of his own house, and his wife had better listen.

Now the stage is set for Esther and Mordecai as the story unfolds. We can see the unseen hands of God working His plan through the lives of these people. It's often harder to see God's hands working in our own lives, but take comfort and have confidence that God is writing your part in His story even now. Follow His lead. While your part may seem insignificant on any given Tuesday, its value is immeasurable, because God set your value at the cross of Jesus Christ—and who knows, maybe your decision on any given Tuesday will change the course of an empire.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, as we head out from Esther and prepare to get into the larger story, I pray You would help us navigate what it means to follow You—to honor You and to honor the authorities placed over us, even when those things clash horribly. Help us walk this tightrope wisely and effectively, and glorify You as we do it. As we head through our week, help us not see any of the things we do as insignificant, but see them all as acts of worship, and help us set our priorities and make our decisions with that in mind.

Thank You, Lord God, for the examples You give us in Your word, for the precepts and concepts You lay out for us. Most of all, thank You, Jesus, for Your sacrifice for us, and for the grace it buys us so that we can occasionally fail—as we seem to do over and over—and know that You are good, full of grace, and Your mercy endures forever. Thank You, Jesus. I pray these things in Your name. Amen.