Esther 1:1-12…………

        God’s people had left Him out of their lives and had turned to follow heathen ways. Because of this, God allowed them to be taken captive to this strange land with another language and different customs. But even among the people of the king’s court, there were those who had come from the land of Israel as captives, and who had risen to positions of authority.  A man called Daniel was one of these, and we  see how God intervened in his life as he lived in this place. God does not allow His plans for His people to be thwarted and He only allows evil to go so far.

         Our story starts, not with the character of the one we are going to study, but with a vastly different type of woman!

The scene is set  in the opulence of an Eastern king’s court.     The splendours and splurgings of King Ahasuerus are graphically described in this chapter. The beauty of his palace and the richness  and length of  his feast is beyond our imagination.  He  called together all his officials and princes and put on a tremendous banquet for them. After that was over, he then put on another feast which was supplied with wine in abundance.

At the same time, Queen Vashti put on a feast for the  women of the court. After a whole week of feasting and drinking had gone on, the king decided to call for the queen to come and show her beauty to the men of the court. There are several ways that we can look at Vashti’s reaction to this royal command…..she may have arrogantly refused the king’s command or it may have been from the modesty of not wanting to appear before a drunken crowd of men. Whatever it was, she refused the king’s command and paid for it dearly.

The queen Vashti refused to bring,  Her homage to her lord and king;                              Her reason we will never know,   But it made the king say “You must  go!”