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Vashti (Hebrew: וַשְׁתִּי, romanized: Vaštī; Koinē Greek: Ἀστίν, romanized: Astín; Modern Persian: واشتی, romanized: Vâšti) was a queen of Persia and the first wife of Persian king Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther, a book included within the Tanakh and the Old Testament which is read on the Jewish holiday of Purim.
- “It Happened in The Days of Ahasuerus”
- Vashti in Modern Literature
- Conclusion
The megillah opens with a display of rudeness: Why, the rabbis wonder, does the text fail to note the king’s title? Shouldn’t it have read: “It happened in the days of KingAhasuerus”? The reason, the rabbis infer, is because, technically, it was true. Ahasuerus was not yet king — he was merely angling to become the monarch of a newly-formed empire....
Like ancient commentaries, modern versions are rife with opportunities for reimagining Vashti. Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s The Woman’s Bible cheers, “[Vashti] added new glory to [her] day and generation … by her disobedience; for resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.” In her short story Vashti and the Angel Gabriel, Rabbi Jill Hammer imagines the...
The Talmud (Chagigah 3b) describes a lesson taught by Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria in the great yeshivah at Yavneh. “Make your ears like a funnel,” he urged his students, “praise those who deem the matter pure, and those who reject it as impure. Acquire for yourself an understanding heart to listen both to those who validate and those who invalidate.” R...
Jan 4, 2022 · A variety of theories have emerged. According to Esther 1:11, Queen Vashti was told to appear “wearing her royal crown,” and one rabbinical tradition interprets this as the king’s instruction to wear only her royal crown—in other words, she was told to appear in the nude.
Feb 14, 2018 · Yet the Talmud recounts the story differently, offering a more nuanced understanding of Vashti’s refusal. Here, the king boasts to his guests about how beautiful his queen is, and, as proof, they request to see her naked (B. Megillah 12b).
Jan 30, 2016 · Michael V. Fox (Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther, page 165) says the author of Esther rarely gives motivations for the characters' behaviour but leaves us to infer them from words and actions. Early Jewish commentaries took opposing views on whether Vashti was instructed to appear nude.
Mar 2, 2023 · Vashti is one of only 3 women in the Bible who are honored with the title Queen (Hebrew: Malkah). She is mentioned by name exactly 10 times in the Bible, all of them in the Book of Esther. (I’ve included all of those verses in this article and highlighted Vashti’s name in in bold.)
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Was Queen Vashti a literary creation?
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Why did Queen Vashti appear before the king?
Vashti, high-born, powerful and intelligent, was affronted by her husband’s command – as well she might be. Reared to be queen, she was being treated as a common prostitute. She probably guessed it was a trap, and that whatever she did, she would be the victim.
