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Why did Queen Vashti refuse to appear?
Why did Queen Vashti appear before the king?
Why did King Xerxes hate Queen Vashti?
Why did Vashti refuse her husband's request?
Jan 4, 2022 · Question. Why did Queen Vashti refuse to appear before Xerxes? Answer. The book of Esther begins with a description of King Xerxes (or Ahasuerus) of Persia celebrating with the leading men of his kingdom. At the conclusion of seven days of feasting, the king called Queen Vashti to appear before him.
- Vashti’s Refusal
- Mordechai’s Refusal
- Gathering Virgins
- Refusal and Consent Are For The Powerful
- Haman’s Loss of Agency
- Is Haman Upending The Hierarchy?
- “The Opposite Happened”
After throwing a 180-day long banquet for his officials and ministers, plus the assembled armies and nobility of Persia and Media (1:3–4), King Ahasuerus holds a seven-day banquet for all the men living in Shushan (Susa), rich and poor (1:5). At the same time, Queen Vashti is also giving a separate banquet for the women. Then: Michael Fox points ou...
The next character we see withholding consent is Mordechai. He is commanded to do something physical with his body, and he refuses: Vashti wouldn’t appear and dance, and Mordechai won’t bow. After Haman is chosen to be Ahasuerus’ vizier: As the narrator makes clear, Mordechai’s refusal happens more than once: Despite Haman’s anger, and even though ...
On the opposite side of the spectrum are a group of unnamed virgin girls who have no agency and give no consent at all. After deposing Vashti, when Ahasuerus finds himself without a wife, his advisors make the following suggestion: Nothing in the suggestion implies that the women will be asked whether they want to be part of the king’s harem, a dec...
The cases I have outlined above suggest that then, as now, refusal and consent exist as options only for the powerful. The greater the power differential, the less refusal remains a possibility. Though power runs on a continuum, broadly speaking, the Book of Esther recognizes three tiers of people. On one side are commoners, like the virgins gather...
During a bout of insomnia, the king has his record book read to him and hears again about how Mordechai saved him from a plot against his life. When his servants tell him that nothing has yet been done to show the king’s gratitude, Ahasuerus asks Haman, who had come in that night to ask for permission to impale Mordechai on a fifty-cubit-high stake...
In the account of Haman’s downfall (ch. 7), he is thrice portrayed to the king as someone acting against an individual under the king’s protection, in direct contravention of the power structure in the palace. The first time is when Esther finally tells Ahasuerus what is troubling her: The surface accusation here is that Haman, the king’s servant, ...
The book of Esther offers an explicit message about the connection between consent and power. The more power a person has, the greater latitude he or she has to refuse consent or grant it. As long as someone else has more power, however, even people with nominal agency, like Vashti, are in danger of losing it, and people without agency, like Esther...
Sep 15, 2021 · Why Did She Refuse to Appear at the King's Banquet? The mention of respecting her husband comes into play at the end of Esther 1 from the counselors. However, what Xerxes was requesting of...
Jan 4, 2022 · According to various legends, Vashti’s refusal to appear before the king was due to modesty (she was told to appear nude), fear for her husband’s life (she figured she would be mobbed by the drunken crowd and the king would be killed), loathing for her husband (whom she considered to have non-royal blood), or the fact that she herself had ...
12 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. 13 Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, (for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment: 14 And the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish ...
Vashti Is Removed From Her Position as Queen - King Xerxes ruled over the 127 territories in his kingdom. They reached from India all the way to Cush. Here is what happened during the time Xerxes ruled ...
He wanted her to come wearing her royal crown. He wanted to show off her beauty to the people and nobles. She was lovely to look at. 12 The attendants told Queen Vashti what the king had ordered her to do. But she refused to come. So the king became very angry. 13 It was the king’s practice to ask for advice about matters of law and fairness.
