V is for Vashti, X is for Xerxes, and the W is silent...

So today, we do a bit of a combo deal:  The only big name in the Bible with a V was Vashti, Queen of Persia in the Book of Esther.  She was- at first- married to Ahasuerus, who we believe was better known as Xerxes, and that being the only possible X, we are going to do them together.  But what about 'w', you say?  Well, it is a more modern derivative of the same Hebrew letter that Vashti starts with, so for our purposes, v-w are basically the same.  I promise I'll make up for the posts you get shorted, somehow.

Okay, so not wanting to do a whole 'dissertation on Esther by Martin', I'm going to stick to what we know about the characters.  And that will be easy with Vashti, as there isn't a lot about her in the Bible itself.  The fun comes in trying to figure out who she was historically.  Now, if we are right that Ahasuerus=Xerxes, then Vashti is likely a woman known as Amestris.  Which makes a bit of sense, as Vashti can translate into "best of women", and Amestris is "strong woman".  And while feminists using the Bible to their own ends might think what she did definitely qualifies her for the 'best of women' moniker, the 'strong woman' name definitely wasn't a compliment back then- and in the stories about Amestris, it shows.

Biblical Vashti became famous because of her refusal of her husband's wishes.  Specifically, Xerxes was throwing a down-home, 180-day long "do whatever you want" celebration for the guys, and Vasthi was running the women's get-together.  Along about day seven, Xerxes was 'merry with wine' (of course, he hadn't watched 300 yet), and decided that he wanted his 'best woman' to step out of her party and parade around nude for the boys.

Now, there are a couple of different versions of Vashti/Amestris's origins.  One, from historians of a closer day, claimed she was the daughter of a noble who'd helped save Xerxes's dad from assassination.  The Jews claim her to have been the daughter (or perhaps granddaughter) of the ill-fated last king of Babylon, Belshazzar (the "handwriting on the wall" guy).  Either way, this would be a hard degradation for a proud woman.  And she told him no.  This is where the feminists come in.  From wiki:

Michele Landsberg, a Canadian Jewish feminist, writes: "Saving the Jewish people was important, but at the same time [Esther's] whole submissive, secretive way of being was the absolute archetype of 1950s womanhood. It repelled me. I thought, 'Hey, what's wrong with Vashti? She had dignity. She had self-respect. She said: 'I'm not going to dance for you and your pals.'"

And here's the thing with that mindset:  God decreed that women who submit, as Esther did, would be blessed, while those who don't, as Vashti, would not.  And so it occurred.  But you know I always find a bit more to the story, and the Rabbis added on to the refusal...


Ahasuerus was "very wroth, and his anger burned in him" (Esth. i. 12) as the result of the insulting message which Vashti sent him: "Thou art the son of my father's stableman. My grandfather [Belshazzar] could drink before the thousand [Dan. v. 1]; but that person [Ahasuerus] quickly becomes intoxicated".

I was not able to find the reference to being a stableman anywhere in the story, but the meaning is pretty clear:  "you're a low born usurper who can't hold his liquor."  The Jews, though, thought the request was poetic justice, though, as they accuse Amestris of using nude Jewish girls as her "eunuchs".  And later on in life, apparently restored to some semblance of her former position, in death she proved that humility and kindness were not lessons she had learned:

I am informed that Amestris, the wife of Xerxes, when she had grown old, made return for her own life to the god who is said to be beneath the earth by burying twice seven children of Persians who were men of renown.
Herodotus, Histories 7.114.


So the unanswered question with Vashti/Amestris is this- was she a valiant warrior in defense of women's rights- or just another petty dictator, entitled and hateful?  The Jewish scholars compared her to three women who ruled kingdoms- Jezebel ( I think we all see where this is going), Athalia (who we briefly visited last time), and Semiramis (all you need to know about her are two things- Assyrian; and in legend became Ishtar, the hated Ashtoreth of the Old Testament).  One thing we do know:  the comparison with Esther shows us how trying to overthrow the law won her no honor (at least in God's eyes), while working within the law to effect change won Esther great honor for centuries to come.


And what about Xerxes?  Leaving behind what we know from the history books, let's consider what we have in the Esther story.  We know he was a party boy (at least until after he came back from losing to the Greeks at Salamis and Platea); respect for women apparently varied with his alcohol content; his defeat by the Greeks left him distracted enough to sign anything (like Haman's decree to kill the Jews), forgetful (forgot all about Mordecai saving his life), and insomniac (which is how he got reminded of the same).  But we haven't addressed one critical question- do we have the right guy here?

Wiki says that scholars have four good reasons why they mostly believe he is.  The first: linguistic similarities between the Hebrew Ahasuerus and Persian Xšaya.āršan.  Yeah, big deal.  Second: Herodotus paints a picture of his character that dovetails with the party-boy persona in Esther.  But who wasn't back then (see Belshazzar)? Third:  Herodotus also points out the date when he returned from the loss in Greece and "sought comfort in his harem", and it was the SAME dates when the Bible story says he kicked off the 'Replace Vashti Contest".  Now we're getting somewhere.

Clincher:  Annals from the reign of Xerxes I mention an otherwise unattested official by the name of "Marduka", which some have proposed refers to Mordecai, as both are mentioned serving in the king's court.

So, establishing the circumstantial evidence that says we have the right guy, let's look at the tragic flaw in his character.  He has to go to his wise men to decide what to do when Vashti defies him.  He signs the decree of Haman...

Est 3:8  Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them. 
Est 3:9  If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king's business, that they may put it into the king's treasuries." 
Est 3:10  So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. 
Est 3:11  And the king said to Haman, "The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you." 

Haman never tells him WHICH people he wants to eliminate, and he never asks!

Moving on, he has to ask Haman what good thing he should do for Mordecai, since he couldn't come up with anything; he has to go outside and think when Esther accuses Haman of his crime...

Est 7:7  And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king... 

And even then it took the mistaken impression of Haman attacking Esther to get him to act...

Est 7:8  And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. And the king said, "Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?" As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman's face. 

BTW, the phrase "they covered Haman's face", means that Xerxes's loyal eunuchs were there, and were prepared- they bagged Haman's face and he would be led away thus to his execution.  But even this, Xerxes had to have some help with...

Est 7:9  Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, "Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman's house, fifty cubits high." 

Est 7:10  And the king said, "Hang him on that." So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated. 

This in particular brings up several points.  One, Harbona was one of the seven eunuchs sent to bring Vashti to the imperial peep show, and he never questioned Xerxes then, as he does now.  This suggests a couple of things:  One, did he keep silent when fetching Vashti BECAUSE she was everything the Jews claim and he was happy to see her humiliated?  Two:  The eunuchs KNEW what a rat Haman was, and their quick preparation and suggestions for his demise makes me think about another section of the story, when Mordecai convinces Esther to act...

Est 4:13  Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 

Est 4:14  For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" 

Do you suppose that God had Harbona and his buddies primed to be the 'another place' in case Esther failed to act?   Hmmm...

Maybe.  As we see, the help wasn't going to come from Xerxes without a push.  He wasn't capable of making ANY decisions, at least in his court, without someone's wind to blow him one way or the other.  Even in Greece, he listened to the subterfuge of Themosticles and lead his entire navy to be wiped out at Salamis.  Kinda makes one wonder how much courage Vashti really needed to stand up to him...