Or, The Law of Royal Vanity
Scripture: Esther 1:13-22
Date: August 31, 2025
Speaker: Sean Higgins
The point of this part of the story is simple: boot the bad queen and make room for a new one. The book is named after the new one.
But not only is the royal breakup and banishment not necessary, did we really need to know about it? The author of the book could have easily picked up when Esther was already the queen; saved some papyrus and ink. There certainly is some entertainment value. There is also some insight into the kind of trouble that could happen when you lit the fuse of a Persian potentate. And also there is an appreciation for the kinds of things God does in His providence to get players into position.
Verse 19 is the key verse: “let the king give her (that is, Vashti’s) royal position to another who is better (that is, more obedient) than she.” The fact that this is the advice, and the fact that this advice pleased the king, are facts that reveal the power of a king’s foolishness.
Ahasuerus (known in Greek as Xerxes) is the head of a vast kingdom covering parts of three continents, the largest superpower up to that point in history. In his third year he held a six-month exposition of “the splendor and pomp of his greatness” (verse 4). All the VIPs in the empire got a taste of the royal riches. And then Ahasuerus threw a week-long feast in his palace courtyard in Susa, decorated with the most expensive materials (verses 6-7). It was like a beer garden where everyone drank from a cup of gold, and the bar was open. He apparently had to make a decree that you did not have to drink so much (verses 7-8).
On the seventh day Ahasuerus’ heart was “merry with wine” and he had his personal attendants fetch his wife (verses 10-11). She’d been giving her own feast for the women and Ahasuerus wanted to show off her beauty to the men. “But Queen Vashti refused to come” (verse 12). The king was big mad, and it was a big embarrassment. He’s been angling to go to war with Greece and he can’t even get his wife to come across the hall.
Rather than get our outline from the sequence in the paragraph, let’s consider three parts of the king’s power.
Vindictive means desiring to punish. He was enraged, and he wants revenge not reconciliation.
The king is only quoted once in the whole chapter, and it’s a question (verse 15). But his question isn’t for Vashti, his question isn’t for the eunuchs, it is for his royal advisors. They are the wise men who knew the times (verse 13), his intelligence cabinet. There were seven of them, those who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom (verse 14). They have access to the king, they give counsel to the king, and they help make up the mind of the king.
Even if you lived next door, you would not likely ask the Supreme Court justices to make a decision about what to do with your wife who didn’t do the dishes when you told her. And even if the justices were in the room at the time, not only would your wife’s refusal not rank as a political problem, you’d probably figure that you could (and that it would be less complicated if you would) deal with it yourself.
Ahasuerus is in a room full of fumes, a toxic mix of alcohol and arrogance. He asks, According to the law, what is to be done…? (verse 15) Of course there was no existing law. He’s looking for help to deal with this slight of his position. He’s exerting power in order to deal with his apparent-to-all lack of power.
He even talks about himself in the third person; she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus. There’s no view toward working it out with her, he wants to take his bad feelings out on her. It’s not a diss track, but it is a diss decree, and it’s vindictive.
Vast means extensive, and Ahasuerus’ power covers a lot of ground both legally and geographically.
As I said, there was no existing case on the books for this situation. Those “proficient in laws and legalities” (verse 13 NET, in Hebrew pronounced dāt and dîn) were going to have to make something up.
Perhaps they cover the king’s weak spot for a minute, but they de-escalate nothing. Memucan ramps it up from a personal affront to a wrong…also against all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus (verse 16). All women are going to hear about it and it will cause them to look at their husbands with contempt (verse 17). Even the seven argue, either from fear or for flattery, that the noble women…will say the same to all the king’s officials, and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty (verse 18). These women are going to be out of control. Talk about vast contempt.
The king’s power is vast enough to make a law, and that sort of law will at least be pretended to be unalterable. The rule will be legal, but it’s barely rational. This is a rule based on an exception, a one-time dilemma. What’s more, it’s a rule based on the emotional embarrassment of barely a minute. And now Vashti won’t even be in the same room as him ever again (verse 19).
This new decree gets top priority and an immediate press release to all parts and provinces in the empire, proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, for it is vast (verse 20). There were 127 provinces; who knows precisely how many people groups and particular languages there were. But in the capital city there were translators and scribes, and this news was going out to all of them (verse 22). It’s vast.
Vain means in this case not just selfish but self-defeating. His power is useless for what he says it’s for. He’s trying to cover his butt, now everyone knows the emperor has no clothes.
What was the reason for involving the Seven? To run some interference for the king’s reputation. Vashti’s behavior called Ahasuerus’ power into question, right? But this way of handling it would make sure to broadcast throughout the whole realm not only about her refusal, but about Ahasuerus’ petty and vindictive use of power.
For that matter, you can punish external displays of contempt, but you can’t enforce true honor in the heart. This kind of control is grasping oil; the tighter you clench the more you lose. It’s vain, futile.
The final summary of the decree aims that every man be master in his own household (verse 22) …, ha, like Xerxes? Every man will just banish his disrespectful wife out and get a new one?
It took an act of Congress to deal with a husband’s humiliation, and in so doing, he guaranteed that more people would know about his weakness: all the royal provinces, every province and every people. As Warren Weirsbe wrote in his commentary, this is “an edict that was unnecessary, unenforceable, and unchangeable.” It is vanity of vanities.
This isn’t fault-finding against the patriarchy, but it does show how hard it is to rule the world and not be an idiot. When you have almost limitless power then you also have an almost limitless platform to display your foolishness. Typically the people closest to you will help you do it. Ahasuerus enshrines his vanity more publicly and more permanently than it would have been had he laughed it off. Talk about blowing your marital spat out of proportion.
Power is still power, even if it’s contemptible. We never hear from or about Vashti again, though the details of history demonstrate that she is very likely the mother of Artaxerxes. Ahasuerus is arrogant, somewhat arbitrary, surrounded by advisors who apparently want him to be happy more than just, and this is the kind of ego and temperamental administration that Mordecai and Esther and the rest of the Jews have to deal with.
Contrast this with God’s power. It is vast, but not vindictive and never vain.
Even God’s power over Ahasuerus and the Persian empire stands in contrast. What Ahasuerus meant to save face, God used to save the Jews. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who can give you worldwide platform to be a joke. The law of royal vanity made for vast contempt, against Ahasuerus.
Three narrative reminders: 1) Pretentious men become punchlines. 2) Demanded respect earns none. 3) Rules made to cover insecurity work in reverse.
Psalm 37 reminds us: Don’t be distressed by evil men. Fret not! Trust in the Lord and do good. Delight yourself in the Lord. Commit your way to the Lord. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Fret not! The Lord delivers those who take refuge in Him.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18 ESV)