Esther 1:13

"Then the king said to the wise men, who knew the times (for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment; and next unto him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meshes, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king's face, and sat first in the kingdom), What shall we do unto the queen Vashti, according to law, because she hath not done the bidding of the king Ahashuerus by the chamberlains? And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the peoples that are in all the provinces of the king Ahashuerus. For this deed of the queen will come abroad unto all women, to make their husbands contemptible in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The king Ahashuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. And this day will the princesses of Persia and Media who have heard of the deed of the queen say the like to all the king's princes. So will there arise much contempt and wrath. If it please the king, let there go forth a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before the king Ahashuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his kingdom (for it is great), all the wives shall give to their husbands honor, both to great and small. And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did according to the word of Memucan: for he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and should speak according to the language of his people."

Nothing could demonstrate more forcefully the low estate of women in the ancient world than the brutal facts of this outrage against Vashti. In all the societies of mankind where women are unprotected by the teachings of the Son of God, women have invariably been reduced to the status so clearly visible in this chapter. Only in Jesus Christ are women elevated to the respected and honored status they deserve; and the great pity of our generation is that women are being wooed and persuaded by political promises of all kinds to give up their worship of the Christ. They are promised "equality" with men; but it is a specious `equality,' like that which the women of Russsia got when they gave up even an imperfect Christianity for communism. It turned out to be "equality" to carry the bricks, sweep the streets, and work till they dropped dead in the fields. Let the women of America beware!

The seven princes of Persia and Media (Esther 1:14). In the book of Daniel, one finds the expression, "The law of the Medes and the Persians"; but a little later in this chapter, it reads, "The law of the Persians and the Medes." Why the difference? In Daniel's day, the king was a Mede (Darius); so the Medes were mentioned first, but now Xerxes, a Persian, was the ruler; so the Persians came first! The Medes and the Persians were the two principal races that formed the Medo-Persian Empire, but it was never two empires - only one.

It is of interest that Xerxes' letter to all the 127 ethnic groups in his empire was addressed to each one of the groups in their native language. Also, there was added that provision that every man should use only his native language in his own house, which certainly presented a problem in homes where there were mixed marriages with the races. Such a law was unenforceable. But as Keil noted, "Xerxes was the author of many strange facts besides this."[12]

Halley and others held the opinion that one of the last actions of Xerxes before he left on that four-year campaign against Greece was the deposition of Vashti, and that, "He did not marry Esther until four years later in 478 B.C., after he returned from the Grecian campaign."[13] This accounts for the four-year gap between this chapter and the next one. This conclusion is fully supported by the writings of Herodotus.