Woman living at the time of Exile and Return
Vashti, queen of Persia, was deposed by King Ahasuerus for disobeying his command.
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Vashti was the queen of Persia and the wife of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I). She is introduced in the book of Esther during a great feast the king held for his officials and servants. On the seventh day of the feast, when the king was drunk, he commanded Vashti to appear before him and his guests wearing her royal crown, to display her beauty. However, Vashti refused to come at the king's command, which greatly angered him. After consulting with his wise men, the king decided to remove Vashti as queen and give her royal position to another. This decision led to the selection of Esther as the new queen, setting the stage for her role in saving the Jewish people from Haman's plot. Vashti's refusal to appear before the king and her subsequent removal from her position is a key event in the early part of the book of Esther.
Part of: Persian era: Esther and the return
Ahasuerus deposed Queen Vashti after she refused to appear at his feast and chose Esther through a beauty contest in his seventh year. The removal of Vashti creates the vacancy Esther fills.
Sources: Esth 1:10-19 · Esth 2:16-17
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Beautiful, the queen of Ahasuerus, who was deposed from her royal dignity because she refused to obey the king when he desired her to appear in the banqueting hall of Shushan the palace (Esther 1:10-12). (See ESTHER.)
(beautiful), the “queen” of Ahasuerus, who, for refusing to show herself to the king’s guests at the royal banquet, when sent for by the king, was repudiated and deposed. (Esther 1:1) ... (B.C. 483.) Many attempts have been made to identify her with historical personages; but it is far more probable that she was only one of the inferior wives, dignified with the title of queen, whose name has utterly disappeared from history.
VASH'TI (Persian, a beautiful woman), queen of Persia, and the repudiated wife of Ahasuerus. Esth 1:9. See Esther.
VASH'TI (Persian, a beautiful woman), queen of Persia, and the repudiated wife of Ahasuerus. Esth 1:9. See Esther.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
10 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H2060
Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes.
to bring Queen Vashti before him, wearing her royal crown, to display her beauty to the people and officials. For she was beautiful to behold.
Queen Vashti, however, refused to come at the kingʼs command brought by his eunuchs. And the king became furious, and his anger burned within him.
“According to law,” he asked, “what should be done with Queen Vashti, since she refused to obey the command of King Xerxes delivered by the eunuchs?”
And in the presence of the king and his princes, Memucan replied, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but all the princes and the peoples in all the provinces of King Xerxes.
For the conduct of the queen will become known to all women, causing them to despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes ordered Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she did not come.’
So if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree, and let it be recorded in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti shall never again enter the presence of King Xerxes, and that her royal position shall be given to a woman better than she.
Some time later, when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.
Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti.” This suggestion pleased the king, and he acted accordingly.
And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all of the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown upon her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.