1:1 The following events happened in the days of Ahasuerus. (I am referring to that Ahasuerus who used to rule over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces extending all the way from India to Ethiopia.) 

Ahasuerus was not the name of the Persian king, but the title. It meant “high father” or “venerable king.” Most conservative scholars believe that this king was Xerxes the Great of Persia. 

Xerxes was the king who made Persia great. He reigned over a great empire from India to Ethiopia. The Sculptures and Inscriptions of Darius the Great on the Rock of Behistun and the Cyrus Cylinders recorded that Xerxes and Esther were the parents of the Cyrus of Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1. Also, a foundation tablet was excavated in Persepolis in which the emperor boasted that his empire extended from India to Kush. Kush is modern Ethiopia. Notice that Asia Minor was not mentioned, because Xerxes would lose this territory to the Greeks.

1:2 In those days, as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa the citadel, 1:3 in the third year of his reign he provided a banquet for all his officials and his servants. The army of Persia and Media was present, as well as the nobles and the officials of the provinces.

Susa was the winter capital of the king. Xerxes had three other palaces in Babylon, Ecbatana, and Persepolis. Archaeologists have found an inscription from the time period of Xerxes’ son (Artaxerxes), which noted that the palace was destroyed by fire sometime in Artaxerxes’ reign. Liberals like to late-date this book, but an author from a later period probably would not have known about the palace. Therefore, this book was written by a Hebrew eyewitness from the time period of Xerxes.

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Xerxes held a great feast and conference with all of his military leaders during the third year of his reign. This event was held to prepare for his projected naval invasion of Greece. 

There were 127 provinces in the Persian kingdom. If each province brought one delegate, then Xerxes probably entertained one or two thousand people for this banquet. It would have cost millions of dollars. It was a great event in the history of the world.

1:4 He displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his majestic greatness for a lengthy period of time—a hundred and eighty days, to be exact!

Xerxes was the fourth king prophesied in Daniel 11:2, who was predicted to be “far richer” than all before him. This banquet lasted for 181 days. The father of Louis XV of France said that he did not see how Xerxes had the patience to have this kind of a banquet. The Secretary of Finance of France said that he did not see how Xerxes financed it. 

This banquet revealed the wealth, the luxury, and the power of this Persian oriental court. The purpose of this display of wealth was to win their support for the military campaign to capture Greece and to make Xerxes the supreme ruler of the world of that day. If he would have accomplished this task, then the world power would have shifted from east to west. Xerxes wanted his military leaders to know that he was able to pay for the war with Greece. The banquet was pagan from beginning to end.

1:5 When those days were completed, the king then provided a seven-day banquet for all the people who were present in Susa the citadel, for those of highest standing to the most lowly. It was held in the court located in the garden of the royal palace.

Xerxes closed the banquet with a seven-day drinking feast in the palace garden at Susa. Susa has been excavated and well identified archaeologically.

1:6 The furnishings included linen and purple curtains hung by cords of the finest linen and purple wool on silver rings, alabaster columns, gold and silver couches displayed on a floor made of valuable stones of alabaster, mother-of-pearl, and mineral stone.

The Greek historian Herodotus recorded many of these Persian luxuries. Archaeologists have excavated the ruins of these gaudy palaces. They were found to be wealthy beyond display. This detail recorded in Hebrew and observed by an eyewitness gives some additional internal evidence that Mordecai was among the guests and he wrote what he saw as the author of this book.

1:7 Drinks were served in golden containers, all of which differed from one another. Royal wine was available in abundance at the king’s expense.

This pagan banquet ended in a drunken orgy.

1:8 There were no restrictions on the drinking, for the king had instructed all of his supervisors that they should do as everyone so desired.

No man was forced to drink, but he was expected to drink. Many businesses run cocktail parties today where their employees are expected to drink. Many businesses try to liquor up their customers so that they will purchase more of their products. The Persia government was a master of this business strategy.

1:9 Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in King Ahasuerus’ royal palace.

Queen Vashti was called Amestris in Greek writings of that time period. According to many interpreters, Xerxes had several wives in his large harem. The women were kept in separate quarters, so It was a breach of Persian social custom for men and women to attend the same feast.

1:10 On the seventh day, as King Ahasuerus was feeling the effects of the wine, he ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who attended him,

Drunken politicians make terrible mistakes when they rule. Many of the Oriental people today are asking if politicians who attend Washington cocktail parties are in a position to be the leader of the nations of the world. Alcohol brings down nations. It brought down Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Italy, Spain, France, and England. Can America escape what other nations could not escape?

These eunuchs who served the king were all castrated so that they would not start their own dynasties.

1:11 to bring Queen Vashti into the king’s presence wearing her royal high turban. He wanted to show the people and the officials her beauty, for she was very attractive.

It was crude for Xerxes to show off his wife in that day and culture. Xerxes drunkenness was going to cost him his wife.

1:12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s bidding conveyed through the eunuchs. Then the king became extremely angry, and his rage consumed him.

Queen Vashti was basically just the #1 concubine who would bear the royal seed. The guests began to think “How can a king command his army if he cannot even command his own wife?” 

1:13 The king then inquired of the wise men who were discerners of the times—for it was the royal custom to confer with all those who were proficient in laws and legalities.

These wise men of the cabinet had to take care of this national crisis. The wise men of the cabinet most likely consisted of astrologers and occultists. They claimed to have the ability to see into the future, but they did not see Xerxes defeat at Thermopylae. However, they were very positive about advising him to stop feminism in his own home.

1:14 Those who were closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan. These men were the seven officials of Persia and Media who saw the king on a regular basis and had the most prominent offices in the kingdom. 

These highest ranking officials were perhaps equivalent to the magi of Daniel. They werepreparing for a great campaign to fight against Greece, but the queen refused to obey the king. This move by the queen made Xerxes look weak and foolish during a time when he needed to look strong and invincible.

1:15 The king asked, “By law, what should be done to Queen Vashti in light of the fact that she has not obeyed the instructions of King Ahasuerus conveyed through the eunuchs?”

What should be done with this rebellious royal wife? It seems that there was no Persian law which the Persian cabinet could exercise.

1:16 Memucan then replied to the king and the officials, “The wrong of Queen Vashti is not against the king alone, but against all the officials and all the people who are throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.

Memucan must have been a henpecked husband. He may have been afraid that he would lose control of his own wife.

1:17 For the matter concerning the queen will spread to all the women, leading them to treat their husbands with contempt, saying, ‘When King Ahasuerus gave orders to bring Queen Vashti into his presence, she would not come.’ 

The Persian cabinet feared that this unsubmissive attitude would spread throughout the entire Persian kingdom.

1:18 And this very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media who have heard the matter concerning the queen will respond in the same way to all the royal officials, and there will be more than enough contempt and anger!

This rebellious and unsubmissive action of the Queen would start a feminist movement which would get out of control.

1:19 If the king is so inclined, let a royal edict go forth from him, and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media that cannot be repealed, that Vashti may not come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king convey her royalty to another who is more deserving than she.

A pagan law was being enacted which had nothing to do with the Mosaic Law. It had nothing to do with the church. It was the law of the Medes and the Persians. It was made by a bunch of drunken and pagan men.

The Persians considered their laws to be so perfect, that once enacted, they could never be repealed or revised. Vashti thus lost her position as queen, but she was presumably still in the harem.

1:20 And let the king’s decision which he will enact be disseminated throughout all his kingdom, vast though it is. Then all the women will give honor to their husbands, from the most prominent to the lowly.” 

The law of the Medes and Persians could not be broken or changed.

1:21 The matter seemed appropriate to the king and the officials. So the king acted on the advice of Memucan.

Vashti was no longer the queen of Persia. Xerxes would have to find a new queen as beautiful as Vashti.

1:22 He sent letters throughout all the royal provinces, to each province according to its own script and to each people according to its own language, that every man should be ruling his family and should be speaking the language of his own people.

Women lost some of their basic rights on this night. This law reveals the character of Xerxes.  Like Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Nero, King Henry VIII, Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Chairman Mao, and many other rulers, he was an insane genius. Like some of these other men, he may have been demon-possessed or influenced by demons. When Xerxes lost his navy to the Greeks at Thermopylae, he took off his belt and spanked the sea. In ancient history, these insane, demon-influenced men were either born into power, or they took power. In America, the biblically-ignorant electorate votes politicians like Xerxes into power. The problem with America is not the leaders, but the electorate who places them in charge.

The Persian postal system was very similar to the pony back express system which was used in China, India, and during the American Revolution. Archaeologists have actually found an actual leather postal sack containing Persian official documents of this time period. The amazing thing is that these documents were preserved in the dry climate of Egypt, which was then a part of the Persian Empire.