In Ephesians 5:21-32, Paul paints a picture of the church as the bride of Christ. Jesus is the loving, faithful, self-giving husband who pours his life out for her, he seeks her beauty and her good. She is faithful, honouring and submitting to him and so, the church, the bride he has won is the one that becomes a reflection, a statement, a display of his glory (Ephesian 3:10).
It’s fascinating then that in Esther 1, we see a picture of a marriage relationship that competes and contrasts sharply with that first picture. We might say that Ahasuerus and Vashti present us with a picture of the exact opposite of how God relates to his people.
Ahasuerus is the king, as emperor he would have considered himself as king of kings. Yet, he is portrayed as boorish and lacking in true authority. He may rule over a vast empire but his home life is a mess. He is defied and embarrassed by his wife but what would make his request appealing to her. It comes not out of thoughtfulness, nor even out of joy and pride in his marriage.
1. It comes from drunkenness (v8 & v10).
2. It comes as a kind of afterthought. He doesn’t greet his guests with his consort alongside him but rather, a week in after he’s entertained them with wine and showed off the riches of his palace and the strength of his fighting forces, then he summons her.
This is such a different image to the image of God as king of kings and of Christ as the loving husband of his people.
Vashti, the Queen acts in defiance of her husband. She may have had some justification given his behaviour but there is little sign of love, honour or concern for him, his well-being and his reputation. Notice too the arrogance that we are meant to pick up on. Vashti refuses to leave her party to go to the kings as though this is an independent, rival event. How dare he interrupt what she is doing. Yet, the Queen’s feast itself was under the king’s roof and patronage. In realty it would have been an extension of the king’s own feast, in the same way that Jill Biden might take off the spouses of other heads of state at a G20 summit.
In human terms, we can understand Vashti’s response but the Biblical authors will have seen something different going on here. Vashti behaves like Adam and Eve in Eden. She desires autonomy from the king and she seeks to rival him. She resents him. Similarly, her behaviour echoes that of Israel towards God, the story offers a meditation on the prophecies of Ezekiel and Hosea. Of course, Israel’s rejection of God, the kind and loving true husband means that she is put into the hands of other gods and their representatives, the kings of Assyria, Babylon and Persia so that Israel experiences “husbands” like Ahasuerus.
Our desire, not as individuals but collectively as the church should be to reflect the imagery of Ephesians 5 rather than Esther 1.
Faithroots 