Vashti

G-d does not exist…. in the book of Esther. 

Or at least the name of G-d does not appear anywhere in this Hebrew Scripture. So it has been debated whether the book of Esther is a story about Jewish nationalism, or conversely, a story of deep religious significance. In the Jewish tradition, the name of  G-d is so sacred that it is not spoken aloud, so the absence of the name could mean either extreme — secular or sacred. A famous Jewish scholar, by the name of Maimonides, believed that Esther was only second to the Torah in importance.  —-The Torah — the foundational sacred texts of Judaism — Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  That is high praise, indeed, for a book that is so full of comedy, sex and violence.   Think of the book of Esther as Arrested Development meets The Sopranos, or if you’re from an older generation maybe it looks more like a fusion between Seinfeld  and The Godfather.  I think that we need to trust the wisdom of tradition and history when it comes to the book of Esther — we need to put on our party shoes and dance — we need to think “Purim!” “Purim” is the Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jews in the Persian Empire. It’s the only time that  the book of Esther is read in a synagogue.  Now, before you get the wrong idea — I’m not suggesting that we appropriate someone else’s holiday. I am saying that when we think about Esther, we should consider looking through the lens of “Purim.”  What mental adjustments are needed to think about this as triumph instead of threat or disaster?

Spoiler alert! The Jews survive!  And they don’t just survive, they thrive and take hold of power.  That is the lens of Purim — to look at all aspects of this story in terms of its ending.   Evil can’t win! Think about it as a comedy, and you begin to see the characters of the story for what they really are: you have King Ahasuerus as a narcissistic buffoon and his advisors as a cluster of sycophants pandering to his every whim.  Haman is the villain, Queen Esther and Mordecai are the heroes, and of course there are the eunuchs, the clever servants, who are so essential to the plot.   …And then there is Queen Vashti, who refuses to come when called — the woman who makes the wrong decision for all the right reasons. 

This is what we know so far:  King Ahasuerus, the ruler over the entire Persian empire holds a banquet for all the nobles and governors for one hundred and eighty days. And if that is not enough, he gives a second banquet for seven days for all the people who live in the palace in Shushan. Kind of like casual Fridays with alcohol.   Somehow Ahasuerus gets the bright idea, though there is some doubt about this, because the man doesn’t have another original thought for the rest of the story, to ask Queen Vashti to come to the banquet. She refuses and as Ahasuerus is more than happy to take any advice offered to him, his advisors suggest that Vashti should be banished from the king’s sight. The solution that they offer Ahasuerus is like killing an insect with a nuclear warhead !— an edict goes out that Vashti shall never come before the king.  This is a marital squabble that his advisors blow all out of proportion just to make Ahasuerus look ridiculous, which isn’t too difficult.  

Why does Vashti refuse to come when the king calls her? There is a lot of speculation about this….  

Consider that Vashti is having a banquet somewhere else in the palace, in seclusion where only women are allowed. Vashti is following the rules. It’s indecent for women who are nobility to attend male drinking parties.  When Ahasuerus makes the request, he is not just being inappropriate, he is putting himself at risk. We know that risk is real because no sooner is Vashti banished, then someone is plotting to kill him.  When he asks Vashti to come into the presence wearing “a royal diadem” it has been suggested that he means only the crown, coming before drunken men stark naked.— What is he thinking? Notice he speaks about himself in the third person when he issues the order “bring Queen Vashti before the king” as if he is parroting someone else’s words — someone else’s bright idea that he claims as his own. It’s not a stretch to see that his request is being fuelled by alcohol or enemies, or both. 

We never see Vashti. She remains out of sight. All messages are conveyed by the  king’s eunuchs. Not one eunuch, mind you or even two but seven in all! We know their names too, so they must be important to the story. All marching in unison to deliver the request and then marching back with the answer. Are they allies of Vashti?  Are they loyal to Ahasuerus? We never hear a word from Vashti herself but you can imagine that this is an impossible situation. It’s like being caught between a rock and a hard place. She has no option but to refuse to come before Ahasuerus and his drunken guests. So she makes the wrong decision for all the right reasons. It is a wrong decision because her disobedience results in her banishment — possible execution. No one with integrity will be there to influence Ahasuerus and protect the people of the Persian empire.  It’s also for all the right reasons because it is the only thing she can do to protect both her dignity and King Ahasuerus’ reputation. 

When we consider the long game, Vashti is making a decision that paves the way for Esther and Mordecai. But it does not end there. She is not simply a placeholder.  Later in the story, both Mordecai and Esther take their cue from Vashti to help them thwart the villain Haman.   Although it is never explicitly stated, the character of Mordecai, the one who will eventually provoke Haman, just happens to be at the second banquet at Shushan palace when Vashti refuses to appear. He watches the whole thing unfold.  Mordecai, just like Vashti, provokes rage through his own disobedience. He refuses to honour Haman. It’s almost like he’s playing him. As if he is deliberately drawing him out into the open so that the villain, Haman, can be seen for the anti-semite he really is.  Later Esther will also echo the experience of Vashti. She disobeys Ahasuerus too, and risks her life by coming to the inner court and “entering the king’s presence without having been summoned.” Of course when the king extends his “golden sceptre” she knows that she is in the clear.  He is such a narcissist and so easily manipulated, one wonders if there was any risk in the first place. Like Vashti, Esther holds a banquet of her own, actually two banquets —but not for women — for King Ahasuerus and for Haman, the villain.  Both the king and Haman easily agree to this, even though it’s so unconventional. Let’s face it, they can’t help themselves — One is led by his golden sceptre and the other by his naked ambition.  During the second meal, Esther reveals her identity as a Jew and what follows is a series of slapstick events with Ahasuerus coming in just as Haman falls all over Esther.  Ironically what Vashti feared might happen if she had obeyed the king, does appear to happen to Esther. Esther certainly doesn’t even try to contradict the king when he accuses Haman of molesting her.  

And where is G-d in all this?  The omnipresence of the Name can be seen in the palace hangings of “white cotton and blue wool, caught up by cords of fine linen and purple wool.” The blue and white is a visual metaphor for G-d’s commandments spoken about in the book of Numbers, and the purple is a sign of his royalty. These curtains are hanging when Vashti decides to refuse Ahasuerus. The presence is there too, when Esther, who is fasting, makes the decision to approach the king.   We see this same formula repeated later when Mordecai is dressed in “royal robes of blue and white,” with “ a mantle of fine linen and purple wool.”  In the world of Esther, G-d is always there but much like our own world, we may not be fully aware. We need to remind ourselves that the “relief and deliverance,” that Mordecai speaks about, is always close by. (Esther 4:14)

Sometimes when we choose to do what is just, what is right,  it might look like the wrong decision in terms of the way the world sees things. Vashti paid a price for her decision, but in the long term, her virtue was critical to saving the Jewish people.   Working for justice and peace can be anything but peaceful for some people.  Think of those who stood up to the Nazis in the Holocaust, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Franz Jaggerstatter.  It is a challenge to call out life-denying injustice even among our friends, family or co-workers— prophetic witness  is usually not welcome.  And when the world turns on us, we can’t help but question our choices.  

In those moments of doubt, we need to always hold fast to the belief that G-d will always triumph in the face of every evil and disaster. We shouldn’t be afraid to put on our party shoes and dance:

Dance us to  your beauty

With a burning violin

Dance us through the panic

Till we’re gathered safely in

Lift us like an olive branch

Be our homeward dove

Dance us to the end of love.

Dance us to the end of love. Amen.

Leonard Cohen.  Adapted from “Dance Me to the End of Love” in Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs, (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1993), 337.