I have always liked reading the book of Esther, because she was beautiful, intelligent, and delivers the Jews of Persia from destruction. She was in fact, one of my biblical heroes as I was growing up and I just admired her so much. However, it was few years ago when I had came across a comic book written on the history of Armenia. The story wasn¡¯t politically correct, but it was quite interesting. One of the princesses of Armenia was sent off to Persia to married the king of Persia. It was the story of Vashti told from her side and it triggered me to think in a broader perspective.
             Many people often overlook Vashti because nothing much is said about a woman, who had disobeyed the king. She is basically out of the picture by the end of the first chapter of the Book. I remember my first impression of Vashti was that of a rude and undisciplined woman. I thought it was only natural that she was punished for disobeying the king and the moral learned was to not disobey your elders or your boss. After encountering that comic book, I begun to think differently about the story of Vashti. What was the real story? Therefore, I wanted to know more of the Queen Vashti. What was her reason for refusing the king? Why did the king punish her so severely?
             The passage which I have selected is Esther 1:10-15. This is the part where the incident takes place. Actually, 1:10-22 is known to be the dethronement of Vashti, however, since our requirement was maximum of 5 verses, I have decided to cut off the passage where the people of the court question what to do with the Queen for not obeying the King. In Masoretic Hebrew form, 1:10-22 is marked as the Vashti¡¯s refusal on the seventh day. The story of dethronement of Vashti begins from verse 10 with the king commanding Vashti to show herself to the guests, and ends at verse 22 where the king sends out letters to his provinces to indicate that he is the master of his own ...