Esther 1:9

9 Queen Vashti also held a banquet for the women at the royal palace of King Xerxes.

Esther 1:9 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 1:9

Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women
&c.] For it was not customary with the Persians, nor other eastern nations, to admit of women to their festivals ^F13, but they feasted by themselves. Who Vashti was is not known with any certainty. Bishop Usher, who takes Ahasuerus to be Darius Hystaspis, thinks Vashti was Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, whom he married. The Targumist says, she was the daughter of Evilmerodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar. Her name seems to be the same with Vesta, a deity worshipped by the Persians, as Xenophon {n}, and signifies vehement fire, which was in great veneration with them; and therefore this queen is most likely to be of Persian original: she kept her feast

in the royal house which belonged to Ahasuerus;
her guests not being so many, there was room enough in the king's palace for them, and where it was more decent for them to be than in the open air in the garden, and exposed to the sight of men.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F13 Justin c Trogo, l. 41. c. 3.
F14 Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 23.

Esther 1:9 In-Context

7 People drank from golden cups. No two cups were alike. The king also provided plenty of royal wine out of his royal generosity.

8 The drinking followed this rule: Drink as you please. (The king had ordered all the waiters in his palace to let everyone do as he pleased.)

9 Queen Vashti also held a banquet for the women at the royal palace of King Xerxes.

10 On the seventh day when the king was drunk on wine, he ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who served under King Xerxes,

11 to bring Queen Vashti in front of the king, wearing her royal crown. He wanted to show the people, especially the officials, her beauty, because she was very attractive.