Chapter 1

Verses 1-4. The scene of this beautiful book opens in heaven. The riches of the glorious kingdom, and the honor of the excellent majesty of this mighty king, Ahasuerus form the basis of a parable whereby the Divine Revealer of the mysteries of God would lead our hearts to the contemplation of Him who is “God of gods, and Lord of lords―a great God, a mighty, and a terrible.” Beneath the historical narration of this exquisite episode in Jewish history, the Holy Ghost has laid the revelation of that salvation of which the prophets inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace unto us.
God ever rejoices. Out of the boundless resources which are treasured within Himself; He spreads His royal table for the feast.
The nobles and princes before the king probably represent the “sons of God” of Job 38:7; the chief princes” of Daniel 10:13: the servants, those of whom “thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him;” and of whom Paul asks, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”
Verses 5-8. But not only for his princes and servants does this royal giver provide. The king made a seven days’ feast unto all the people, great and small, that were found in Shushan the palace. And so truly does the glorious God, the Giver of every good and perfect gift, prepare a royal feast for all who are found in Shushan the palace, the tabernacle of the Lord, the sanctuary of His presence.
Not in vain does the Spirit record a circumstance so apparently minute as that the vessels of gold, in which they gave drink, were diverse one from another. Very deep spiritual things are often conveyed through the medium of earthly things that seem of little moment. Men commonly have their services in sets, the pieces being uniform; an odd piece, or many such, would be a blemish in their eyes. Not so Ahasuerus; not so our God. “At sundry times and in divers manners He spake to the fathers by the prophets;” and now, in vessels, diverse one from another, He ministers to us His joy. Health and sickness―prosperity and adversity―abundance and need―a gifted teacher, a patient sick one whom Jesus loves―these and many more are the golden vessels diverse one from another, whence those who are bidden to His ‘feast partake of the royal wine. True, indeed, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels;” if God uses any of us to convey blessing to others it is as an earthen vessel, but to the receiver He makes it a golden one. So to speak, the wine of the kingdom changes the earthen vessel to gold. How we value that whereby God supplies our need―be it the water of life or the wine of the kingdom!
Ahasuerus will not, as men do now, set before the people a commoner feast than his princes and servants partake of. The wine of the kingdom in abundance is there, according to the state of the king (see 2 Sam. 7:21). Man’s gifts are according to the state of the receiver, God’s are according to the state of the Giver. Man gives great things to great people, and small things to small people; God gives the wine of the kingdom to all the people, great and small―if only they are found waiting upon Him. And what is this royal wine? Is it not God’s own joy? for wine in the Word is a type of joy―in its higher sense of heavenly, in its lower sense of earthly joy.
But though there is abundance of the best, it may not be forced upon unwilling hearts, nor beyond the capacity to receive. “None did compel.” His word is, “Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved;” but it must be according to every man’s pleasure. God does not say, I will open thy mouth and fill it, but, “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” May God the Holy Ghost so minister to us the things of Jesus that we may earnestly desire the royal wine of His providing here; and, not desiring the dainty meats of him that hath an evil eye (Prov. 23:6), may we rejoicingly anticipate that day when He shall drink of the fruit of the vine new with us in His Father’s kingdom!
Verse 9. This introduces the monarch’s queen. She is the honored weaker vessel―honored in being the distributor of that which she receives of him. It was in strictest keeping with what was decorous and comely that she should make a feast for the women in the royal house. But she forgot, as the sequel will show, that “the woman is the glory of the man;” and that her blessing lay in giving glory to him. “Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
Even the house where Vashti made her feast belonged to King Ahasuerus. Not a vessel, not a viand, not a drop of wine, that did not belong to him. “What have ye that ye have not received?”
The position of Vashti was a type of that of Israel. As she, in the royal house, which belonged to the king, was the dispenser of the feast, so Israel, in the earth, which is the Lord’s, was His appointed channel of blessing to the nations. (Gen. 12:8, &c.)
Verses 10-12. A comparison of verse 10 with Revelation 1:4, 3:1, and 4:5, leads to the thought that the Holy Spirit is represented by the seven chamberlains; and this is supported by the circumstance that the offices of the three chamberlains, Hegai, Shaashgaz, and Hatach, indicate various functions of the same Holy Spirit. This will appear as we proceed.
What grace and kindness are found in Ahasuerus. As the acme of his joy, when his heart was merry with wine, he would place the royal crown upon the head of Vashti, and show the princes and people her beauty. But she has no idea of this grace: the king has been but little in her thoughts, and she cannot enter into the riches of his love, nor comprehend the honor he designs to put upon her. She refused to come.
In this conduct we again see Vashti to be a type of Israel, whom the Holy Ghost describes as a people walking after their own thoughts.
Compare Jeremiah 13:11. “For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.” See also Jer. 7:25, 26; Deuteronomy 22:18, 19.
Compare the last clause of verse 12 with Deut. 32:21, 22.
Perhaps this is the proper place to remark, that it is not as the wife, but as the chosen queen, that Vashti is represented. The same is true of Esther. In the Song of songs we have the bride, and we only need contrast that book with this to be assured that the Book of Father does not reveal the bride. Indeed, not once is either Vashti or Esther called by any of the endearing names with which the Canticles abound. Hence it is always Vashti the queen, Esther the queen.
We lay stress on this, for on it largely depends the right understanding of the book. It is the chosen queen of the great king, and not the spouse of the bridegroom. In other words, the chosen people of God, not the bride of Christ.
Vashti knew not the day of her visitation; Israel knew not theirs. This was the crisis in the history of both. Had Vashti known it there had been no Esther the queen; had Israel known it there had been no Church in a position of higher blessing than ever Israel knew.
Verses 13-15. The seven chamberlains in verse 10. appear, as I have said, to represent the Spirit of God: so here the seven princes, of whom the king takes counsel, seem a type of the Son. In Isaiah 9:6, Jesus is called the Counselor. Compare “What shall we do?” in verse 15, with “Let us,” in Genesis 1:26.
The 15th verse is remarkable as typifying the distinctive character of the Jewish economy it is not grace but law. Vashti has not performed the commandment of the king, and she must be treated according to law. There is a most marked contrast between the standing of Vashti and that of Esther. We shall see by-and-by that in the latter it is all of grace.
Verses 16-20. Memucan counsels the putting away of Vashti, and the giving of her royal estate unto another. Mark the construction of verse 19: “Let there go a royal commandment, that Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal estate unto her companion.” Law and grace.
It was impossible that Vashti could have been retained as queen, for it would have subverted the order of the whole empire; it would have been the violation by the king of the commonest principles of justice. And so, to have retained Israel as the peculiar people of God, after their rejection of the one condition upon which their glory depended; viz., the acknowledgment of His Son, was impossible. The world could not have gone on, for to retain in a position of privilege and trust one who has grossly abused that trust, is manifestly opposed to every principle of right. There may indeed be restoration, but that can only be on confession and repentance.
Verses 21, 22. Thus order is preserved, for God’s principle is that we give “honor to whom honor” is due.