The Book of Esther begins with a royal banquet given by King Ahasuerus. At one point during the proceedings, Ahasuerus summons his wife, Queen Vashti, to appear at the party because he wants to show off her beauty before his officials. When she refuses to come at the king's bidding, she triggers a social crisis.
This is more than just a simple conflict between a wife and her husband, the king's advisors point out. By defying the king's command, Vashti is setting an example for wives throughout the kingdom that they don't have to obey their husbands. Such a scandal (shocking, isn't it?!) would reverberate throughout Ahasuerus' dominion, and soon wives everywhere would be the ones ruling the roost.
The only thing to do, the king's officials advised him, was to decree that Vashti will henceforth be banished forever from the king's presence. That would teach her, and all the women in the realm, that men are to be in charge. As the Bible puts it, "So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, vast as it is, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike" (vs. 20).
This guidance to nip early women's liberation in the bud was pleasing to Ahasuerus, so he did as the officials recommended. "He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, declaring that every man should be master in his own house" (vs. 22). The longer-term repercussions of banishing his queen, however, the king did not stop to ponder...
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