06.21.2015 Old Testament: Esth 1.19–22

To read the Bible in a year, read Esther 1–3 on June 21, In the year of our Lord 2015

By Don Ruhl

The king of Persia wanted his wife to parade herself before his guests at a feast, but she refused to do it. His counselors advised him to write a decree that the queen could no longer come before him. Listen to their reasoning,

“If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out from him, and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it will not be altered, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. When the king’s decree which he will make is proclaimed throughout all his empire (for it is great), all wives will honor their husbands, both great and small.” And the reply pleased the king and the princes, and the king did according to the word of Memucan. Then he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, to each province in its own script, and to every people in their own language, that each man should be master in his own house, and speak in the language of his own people (Esther 1.19–22). 

Since we do not live in a dictator-like monarchy, this may be hard for us to understand. Yet, the officials and the king himself of the Persian Empire believed that they needed to write such a decree to cause wives to honor their husbands.

The Lord teaches us to love one another and to honor one another, and the honor will come naturally when we have the love. In fact, we will delight to honor other people when we love them as the Lord loves them. That holds true not only in marriage, but in all human interactions in society.