PRELIMINARY EVENTS LEADING TO PROTECTION

nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him: When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days. And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace; Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble. And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king. And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure. Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.”
A. This king was a great ruler. He had 127 provinces under his control. This was no small feat. He did it without telephone, television or telegraph. But everyone knew who was the boss. The Persian Army was almost unstoppable. (In the eyes of the world it would seem so but no in the eyes of God.) This place of Persia is today Iran and Iraq.
His kingdom spanned from Egypt to India. That is a fairly good piece of real estate. He had been in power for three years. He is now settling into his rule. According to one of my sources of research, this party was a time also to plan the war on Greece the following year that history records happened. It showed his commanders and rulers that if he could pull off an event of this type, he could pull off a war with the great nation of Greece.
B. The king loved to party. Vs. 3-9
The party lasted six months because people were coming from great distances to be there and had their turn to present themselves before the King. The last week was the climax of the entire event. But this party was only a week and those invited were the locals.
This king liked to show off his wealth. That is said that his palace was a work of art. Our text verses refer to this.

II. THE QUEEN’S SEPARATION
Vs. 10-12
“On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.”
A. He was loaded. Vs. 10, 11
Drunks make stupid mistakes. They don’t have or use good judgment. Proverbs 20:1
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”
Not only was he drinking, he was making sure that there was plenty of booze to go around. The Bible has the answer to that also.
Habakkuk 2:15
“Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!”
Proverbs 31:4-5