Queen Vashti

Vashti was queen, wife of Xerxes... Xerxes was a generous king.. he was having a celebration... a feast and all of the officials and rulers of the time were there... at the same time, Vashti was having a similar celebration for all the women of the men...
during this celebration Xerxes decides that he wants Vashti to come and stand before the men in her royal crown so they could admire her beauty... she refused to go... now I heard someone say that they thought possibly he wanted her to come out naked, with only the crown on... I tend to disagree with that because in my own experience, men don't want any other man to ever see or think he could see what is his... so while Xerxes may have wanted the men to say that he was really lucky to have her because of her beauty, I don't think he would have wanted them to think about her in a way that might lead them to desire her for themselves... I could be wrong, but I am just saying this is what I think...
well, because she refused to go to him, he was really mad... and all these "advisors" tell him that he cannot let this go unpunished because soon all the women of the country would be rebelling against their husbands... so what they tell him to do is to take her title from her as queen and that she could never be in his presence again... and he agrees...
actually, a woman in those days could have been one of hundreds of wives... or she could have been a concubine, which is basically a slave that is set aside for the kings pleasure... so for her to even be considered the queen in the first place was a very high honor... she was obviously very beautiful, or he wouldn't have wanted to display her... he was proud of her... she must have carried herself in a very regal manner...
my personal opinion is that he loved her... because after he decreed that she could not be queen and could never be in his presence again... then he started to have second thoughts about it, started missing her.... so these advisors... then determine that he needs to get a new woman and in a hurry so he doesn't go back on his word...
all of us are beautiful in one way or another... I think that God gives all of us the ability to use something He has given us to draw others to us... for some it is physical beauty... some it may be a wonderful personality... some it may be intelligence... some it may be the ability to talk others into things... whatever your gift is, make sure that you are using it to the glory of God... not self glory...
I don't know that I think Vashti was wrong... well, that's not true... she was wrong because she had an authority figure over her and she did not submit to the authority... I think she should not have been subjected to parading herself in front of drunken men... but she didn't have a choice in the matter... she made the choice to rebel and it cost her dearly...
I think this is a story to show us that maybe the authority figure in your life might make bad choices for you... but that doesn't change the fact that he is still the authority... we like to think that we shouldn't have to listen if something is wrong... I don't see it that way... one of the good things about being a female, and having a man over you is that what he does is between him and God, not him and you... if he makes a bad choice, it is for God to fix... he stands between you and God... I would surely think you should pray and cry out to God, asking Him to open the man's eyes, but in the end, he still is the one in charge... she could have been so much more powerful in the position of queen, but instead, she allowed pride to get in the way and her position was taken from her... be careful what we allow pride to get in the way of... we may just lose our position...