Who is…
Queen Vashti

also known as “Vâšti”

Hebrew: וַשְׁתִּי —transliteration: Vashti —meaning is uncertain: possibly “excellent woman, best of women,” in modern Persian it means “goodness”

Greek: Amestris / Koinē Greek: Ἀστίν

This is the first wife and queen of King Ahasuerus of Persia. She is the mother of King Artaxerxes.

According to the Jewish Midrash, Vashti was the great-granddaughter of King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, the granddaughter of King Amel-Marduk and the daughter of King Belshazzar.

Vashti was deposed as Queen because she refused to obey the king when he desired her to appear in the banqueting hall of Shushan the palace (Esther 1:10-12).

On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs.

At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him. —Esther 1:10-12 ESV

In the Sovereignty of God, this began a series of events which resulted in the orphan Esther replacing Vashti as queen, and the salvation of the exiled Jews from mass genocide at the revengeful insistence of the king’s vizier, Haman. Furthermore, Esther’s elder relative Mordecai (her adoptive father) replaced Haman, the Agagite, as vizier (high-ranking political advisor or minister) in the Persian empire.

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Article Version: December 9, 2022