The Naked Queen Post

So, tonight during our Thursday Night Break-Out we talked about Esther. We are in a series called Heroes of the Bible and Esther was the first one that we taled about. On the Sunday before Mother's Day we had an over view of the story of Esther at Rock. Which you can see some of that on a previous post.
So, tonight we just kind of skimmed through the story so that we could discuss anything that stands out to any of us.
The thing tat we landed on that took up most of our discussion was the following verses:
"On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carcas- to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovly to look at. But when the attendants delivered the king's command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned with anger."
After a lot of talking we decided that we did not see why she would be so upset. I mean what girl in their right mind would not want to be told how beautiful she is in front on everyone. But then the more we talked we came to two different thoughts that could shed some light on the situation.
1 - We decided that this situation could have been potentially dangerous to the Queen. A large gathering of drunk men, asking the beautiful queen to come to them so that they can see how beautiful she is. This could lead to an epidsode of Law and Order: SVU. Which could be why she refused. .

2 - We found the wording interesting. The king is drunk, so he is not in a good state of mind. He calls the eunuchs, who obviously would not touch the quen sexually, to get the queen and bring her to them. Here is the interesting part, we have a very specific instruction, "wearing her royal crown." We find this interesting. He is ordering her to be brought before these men, wearing her royal crown. Why so specific? and since this is so specific, why is she only asked to wear the crown? Is it possible that she was expected to come out naked? It says that he wanted her to come out because, "for she was lovly to look at." Could he have, in his state of drunkness, wanted his queen to come before all of these men (who were allowed to drink to their hearts content) and show off her body without any clothes on? It is interesting to think about. Because if it is the case, then her getting so mad makes a lot more sense. Him sending the eunuchs makes sense (even though they would have been who he sent anyway). It is just interesting. BE CAREFUL, I am not saying that Scripture says this, I am just saying it is an interesting possability that would shed some light on the queen getting upset and refusing to go out.


Well, there you have it. How often do you get to talk about naked people at church? . . . . . . . . . Well this is at least the fourth time for The Way!

You read it, you can't unread it (aren't you glad you didn't watch it?)

~ Charles R.