Topic
Vashti
11 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Esther 1:1Smith
Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)
- Esther 1:9ISBE
Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.
- Esther 1:9–22Nave Put away (divorced) for refusing to exhibit herself at a royal banquet
Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus. ¶ 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…
- Esther 1:10–12Easton
¶ 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…
- Esther 1:11ISBE
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.
- Esther 1:12ISBE
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.
- Esther 1:15–18ISBE
What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only,…
- Esther 1:19ISBE
If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto…
- Esther 2:1Nave Put away (divorced) for refusing to exhibit herself at a royal banquet
After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
- Esther 2:4Nave Put away (divorced) for refusing to exhibit herself at a royal banquet
And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.
- Esther 2:17Nave Put away (divorced) for refusing to exhibit herself at a royal banquet
And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 1 references
Beautiful, the queen of Ahasuerus, who was deposed from her royal dignity 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). (See ESTHER.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 1 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 7 references
vash'-ti (washti; Astin; Old Persian "beautiful woman"): The former queen of Xerxes, whom he divorced. On the 7th day of a great feast which the king was giving to the assembled nobles of the empire and others, he commanded the seven chamberlains who served in his presence to bring the queen into the assembly. We are told (Es 1:11) that his purpose was "to show the peoples and the princes her beauty; for she was fair to look on." The king's command was met by Vashti with a mortifying refusal to obey. The reason which is sometimes assigned for her disobedience--that no man but the king was permitted to look upon the queen--is without foundation. Esther invites Haman on two occasions to accompany the king to a banquet at which she was present. Nor can it be said that there was any lack of recognition of Vashti's high dignity; the seven highest officials of the palace were sent to escort her. The refusal had to be visited with a punishment severe enough to reestablish the supremacy which it threatened to overthrow. She was, accordingly, divorced and dethroned.
There is no known reference to Vashti outside of Esther. The suggestion has been made that Vashti was an inferior wife, or one of the royal concubines. There is nothing, however, to support it; and it is, besides, directly opposed to several statements in the narrative. She is always named "queen" (Es 1:9,11,12,15-18). It is only (Es 1:19) when the decree is proposed to repudiate and degrade her that she is called merely "Vashti." She also (Es 1:9) presides at the banquet for the women. It is evident, therefore, that in the palace of the women there was no higher personage than Vashti.
John Urquhart
In the topical indexes
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.