In a world where a king is celebrated and honored, and his wishes and desires are immediately met, we are introduced to a woman who stands up for her own dignity and refuses a request made by the king. Request is a dubious word choice. A request by the king is more than just a request, it is a command. That this woman is the queen does not reduce the perceived insult to the king, and to all the men present at the king’s banquet who are witness to the Queen’s refusal to do as the King ordered. After seven days of continuous celebration, where wine has been flowing freely, the King sends for the Queen asking her to appear at his male-only banquet wearing her crown.
“But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command . . . the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him” (Esther 1:12 NASB).
I believe Queen Vashti is a person who is to be admired because she had the courage to stand up for her convictions. She believed she was as worthy as any man. Her refusal should not be seen as an act of disobedience, but rather a refusal to participate in the drunken debauchery of the king and the other men who had drunk their fill of wine for seven straight days! There is also an implication that the queen was being asked to appear before all these inebriated men wearing her crown, and only her crown. Though society obviously did not value women as equals with men, no person should be asked to humiliate herself and place herself in danger as Vashti was being asked to do.
Standing up for herself and declaring herself as a person of worth and value cost her—she was deposed, but she sets a much-needed example for us today of the need to stand up for the worth of every person because human beings are created in the image of God. To oppress and diminish another’s value is to diminish their humanity. How might we celebrate and support others, who like Vashti, are standing up to declare their dignity as a human being created in the image of God?
Michelle Mosier 
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