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THE BOOK OF ESTHER
CHAPTER 1
ANCIENT SUSA OF AHASUERUS KING ERA
WHERE IS SUSA AND THE SHUSHAN PALACE
Welcome to our Christianity Oasis Daily Bread study program. This is our ... Where Is Susa study taking a look into the Ancient Susa and the Shusan Palace of Ahasuerus King in the Book of Esther and how the most interesting Where Is Susa Shusan Palace message affects your be-YOU-tiful Christian walk.
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CHECK OUT THE BOOK OF ESTHER STUDY FROM THE BEGINNING
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THE BOOK OF ESTHER
CHAPTER 1
ANCIENT SUSA OF AHASUERUS KING OF PERSIA
WHERE IS SUSA AND THE SHUSHAN PALACE IN ESTHER
Hope you're ready for a truly interesting story with Daily Bread
that we're about to study called The Book of Esther.
The story starts off with a grand celebration that the king of Media and
Persia was throwing. King Ahasuerus reigned over more than 127 provinces
from India to Ethiopia, known at that time as Media and Persia.
First a little bit of background, to bring you more information about the
setting of the story and to acquaint you with the king. As you may know, the
Bible is not completely, in chronological order.
However, if you research some
things, you can usually figure out the general time frame of a story by some
clues given. Here are some things that give us a fairly good idea of when
the story of Esther took place.
ANCIENT SUSA OF AHASUERUS KING AT THE TIME
WHERE IS SUSA AND THE SHUSHAN PALACE IN PERSIA
In the Book of
Ezra 4:6,
Ahasuerus was king during the rebuilding of the
Temple in Jerusalem. That would make it somewhere between five and six
hundred years before Christ. In the Book of Daniel, it says that
Nebuchadnezzar ruled in Babylon in the third year of king Jehoiakim,
which was 644 years before Christ.
Then Nebuchadnezzar's son Belshazzar
reigned as king of the Chaldans after that, then Darius the Median who was
the son of Ahasuerus, took the kingdom after that as the prophet Daniel predicted, so that puts us in the
same general time frame. It's interesting to notice that the book of Ezra
and the book of Daniel are 12 books apart in the Bible, yet they cover the
same era!
The palace where king Ahasuerus' throne was located, was in a place
called Shushan, or on some maps it was called Susa. That pretty well covers
the setting, as for the people, I'll be introducing you to them as the story
goes on.
Now, in the third year of his reign, king Ahasuerus held a feast for all
his princes, nobles and servants. He showed off the riches of his glorious
kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty for 180 days That was quite a long party!
ANCIENT SUSA OF AHASUERUS KING STUDY
WHERE IS SUSA AND THE SHUSHAN PALACE EVENT
One can imagine it would take quite a
long time to properly entertain all of the princes, nobles and servants of 127
provinces, giving each a bit of your time. At either rate ... It was quite a party
After that, the king held another feast for all the people who
were present in Shushan the palace, both great and small, for 7 days in the
court of the garden of the king's palace. The palace was very elaborate with
fancy linens and furnishings and the guests were served royal wine
generously, in all different kinds of golden cups, as the king commanded.
No
one contested the drinking because the king told all the officers of his
house to serve every man as much as they wanted.
In addition to the festivities that the king held, Vashti, the queen,
held a feast for the women in the royal house that belonged to Ahasuerus.
On the 7th day, when the heart of the king was merry with
wine, he ordered his seven chamberlains to bring Vashti before the king,
wearing the royal crown, to show the people and the princes her beauty,
because she was pretty. But Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment
by his chamberlains. This made Ahasuerus mad and his anger burned inside
him.
ANCIENT SUSA OF AHASUERUS KING LESSON
WHERE IS SUSA AND THE SHUSHAN PALACE PARTY
This is
interesting, don't you think? At the utterance of the name
Vashti, does not an image of a rebellious woman come to your
mind? Let's step back just a pace or two and look at this
story closer, shall we?
In our perception of what consists
of the qualities a virtuous woman, it may be safe to say
that she should be modest, at the very least. And wouldn't
one agree that if a husband held any amount of virtue, he
would protect his bride from anything that was unrighteous?
NOW, let's look again at our impression of Vashti, shall we?
Consider this situation. Firstly, the women had a separate
feast from that of the men, as you can imagine at a party
where the host offers as much as you can drink for free ...
Well, enough said.
So here we have the king, merry with wine
(drunk, in other words) who orders his top officials (who
probably weren't abstaining because they were
designated drivers for the evening, but that IS assumption
of consumption) to go fetch the little
woman so he could show everyone what a fox she is.
ANCIENT SUSA OF AHASUERUS KING CELEBRATION
WHERE IS SUSA AND THE SHUSHAN PALACE WARNING
Now, put yourself in Vashti's shoes for a moment ... You're having a
little get together with the women and seven guys who are
partying with the hubby who is "merry with wine"
come to get you to show the kingdom that
not only does the king have fabulous riches but a hot wife
too! Any virtuous women out there who can't wait to walk
THAT runway?
So, Vashti,
that SNAKESTRESS ...
WAS wrong for refusing to go, because a woman is submissive
to her husband, right? Was Ahasuerus wrong? Does it matter
who was ... Wronger?
Take a look at this verse:
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Genesis 20:16
And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of
silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with
thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. |
ANCIENT SUSA OF AHASUERUS KING ANGERED
WHERE IS SUSA AND THE SHUSHAN PALACE DANGER
This was advice that Abimelech gave Sarah ... A husband
should be as a covering of the eyes ... In other words she
must look at no other, nor desire to be looked at by
another. And shouldn't a wife trust that her husband will
protect her from such? Why would a righteous husband put his
wife in such a situation that is totally opposite? That
Vashti ... That ... That VIXEN!
He consulted with his scholars who knew law and the times, and his seven
princes of the kingdom asking them, What should we do to queen Vashti
according to the law, because she disobeyed the order of the king? One must
suppose (tongue in cheek of course), that punishing the queen would be
better than admitting the truth of the matter.
It must have been a tough
decision for the king, once he sobered up and realized that he had a
situation. Verse 12 says his anger burned in him. That is pride. He refused
to be wrong. Perhaps inside he suffered a great deal and struggled with
pride, as we all do at times. Only God knows what's in a man's heart.
One of the princes answered, Vashti hasn't only done wrong to the king,
but also to all the princes and all the people of the provinces. What she's
done will become known to women everywhere. They'll despise their husbands
when they hear the news that the king commanded Vashti the queen to be
brought in before him, but she didn't obey.
ANCIENT SUSA OF AHASUERUS KING REMARRIES
WHERE IS SUSA AND THE SHUSHAN PALACE CONCERN
It'll cause too much contempt
and anger. If it please the king, let a law be written that can't be
changed, that Vashti never be seen again in the presence of king Ahasuerus,
and let the king give her royal position to another woman, better than her.
When the kings order is proclaimed throughout all his great empire, all the
wives will give their husbands honor, both great and small.
The king was happy with the idea and the law was written. The king sent
letters to every province in their own language that every man should rule
in his own house.
So, the contentious
(?) ways of queen Vashti caused her to be divorced from
the king and expelled from his presence forever. And what happened to the
king because he put the queen in such a precarious situation? Has your
impression of Vashti changed?
ANCIENT SUSA OF AHASUERUS KING CONCLUSION
WHERE IS SUSA AND THE SHUSHAN PALACE SUMMARY
How often do we judge things, and people,
without really considering all things? Next in our story, we'll
find out all about how Esther became queen in Vashti's place and about a
situation that arose when her cousin Mordecai stood up for his beliefs. See
you again for more of this story next time, right here at Daily Bread.
CONTINUE TO THE NEXT STUDY
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