Symbolization: The King Calls for Queen Vashti Part 2
Original Entry Date 12/16/2021: In Part 1 of “The King Calls Queen Vashti” we read about the beauty preparations of Esther. We then reviewed how this 12-month process is a symbol of the Holy Spirit actively working in us, the Sanctification Process. We ended part 1 with a snippet from a Bible Symbols book that I love that describes the number 12 as meaning “Divine Order” as well 5 plus 7 which is perfection or completion and Grace.
If you want to check it out first click here:
https://baptizemyheartlord.com/2022/01/05/symbolization-the-king-calls-for-queen-vashti/
In this segment I want to change gears and go back to the beginning. Why was this all happening? Why was Esther and many other women even doing this?
As we read briefly at the start of part 1, King Ahasuerus began thinking of the former, Queen Vashti. Since she was no longer in the picture a new Queen was to be crowned and so this process with Esther among others began.
Let’s go back and read the account of Queen Vashti and why she no longer was Queen.
The King is having a great feast (HUGE actually) for his officials and servants, lasting 7 days!! Queen Vashti was having a feast of her own:
9 Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women in the royal palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus.
10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, 11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing her royal crown, in order to show her beauty to the people and the officials, for she was beautiful to behold. 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command brought by his eunuchs; therefore the king was furious, and his anger burned within him.
Esther 1:9-12 NKJV
Now I know in the view of our current culture, this can be viewed as a demoralizing act. I ask that you place those thoughts aside because that is not what God is portraying here. On the very surface it may seem a way but after reading the Word of God for a time you come to realize that God’s Word is much more than what is the on surface. That is why when I read the book of Revelation the first time I was like, “HUH?”
The character portrayed as King Ahasuerus is actually a representation of God and Queen Vashti is a symbol of Jerusalem turning their hearts from Him:
God’s Love for Jerusalem
8 “When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread [d]My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,” says the Lord God.
9 “Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of [e]badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a [f]jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. 14 Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God.
Ezekiel 16:8-14 NKV
If you continue on in Ezekiel you will read how this woman of royalty turns her heart from Him.
How does this connect with us today?
We too have been made into royalty by the blood of Christ Jesus so this grand Feast can be thought of as the grand Wedding Feast as Jesus describes in Matthew 22.
Lets look at some of the detail of the Feast in Esther:
Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus[a] (this was the Ahasuerus who reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia), 2 in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan[b] the [c]citadel, 3 that in the third year of his reign he made a feast for all his officials and servants—the powers of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the princes of the provinces being before him— 4 when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty for many days, one hundred and eighty days in all.
5 And when these days were completed, the king made a feast lasting seven days for all the people who were present in Shushan the citadel, from great to small, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace. 6 There were white and blue linen curtains fastened with cords of fine linen and purple on silver rods and marble pillars; and the couches were of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of alabaster, turquoise, and white and black marble.
Esther 1:1-6 NKJV
One item I’ll point out are the white and blue linen curtains. The curtains of the Tabernacle in Exodus are very much similar except they are made of blue (symbol of heaven), purple (royalty) and red(symbol of blood) as these are curtains of blue(heaven) and white(purity).
Is there anything else that you see in the scripture above that is relative to Jesus and the Wedding Feast?
One of the last things I will point out is in the following verses and how the drinks are described:
7 And they served drinks in golden vessels, each vessel being different from the other, with royal wine in abundance, according to the [f]generosity of the king. 8 In accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory; for so the king had ordered all the officers of his household, that they should do according to each man’s pleasure. – Esther 1:7-8 NKJV
Same verse (number 8) in the EXP version:
8 ·The king commanded that the guests be permitted to drink as much as they wished [L The drinking was according to law/edict without compulsion]. He told the ·wine servers [staff] to serve each man what he wanted.
We are invited to ask for more of God’s Spirit, I know I do. I ask for more and more of His Spirit because I want to put on the mind of Christ and cat aside the works of the flesh. Have you ever heard the saying to be drunk in the Spirit? When I read the scripture there, I think of what Jesus said in Luke 11:13
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
We should be asking God for more and more of His Spirit so we are in alignment with Him and His calling unlike Queen Vashti who turned a deaf ear to the King and refused to come.
