No.

Vashti.

Considering Biblical names, I wonder why I don’t hear it on little girls more often. I hear names like Naomi, Rachel (my favorite), Rebecca, Elizabeth, and the eternally popular Sarah. In other cultures I will hear Mari, Magadalena. The more adventurous Haddassah (did you make the connection?) and Sarai have made appearances in years past. Previous generations were fond of Martha, Esther. Sometimes I hear Phoebe, though I doubt most parents connect the name to the woman apostle.

But I like Vashti. It sounds pretty. It’s somewhat unusual; you don’t hear that many girls’ names beginning with a V.

More than its general aesthetically pleasing-ness, I have come to love what the name represents.

Flipping through the Old Testament, there is a compelling story about a woman who, with the help of the Lord, was the key instrument in saving an entire nation of people. So important was she, that she is one of only two women who have books in scripture named after them. If Ruth is the story of an obedient daughter in law, a good woman, who finds her reward in the end, Esther represents a woman’s courage – mostly unnoticed in the patriarchal scheme of things. Taken without her consent, placed in the palace of King Ahasuerus, she bravely defies the heavily rule clad system to do what is right. It is an amazing story, I’ll admit, and if one were to, say, adapt a Biblical woman’s life into a novel, or a film, or even, as was the case with my parochial middle school, a spring musical, then Esther is a sound choice. In the space of ten chapters, we are given a glimpse into her life, until the curtain of history falls shortly after the scoundrel Haman ascends to the gallows.

A novel of her life – it’s been done – but the prospect intrigues me nonetheless, because every time I close the book, I wonder whatever happened to her as the years went on. Did she have children? Did the king tire of her? Did she lose her title? Fall in love? End her days in relative obscurity? Before the curtain draws over my story, I think I should like to discover the answer to those questions.

But today, I am going to write about Vashti.

The book of Esther begins, and I would argue exists, because of Vashti’s disobedience to her husband, the king, who demands that she appear before him so that he may show his drunken guests her beauty (1:11). Research is filled with various scenarios to explain this snippet of history: she felt more noble and higher born than the king, he wanted her to appear with only her crown, she was entertaining guests of her own and couldn't be bothered. The web is even more abundant with stories: one site she was an evil queen who made Jewish women work in the nude on the Sabbath (also that she’d grown a tail). Another asserts that she was banished and subsequently executed, though there is no evidence to support this. Indeed, the Zondervan Study Bible speculates that Vashti and Queen Amestris of Greek historians are one and the same; if that is the case, then she returned after the death of her husband, and was influential in the reign of her son, King Artaxerses, until her death, and I admit unabashedly, that this is my favorite scenario.

But the one thing that sticks in my mind, in connection to Vashti is a Sunday school memory of sorts. I say of sorts, because I can not recall all of the details. I see a teacher, but no face. I see her nylons, plastic framed glasses, and sensible pumps. I’m pretty sure there is flannelgraph involved. We are learning the story of Esther, and I am intrigued by the mention of Queen Vashti. On the felt board, I see a figure of a white woman with a nasty expression on her face – reminiscent of a cackling witch. And I hear, “Mean Vashti was a bad wife! She was disobedient and so she had to go away!” Whoosh! The figure is snatched from the board.

And I am left with questions: why did Vashti say no? Was she really mean and ugly? Was she having a bad day? Was she too shy? Did one of her guests have a problem and wanted to talk about it? Did she actually say no, or just “not right now”? Am I mean and ugly too?

It will be years before I learn how to really ask questions of a text, before I understand about literary critique and lenses, and how one must, patiently, sand away the patina of patriarchal history which obscured women’s truth in a world where we learned to assume all women who said "no" were being selfish, disobedient.

I don't know why Vashti denied her husband's request. I don't know if she was mean to Jewish women, whether or not she had a tail, or if, in time, she came to regret her action. What I do know, however, is that she angered a king (possibly even hurt his feelings) and that she left an entire group of men anxious and in a fit over the example her "rebellion" would set forth - that it could possibly tear apart the fabric of a nation (imagine if all women followed Vashti's example).

The spirit of the International Day of the Woman blog, from what I understand, was to explore what lessons the women of the Bible have left for us. In keeping with that spirit, I offer the following:

Lessons From Vashti

1. When we assert our power, the results are often unpredictable.


2. Sometimes the results include removing us from whatever scenario we find ourselves in (we might lose our crown).


3. Sometimes this removal serves the greater good (perhaps we found the crown too heavy in the first place).


4. Some people in history may not remember us so well (or they may have a great need to be in control and feel threatened by our power).


5. Still. When we feel like something is not right, it is okay, to trust ourselves and say no.