Two drinking parties going on at the same time in the same town. They’ll soon connect. What could go wrong?
The Persian emperor Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) ruled over a vast realm of “one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia” (Est 1:1). The empire was divided into 20 satrapies, or territories, each governed by a satrap or viceroy. For example, the satrapy of Eber- Nari (Aramaic, “beyond the [Euphrates] river”) encompassed seven of the 127 provinces and included Judea, as well as Cyprus, Samaria, Idumea, Phoenicia, Ammon, and Moab. In 484 BC, Xerxes had taken back Egypt and was now considering war with the Greeks. He needed the united support of his generals (who would fight the war) and governors (who would finance it by taxation), so “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—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” (vv 3-4). For six months there would have been a constant turnover of officials visiting from all over the empire. But in the New Year, “the king made a feast lasting seven days for all the people who were present in Shushan the citadel, from great to small” (v 5). It was a very lavish garden party, with beautiful tent curtains strung from marble pillars, with gold and silver divans on which to recline, all laid out “on a mosaic pavement of alabaster, turquoise, and white and black marble” (v 6). The drinking vessels were gold, each one unique, and the wine flowed freely. Meanwhile, inside the palace, Queen Vashti was also holding a party for the women (v 9). It was noted that, “in accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory” (v 8). But wine, you know, can have its own built-in compulsion.