Discovery BoxEsther 1:10-15 
Context1:10 On the seventh day, as King Ahasuerus was feeling the effects of the wine, 1 he ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who attended him, 2 1:11 to bring Queen Vashti into the king’s presence wearing her royal high turban. He wanted to show the people and the officials her beauty, for she was very attractive. 3 1:12 But Queen Vashti refused 4 to come at the king’s bidding 5 conveyed through the eunuchs. Then the king became extremely angry, and his rage consumed 6 him.
1:13 The king then inquired of the wise men who were discerners of the times – for it was the royal custom to confer with all those who were proficient in laws and legalities. 7 1:14 Those who were closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan. These men were the seven officials of Persia and Media who saw the king on a regular basis 8 and had the most prominent offices 9 in the kingdom. 1:15 The king asked, 10 “By law, 11 what should be done to Queen Vashti in light of the fact that she has not obeyed the instructions of King Ahasuerus conveyed through the eunuchs?”
1 tn Heb “as the heart of the king was good with the wine.” Here the proper name (King Ahasuerus) has been substituted for the title in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Heb “King Ahasuerus”; here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons. Cf. similarly NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT “King Xerxes.”
3 tn Heb “was good of appearance”; KJV “was fair to look on”; NAB “was lovely to behold.”
4 sn Refusal to obey the king was risky even for a queen in the ancient world. It is not clear why Vashti behaved so rashly and put herself in such danger. Apparently she anticipated humiliation of some kind and was unwilling to subject herself to it, in spite of the obvious dangers. There is no justification in the biblical text for an ancient Jewish targumic tradition that the king told her to appear before his guests dressed in nothing but her royal high turban, that is, essentially naked.
5 tn Heb “at the word of the king”; NASB “at the king’s command.”
6 tn Heb “burned in him” (so KJV).
7 tn Heb “judgment” (so KJV); NASB, NIV “justice”; NRSV “custom.”
8 tn Heb “seers of the face of the king”; NASB “who had access to the king’s presence.”
9 tn Heb “were sitting first”; NAB “held first rank in the realm.”
10 tn These words are not present in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT, all of which supply similar phrases).
11 tc The location of the prepositional phrase “according to law” is somewhat unusual in the Hebrew text, but not so much so as to require emendation. Some scholars suggest deleting the phrase as an instance of dittography from the final part of the immediately preceding word in v. 14. Others suggest taking the phrase with the end of v. 14 rather than with v. 15. Both proposals, however, lack adequate justification.
