As with most of the pagan Gentile kings of that day, King Xerxes enjoyed putting on public displays of his wealth and power, which included feasts that sometimes lasted for as long as 180 days. Evidently, during the feast that is mentioned in Esther 1:10–11, the king requested that his wife, Queen Vashti, come before the entire gathering of officials to show them her great beauty wearing her crown. The speculation is that King Xerxes wanted Vashti to appear wearing only the crown. Queen Vashti refused the king's request, and he became enraged. King Xerxes consulted his advisors in the law who declared that Vashti had wronged all the people of the land. They feared that the women of Persia would hear of Vashti's refusal to obey her husband and begin to despise their own husbands. They suggested the king issue a decree throughout the land that Vashti could never again enter his presence. The king did so, proclaiming the edict in all the provincial languages.
