Bible Character Studies: King Xerxes

Character studies: King Xerxes

I refer to him as Xerxes, only because the Greek name is easiest to pronounce. The Bible records his name as Ahasuerus, which is the Anglicized Hebrew name. In Persian, his name is Khshayarshan and in Hebrew it is Achashverosh, which are even more unpronounceable.

His wife Vashti is also known by her Greek name, Amestris. Her name means, “strong woman.” She was the mother of his children and retained power of some sort as the queen mother even into the reign of Artaxerxes. The Greek historian, Herodotus records some particularly gruesome deeds attributed to her; such as impaling one of her son’s political enemies and burying alive fourteen noblemen’s children as a sacrifice to her god. The main religion was Zoroastrianism.

We read of her only in chapter one of Esther, when she is deposed after embarrassing the king by refusing to parade in front of his drunken friends during a 180 day feast. No reason is given for her refusal, but some suggest that the order for her to appear wearing her royal crown may suggest that was all she was expected to wear. Others say she thought it inappropriate to degrade herself before drunken commoners. The timing of it also suggests she had recently given birth. Whatever her reason, it infuriated the king and since he surrounded himself with yes-men who stroked his ego, they came up with an edict to depose her and replace her with someone more worthy. They feared that when the report of her shocking behaviour was heard by all, then all women would use her example and despise their husbands. So they go further and encourage him to write a ridiculous, unchangeable law that “every man should be master in his own house.” Est. 1:15-22 This is an example of the difference between what the Bible records as a true event and what the Bible is actually teaching as a model of behaviour. Remember, this is a pagan king.

There are several years between chapter one and two, during which he and the Persian Empire fought a failed military campaign against the Greeks. This added to his depression. Even though the king now regretted his actions in deposing Vashti, his own unchangeable law now tied his hands, so his yes-men suggested they find him a new wife as Plan B.

He is a proud man and Haman seems to know how to use this to his advantage. Haman’s vague comments about an enemy the king didn’t even know about, caused him to agree to hand over authority to Haman to “destroy” the Jews. He doesn’t ask Haman to be more specific. He then feigns innocence and lack of culpability when Esther reminds him of the law he agreed to and even celebrated. (Est. 3:11,15, 7:5)

He is not a good judge of character as evidenced by his promotion of Haman and his relinquishing of authority to him. He has a mercurial temper, and is easily influenced because of his pride. He makes his decisions under the influence of alcohol. He could control 127 provinces, but not his own nature when intoxicated. He could command millions of people, but could not command one hour of sleep to come to him. The providence of God rules over the smallest concerns. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His notice. The king couldn’t sleep when God had a plan to serve. God gives the gift of sleep. The king wasn’t ill, but God withheld sleep from him.

By allowing the second edict, he was virtually encouraging civil war. See how one poor decision leads to great consequences. Yet if their enemies had not attempted to destroy the Jews on that day, they themselves would not have suffered. The Jews acted together to fight against their enemies. We also need to be united with other believers against the enemy of our souls.

If Xerxes has any redeeming qualities, he did seem to really love Esther, and was very generous to her and protective of her. He also promoted Mordecai for her sake, and did his best to see justice done in the end.

King Xerxes was assassinated six years after the events of this book, killed in his bed by the head of his royal bodyguard. After that, Vashti’s other sons vied for power. Her son, Artaxerxes became the next king. We read about him in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. We don’t know what happened to Esther after that.