Week 1 Days 4 and 5 (Decree, Love, Respect, Quote)

On page 24, Beth Moore tells us to list "reasons why you think the king may have felt enraged over Vashti's refusal."
I think he felt publicly humiliated, it hurt his pride, and he felt disrespected.
Beth mentions:
"publicly humiliated and feared appearing weak"

King Xerxes and the men who were "experts in matters of law and justice" (Esther 1:13) wanted to counteract the "damage" they worried Vashti had caused. So, issuing the decree was a power play in order to make sure women would continue to respect their husbands rather than rebel.

"He (Memucan)... ... apparently believes respect can be acquired through the brute force of a royal decree." - (page 29)

On page 30, Beth asks, "Why might such a tactic be hollow and self-defeating?"
I believe it would cause women to actually respect the men less and it's a low way of getting so-called "respect". The women might be obedient, but obedience does not always equal respect.

"for if a man has to command a woman to respect him, then whatever 'respect' is so rendered loses its meaning." (page 30)

"The conflicts we study in Esther will not become gender issues." "Let's celebrate womanhood without emasculating manhood." - (page 29)

"Make no mistake. The Bible teaches wives to honor their husbands..." (Ephesians 5:22-30)

That part of our study reminded me of the 'Love & Respect' ministries. They focus a lot on this verse:
Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. - Ephesians 5:33
They write:
"We believe love best motivates a woman and respect most powerfully motivates a man."

It seems that feeling respected can motivate a man in positive ways. However, as we see in the Book of Esther, a man feeling a lack of respect can have an opposite effect.
And, as far as a woman wanting to feel loved, Vashti might not have felt King Xerxes' request to appear was out of his love for her.

On page 29, Beth asks, "Can you think of anything particularly ironic about Vashti's punishment...?"
Punishment: She wasn't allowed to enter the king's presence ever again.
Irony: What got her into that punishment was the fact that she hadn't wanted to (refused to) enter his presence.
"... she received permanently what she desired temporarily." - (page 29)

"He (God) is never more present than when He seems strangely absent." - (page 31)

"God's silence is in no way indicative of His activity or involvement in our lives. He may be silent but He is not still." - Charles Stanley

If you have any thoughts, things you've learned, and/or things you got out of week 1 days 4 and 5, please feel free to share in the comments section below! (If you are reading this in your email, you can click HERE and it will take you to this post on the seek Him blog site where you will be able to leave a comment.)

Thanks!
Cari