Party At The Palace – Part 1

Parties dominate the book

What is surprising, though, is quite the dominance of the theme. In the short space of only ten chapters, the book of Esther refers to no less than ten parties! (I use the term loosely to include gatherings such as state banquets, lavish dinners, feasts, private tea parties, and scenes of male drinking).

So dominant is the partying theme that one can go as far as to say that it is used as a device for structuring the book. The book is organized around the party, so to speak, and all sorts of events which are crucial to the development of the plot take place in that setting. In this article, I plan to examine the first three parties, and next month to focus on the three parties at the end of the book and on the lessons which emerge from the partying-motif as a whole.

A six-month party

The first such occasion is one of the most extravagant, if only for its sheer length. After less than three full years in office, Ahasuerus throws a party which lasts an incredible 180 days — that’s half of one whole year! Moderns may speak of “partying until the small hours” or “partying the night away,” but such excess was nothing to Persia. And the object of it all? To glorify the king for the magnificence of his wealth and to ensure that all his subjects fully grasped just what a great king he was. It was all about pandering to the king’s ego and making sure that everyone understood that he was boss:

He made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him; when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days (Est. 1:3-4).

Given that Ahasuerus reigned over 127 provinces and that the officials from each had to visit headquarters, it is perhaps less of a wonder that the party took quite as long as it did, especially if each province visited in turn (perhaps a processional rota of this kind would have been a logistical necessity). In many cases, the king’s subjects had travelled a great distance for the privilege of attendance, possibly bringing tribute or taxes with them, so it was only right that they should be treated royally and be given ample time to explore the delights of Persian hospitality.

Such gatherings may have provided an additional function in Persian society. Guests did not go away empty handed, but, having brought their tribute and sampled the limits of Persian decadence, were sent away with gifts, probably consisting of items to which that province did not have ready access. In this way, Ahasuerus’ enormous party may also have served the function of redistributing wealth and resources through the empire. Whether or not this was the case, the narrative function of 1:3-4 within Esther is to illustrate the vastness of Ahasuerus’ estate and magnanimity (self-centred though it was).

Followed by another party

Having presented something of the measure of the Persian Empire and its style, the narrative moves quickly on. How do you top a party such as that, one which lasts 180 days? What better way than with another party! That is exactly what Ahasuerus does, and back-to-back with the first party there follows another in the very next verse (quoted here in Jewish scholar Michael Fox’s translation,’ which captures well the opulence of the scene):

And when those days were over the king gave, for all the people who were to be found in the Fortress of Susa, from grandee to commoner, a seven day feast in the courtyard in the garden of the king’s pavilion. And oh the cloths of white, percaline and violet, bound with cords of linen and purple on silver rods and alabaster pillars, with couches adorned with gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry and alabaster, mother of pearl and dark marble, with the drinks served in vessels of gold and vessels of various sorts, and much royal wine lavished with kingly bounty! (1:5-7).

The latter verse may imply that each guest had his own individual drinking glass and that each was different from the next (compare AV) — this would have been a remarkable feat of domestic design, but one quite in keeping with the spirit of the passage. There were even stipulations about drinking (1:8). The precise meaning of the verse is debated, but the possibilities are: a) guests were allowed to drink the royal wine normally reserved for the king and his closest aides; b) there was an open bar and no one was counting; c) there was no compulsion to drink when the king drank – one could literally have as much or as little as one could stomach.

Vashti’s party

Meanwhile, in another part of the palace, Queen Vashti was having a party of her own: “Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus” (1:9).

It was customary in Persian society for females to adjourn when males began serious drinking (one might compare traditional British culture of a hundred years ago with its port and cigars for the males after a meal!). A quote from Plutarch makes this point about Persian convention very helpfully:

The lawful wives of the Persian kings sit beside them at dinner, and eat with them. But when the kings wish to be merry and get drunk, they send their wives out and send for their dancing girls and concubines. They are right in what they do because they do not concede any share in their licentiousness and debauchery to their wedded wives” Moralia 140 B 162.

Purpose of Persian parties

That quote depicts a pretty sordid scene to which we must return, but first it is worth taking stock. We have reached a point half way through Esther 1, and already there have been three feasts. What is the point of all this partying? From the Persian point of view, a great deal. For this is the best that life can offer — what else is there, with parties such as these?

But what is the point from the Biblical point of view, from the perspective of the author of the book of Esther? Certainly, this is the sort of thing that Persians got up to, but why should we want to know? The purpose is probably twofold. First, it shows Persian life for what it is: here are the Persians, doing the sorts of things that Persians do                (and evidencing significant parallels with our own age); it is on this stage that our Jewish characters must act. Second, the three partying scenes of chapter 1 illustrate in fine style the profligate excess of their civilisation, the immensity of their wealth and decadence, the opulence of existence at the Persian court. In that very richness, there is danger both of losing oneself in gluttony and self-seeking, and also of a hollow emptiness which gnaws at the soul.

The party stops

The noise of merrymaking is indeed brought to an abrupt halt in chapter 1 as the king commands his wife to appear before him and his guests. One might well be sceptical of this of itself (Ahasuerus treats his wife as booty, another one of his conquests upon which others must gaze so as to admire him). An extra dose of scepticism is called for when the earlier point about Persian party convention is recalled. The king was flouting traditional etiquette and societal norms by his command. In his drunken state, he was requiring his wife to demean herself by appearing in this way (some interpreters have suggested that she was to appear wearing the crown royal and nothing else, although this is to read into the text more than it states).

Vashti was left in a Catch-22. Either she played along with her drunken husband and his pals by appearing for their amusement, or she risked the king’s wrath and her own life in preserving her dignity. The king hadn’t offered her much of a choice. Even by the norms of his own permissive society, then, the king had overstepped the line in his excess. But he was king, so perhaps he was allowed to (as they would see it). But though he would get away with it and continue to impose his will upon his subjects, the sound of merrymaking has now disappeared for a time. It is only when the king is successfully united with a new wife in chapter 2 that the feasting will resume.

That is the story of next month, and for now we have witnessed enough to get a good feel for life at the Persian court. The book of Esther is a lively and extravagant book, and its lessons are brought home in the comic, in irony, in caricature, and in excess.