But let us hear what Scripture has to say about the stubbornness of Vashti, that most foolish of queens: “So the king was angered, and enflamed by his excessive rage he questioned his wise men, who were always at his side according to royal custom; and he used to do whatever they advised him, since they knew the laws and the rules of the ancestors. And in the first and second place were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven leaders of Persia and Media who would see his face and whose authority was normally second only to his own; and it was to their judgment that Queen Vashti was subject when she did not want to obey the command of King Ahasuerus given to her through the eunuchs. And as the king and his officials listened to him, Memucan said: ‘Vashti has injured not only the king, but all the officials and peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For her words will go out to all the women, so that they will despise their husbands and say: “King Ahasuerus ordered Queen Vashti to come to him, and she did not want to.” And with this example, all the wives of the officials of Persia and Media will hold cheap the authority of their husbands; so that the king’s indignation is just. And if it pleases you, let an edict go forth from your face, and let it be written according to the law of Persia and Media— which it is forbidden to ignore—that Vashti may no longer come into the king’s presence, but that her reign should be given to another who is better than her.’” Now, when Vashti shows her arrogance, King Ahasuerus seeks the advice of the seven wise men who are always at his side according to royal custom, and commands that their judgment about her should be carried out; and this can only mean that our Savior— through his learned men who are filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and always take care to stand in his presence with upright faith and good works—bases his verdict upon the stubbornness of the Jewish people who are guilty of punishing and condemning him. He ruled, in other words, that they should be driven from the seat of the king, i.e. from their relationship with God for which they were ordained and chosen; and that another, better people—namely, the Church of the nations—should take its place in genuine faith and full devotion. So the Lord promised by the Law and the prophets shows in the Gospel itself that he was destined, at the behest of the Father, to summon Judea when he says: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15)”; and likewise: “It is not good to take the bread of children and toss it to the dogs” (ibid.). But when the gentile woman continues to petition him, the Lord himself rightly praises her great faith; and elsewhere the faith of the centurion is shown preference over the faith of the Jews, when he says: “Amen, I tell you, many will come from the East and the West and will recline with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven; while the children of this kingdom will be cast into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8). Likewise, in another passage the Truth herself says to Jerusalem: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill your prophets and you stone those who were sent to you; how often have I wanted to gather your children, like the hen gathers her chicks beneath her wings, but you did not want me to. See, your house will be left to you desolate” (Luke 13). Moreover, after his resurrection he commanded his disciples as follows about summoning the nations: “Go and teach all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to keep everything I have ordered you to do. And see, I myself am with you for all the days until the very end of the age” (Matthew 28). It is also fitting that he was publishing his decision about Vashti through Memucan, who is mentioned last in the series of seven wise men, because he symbolizes the persona of the apostle Paul who was the last to be called as an apostle, and through whom the Jews are properly reproached for their faithlessness. For he says about himself: “But I am the least of the apostles” (1 Corinthians 15).And elsewhere he says: “To me, the least among the saints, has been given this grace, so that I might evangelize Christ among the nations” (2 Corinthians 3). So while he had been preaching the word of God together with Barnabas in the Synagogue of the Jews, and the Jews—who were full of zeal— were speaking out blasphemously against what Paul was saying, he said to them firmly: “It was proper that the word of God should first be spoken to you; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves undeserving of eternal life, see we are turning to the nations. For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I placed you as a light for the nations, so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ And hearing this, the nations rejoiced, and they glorified the word of the Lord, and whoever had been preordained for eternal life believed” (Acts 13).
The advice which King Ahasuerus asks of his seven sages who were, according to royal custom always by his side, concerning the insolent Vashti—as well as the sentence he orders them to pass concerning her—undoubtedly signifies the sentence our Savior passes against the arrogance of the Jewish people. He passes this sentence through his teachers who are always in his presence and full of the grace of the Holy Spirit in their orthodox faith and good works. The Jewish people themselves who incurred this judgment bear the responsibility for the punishment and condemnation they have received of being expelled from the royal bridal room, that is, from the congregation of God for which they had been ordained and elected, so that another, better bride, namely, the church of the nations, may take their place with sincere faith and full devotion.
[AD 856] Rabanus Maurus on Esther 1:12-19