Exposing the Facade of the Unholy Trinity

The first chapter of Esther is very enlightening when viewed in the light of understanding of the false trinity of kingship, law and economics. It appears very clear that the king and his officials felt they had finally perfected the system to a perfectly functioning, smoothly efficient level of ultimate completion. There are many references in this chapter to various clues indicating this along with some of the underlying social assumptions necessary to make it appear to work well.

I think the kingdom of Media and Persia was very aware of the weaknesses of the previous system that focused primarily on kingship and economics. They observed the abuses and resulting problems inherent in power centralized in one person. Based on these wise observations they had fashioned a government markedly different, one that they hoped and believed would solve all the problems of the previous kingdom and make their reign over the earth more secure and supported by the people ruled over. He was so confident that he had reached the perfect solution that he decided to throw a celebration in honor of this success. Note the various references to the three pillars supporting this system that this king felt he had brought into perfect balance with each other to achieve optimum power of the perfect government.

(kingship) 1 Now it took place in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces,

2 in those days as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne which was at the citadel in Susa,

3 in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants, the army officers of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of his provinces being in his presence.

(economics) 4 And he displayed the riches of his royal glory and (kingship) the splendor of his great majesty for many days, 180 days.

5 When these days were completed, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all the people who were present at the citadel in Susa, from the greatest to the least (celebrating the appearance of equality), in the court of the garden of the king's palace.

(displaying the success of economics) 6 There were hangings of fine white and violet linen held by cords of fine purple linen on silver rings and marble columns, and couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and precious stones.

7 Drinks were served in golden vessels of various kinds, and the royal wine was plentiful according to the king's bounty.

(the ultimate illusion of the goodness of law) 8 The drinking was done according to the law, there was no compulsion, for so the king had given orders to each official of his household that he should do according to the desires of each person.

Up to this point the facade seems airtight. The unholy trinity is working perfectly. Everybody is apparently happy and there is perfect harmony among all. Particular mention is given to fact that there was “no compulsion” in the law about drinking. In relation to the concept of law this borders on being an oxymoron.

At this point in the story the faultlines began to appear inside this perfect facade. Evidently women were kept firmly “in their place” and were not necessarily equal in this system – that would be taking things too far! But to maintain peace and happiness the king allowed his queen to hold a banquet for all the females so the system could continue to appear perfect.

9 Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus (notice the emphasis on the fact that the palace belonged to the king).

10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus,

11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful.

12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command delivered by the eunuchs. Then the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him.

This system of thinking seems to have led people to believe that the perfection and fine-tuning of this unholy trinity would allow them to indulge in any desire that entered their mind without negative consequences. This is the promise of Satan's system since the very beginning of the great controversy. It is the ultimate pursuit of a system of government, of bonding intelligent beings together in such a way so they can live in selfishness and still not suffer the effects that God says are inevitable. The king under the influence of alcohol and ego-elevation launches into the arena of sexual exploitation for the pleasure of all his male friends and admirers. He wants to highlight the assumptions of total freedom implicit in this system that every man will be able to live like a king and satisfy any desire of his heart without resistance.

But the queen blows open the facade and challenges the oppressive assumptions that underly the unholy trinity of kingship, economics and law. She refuses to be subjected to the whims of a drunk husband and displayed (quite possibly only wearing a crown) before crowds of sex-hungry, google-eyed men for her natural beauty while pretending she feels no shame. This is the opposite of the law about drinking with its emphasis on the absence of compulsion. This command is a direct attempt to highlight the desired total subjection of females for the exploitation of the men for the efficiency of the facade of success.

(note the emphasis, not only on law but on counseling with those who really understood the object of this grand experiment) 13 Then the king said to the wise men who understood the times--for it was the custom of the king so to speak before all who knew law and justice

(supposed benign and shared kingship) 14 and were close to him: Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media who had access to the king's presence and sat in the first place in the kingdom--

(law) 15 "According to law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti, because she did not obey the (kingship) command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?"

16 In the presence of the king and the princes, Memucan said, "Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.

17 "For the queen's conduct will become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on their husbands by saying, 'King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to his presence, but she did not come.'

18 "This day the ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's conduct will speak in the same way to all the king's princes, and there will be plenty of contempt and anger.

At this point the underlying assumptions become openly exposed. Selfishness is always based on the exploitation of someone or some group of people. In this case it is clearly based on the dominance of men over women which has been typical in most ages of this world with few exceptions. However the underlying lie is here is verbalized openly to justify the system. “If women are allowed to have complete freedom of choice and conscience the result will obviously be the exploitation of men resulting in disrespect, shame and loss of control. The solution of course had to be found by utilizing the system itself to repair the danger to the facade. The foundation of law must be implemented with accompanying force to restore order and keep up appearances. For the system based on the unholy trinity is all about appearances exclusively.

19 "If it pleases the king, let a royal edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she (as in more submissive and compliant).

20 "When the king's edict which he will make is heard throughout all his kingdom, great as it is, then all women will give honor to their husbands, great and small."

This is the assumption that fine-tuning the balance of the three foundations of the unholy trinity will, of course, result in honor and respect for all the men, which in truth is what they desire and need the most. It is true that men are designed at their deepest level to be motivated and energized best by being honored and respected and valued by others. The problem here is that the false system proposes to fill this need by force.

21 This word pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memucan proposed.

22 So he sent letters to all the king's provinces, to each province according to its script and to every people according to their language, that every man should be the master in his own house and the one who speaks in the language of his own people.(NAS95)

The true element that holds the false trinity together and exalts its supremacy has always been and will always be – force. And as always, force is in direct opposition to the element that bonds together those in God's system. This is born out in the rest of the story of this book.