July 14, 2024 Reflection

In 1991, I was a first year student at the Vancouver School of Theology with my head in my books and my personal life almost totally consumed by the challenges of my academic studies.  I did however periodically turn on the evening news and pick up a newspaper and when that happened, I couldn’t help but notice that the media was flooded by a significant event taking place south of the border. A woman named of Anita Hill was contesting the nomination of a man to the US Supreme Court named Clarence Thomas.  Hill, who had been an employee of Clarence Thomas at one time was testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee that she had been sexually harassed by Thomas on several occasions.

The committee members, all men, openly mocked, doubted, demeaned and belittled Hill. Clarence Thomas was appointed to the US Supreme Court and Anita Hill was vilified in the media for having had the audacity to speak out about what allegedly had happened to her.

Fast forward 26 years to 2017 when I was no longer a seminary student with my head in the books and I had a lot more time to pay attention to what was going on in the media. Our nation this time was caught up in another courtroom drama involving women making accusations against a powerful man. His name was Jian Ghomeshi and as an avid listener to CBC radio and the show Ghomeshi hosted for several years, I was glued to every bit of action taking place in the courtroom.  In the end, despite the sworn statements of three women, Linda Redgrave, Lucy De Coutere, Complainant #3  Ghomeshi was acquitted of all charges due to the unsubstantial evidence provided by the complainants.

In both these cases it appears that when women speak out against powerful men who have allegedly used their power to sexually harass and assault them, the end result is further degradation for the women.  That’s also what appears to be happening in the story of Queen Vashti.

King Ahasuerus, Vashti’s husband, is a very powerful man.  He rules over one hundred twenty-seven provinces stretching all the way from India to Ethiopia.  He has enough wealth to host a party lasting 180 days, culminating in a banquet for his officials and officers, ministers and governors lasting seven days long with no shortage of supplies from his wine cellar to keep himself and his guests in a constant state of merriment.  On the seventh day of the banquet when he has had more than his share of wine, he commands his eunuchs to bring his beautiful wife, Queen Vashti, into the party so that all might admire her beauty.

One of the details of this story that is easy to miss is that he commands her to come wearing her crown which many scholars agree means he wants her wearing only her crown.  When King Ahasuerus says he wants to admire her beauty, he means all of her beauty.

But Queen Vashti refuses to come. We don’t get any particularities about Vashti in this moment, just that she says “no.”  But we do get, is a lot of detail about what King Ahasuerus does in response to her no.  He calls in his lawmakers for a consultation. Out of concern for what might happen if other women hear about Vashti’s no and decide they too can defy their husbands, he creates a law for all women living in his kingdom declaring that men are the masters of their households. Women are to be obedient to their husbands no matter what. In a final act of punishment King Ahasuerus dethrones Vashti and calls for a search to find a new Queen, a virgin, someone who will have had no experience in resisting the sexual advances of a man.

It appears that just like Anita Hill, Linda Redgrave, Lucy DeCoutere and Complainant #3, Vashti’s “no” has gained nothing. It has made no difference.  In fact, it has come at great personal cost.

One of the interesting things about the Book of Esther is that it is only one of two books of the Bible in which there is absolutely no reference to God.  We have to use our observations of how the Divine shows up in other places in scripture and in our own lives to speculate where God is to be found in this story.

Likewise, there’s no background information to tell us about Vashti and her personality.  Had she been a defiant child? Were there other occasions in her life when she dared to speak out despite the consequences? We don’t know what gave her the courage and the gumption to speak out against her very powerful husband.

I like to think that somewhere in her being, Vashti knew her value and her worth beyond her beauty and beyond any objectification she might have experienced in her life because of it.  I like to think of her calling forth her dignity, claiming her humanity and the belovedness in which she was created and channeling every bit of it into her “no.” I like to think of God showing up in this story in the way that Vashti remembers who she is at the core of her being and in the way she refuses to be considered anything less than who God created her to be, the way she clings to her birthright.

One of the age old truths illustrated in the story of Queen Vashti and King Ahasuerus is the way that across history people in positions of power have dehumanized others in order to maintain their own privilege and status.  One of the ways that men in particular have done that, sadly, is through sexual violence towards both men and women. But there are lots of other ways we dehumanize one another. Tattooing numbers on prisoners of war and stripping them down to their underwear or making them strut naked in front of those in charge are also ways we treat each other as lesser beings.  And there are many, many other ways we as human beings try to make each other small in order to make ourselves seem bigger and more important. It can be as horrific as sexual assault and as simple as referring to our waiter who is from a different ethnic background than we are as “the little man who served out table.”

When I read the story of Vashti, I can’t help but think of how much power she actually must have wielded in that situation in order for her husband to shut her down so completely.  She was a threat to him. All the women in the kingdom will disobey their husbands if they find out that she has disobeyed me, her husband says. Corrupt power always fears the way that courageous people who know their own worth will use their voices to declare their value and their God-given birthright which is why oppression thrives on silencing them.

Earlier I mentioned that Anita Hill, Linda Redgrave, Lucy De Coutere, Complainant #3 and Queen Vashti all appear to be losers in their cases against their opponents. But sometimes a well placed “no” even if it appears to have no winning strength in the beginning, opens doors for others to say both “yes” and “no” in the future.

Although Anita Hill did not prevail with her testimony against Clarence Thomas, later that same year a Civil Rights Act was passed that protects people against sexual harassment in the workplace.  Her testimony initiated a conversation about sexual harassment that was an early precursor to today’s #MeToo movement.

Here in Canada, although Jian Ghomeshi was acquitted on all charges laid against him in 2017,  in 2018 the federal government passed rape shield legislation limiting the extent to which past behaviour could be used against witnesses at sexual assult trials. It took 4 years to actually get those legal changes made, 10 years after they were first recommended by the Senate, but the new rules have been referred to as the Ghomeshi amendments.

And if in the story of Queen Vashti, had she not refused to appear in only her crown before her husband and his guests, there would not have been an opening in the Royal Court for Queen Esther who eventually used her power and influence to save the Jewish people, her people, from annihilation. Which is why the book we read from today is called the Book of Esther.

This last week Canadians have been grappling with the news that one of our most beloved literary giants, Alice Munro had been keeping a family secret for many years.  Following her death this May, her daughter Andrea Robin Skinner has come forward to share the way that Munro sided with her husband, Andrea’s stepfather after he was convicted of sexually assaulting her.  When Robin Skinner was asked why she is coming forward now, one of the things she said is that she hopes that giving voice to her story will help others in similar situations who have been silenced.

Anita, Linda, Lucy, Complainant #3, Andrea and Vashti all share something in common.  Each one of them found the courage to speak their truth to power. I have no doubt that in order to do that they have had to claim the power we all hold within ourselves, the power of our humanity, our belovedness, the power, when necessary, to call upon to call the God-given dignity of every human being in order to overcome oppression and to set ourselves and others free.

Each week in this series there is a painting to accompany our reflection.  This week’s painting of Queen Vashti by Hannah Garrity is entitled “I Dance Alone”  I wonder which part of this image draws your attention? When I sat with it earlier this week the first thing I noticed was her foot and the black splotch on it that almost looks like it is anchoring her to the floor as if she is saying to us with great conviction “Here I stand. This is where I put my foot down.” And then I can’t help but admire the way that firmly rooted foot is what allows her to soar with such beauty.

As we ponder the story of Queen Vashti and  the other courageous women we have heard from today, we might consider the stands we have been called to take in our own lives and how we might continue to speak out against oppression with both our “nos” and our yeses” for the liberation of us all.