Our ladie's group recently started a study on Esther. My historical knowledge of this book has been limited and I only knew the outer sketch of this story.  I DID remember the part where King Ahasuerus sent for Queen Vashti because he wanted to display her beauty. I think I tucked it in my memory along with a thought like "he had some nerve." I learned lots of interesting tidbits from the first video by Jill Rhodes and ' Women Alive.'  For instance......  Queen Vashti is historically known as not being a nice lady.  The king took a liking to his niece apparently and the queen wasn't happy about this.  She was responsible for the death of both the niece and the mother. Not a cheerful story.  In Esther Chapter One it is mentioned that the King was having his 'party' outside and the queen was having her party in the palace. Traditionally the men and women would be united together, not separate.  The palace was the seat of authority so the queen was basically taking authority over the king and she also was thumbing her nose at him.  He had his party for a very long time and had shown off all of his riches etc. but decided to save the best for last. Perhaps it seems chauvinistic that he told his wife to come in order to display herself.  It can be thought of differently though, he was saving the best for last. She was the richest treasure (or her beauty was, maybe not her personality).  This is an example of NOT submitting. She was a very influential figure in the kingdom and the women who were at the party and living in the kingdom would follow her lead. Is it any wonder she was banned from the king's presence? I usually think of submission as 'to willingly follow out of love.' This is what I learned from a word study on submission in bible college. It isn't always easy to submit though, is it? Submittting to parents,  submitting to authorities, submitting to husbands.  But there is One who submitted to the point of death. I somehow fail to recognize that. Not only did Jesus make the ultimate sacrifice he also submitted saying, "Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done." (Luke 22:42) There is no greater example of submission in the entire history of mankind. If Jesus can submit........shouldn't the answer be obvious that we can too. All by his strength.