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Wednesday, February 15 2017

The King's Trophy Wife

"When the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded ... To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on"

The definition of a "trophy wife":

""Trophy wife" is an informal term for a wife, usually young and attractive, who is regarded as a status symbol for the husband, who is often older or unattractive, but usually wealthy ... For the husband, it has a connotation of pure narcissism and the need to impress other men." (Excerpt from the Wikipedia article "Trophy wife" on February 14 2017).

While many regard it to be an ancient practice (including an infamous example that is recorded in the Holy Bible, as we will get to), "trophy wife" is just as prevalent today, if not even more so. While it began primarily with "show business" people, with the increase of iniquity (see Iniquity In History And Prophecy) and moral decadence (see Decadence In History And Prophecy), many politicians, and even national leaders, regard their "trophy wife" as an asset to their ego - and their followers love it so.

Marriage Market

Ahasuerus was a Persian king, an emperor who "reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces." He was also a great showman who hosted great banquets and conventions where he "shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days."


1:4 When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days. 1:5 And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace; 1:6 Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble. 1:7 And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king. 1:8 And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure." (Esther 1:1-8 KJV)

On one such occasion (or perhaps on every occasion), the closing act of the man's ego was to parade his "trophy wife" before the people (not unlike the modern-era "beauty pageant" where the winner wears a crown). Some linguists translate "To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on" as "To bring Vashti the queen before the king only with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on." He demanded that his "trophy wife" Queen be paraded before all the people, wearing only her royal crown, 'for she was fair to look on."


When Queen Vashti refused to be treated like a harlot in a stripper show, the king went off in a narcissistic rage. How dare she embarrass him for all to see? With his genuine use and regard for her revealed, Vashti was disposed of so that the king would be free to chose a new decoration for himself.



1:16 And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. 1:17 For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. 1:18 Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king's princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath.



Fact Finder: Who was chosen as the king's new "trophy wife"?
See How Hadassah Of Benjamin Became The Queen Of Persia




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This Day In History, February 15

590: Khosrau II was crowned king of Persia (Persia is known today as Iran; see The Prophecies Of Cyrus of Persia and A History Of Jerusalem: Ezra And Nehemiah). Khosrau was the last King of Persia before Persia / Iran became Muslim (the Muslim Conquest of Persia is also known to historians as the Arab Conquest of Iran), while at the same time his kingdom was under threat from the Byzantine (East Roman Empire) Empire (see A History Of Jerusalem: Constantine and Muhammad).


1637: Ferdinand III was crowned as the Holy Roman Emperor (see The Holy Roman Empire Of The German Nation and Constantine's Crusades In History And Prophecy).

1763: The Treaty of Hubertusburg was signed. It ended the conflict between Austria and Prussia (not to be confused with Russia - Prussia is in Germany) in the Seven Years' War.

1764: St. Louis was founded as a French trading post in New France - which extended from what is today eastern Canada in the north to Louisiana in the south (Louisiana was named after Louis XIV, King of France from 1643 to 1715). St. Louis was named after French King Louis IX. Although many regard the loo-ee pronunciation to be slang, it's actually much closer to the original French-accent name than the later English loo-iss. "Missouri" was named after a tribe of Sioux people, the Missouris, who lived in the region (see also The First Chinese American War).

New France

1898: The Spanish-U.S. War began after the U.S. battleship Maine blew up in Havana harbor. There was no sign of attack upon the ship; many believe that the ship's own 5 tons of gunpowder stores were accidentally detonated (as happened to other such warships where gunpowder was stored in bulk).

1922: The Permanent Court of International Justice, at The Hague in the Netherlands, held its first session. Established to address "crimes against humanity," the court has remained ineffective for war crimes committed by war-mongering nations because many of the greatest war criminals have refuge in their militarily-powerful nations that refuse to deliver them to "foreign" justice - while they themselves have subjected other nations to their "foreign" courts and tribunals during their rampage of invasions. There will however be no escape, for anyone, from God's Justice in due time - all are going to answer to the LORD for all of the evil that they have done, including those who have done their evil in God's Name (see So, You Think You Got Away With It?).

1928: Herbert Asquith died at age 76. Mr. Asquith served as the Prime Minister of Britain from 1908 to 1916, and as such was the leader of Britain during the first 2 years of the First World War (see also A History Of Jerusalem: The British Mandate).

1940: During the Second World War (which began in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland), Adolf Hitler (see Presidential Quotes On War, Terrorism, Religion) ordered that all British merchant ships would be considered warships.

1942: After having their supplies of ammunition and food cut off, British and allied forces surrendered to the Japanese in Singapore - the single most catastrophic (but temporary) defeat in British military history; over 130,000 British, Canadian, Australian, and Indian troops were taken prisoner.

1944: U.S. warplanes bombed the Abbey of Monte Cassino in an effort to neutralize it as a German observation post in central Italy.

1950: Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-tung signed a Russian-Chinese mutual defense treaty in Moscow.

1954: Canada and the U.S. began construction of the Distant Early Warning Line ("the DEW Line"), a network of radar stations in the Arctic of Canada and Alaska to detect incoming Russian nuclear bombers. The system soon became obsolete upon the invention, just a few years later, of intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as short-range nuclear missiles that can be fired from submarines a few miles off the east and west coasts of the entire continent of North America).

1965: Canada adopted the "Maple Leaf" as its new national flag (the Maple Leaf had already been a national symbol of Canada long before that time).


1971: Britain converted to decimal currency from pounds, shillings and pence.

1989: The Soviet Union ended its invasion of Afghanistan after over 9 years of occupation. The invasion was condemned and protested by the U.S., until the U.S. invaded Afghanistan itself a few years later.

1990: Britain and Argentina restored full diplomatic ties, affirming reconciliation after their 1982 war for the Falkland Islands.

2003: An estimated 30 million people, in 600 cities all around the world, protested (the largest peace demonstration in history) the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the war that followed. A few years later, it was proven that the protestors were correct, and that George W. Bush's justification for the war was totally false - no "weapons of mass destruction" were ever found in Iraq, and Iraq had nothing at all to do with the 9-11 terrorist attacks that were committed by men from Saudi Arabia (Osama bin-Laden was a Saudi-Arabian) and Pakistan. Amazingly, Saudi Arabia (oil) and Pakistan (nuclear-armed), from which the 9-11 terrorists originated, were not invaded but were instead proclaimed as "allies in the war against terror," while Iraq and Afghanistan were invaded and devastated. Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that, while there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein was a murderer of his own people, captured documents prove that Saddam Hussein not only did not aid the al-Qaeda terrorist group, he actually regarded them as a threat to Iraq.

2013: A meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere and exploded over Russia, injuring 1,500 people when a shock wave blew out windows and damaged buildings.


Copyright © Wayne Blank