The book of Esther begins with the King throwing a 180-day drinking party for his officials. It ended with a special 7-day feast to which all the subjects of the capital city were invited. Vs. 4 says that during the party, the King “showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty…” The verse drips with pride! The pride was accentuated because of the alcohol. A group of men with an open bar brings out the worst. This was the case with the King himself after seven days of festivities and heavy drinking. Esther 1:10-12 tells us about this. “On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this, the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him.”
Being “merry with wine” must involve some kind of diminished capacity. The same phrase is used by David’s son, Absalom. He directs his servants to kill his brother, Amnon, who raped Tamar. He tells his servants to wait until he is merry with wine.” Get him drunk first, Absalom said, then you can kill him. This is what happened. There are some who argue that being “merry with wine” is not a bad thing, but it seems to me that in both of these cases, it is indeed a bad thing. It results in Amnon’s death because he was incapable of defending himself. It then resulted in the anger of king Ahasuerus, which resulted in his making a decision that he regretted for the rest of his life. The passions are accelerated with alcohol. The kind felt humiliated by his wife and spilled out his alcohol-enhanced anger onto his wife. Anger, in itself, is bad enough, but anger fueled by alcohol has resulted in domestic violence of all kinds. It’s bad in our generation, and I expect it has always been a problem. One web blogger warns us of the danger of alcohol with regard to anger. She writes, “For those who drink alcohol and already have trouble managing their anger, this can be an extremely dangerous combination. That’s because alcohol exacerbates the anger that you’re already experiencing and can cause even more serious concerns over time. An even bigger challenge is that alcohol is known to increase aggression, whether you are male or female. If you are having difficulty managing anger and you misuse alcohol, it’s important for you to seek out help as soon as possible. The outcome of drinking could be disastrous for you, your family, and your life.”[1]
Yep, Ahasuerus became “enraged.” Buechner wrote, “Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back–in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.”
[1] https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/anger/when-alcohol-and-anger-clash-how-to-cope/