Judy Howard
Judy Howard
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1:11-20
to bring Queen Vashti before the king [adorned] with the royal crown, to show off to the people and the officials her beauty. for she was beautiful of appearance. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command [conveyed] by the hand of the chamberlains; the king therefore became very enraged and his wrath burned in him. Then the king spoke to the wise men, those who knew the times (for such was the king's procedure [to turn] to all who knew law and judgement), those closest to him - Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven officers of Persia and Media who had access to the king, who sat first in the kingdom: "By the law, what should be done to Queen Vashti for not having obeyed the bidding of the King Ahasuerus [conveyed] by the hand of the chamberlains?"
Memucan declared before the King and the officials, "Not only against the King has Queen Vashti done wrong, but against all the officials and all the people in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For the Queen's deeds will go forth to all women, making their husbands contemptible in their eyes, when they will say, 'King Ahasuerus said to bring Queen Vashti before him, but she did not come!" And this day the princesses of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's deed will speak of it to all the king's officials and there will be much contempt and rage. If it pleases the king, let there go forth a royal edict from him, and let it be written into the laws of Persia and Media, that it not be revoked, that Vashti never appear before King Ahasuerus; and let the king confer her royal estate upon another who is better than she.

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BUT QUEEN VASHTI REFUSED.
Not because of modesty. Megillah 12b
When Ahasuerus sent for her, "Vashti, the Queen" implying that her title was of secondary importance. He was suggesting that she was simply, "a vashti," a commoner, who had been elevated to the throne because it pleased him to do so. She, on the other hand, referred to herself as "Queen Vashti" to make it plain that she was of royal blood even before her marriage, and that her dignity was not to be trifled with. Further on when he wished to spare her, Ahasuerus referred to her a Queen Vashti reminding his advisers that she was a queen - the daughter of a great ruler, a royal personage in her own right. Vilna Gaon

TO THE WISE MEN
The Talmud (Megillah 12b) understands this to be the Rabbis.

WHO KNEW THE TIMES
That is, who knew how to calculate the timing of leap years and fix new moons. Megillah 12b

Ibn Ezra, however, interprets this as referring to astrologers or those familiar with the historical precedents of earlier monarchs.
Ahasuerus, seeking impartial and trusted counsel, turned first to the Jewish sages and asked them to pass sentence on his queen. The sages thought to themselves: "If we condemn the queen to death we shall suffer for it as soon as Ahasuerus becomes sober and hears that it was upon our advice that she was executed. If we advise clemency and advise him to pardon her, he will accuse us of not paying due reverence to the majesty of the king." They therefore resolved to take a position of neutrality.
They said to him, "From the day the Temple was destroyed and we were exiled from our land, we lost the powers to give judgment in capital cases. Better seek counsel with the wise men of Ammon and Moab who have dwelt at ease in their land." Thereupon he sought advice from his seven officials, as we read "those closes to him - Carshena, etc." Megillah 12b

MEMUCAN DECLARED
A Tanna taught: "Memucan is Haman. Why was he called Memucan? Because he was destine for destruction. Rav Kahana said: 'From here we see that an ignoramus always thrust himself to the forefront'" [Memucan is mentioned last in verse 14, yet he speaks first] Megillah 12b; Midrash
Everywhere else he is referred to as mem*mem*vav*Kuf*nun but here he is called mem*vav*mem*Kuf*nun a combination of the two words kuf*nun and Mem*vav*mem, meaning "a blemish is here." The blemish is his discourtesy in speaking out of turn. The Torah is not tolerant of boorishness. Mesoras HaBris