If Vashti was pretty then why didn’t she want to appear
before King Achashverosh?
The Talmud in Masechet Megilla 15a states:
The Rabbis taught: There have been four women of surpassing
beauty in the world- Sarah, Rachav, Avigail and Ester. According to the one who
says that Ester was sallow, Vashti should be inserted in place of Ester.
We know that Sarah was beautiful as both King Pharaoh and
King Avimelech wanted to marry her.
Rachav was a harlot whose “bed and breakfast” was on the top
of the list for most men who visited
King David was attracted to Avigail even when her husband
was still alive and he rushed to marry her soon after her husband died.
Ester was beautiful but some say that since her name was
also Hadassah (myrtle) that she had a green complexion like a myrtle.
If Vashti would take Ester’s place then that would have to
mean that she was very pretty.
If Vashti was so pretty then why didn’t she want to appear
before the king?
In Megillat Ester, Chaper 1, sentence 11 King Achasverosh
asked “to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal crown, to show
the people and the princes her beauty for she was of comely appearance.”
The fact that it says that she should come wearing the royal
crown implies that she should only wear the royal crown (otherwise she would be
undressed).
The Gemara explains that it wasn’t Vashti’s modesty that
kept her from appearing before the king. Rabbi Yose ben Hanina said: This teaches
us that tzaraat (a skin disease similar to leprosy) broke out on her.
In the Braita it is taught that the angel Gabriel came and
fixed a tail on her.
The Gemara implies that Vashti was beautiful and that the
only reason that she didn’t come out was because she was suffering from some
imperfections. Without these imperfections she would not have had a problem
appearing before the king.
We learn from here that beauty is only skin deep!
