1. After these things. Vashti had ceased to be queen, but Ahasuerus seemed to be in no haste to confer upon anyone else the dignity that had been hers. His harem was no doubt well supplied with wives and concubines, but none stood out above the rest. Ahasuerus probably “remembered Vashti,” either upon becoming sober again, or after the lapse of a considerable period of time. How long this was after the rejection of Vashti as queen is not stated. That had been in the third year of his reign. ( 1:3), and Esther came to the palace in response to the royal summons in the sixth year ( 2:12, 16). For a considerable portion of this time Ahasuerus (Xerxes) was away from Shushan on his ill-fated Greek campaign (see Introduction to Esther). In view of the fact that Esther probably arrived at the palace before Ahasuerus’ return (he left Greece in Oct. or Nov., 480 , and Esther came to the palace in January, 479 ), it is probable that the gathering of the virgins took place during his absence.
He remembered Vashti. Ahasuerus may have considered bringing Vashti back and making her queen again. Had he done so the officers who had proposed her humiliation would have been in danger. Vashti’s disgrace had been their doing; her return to power would accordingly have meant their undoing—dismissal, if not execution.