What about Esther & King Ahasuerus?

When I am not sure about what the Bible says vs what it means, meaning our interpretation is based on our limited understanding of the culture and what the people of that day understood already, I look to the Bible for examples. I find in the book of Ester a King who divorced his Queen (wife), then sought out a new Queen (wife). It is very clear that God directed this whole thing and even chose to include the story in the Bible. While Ester had never been married before, the King certainly had. Yet God brought Ester to the King and allowed her to find favor in the Kings eye. God blessed that relationship and even used her in great way. God would never do anything that is contrary to his word. God would not lead a person to a sinful relationship and bless it, and then condemn it as sinful.

Divorce in the OT was “tolerated”………yet what does Jesus say about those who divorce and remarry? They commit adultery. In the OT, a divorcee was ALLOWED to remarry. She was NOT called an adulteress. We see very different things in the NT vs. the OT.

As a matter of fact King Ahasuerus put Queen Vashti away and married Esther who went on to save her people. If that’s not a blessed divorce/2nd marriage, I don’t know what is! Her being put away made the way possible for Esther to be placed in position. All of this is an example of the providence of God. I will never use this passage to condone a wrongful divorce but it is worth noting in answering your challenge.

Where do you find that King Ahauerus gave Queen Vashti a writ of divorcement? As you also know, Polygamy was alive and well in those days, so this was not a divorce/remarriage situation.
Esther 1:18-20:

‘If it pleases the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be altered, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, vast as it is, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.’

In response to their perceived threat, the lawyers devise new laws. First, Vashti is “never again to come before” the king. Notice, unlike many accounts she isn’t removed from the Palace or sent home or thrown into the streets. Instead she merely loses the “privilege” of entering the king’s presence and her title. The first is a dubious punishment, while the second probably did diminish her place in the king’s household.

Here’s another interesting site discussing Queen Vashti:
Vashti was the daughter of King Belshazzar of Babylon and the great-granddaughter of King Nebuchadnezzar, the man who destroyed the first Temple in Jerusalem. The night her father was murdered (as predicted by the famous “writing on the wall”), there was much bloodshed and looting in the palace. Amidst the confusion, Vashti was unaware of the death of her father and ran to his quarters where she was captured by Darius, the succeeding king. Darius took pity on the young Vashti and gave her to his son Achashveirosh as a wife. When Achashveirosh became king over Persia, he and Vashti ruled over 127 provinces, the entire civilized world.

At a banquet celebrating the Jewish people’s demise, described in the first chapter of Megillat Esther, Achashveirosh ordered Vashti to appear at the feast unclothed so that he could show off her beauty to his entire kingdom. In a classic demonstration of the divine midah k’neged midah (measure for measure) justice, Vashti was called to appear before the king naked on Shabbat, a punishment for her tradition of forcing Jewish girls to work before her on Shabbat stripped of their clothing. When she refused his command, Achashveirosh had her beheaded at the advice of his minister Memuchan (identified by one opinion in the Talmud as Haman), abruptly ending her relatively short life. Vashti’s execution set the stage for Esther’s appointment as queen, ultimately leading to the Jewish people’s salvation from Haman’s threat of annihilation in the Purim story.
http://www.tfdixie.com/holidays/purim/002.htm

Are you serious??? Esther was being made Queen in Vashti’s place. That is a putting away, not only out of his sight but as his wife, that he may take on another. Esther was replacing her, becoming to the King what she was, Queen. Whether she was issued a “piece of paper” as you call it or not, the bottom line is that she was put away (divorced) and was never again allowed in the presence of the King.

You still haven’t shown me in the word of God where Vashti was divorced………………..yes, she was not allowed in the presence of the king, but “putting away” WITHOUT writ of divorcement was quite a common practice in those days………they didn’t divorce the wives or concubines, they put them away with bed and board, but no more conjugal contacts or special privileges. David did exactly the same thing to the concubines that his son defiled.

Second, Vashti was not a concubine. She was a queen. There would be one Queen and the concubinage. The Scripture says, Esther took her place. I might be mistaken but I don’t think a King would have two queens.

Yes, you are mistaken because scripture shows King David as well as King Solomon having more than 1 wife.