Esther looks at the returns from exile by the Jews.
The Book of Esther is the seventeenth book in the Bible and the second of only two which are named after women (the other one being the Book of Ruth). It is set between the first return of Jews from exile, led by Zerubbabel and the second return led by Ezra. Whilst the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell us about the Jews who returned to Judah, the Book of Esther deals with the vast majority of Jews who remained in the land of their captivity.
"to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him."
The king and his friends were drunk and Vashti did not want to be in a room filled with drunken men. She paid heavily for her refusal. She was banished and Ahasuerus sought to find a new queen