I. Position

In the Hebrew Canon the book of Esther forms the fifth of the Megilloth, and was read annually during the feast of Purim, which came on the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar, our March, and celebrated the deliverance of the Jews in Persia from the plot laid for their destruction by Haman. In our English Bible it follows Nehemiah and forms the conclusion of the historical books of the Old Testament.

Its right to a place in the canon was long disputed among the Jews, but afterward it was held in honor second only to the Pentateuch. Maimonides said that when the Messiah came the only Scriptures would be the Law and Esther. The Christian church has also been divided as to its merits. It is not quoted in the New Testament, and is not mentioned in many catalogues of the Old Testament. Many critics, in all ages, have contested its right to be in the canon. Luther wished the book had never been written. But there is no good reason for its rejection. It is found in the Hebrew and the Septuagint, and most critics agree that it is properly inserted.

II. Contents

Esther, a Jewish maiden of the captivity, suddenly becomes the queen of Ahasuerus, more generally known as Xerxes, king of Persia, and there learns of a plot to destroy all her nation. After conferring with her foster-father, Mordecai, she approaches the king, at the risk of her life, secures the downfall and death of Haman the grand vizier of the king, who has plotted the destruction of her people, and obtains a decree from the king which enables them to defend themselves on the day fixed for their death. The joy of her people over their escape results in the feast of Purim, which becomes the great national holiday of the Jews. The story is admirably told and the literary finish of the narrative equals the work done in the golden age of the Jewish literature.

III. Credibility

Doubts as to its credibility have existed from the earliest times.

1. Its historical character has been assailed. The difficulty of locating Ahasuerus, the fact that according to Persian custom the king was limited in the selection of his queen to certain prominent families among the nobility, the fact that eleven months' notice was given before the decree was carried into execution, besides other difficulties of less value, have been mentioned against it.

But we may meet these by saying that the difficulty of locating Ahasuerus is now removed, since all are agreed that Ahasuerus is but another name for Xerxes, one of the greatest of Persian monarchs, whose character well agrees with the facts here related. So capricious and willful a king might easily ignore any restraints thrown around his marriage, and the long notice of the edict is accounted for when we remember the immense size of the kingdom and the slow methods of communication then employed.

It is also admitted that those statements which can be verified from Persian sources agree perfectly with the facts as narrated in the Bible, while the minute description of customs and localities indicate a thorough knowledge on the part of the writer, so that the historical character of his narrative stands unimpeached until it can be positively proved to be untrustworthy.

2. It has also been objected that the book, while professing to be a part of Jewish history, has almost nothing of a Jewish tone. It contains no allusion to Jewish history outside of the immediate facts involved, no reference to religious services, even the name of God is not once found in it.

But when we examine the character of the book and find that it is not religious, but intended simply to explain the reason for the celebration of a feast which was secular in its nature, it is not strange that the name of God is not found in it. There is no virtue in introducing that name where there is no occasion for it. The entire book is pervaded with the idea of God. Its lack of Jewish ideas may be explained when we remember that it relates to a special exigency, a single crisis in Jewish history, and that there was no occasion to enter upon a discussion of themes connected with their general history.

IV. Date

A more serious difficulty is met when we attempt to fix the date at which it was written.

That the facts refer to the reign of Xerxes is now conceded. His reign extended from 485 to 465 B. C, and Esther became his queen in the seventh year of his reign, Ch. 2:16. The freshness of the narrative inclines one to the idea that the book was written soon after the events occurred. But the tendency now is to bring it down to the early years of the Greek period, 332 B. C. For this no sufficient reason can be given. The writer was evidently familiar with the Persian records, 9:32, 10:2, and the style has much in common with that of Ezra and Nehemiah, but with many Persian words. Keil fixes upon 465-425 B. C. Driver, 332 B. C. The probabilities favor the date given by Keil.

V. Author

An attempt, based on Ch. 9:20, 32, has been made to trace the writing to Mordecai, but the reference does not justify it. Among the Jews it was sometimes ascribed to the "Men of the Great Synagogue." The most that can be said is that it was written by a Jew familiar with matters at the Persian court and with the conditions of the Jewish people.

VI. Teachings

1. Its manifest aim is to account for the feast of Purim. Although there is some discussion about the origin of the word Purim or Pur, there can be little doubt that the origin of the festival is here correctly given. And on the other hand the existence of the festival is a guarantee of the accuracy of the account here given.

2. Much has been said as to the morals of the book, the evident determination to exalt the Jew, and the apparent lack of moral sentiment pervading it. But the book must be judged, not by our standards, but by the spirit of the times in which it was written. The writer simply records the facts without any expression of opinion in regard to them.

3. The book certainly teaches a grand lesson in regard to divine providence. The author did not evidently so design it, but the facts show it. In their distress God kept them from harm and gave them a triumphant deliverance. Such a lesson is worthy of preservation.

4. It is to be noted that the Septuagint adds a paragraph to the Hebrew as a continuation of Ch. 10, and to this the Vulgate adds six chapters more. But these are late additions so different in style and sentiment that the Protestant church has never regarded them as a part of the inspired record.

LITERATURE

Commentaries: Keil and Delitzsch, Lange. Introductions of Driver, Keil, Bleek. Article "Esther" in Bible Dictionaries of Smith and Hastings, and in Encyclopedia Britannica,