When the turn came for Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordechai…to go to the king she did not ask for anything but what Hegai, the king’s eunuch, guardian of the women, advised. Yet Esther won the admiration of all who saw her. Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, in his royal palace…the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his grace and favor more than all the virgins. (Esther 2:15-17)

Rembrandt shows Esther presented to Ahasuerus by Hegai the keeper of the harem. Esther kneels before the king, who rises and extends his hand to greet her. Ahashuerus’ expression of kindness is a welcome gesture for the timid and frightened Esther, who is uncertain about her newfound destiny. Note the anachronistic globe on the table on the right. Perhaps this is intended to highlight Ahasuerus’ governance over one hundred and twenty-seven countries (Esther 1:1).

At face value, the story of Esther, the Jewess who became the queen of the vast empire of Persia and Media, is a tale of resounding success. Esther, an exile, an orphan and a person forced to disguise her ethnicity (through providence and personal courage), rises to royal estate and brings about the deliverance of her threatened nation.

But the canonical Book of Esther which records these events stirred up a great deal of controversy. This ostensibly sacred book surprisingly makes no mention of God, and has time and time again been brought up on charges of secularity.

Shmaryahu Talmon writes:

There are no recitals of historical landmarks; the election of Israel or its history, the covenant with the forefathers, the exodus, God’s love for the House of David which take such a prominent place in biblical historiography.

It would seem that the operative response to Haman’s anti-Semitic decrees in the Diaspora should be Zionistic. Yet there is no mention in Esther of the Land of Israel, Jerusalem or the Temple. Beyond the absence of all of the above-mentioned elements, the text describes the inter-marriage of Esther to a gentile king without raising an eyebrow.

Talmudic literature debated the efficacy of including Esther in the biblical canon, given how much militated against it. Surprisingly, in the final analysis, the book became an integral part of scripture. Several explanations of this choice may be offered. 

The Book of Esther is a drama of coincidences. Consider the sequence of events: the timely vacancy of queen ship, the auspicious accession of a Jewess to the throne, Mordechai’s discovery of the eunuchs’ conspiracy, Esther’s propitious reception by Ahasuerus, the king’s insomnia, Haman’s early arrival, his plea for mercy at Esther’s bed.

But as all readers of epic tales know, there is no such thing as coincidence. As Jon D. Levinson points out: Coincidence is a miracle in which God prefers to remain anonymous.

Just as Esther’s Jewish identity was hidden, so too the identity of the real power behind the throne – God, the savior of Israel – is masked. In this tale, God works behind the scenes.

Another ingenuous literary device which infuses the story with divine presence is the parallel with the story of Joseph. Both are tales of a Jew in a non-Jewish court; both Joseph and Esther save their people from disaster; both achieve positions of power through their beauty, moral fortitude and wisdom; both have Hebrew and secular names; in both stories an important deed is forgotten and then recalled, bringing honor upon the worthy character and in both sagas true identity is revealed at a festive party.

These thematic similarities along with numerous textual and linguistic parallels make it clear that the author of Esther intended the reader to refer to the Joseph story to set the tone for this tale. The reason may be that whereas the Book of Esther is devoid of references to God, the story of Joseph is replete with them. Witness verses such as Genesis 39:3: ‘And his master saw that the Lord was with Joseph and that the Lord lent success to everything he undertook’, or 39:21: ‘The Lord was with Joseph; He extended kindness to him and he found favor in the eyes of the chief jailer.’

Through this literary device, divine providence is introduced into the Esther story by implicit parallel.  

Although literary parallelism compensates for the lack of the presence of God, all of the other ‘historical landmarks’ and theological components we expect in Scripture are still noticeably absent. These constituents were viewed as so essential to the biblical text that in the second century in Alexandria a Jew named Lysimachus decided to fill in the blanks and compose Additions to Esther, containing these elements, which were subsequently incorporated into the Greek Bible. One of these additions is Esther’s prayer:

Then she entreated the Lord, God of Israel saying: My Lord, You alone are our king. Help me who am alone and have no help but You. For I am taking my life in my hands. From my earliest childhood in my family’s tribe, I have been hearing that You, Lord, took Israel from all the nations, and their fathers from all their ancestors, as an everlasting heritage and that You did for them just as You had promised. But now we have sinned against You and You have handed us over to our enemies. Because we gave glory to their gods… Rescue us by Your power, and help me, who am alone and have no one but You, O Lord… You have knowledge of all things. You know that I hate the pomp of the lawless and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised or of any foreigner…Your servant has never dined at Haman’s table, nor have I extolled the king’s banquets or drunk the wine of libations. From the day my status changed until now, Your servant has not delighted in any but You, O Lord, God of Abraham. O God whose power prevails over all, listen to the voice of those who are without hope and rescue us from the hand of the wicked. And deliver me from my fear!

But even without these Apocryphal additions, the story of Esther is a courageous drama of  intense faith. When Mordechai appeals to Esther he makes it perfectly clear:

Don’t imagine that you alone of all the Jews will escape because you are in the king’s palace. On the contrary, if you really do remain silent in such a time as this, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows? Perhaps it is just for such an occasion as this that you have attained to royal estate! (4:13-14)

Her selfless reply: ‘Then I shall go to the king, though it is contrary to the law and if I am to perish, I shall perish!’

The Book of Esther may not contain overt references to the God of Israel, but its religious value cannot be understated. The story is a tribute to the power of faith and courage. In the words of biblical scholar Michael V. Fox: 

The willingness to face history with an openness to the possibility of providence – even when history seems to weigh against its likelihood, as it did in the dark days after the issuance of Haman’s decree – this is a stance of profound faith.

1. Shamaryahu Talmon, “Wisdom in the Book of Esther”, Literary Studies in the Hebrew Bible (1993), pp. 255-290.

2. Jon D. Levenson, Old Testament Library Esther (London, 1997).

3. For a thorough analysis of the parallels between the story of Joseph and the story of Esther see, Moshe Gan, “Megillat Esther in light of the experiences of Joseph in Egypt” (Hebrew), Tarbitz 31 (1962), pp. 144-149.

4. The Anchor Bible: Daniel, Esther and Jeremiah The Additions (New York, 1977), pp. 208-209.

5. Michael V. Fox, Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther (USA, 1991), pp. 235-247.