Esther is a book that has enjoyed it’s share of controversy.  Scholars have a special word for the collection of writings we call the Bible.  They call it the canon.  When they discuss why certain writings are included in the Bible they talk about canonicity.  Over the years scholars and religious leaders have questioned the canonicity of Esther.  The main reason is because it doesn’t directly mention God.  Some Jewish leaders didn’t like Esther because of what it is about.  Esther tells the story of the origin of a Jewish festival called Purim.  Purim is not one of the original religious festivals included in the Law which God gave to Moses so “conservative” Jewish leaders did not like the book.  Other scholars question the events in Esther and doubt whether or not they are historical.  Many see it as a work of fiction.

A Jewish historical book written about 126 BC, 2 Macabees, mentions “the feast or Mordecai”.  Mordecai, the cousin of Esther, is a major character (by that I do not mean fictional) in the story.  So we know that at least by that time the feast was celebrated by at least some Jewish people and that it was associated with a person named Mordecai.  Mordecai is also mentioned in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, Historical accounts of the return of the Jewish people from captivity in Babylon.  Esther claims to be about events in Susa (a real place) during the reign of Xerxes (sometimes called Ahasuerus) king of Persia from 486-465 BC.  Susa was a capital city with a very expensive palace.  From history we know that the palace was started by Xerxes’ father Darius and finished by Xerxes.  Although some skeptical scholars want us to believe that Esther was written in the 200’s BC and is completely fictional, the parts of the book that can be verified by other sources show us that story fits the real life world of the mid-400’s BC in Susa.  The book claims to be a history and there is no reason to doubt that it is.  Some scholars like point out that a famous ancient historian named Herodotus doesn’t mention the events in his history, but he also never mentioned Belshazzar, king of the Babylonian empire that was taken over by the Persian empire, Daniel 5.  That caused scholars to think that Daniel was made up also, but later archaeological evidence confirmed the existence of Belshazzar (The Nabonidus Cylinder discovered in 1881).  Obviously there have been way more people and leaders in history that we have evidence for and to discredit a book of the Bible based on such a lack of evidence shows an unprofessional bias on the part of the scholar.

There is some possible archaeological evidence for the existence of Mordecai on some tablets fro the time of Xerxes.  The story of Esther contains other information that has been confirmed as being correct, like details about the palace in Susa which have only been confirmed by archaeological digs done since the 1850’s.

The Book of Esther, then, should be taken at face value as a historic account.  The book tells us how the festival of Purim began.  Although God is not specifically mentioned in the book of Esther his presence is still there, protecting and providing for the family he chose to be an example to the world.  As we will see the Jewish people, in exile in the ever changing world empire, in danger of extinction by a egotistical mad man, were still under the watchful care of the God who had banished them there in the first place.  His intention had been discipline not extinction and he moved the events toward that goal.  It is only fitting then that the Jewish people took the time to remember, and set up an annual day for that purpose.

Two last pieces of information may be helpful as we look at the book of Esther.  First “Purim”, the name given to the annual festival, comes from an Akkadian word, “puru”.  Akkadian was a dominant language in the region until the 700’s BC when it was replaced by Aramaic.  Eventually Greek would become the dominant language in the region as Alexander the Great conquered much of that region of the world around 333 BC.  The word would have been unknown to Jewish people by that time and is one argument for the historical nature of the book.  The word means “lot”.  A “lot” was something like a dice.  The Hebrew word used to decribe “lots” was “goral” which means stones.  Historically stones, bones, and several types of manmade objects, including some that look very similar to modern dice, were used to understand the will of the gods and make important decisions.  Archaeologist have found a “pur” (singular of purim) that belonged to an Assyrian official who lived around 840 BC.  Other archaeological evidence indicates that “lots were cast” at the beginning of a year to decide when important event would take place during the year.

The other piece of information which might be helpful is a little more background on Xerxes.  Xerxes was the son of Darius (as I mentioned before).  He was raised in the palace of his father and seems to have been a spoiled self indulgent prince.  He had an ego that wouldn’t quit.  He inherited the kingdom from his father, but took a great deal of credit for himself.  A foundation stone of the palace (which his father began to build in Susa) was found with the following words, “I am Xerxes the great king, the only king, the king of all countries which speak all kinds of languages, the king of this whole big and far reaching world…”  Early in his reign he conquered Egypt and put down a rebellion by Babylon.  In 480 BC he embarked on a military campaign to avenge a defeat of his father by the Greeks.  His army was large and he had early success but eventually lost a major naval battle at Salamis in 479 BC.  At that point Xerxes left his troops in charge of one of his generals, Mardonis, and went home.  Mardonis was completely defeated later that year.  In the book of Esther there is a gap in the timing of the events that may be due to Xerxes being in Greece fighting this war.