Who Wrote the Book of Esther and When Was It Written?

The book of Esther was apparently compiled from several different sources. This is not to say that the book is exclusively the product of human activity, but rather that the writer-compiler(s) was superintended by the Holy Spirit to express the precise meaning that God intended. Evidence of this compilatory aspect of Esther (even if the compiling and writing were undertaken by one person) is suggested by: (1) the relating of the specific content and procedural enactment of royal decrees (3:12-15; 8:9-13); (2) the references to various events in the book being recorded in the royal “chronicles” (2:23; 6:1-2; 10:2); and (3) the references to Purim (the holiday commemorating the redemptive events in Esther) as a well-established, yearly “custom” (9:19, 27-28), implying the passing of some time since the initial recording of the events.

Nevertheless, several facts show that the book was compiled or written during the Persian period (559–330 BC). Although many scholars say that the book is primarily a fictional narrative written during the period of Greek rule over Judaea (330–63 BC), the following reasons argue for a date in the Persian period. (1) The writer-compiler(s) clearly had intimate knowledge of administrative practice and life in the Persian court. (2) The Hebrew of Esther is similar to that of the other Persian-period narratives in Ezra-Nehemiah (originally one book) and Chronicles. (3) More Persian loanwords are in Esther than in any other Bible book (i.e., about 60 Persian words for the book’s 165 verses. (4) The book has a few syntactical Persianisms, instances in which a Hebrew phrase is constructed in a manner reflective of either Old Persian or Persian Aramaic syntax, as in the expression “invited by her” (qaru’ lah) in 5:12, the omission of the definite article from “Pur” in 3:7, and the double entendre of Haman’s request in 6:8 (for the details, see comments there).

According to early Jewish tradition, Esther (along with Ezekiel, the Minor Prophets, and Daniel) was “written down” by “the men of the Great Synagogue” (Babylonian Talmud, Bava’ Batra’ 15a), a Persian-period institution traditionally ascribed to (i.e., founded by) Ezra.