Editing Book of Esther (section)

== Historicity ==
[[File:Megillat Esther (1).jpg|thumb|235px|The opening chapter of a hand-written scroll of the Book of Esther, with reader's [[Yad|Torah pointer]]]]
The apparent historical difficulties, the internal inconsistencies, the pronounced symmetry of themes and events, the plenitude of quoted dialogue, and the gross exaggeration in the reporting of numbers (involving time, money, and people) all point to Esther as a work of fiction, its vivid characters (except for Xerxes) being the product of the author's creative imagination.<ref>{{cite book |last=Meyers |first=Carol |author-link=Carol Meyers |title=The Oxford Bible Commentary |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199277186 |editor-last1=Barton |editor-first1=John |page=325 |language=en |chapter=16. Esther |quote=Genre and Purpose |access-date=2019-03-24 |editor-last2=Muddiman |editor-first2=John |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWUTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA325 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111154149/https://books.google.com/books?id=DWUTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA325#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=2023-11-11 |url-status=live}}</ref> There is no reference to known historical events in the story; a general consensus, though this consensus has been challenged,<ref>David J. A. Clines, [https://books.google.com/books?id=GV2tAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 ''The Esther Scroll: The Story of the Story,''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111154149/https://books.google.com/books?id=GV2tAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA26#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=2023-11-11 }} [[A&C Black]], 1984 {{isbn|978-0-905-77466-4}} pp. 26, 50, 155ff.</ref><ref>Tsaurayi Kudakwashe Mapfeka, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1MuiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 ''Esther in Diaspora: Toward an Alternative Interpretive Framework,''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111154154/https://books.google.com/books?id=1MuiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=2023-11-11 }} [[Brill Publishers|Brill]], 2019 {{isbn|978-9-004-40656-8}}  pp. 2, 15, 28ff</ref> has maintained that the narrative of ''Esther'' was invented in order to provide an [[etiology]] for [[Purim]], and the name Ahasuerus is usually understood to refer to a fictionalized [[Xerxes I]], who ruled the [[Achaemenid Empire]] between 486 and 465 BCE.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|article=Ahasuerus|date=2009|article-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199543984.001.0001/acref-9780199543984-e-56|encyclopedia=A Dictionary of the Bible|editor-last=Browning|editor-first=W. R. F.|edition=2nd|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199543984.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-954398-4|quote=The story is fictitious and written to provide an account of the origin of the feast of Purim; the book contains no references to the known historical events of the reign of Xerxes.|access-date=2020-04-17|archive-date=2020-09-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903144437/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199543984.001.0001/acref-9780199543984-e-56|url-status=live}}</ref> Longman, Dillard, and Jobes feel that the historical issues in the Book of Esther are not insurmountable; they can be resolved with some thought and effort. Longman and Dillard also feel that the book should be read as a historical narrative since the author presents it as history.<ref name="y169">{{cite book | last=Jobes | first=Karen H. | title=Esther | publisher=Zondervan | publication-place=Grand Rapids, Mich | date=1999 | isbn=978-0-310-20672-9 | page=31}}</ref><ref name="g702">{{cite book | last1=Longman | first1=Tremper | last2=Dillard | first2=Raymond B. | title=An Introduction to the Old Testament | publisher=Zondervan Publishing Company | publication-place=Grand Rapids, Mich | date=2006 | isbn=978-0-310-26341-8 | page=218}}</ref>

Biblical scholar [[Michael Coogan]] further argues that the book contains specific details regarding certain subject matter (for example, Persian rule) which are historically inaccurate. For example, Coogan discusses an inaccuracy regarding the age of Esther's cousin (or, according to others, uncle) [[Mordecai]].<ref name="Coogan, Michael David Coogan 2009">Coogan, Michael David, ''A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in Its Context'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 396.</ref><ref name="Sidnie White Crawford 2003">Sidnie White Crawford, "Esther", in ''The New Interpreters Study Bible New Revised Standard Version'' with the Apocrypha, ed. Walter J. Harrison and Donald Senior (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), 689–90.</ref> In Esther 2:5–6, either Mordecai or his great-grandfather Kish is identified as having been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon by King [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] in 597&nbsp;BCE: "Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with [[Jeconiah]] king of Judah". If this refers to Mordecai, he would have had to live over a century to have witnessed the events described in the Book of Esther.<ref name= "Coogan, Michael David Coogan 2009"/> However, the verse may be read as referring not to Mordecai's exile to Babylon, but to his great-grandfather Kish's exile.<ref>New King James Version, translation of [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=esther%202:6&version=NKJV Esther 2:6] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220181600/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=esther%202:6&version=NKJV |date=2019-02-20 }}</ref><ref name="ISBE">{{cite book |editor-last=Bromiley |editor-first=Geoffrey W. |title=International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Volume II |year=1982 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yklDk6Vv0l4C&pg=PA159 |page=159 |chapter=Book of Esther |isbn=9780802837820 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wiersbe |first=Warren W. |url=https://archive.org/details/bibleexpositionc00wier |url-access=registration |title=Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament History |publisher=David C Cook |year=2004 |page=712 |isbn=9780781435314 }}</ref>

In her article "The Book of Esther and Ancient Storytelling", biblical scholar [[Adele Berlin]] discusses the reasoning behind scholarly concern about the historicity of Esther. Much of this debate relates to the importance of distinguishing history and fiction within biblical texts, as Berlin argues, in order to gain a more accurate understanding of the history of the Israelite people.<ref name="Adele Berlin 2001">[[Adele Berlin]], "The Book of Esther and Ancient Storytelling", ''[[Journal of Biblical Literature]]'' 120, no. 1 (Spring 2001): 3–14.</ref> Berlin quotes a series of scholars who suggest that the author of Esther did not mean for the book to be considered as a historical writing, but intentionally wrote it to be a historical novella.<ref>Berlin, 2001: 6.</ref> The genre of novellas under which Esther falls was common during both the Persian and [[Hellenistic period]]s to which scholars have dated the book of Esther (see for example the deuterocanonical [[Book of Judith]]).<ref name= "Coogan, Michael David Coogan 2009" /><ref name= "Adele Berlin 2001" />

However, there are certain elements of the book of Esther that are historically accurate.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Revisiting the Book of Esther: Assessing the Historical Significance of the Masoretic Version for the Achaemenid History |journal=[[Persica Antiqua]] |last=Sarbanani |first=Morteza Arabzadeh |issue=4 |volume=3 |pages=19–32 |doi=10.22034/pa.2022.344449.1009 |year=2023}}</ref> The story told in the book of Esther takes place during the rule of Ahasuerus, who [[Ahasuerus#Historical identification|amongst others]] has been identified as the 5th-century Persian king [[Xerxes I]] (reigned 486–465 BCE).<ref name= "Between" /> The author also displays an accurate knowledge of Persian customs and palaces.<ref name= "ISBE" /> "Levenson claims that it is 'best seen as a historical novella set within the Persian empire'".<ref name="j111">{{cite book | last=Carruthers | first=Jo | title=Esther Through the Centuries | publisher=Wiley-Blackwell | publication-place=Malden, MA ; Oxford | date=14 January 2008 | isbn=978-1-4051-3213-8 | oclc=123539343 | url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/123539343 | access-date=13 April 2025 | page=50 | quote=Some recent scholars seek to maintain a fruitful tension between fiction and truth in their claims for Esther. Clines asserts the ‘current consensus of opinion’ that Esther is a ‘historical novel’ (1984a: 256; also Moore [1971] 1984: lii). Levenson claims that it is ‘best seen as a historical novella set within the Persian empire’, endorsing Fox’s claim that Esther’s frame of historical reference may be different to a modern reader’s: ‘How exactly an ancient religious community – or a modern one – understands “actual historical events” is a complicated epistemological and hermeneutical issue’ (1997: 26).}}</ref> ''The New Oxford Annotated Bible'' (2018) states "Esther is not a work of history but a historical novella, that is, a fictional story set within a historical framework."<ref>{{cite book|first=Mary Joan |last=Winn Leith |editor-first1=Michael David|editor-last1=Coogan|editor-first2=Marc Zvi|editor-last2=Brettler|editor-first3=Carol Ann|editor-last3=Newsom|editor-first4=Pheme|editor-last4=Perkins|title=The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T05WDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA716|date=1 March 2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-027605-8|page=716}}</ref> [[Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones]] agrees (in 2023).<ref name="f001">{{cite book | last=Llewellyn-Jones | first=Lloyd | title=Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther: Achaemenid Court Culture in the Hebrew Bible | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | date=9 March 2023 | isbn=978-1-78672-629-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4OmEAAAQBAJ&dq=%2522Esther+is+not+a+work+of+history+but+a+historical+novella,+that+is,+a+fictional+story+set+within+a+historical+framework.&pg=PA5 | access-date=13 April 2025 | page=5}}</ref> ''The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' (1939) offers a dissenting opinion, stating that "research has heaped up confirmation of the historical character of the book."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Urquhart |first=John |title=Esther, Book of |url=https://www.internationalstandardbible.com/E/esther-book-of.html |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Online |language=en|year=1939|editor-first=James|editor-last=Orr}}</ref> Baldwin (1984) sees the Book of Esther as true and historically accurate, quoting Robert Gordis: “There is nothing intrinsically impossible or improbable in the central incident when the accretions due to the storyteller's art are set aside.”<ref name="t721">{{cite book | last=Baldwin | first=Joyce G. | title=Esther | publisher=Apollos | publication-place=Leicester | date=1984 | isbn=978-0-87784-262-0 | page=24}} Also, see page 33 for a list of other scholars who have viewed the book of Esther as historical.</ref>

In the mainstream academia, the consensus is that "the book is fictional, a kind of historical novella written to provide an etiology, a narrative explanation, for the Jewish festival of Purim."<ref name="l185">{{cite book | last=Coogan | first=Michael David | title=The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=2006 | isbn=978-0-19-513910-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gSdVAAAAYAAJ&q=%2522consensus+of+modern+scholars+that+the+book+is+fictional%2522 | access-date=13 April 2025 | page=527}}</ref> According to Noss (1993), the historicity of the work is supported by the precision with which the author locates his story within time; the inclusion of the Persian names of the months is part of the author's case for historical authenticity.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Noss|first=Philip A.|year=1993|title=A Footnote on Time: the book of Esther|journal=The Bible Translator|volume=44|issue=3|pages=309–320|issn=2051-6770|doi=10.1177/026009359304400302|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/026009359304400302}}</ref>