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Esther: God
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Using a few well-placed phrases and devices in this short narrative, the skillful author of Esther has managed to suggest a wide range of other biblical narratives without ever mentioning God. Without the use of religious language, Esther addresses the serious religious questions of a people who thought they had lost their ties to their religious heritage. With tongue well in cheek, the author reminds his people of their identity even when appearances suggest that they are indistinguishable from the pagans among whom they live.
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Esther: a study of Divine Providence Bob Deffinbaugh explains how the Book of Esther makes a unique contribution to the understanding of this period in Israel’s history. It depicts the lives of those Jews who stayed on in Persia and focuses on those Jews who knew that God had instructed them to return to the Promised Land, but chose not to.
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It is ... possible that Esther is derived from Ishtar, Akkadian for the Evening Star. (Despite resembling Indo-European words for star, the Semitic "Ishtar" is unrelated, the root beginning with a pharyngeal ayin and the sh sound derived from an earlier th sound.) "Ishtar" was worshipped throughout the Middle East as a goddess. Some critics of the historicity of the Book of Esther seized on this as evidence to support a view that the story of Esther derived from a myth about Ishtar. However, in Hebrew the goddess was referred to by the Hebrew cognate of her name - Ashtoreth. "Esther" cannot be derived directly from the latter. The Book of Daniel provides accounts of Jews in exile being assigned names relating to Babylonian gods and "Mordecai" is understood to mean servant of Marduk, a Babylonian god.
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