Authorship of Esther

The book of Esther is anonymous; its author is unknown. The writer was evidently a Jew intimately familiar with Persian customs, the royal protocol of Susa, and the reign of Ahasuerus (Xerxes), writing after the events it records to explain the origin of the feast of Purim.

Jewish tradition variously credited Mordecai (who is said to have written an account, Esther 9:20), Ezra, or the Men of the Great Synagogue. The book is famous for never once mentioning the name of God — an omission long discussed, usually understood as a deliberate device that lets God's hidden providence speak through the events themselves.