Scholars suggest either an early date in the Persian period for the writing of Esther or a dating as late as the fourth, third, or even the second century BC. Because the story is set in Ahasuerus’ reign, but is described as having happened in the past, it could have been written later in the Persian period. The many Persian names and loanwords in the Hebrew text point to an early dating in that period. The style of the Hebrew language in the text of Esther does not match the Hebrew of the second-century BC Qumran texts, suggesting an earlier date, and the similarities with what is often called the late biblical Hebrew
of the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles also point to an early dating.
A later dating of Esther in the second half of the second century BC could be justified by the fact that the book of Esther was not found among the Qumran texts. However, its absence may also have had different reasons, so that this fact may not be relevant. Some scholars believe that because Ben Sirach (about 180 BC) does not mention Esther, implying that the book was written at a later time. However, Ben Sirach also does not mention the books of Job and Ezra.
Based on all these data, it seems that the end of the fifth century BC, or the beginning of the fourth century BC, would be the most likely time of origin of the book of Esther.
With regard to the origin of the book of Esther, scholars suggest an early dating in the Persian period, or a late dating in the fourth or third century BC, possibly even later yet - in the second century BC. As the author of Esther is unknown, no absolute certainty can be given about the time in which the book was written. However, there are some cues that help to arrive at a possible date.
The setting of the story is during the reign of Ahasuerus, yet is described as already belonging to the past (Esther 1:1), on the basis of which it is possible that Esther was written somewhat later in the Persian period. Linguistic data in the text itself argue for an early dating in the Persian period. Here one can point to the many Persian names and loanwords in the Hebrew text. 1 It is very unlikely that so many Persian words would be used in this way by an author in the Greek period. Furthermore, the Hebrew text of Esther shows no influences from the Greek language, which also points to a dating before the Greek period. 2 It is also striking that the style of the Hebrew language in the text of Esther has nothing in common with the Hebrew of the Qumran texts, which date from the second century BC. 3However, there are several similarities with the Hebrew language—often referred to as late biblical Hebrew
—of the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles, which also points to an early dating.4 M. Fox, however, arrives at a dating in the third century BC on the basis of these linguistic data. 5
A rather late dating of Esther in the second half of the second century BC is based, among other things, on the fact that the book of Esther was not found among the Qumran texts. However, its absence may also have different reasons, so that this fact cannot be used as a decisive reason for the late dating. The fact that Ben Sirach (circa 180 BC) does not mention Esther would, according to some scholars, imply that the book was written at a later time. It can be argued against this that Ben Sirach also does not mention the books of Job and Ezra. More recently A.D. Friedberg has made an attempt to date the book of Esther on the basis of the use of the indication of the months. According to him, the use of the formulation in the (ordinal number) month, that is, the month (name)
[see, for example, Esther 2:16] points to a time of origin after the book of Zechariah and before the book of Ezra-Nehemiah, that is, in the late fifth century BC. 6
Based on all these data, it appears that the end of the fifth century BC, or the beginning of the fourth century BC, would be the most likely time of origin of the book of Esther.7
1 C'était du temps d'Assuérus, de cet Assuérus qui régnait depuis l'Inde jusqu'en Ethiopie sur cent vingt-sept provinces;