Irony in the Book of Esther

Esther's sarcasm needs to be particularly cautious when applying parts of the Bible to modern literary criticism techniques. The story puzzle is written, interpreted and edited by countless individuals. It is irrational to apply the same examination criteria to literary works consisting of singles living in a certain period according to the history of 1000 years.

Throughout the book, the dichotomy seems to be parallel to the element of irony. There are other examples of irony at Esther, but the example I choose will provide the widest view of the various satire used in Esther. In fact, the obvious conclusion is that the author of Esther uses irony to show the ultimate success of good and evil, hence he knows what he is doing.

Some of the elements recorded by Esther are historically accurate. The story told at Esther occurred during the reign of Ahasuelu under the name of the Persian King Xerxes I (BC 486-465 BC) in the 5th century. The author also shows Persian customs and accurate knowledge of the palace. However, according to Coogan, the whole article still has considerable historical inaccuracies and supports the following view. Esther's book should be regarded as a historical novel, a story that explains historical events. In fact Edwin M. Yamauchi questioned the reliability of other historical data such as Herodotus, and Esther was compared. Mr. Yamauchi said, "However, it is a victim of untrusted information providers, it is absolutely not reliable."

Nehemia is the last history book of the Old Testament. Although Esther's book appeared after the classical Nehemiah, the story of Esther occurred between Erasmus 6 and 7, during the first and second return of people to Israel. The prophet Malachi was the same generation Nehemiah. Nehemiah is an amateur, neither a pastor like Ezra nor a prophet like Malachi. Before he took the Jewish group to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall, he served the secular role of the Persian king. "With expertise in the court of the Nishinomiya king, he was able to provide enough for the political and material reconstruction necessary for the survival of the remnants."