Parallel Lives

Another ingenuous literary device which infuses the story with divine presence is the parallel with the story of Joseph. Both are tales of a Jew in a non-Jewish court; both Joseph and Esther save their people from disaster; both achieve positions of power through their beauty, moral fortitude and wisdom; both have Hebrew and secular names; in both stories an important deed is forgotten and then recalled, bringing honor upon the worthy character and in both sagas true identity is revealed at a festive party.

These thematic similarities along with numerous textual and linguistic parallels make it clear that the author of Esther intended the reader to refer to the Joseph story to set the tone for this tale. The reason may be that whereas the Book of Esther is devoid of references to God, the story of Joseph is replete with them. Witness verses such as Genesis 39:3: 'And his master saw that the Lord was with Joseph and that the Lord lent success to everything he undertook', or 39:21: 'The Lord was with Joseph; He extended kindness to him and he found favor in the eyes of the chief jailer.'

Through this literary device, divine providence is implicitly introduced into the Esther story by explicit parallel.