Some Bible scholars believe the Book of Esther does not belong in the Biblical canon because the name of God does not appear. This opinion is not recent. It goes back to Martin Luther in the 1500's, and before.
However, there are numerous patterns and designs in Esther that connect the book to the rest of the Bible. The first that I would like to mention is the Menorah Design, given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Without the Book of Esther, the entire design would fail. If you are not familiar with the Menorah Design, please click HERE.
There is another remarkable pattern to be found in this book, a chiasm. To see this fascinating pattern please click HERE.
A third design found in the Book of Esther is the Torah Design discovered by Dr. J. R. Church in the 1990s. Brother Church was a minister who loved to study the Word of God. He noticed that the first five books of the Bible, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch, each had separate themes. These themes are found throughout the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament.
The themes are:
1 – Genesis – Beginning and the sin of man
2 – Exodus – Deliverance and redemption
3 – Leviticus – Sanctification (or setting apart)
4 – Numbers – Testing in the wilderness
5 – Deuteronomy – Summation and relating to the kingdom
There are two Torah designs in the Book of Esther. The first deals with Haman, the Amalekites and sin.
Chapter one – Queen Vashti rebels against the king. Sin is rebellion.
Chapter two – Mordecai saves (delivers) the life of the king.
Chapter three – The Jews are set apart for extinction by Haman.
Chapter four – The Jews, alone in a metaphoric wilderness, mourn their situation.
Chapter five – Haman plans the summation, which is the destruction of Mordecai.
The second Torah design follows the triumph of the Jews and righteousness.
Chapter six – The beginning of good for the Jews. Mordecai is honored.
Chapter seven – The king saves (delivers) Mordecai. Haman is hanged.
Chapter eight – The Jews are set apart for survival and honor by the king.
Chapter nine – The Amalekites, alone in a metaphoric wilderness, mourn their dead.
Chapter ten – Mordecai is established as second in command in the kingdom.
In addition, the name of God is found in the Book of Esther using equidistant letter spacing (ELS) in the Masoretic Hebrew text. But that is another story. There is so much hidden in plain sight in the Word of God. I am so thankful for His Word.