That's NOT the "influence of Christian thought!" The Bible itself is about Christ, all the way through. He is our Creator, He is the God of the OT, He became human and dwelt with us in the NT. The Bible's basic theme is about how God works with humanity, and how Jesus, the Son of Man and Son of God is rescuing us from the sinful mistake made soon after creation.
All the stories center on this theme, all prophecy centers on this theme, Christ Himself centers and and gives comment and prophecy on this theme. The Father verifies this, audibly to witnesses in the NT, and it all gets summarized in the last book, Revelation. It's a profound consistency only possible with God as the "author" of the Bible, who inspired many human writers to share what God gave them in experiences and inspiration for the whole world. The purpose of the Bible is the presentation of Christ, our Savior, and the soon returning King of Kings.
The book of Esther specifically is a profound validation of this theme. Christ quoted from it, and referred to prophecy relating to it. Most importantly, God's name is in the book through the name of His people. Israel means "one who prevails with God." The story there centers on faith in God's care and direction even though God's name isn't mentioned explicitly.
No reference to God's activity? What about
Esther 4:14
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
The eventual success at saving the Jews, is credited to God, though it is the focus of the book to tell of the events and the characters in the story.
In common with such parallel stories in the Bible, there are profound examples here that we find by substituting each main character with the figures in the Godhead, and with God's enemy, Satan. The great controversy between Christ and Satan is clearly spelled out in this story, in exact sequence and meaning, yielding another very powerful validation to this story as belonging in the Cannon of Scripture.
Here's a core connection between Esther and the NT. This connection is the mention of ten thousand talents of silver
Esther 3:9
If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king's treasuries.
What a bribe to the king, to kill off an entire section of his population, a loyal population! That's like 75% of his annual collection of tax money! A lot of money!
In the NT, Jesus tells of this through a parable.
Matthew 18:23, 24
23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
Then a bit later,
Matthew 18:27, 28
27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
Firstly, that's quite a huge forgiveness. Then we see a very poor response from the freed servant! In response the King rescinds the forgiveness and tosses that servant into prison, to suffer.
The connection? There are many and I'm just pointing to this one item. The Jews in Esther's time were sold for 10,000 talents of silver. God intervened and saved them, thus they "owed" God 10,000 talents of silver. God forgave them and opened the way for them to return to Jerusalem shortly after the story.
The misbehaved servant? Well, that's the descendants of the Jews who lived in Christ's time. The "same" servant. The small debt they failed to forgive? The amount of 100 pence, happens to exactly correspond in weight of Silver, to the amount of money paid to Judas to betray Jesus.
Matthew 26:14-16
14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.
There are many more numbers in that story, and they all correlate between Christ's parable, and the events in Christ's life when He was betrayed.
The result of the King rescinding the forgiveness of the debt? That correlates to Christ telling the Jews that He was leaving their house unto them desolate, and to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
Parallel and powerful connections. Christ's parable ends up being prophecy of His being taken by the Jewish authorities. He literally makes reference to the story of Esther. That's all pretty powerful validation of Esther as belonging in Scripture and for it being Christ centered! There are many additional parallels within this story and correlation that I've not detailed here. It's all very profound when seen clearly. This is not accidental coincidence!
