Esther doesn't seem that "Biblical". No mention of God. Story of revenge. It's more of a historical telling of how the holiday of Purim originated. It seems similar to the other apocrypha books. Only book not found in the dead sea scrolls. When and why was it included in the scriptural canon?

Martin Q. Blank said:

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Esther doesn't seem that "Biblical". No mention of God. Story of revenge. It's more of a historical telling of how the holiday of Purim originated. It seems similar to the other apocrypha books. Only book not found in the dead sea scrolls. When and why was it included in the scriptural canon?

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Pesherim commentaries on the text of Esther were at Qumran, among the Dead Sea scrolls. The Esther text does some interesting stuff in the original Hebrew, such as mystically interpreting the Persian Kings palace as God's new temple. The text foretells the destruction of both the first and second temple, which hints at the fall of Persia.

The Jewish sages canonized it some time in the Second Temple period.

The lack of any explicit mention of God or prophecy was a point of controversy.

OTOH, Purim was already a major festival. And the Rabbis interpreted the book as a case of Divine providence operating behind the scenes.