From its plan and scope, it is apparently an incomplete collection of the rich aggadic material which has been produced on the Book of Esther.
Except in the Vilna and Warsaw editions with their modern and arbitrary divisions, this Midrash consists of six "parashiyyot" (chapters, sections; singular = "parashah") introduced by one or more proems.
It may furthermore be assumed that a new parashah began with the section Esther 3:1, where several poems precede the comment of the midrash.
The Book of Esther early became the subject of discussion in the schoolhouses, as may be seen from Megillah 10b et seq., where long aggadic passages are joined to single verses.
[2] However, these borrowings do not justify assigning to the midrash (as S. Buber does) a date later than Yosippon, such as the mid-10th century; for as early as Azariah dei Rossi[3] they have been noted as later interpolations.