ESTHER
The Historical Setting
The book takes place in The Persian Period (539 – 331 B.C.) after many Israelites had returned from The Exile to The Land of Palestine to rebuild The Temple and set up the sacrificial system.
The Charateristics
Esther is the only book of The Bible in which the name of God is not mentioned. The New Testament does not quote from The Book of Esther, nor have copies of it been found among The Dead Sea Scrolls. The Law is never mentioned in the book nor are sacrifices or offerings referred to.
The Recipients
Knowing who the original recipients of a Bible book were helps in interpreting that book. The Book of Esther includes a number of dates which tie the account to a particular time in The Persian Empire, but no hint is given when the book was written nor is there any explicit evidence about its original readers.
The Authorship / Date
The book gives no hint of who wrote it. But whoever it was knew The Persian Culture well. As far as the date is concerned, the document as it stands could have been written sometime between 483 and 474, during the latter years of Xerxes’ reign or in the reign of his son Artaxerxes (464 – 424).
The Historicity
Objections to the historicity of the events in The Book of Esther are usually along three lines:
Describes the origin of the religious Feast of Purim.
No outside records mention any of the characters in the book.
The account of King Xerxes seems improbable.
Describes the origin of the religious Feast of Purim.
No outside records mention any of the characters in the book.
The account of King Xerxes seems improbable.
The Purpose
As noted earlier, The Book of Esther was written to encourage the returned Jewish Exiles by reminding them of the faithfulness of God who would keep His promises to the nation.
The Canonicity
Now there exists 3 problem areas in The Book of Esther...
1. Problematic in Jewish Circles: Esther was not found at Qumran, but this may have been because Purim was not included in their liturgical calendar. It was debated in the Talmud (Megillah 7a & Sanhedrin 100a) in the 3rd - 4th centuries.
2. Problematic among the Christian Circles: Esther is not quoted in the New Testament. Esther was neither used nor denied as canon by many early Christian writers.
". . . in the Western Church Esther was nearly always regarded as canonical while in the Eastern churches very often it was not, especially in the area of Anatolia and Syria."[Moore]
3. Problem the Greek Additions to Esther: "The question of the canonicity of the Greek Additions to Esther (i.e., the six extended passages consisting of 107 verses which have no counterpart in the Hebrew text) was not a matter of debate among Christians until the period of the Reformation in the 16th century. . . ." [Moore]
"The Roman Catholic Church continued the millennium-long practice of not discriminating against the Additions, and as the result of the decrees of the Council of Trent in 1546, Roman Catholics called the Additions “deuterocanonical” and, after the practice of Jerome, printed them immediately after the canonical version of Esther." [Moore]
1. Problematic in Jewish Circles: Esther was not found at Qumran, but this may have been because Purim was not included in their liturgical calendar. It was debated in the Talmud (Megillah 7a & Sanhedrin 100a) in the 3rd - 4th centuries.
2. Problematic among the Christian Circles: Esther is not quoted in the New Testament. Esther was neither used nor denied as canon by many early Christian writers.
". . . in the Western Church Esther was nearly always regarded as canonical while in the Eastern churches very often it was not, especially in the area of Anatolia and Syria."[Moore]
3. Problem the Greek Additions to Esther: "The question of the canonicity of the Greek Additions to Esther (i.e., the six extended passages consisting of 107 verses which have no counterpart in the Hebrew text) was not a matter of debate among Christians until the period of the Reformation in the 16th century. . . ." [Moore]
"The Roman Catholic Church continued the millennium-long practice of not discriminating against the Additions, and as the result of the decrees of the Council of Trent in 1546, Roman Catholics called the Additions “deuterocanonical” and, after the practice of Jerome, printed them immediately after the canonical version of Esther." [Moore]
5 Stages of Textual Development by Prof. D. J. A. Clines
Stage 1: Two hypothetical sources
The Mordecai story which “is a tale of the conflict of two courtiers that revolves about the question of their relative rank and issues in a dramatic reversal of their standing at the Persian court.” [Professor David J A Clines]
The Esther tale “is not primarily a story of conflict between Esther and Haman, but a story of success achieved against all odds.” [Professor David J A Clines]
“. . . the heroine wins her way by her own qualities and initiatives, and a deliverance story, in which a happy outcome is determined by providential and unpredictable occurrences.” [Professor David J A Clines]
Stage 2: The Pre-Masoretic Story
“The pre-Masoretic story . . . the Hebrew Vorlage of the AT Esther, up to the point at which Ahasuerus puts into Mordecai's the affairs of the kingdom (AT 8.17, roughly equivalent to MT 8.2). Our witnesses to this story are on the one hand the Greek AT and on the other the later Hebrew text, . . . called the proto-Masoretic story.” [Professor David J A Clines]
The editor is either the one who combined the two stories or the “primary storyteller.”
Stage 3: The Proto-Masoretic Story
“The most notable addition was the introduction of the concept of the irrevocability of Persian Law.” [Professor David J A Clines]
“As for the minor additions to the plot, the most noticeable is the story of Mordecia's discovery of the conspiracy of the two eunuchs at MT 2.21-23.” [Professor David J A Clines]
“. . . probably also . . . the . . . proto-Masoretic narrator the omission of religious language. . . . it is impossible to deny that the pre-Masoretic story had some such references, including allusions to prayer. . . to divine help . . . and to Haman's gods . . . plus perhaps at AT 7.22 (MT 6.13), where Haman's wife says, ‘God is among them’. In eliminating all explicitly religious language, the narrator was moving in sympathy with the tendency the plot had always had to keep silent about the causality of its constitutive coincidences.” [Professor David J A Clines]
Stage 4: The Masoretic Story
The Masoretic story builds on the prior stories and adds the ending of 9.1 – 10.3.
9.1 – 19 argues that the bloodless chapters 1 – 8 did not answer the question of what really happened on the 13th of Adar. The Masoretic story's answer is the death of more than 75,000 non-Jews.
9.20-32 – “The ‘documentary’ appendixes formed by the letters of Mordecai (9.20 – 28) and Esther (9.29 – 32) further reinforce the ‘demilitarized’ memory of the events of the Esther scroll . . . but go further . . . linking the celebration of those events with the traditional festivals of the Jews year.” [Professor David J A Clines]
10.1-3 – “Here the issues that is addressed is the significance of the Esther story for the Jewish life under foreign rule.” [Professor David J A Clines]
Stage 5: The Septuagint Story
“The Septuagint version of the Esther story represents a more thorough and substantial reworking of the story than any version . . . . Not only are there revisions (often omissions) in almost every verse as compared with the Masoretic version, but there are also the six very considerable Additions.” [Professor David J A Clines]
The Additions, “make God, not Esther or Mordecai, the ‘hero’ of the story. . . .” [Professor David J A Clines]
“. . . the primary effect of the LXX expansions as a whole is . . . to assimilate the book of Esther to a scriptural norm, especially as found in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel.” [Professor David J A Clines]
The Mordecai story which “is a tale of the conflict of two courtiers that revolves about the question of their relative rank and issues in a dramatic reversal of their standing at the Persian court.” [Professor David J A Clines]
The Esther tale “is not primarily a story of conflict between Esther and Haman, but a story of success achieved against all odds.” [Professor David J A Clines]
“. . . the heroine wins her way by her own qualities and initiatives, and a deliverance story, in which a happy outcome is determined by providential and unpredictable occurrences.” [Professor David J A Clines]
Stage 2: The Pre-Masoretic Story
“The pre-Masoretic story . . . the Hebrew Vorlage of the AT Esther, up to the point at which Ahasuerus puts into Mordecai's the affairs of the kingdom (AT 8.17, roughly equivalent to MT 8.2). Our witnesses to this story are on the one hand the Greek AT and on the other the later Hebrew text, . . . called the proto-Masoretic story.” [Professor David J A Clines]
The editor is either the one who combined the two stories or the “primary storyteller.”
Stage 3: The Proto-Masoretic Story
“The most notable addition was the introduction of the concept of the irrevocability of Persian Law.” [Professor David J A Clines]
“As for the minor additions to the plot, the most noticeable is the story of Mordecia's discovery of the conspiracy of the two eunuchs at MT 2.21-23.” [Professor David J A Clines]
“. . . probably also . . . the . . . proto-Masoretic narrator the omission of religious language. . . . it is impossible to deny that the pre-Masoretic story had some such references, including allusions to prayer. . . to divine help . . . and to Haman's gods . . . plus perhaps at AT 7.22 (MT 6.13), where Haman's wife says, ‘God is among them’. In eliminating all explicitly religious language, the narrator was moving in sympathy with the tendency the plot had always had to keep silent about the causality of its constitutive coincidences.” [Professor David J A Clines]
Stage 4: The Masoretic Story
The Masoretic story builds on the prior stories and adds the ending of 9.1 – 10.3.
9.1 – 19 argues that the bloodless chapters 1 – 8 did not answer the question of what really happened on the 13th of Adar. The Masoretic story's answer is the death of more than 75,000 non-Jews.
9.20-32 – “The ‘documentary’ appendixes formed by the letters of Mordecai (9.20 – 28) and Esther (9.29 – 32) further reinforce the ‘demilitarized’ memory of the events of the Esther scroll . . . but go further . . . linking the celebration of those events with the traditional festivals of the Jews year.” [Professor David J A Clines]
10.1-3 – “Here the issues that is addressed is the significance of the Esther story for the Jewish life under foreign rule.” [Professor David J A Clines]
Stage 5: The Septuagint Story
“The Septuagint version of the Esther story represents a more thorough and substantial reworking of the story than any version . . . . Not only are there revisions (often omissions) in almost every verse as compared with the Masoretic version, but there are also the six very considerable Additions.” [Professor David J A Clines]
The Additions, “make God, not Esther or Mordecai, the ‘hero’ of the story. . . .” [Professor David J A Clines]
“. . . the primary effect of the LXX expansions as a whole is . . . to assimilate the book of Esther to a scriptural norm, especially as found in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel.” [Professor David J A Clines]
The Outline (Bible Knowledge Commentary on The Old Testament - Walvoord, Zuck, Cook)
Pt 1: Esther Placed in a Position of Prominence (Esther 1 – 2:20)
A) Vashti deposed by Xerxes (1)
B) Esther elevated to Queen (2:1 – 20)
Pt 2: The Jews Marked for Extermination (Esther 2:21 – 4:3)
A) A Feud and Haman’s hatred of The Jews (2:21 – 3:6)
B) King persuaded by Haman to destroy The Jews (3:7 – 15)
Pt 3: Calamity Averted by Esther (Esther 4:4 – 9:19)
A) Communications between Esther and Mordecai (4:4 – 17)
B) Plot exposed by Esther (5 – 7)
C) Jews delivered and took revenge (8 – 9:19)
Pt 4: Feast of Purim Established (Esther 9:20 – 32)
Pt 5: Greatness of Mordecai Described (Esther 10)
A) Vashti deposed by Xerxes (1)
B) Esther elevated to Queen (2:1 – 20)
Pt 2: The Jews Marked for Extermination (Esther 2:21 – 4:3)
A) A Feud and Haman’s hatred of The Jews (2:21 – 3:6)
B) King persuaded by Haman to destroy The Jews (3:7 – 15)
Pt 3: Calamity Averted by Esther (Esther 4:4 – 9:19)
A) Communications between Esther and Mordecai (4:4 – 17)
B) Plot exposed by Esther (5 – 7)
C) Jews delivered and took revenge (8 – 9:19)
Pt 4: Feast of Purim Established (Esther 9:20 – 32)
Pt 5: Greatness of Mordecai Described (Esther 10)