Esther (Additions) Introduction
Introduction
The most troublesome problem with the canonical book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible is that God is never mentioned nor addressed in prayer. The most prominent events depicted are the extended feasts of eating and drinking. The religious aspect is altogether missing in the Hebrew text of Esther, and anciently this led some rabbis to question its inclusion in the canon. By contrast, the text of Esther in the Greek Septuagint features six additional chapters, totaling 107 verses. These six additions are known in the KJV as The Rest of the Chapters of the Book of Esther. Their whole purpose is to provide the missing religious dimension to this story. These additions mention God more than fifty times, and often underscore the role of God's gracious providence in these tumultuous events. The model prayers of Esther and Mordecai are showcased in the additional material, as well as a justification for Esther's decision to use her feminine allures.
These six extra chapters were added to the basic story line after Hebrew Esther was translated into Greek, to resolve this problem and to make the entertaining and suspenseful story more spiritually edifying. The Hebrew text of Esther never included these additions, but they have ever been part of the Greek text of the Septuagint. The additions are designed to be inserted at six points into the basic text, and in the Septuagint text of Greek Esther they are thus interspersed. The Greek version of Esther is simply an elaborated version of the Hebrew text, expanded to bring out the role of God in the story. The story line is the same in each version—a romantic history that tells how a beautiful woman, Esther, becomes Queen of Persia and foils a plot by Haman to kill all Jews in Persia. Her cousin, Mordecai, saves the life of King Artaxerxes (Ahasuerus), only to find his own life placed in jeopardy by the evil Haman. Clever actions by Esther and Mordecai succeed in stopping Haman and his planned genocide.
In the late fourth century a.d., when Jerome was translating from the Hebrew text of Esther into his Latin Bible (Vulgate), he saw that these six sections were not in the Hebrew. Because of his high regard for the Hebrew text, he relocated these six chapters from their interspersed locations to be appendage chapters added on to the book at its end. The KJV continues this Vulgate practice of appending them as additional chapters running from 10.4 to 16.24. The outline below shows the basic story line of Esther 1.1—10.3 in the first column. The second column shows how the additions (with their Vulgate and KJV chapter numbers) were interspersed in the Greek.
Outline to Hebrew and Greek versions of Esther
Hebrew
Greek
Mordecai's Dream and Brave Act
(lacking)
Addition A: 11.2—12.6
Queen Vashti's Defiance; Mordecai Saves the King; Haman's Plot
1.1—3.13
1.1—3.13
The King's Proclamation
(lacking)
Addition B: 13.1-7
Mordecai Seeks Esther's Help
3.14—4.17
3.14—4.17
Prayers of Mordecai and Esther
(lacking)
Addition C: 13.8—14.19
Esther Goes to the King
(lacking)
Addition D: 15.1-16
Esther at the Palace
5.1-2
(lacking)
Esther Hosts a Banquet; Mordecai Honored; Haman Is Killed
5.3—8.13a
5.3—8.12
The Royal Decree Favoring Jews
(lacking)
Addition E: 16.1-24
Persian Jews Defend Themselves and Vanquish Their Enemies; Celebration of Purim
8.13b—10.3
8.13—10.3
Mordecai Recalls His Dream
(lacking)
Addition F: 10.4—11.1
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Esther (Additions) Introduction: KJVAAE
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.