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23 July 2022
The term Additions to Esther is used to describe six passages which appear in the Greek version of Esther but not in the Hebrew. These additions are not canonical in Protestantism or Judaism, but are in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles.
Why were these additions made to Esther, and why did this expanded version of Esther come to be accepted in Christian Bibles for the first 1500 years of Christianity? I don't know. But something is worth noticing. Esther is an unusual book in that, while it is implicitly theological, it does not explicitly refer to God. The additions labelled A, C, D, E, F all explicitly refer to God. B is the only one that doesn't, and we wouldn't expect it to, because it claims to be a copy of the decree of a foreign king ordering the massacre of the Jews. When the king sees the light and issues a decree to correct the situation (E), he speaks explicitly about how Jews worship the supreme god.
The difference in explicit references to God is one of the things that points toward A-F being later additions. If A-F are later additions, the story of how the two texts, Hebrew and Greek, came to be, is clear. An original Hebrew Esther was written without explicit references to God (though it is a thoroughly pious work at heart). Later additions were added by a narrator (or narrators) who, like most of the biblical narrators, spoke of God in the more usual direct manner, perhaps in part out of a motive of making the book more conventional in its religious expression.
On the other hand, imagine how odd it would be if the story ran the opposite way. If the Book of Esther originally contained A-F, why would a later editor remove all the references to God? Surely it couldn't be due to an anti-religious motive, because the remaining Book of Esther still comes out with a religious outlook.
There's six additions, and following the 'NRSV, Catholic Edition, we'll call them A, B, C, D, E, and F. A begins at the beginning of the book, before the Hebrew verse 1:1.
A opens with a chronological improbability, describing a dream that Mordecai, who had been exiled by Nebuchadnezzar (586 BCE or before), had "in the second year of Ahasuerus the Great" (i.e., 485 BCE).[1] Two dragons appear and, in thinly veiled dream form, the coming plot of Esther is foreshadowed. Mordecai takes the dream as an omen from God.
Next, we learn that Mordecai overheard two eunuchs of the royal court plotting to kill the king, and reported it, leading to their execution. Mordecai was rewarded with a royal station, but the king's right-hand man Haman determined to destroy Mordecai and his people because of this matter.[2]
After A come Hebrew chapters 1 and 2, in which the king has a falling out with his queen, and through a series of events replaces her with Esther. At the end of chapter two, the Hebrew text contains its version of the affair with the two eunuchs. In chapter 3, Mordecai is exalted, and refuses to bow to Haman, at which point Haman hatches and begins to execute his plot to have Mordecai and the Jews destroyed. He talks the king into writing a document ordering their extermination.
B is inserted in the middle of Hebrew chapter 3, and consists of what claims to be a verbatim copy of the king's decree against the Jews. In the Hebrew text, this decree is merely described briefly, rather than quoted in full.
We return to the Hebrew text, and Mordecai (ch. 4) convinces Esther to intercede with the king for the Jews. Esther asks for a fast to be held prior to her meeting with the king. Implicitly such a situation would involve prayer, but the Greek additions C and D then follow to make the prayers explicit.
C contains prayers by Mordecai and Esther. Both are in an elevated style, with wordy melodramatic flourishes to an extent uncharacteristic of Hebrew Esther.
In the Hebrew text, in chapter 4 the idea was set up that speaking unprompted to the king could carry the death penalty. In chapter 5, Esther enters the king's presence, and no mention is made of this death penalty business. The king simply announces that Esther may have whatever she requests. He seems pleased to see her, and eager for her to have whatever she wants.
But here the Greek addition D, instead, stages a highly emotional scene, in which the king is furious to see her, and she faints. God influences him to become concerned for her, and the king's fury melts. He is concerned for her, and then we drop back into the Hebrew chapter 5, in which the king offers Esther whatever she wants.
Rather than asking for the deliverance of her people, Esther invites the king to a banquet, where the asks that Haman should attend. The king grants it. Like the reader, the king senses that Esther wants something more, so at the banquet he invites her to reveal her real request. However, Esther again puts off giving her direct answer, and simply asks that the king and Haman come to another banquet that she will give.
Haman is pleased with the banquet, but as he leaves he sees Mordecai, who again refuses to bow. Mordecai is furious but avoids making a scene, thinking of how he will kill Mordecai and the Jews. He calls together his friends and wife, and describes all his splendid good fortune, but declares that it is worth nothing to him as long as he sees Mordecai refusing to bow. His wife and friends encourage him to build an enormous gallows upon which to hang Mordecai, and he does so. In a humiliating and well-written bit of dramatic irony, Hebrew chapter six has Haman forced by circumstance into parading about in public announcing Mordecai's greatness. Haman's wife and friends see this as an omen of Haman's destruction and the failure of his plans against Mordecai.
In chapter 7, as Haman is bewailing this humiliation, he is whisked off to the second banquet with Esther. Esther reveals the situation to the king, and asks that her people be spared. The enraged king has Haman hanged on the very gallows he prepared for Mordecai. The king, in chapter 8, decrees that the Jews may massacre any enemies who rise against them, with their women and children.
It is here that addition E appears, which like B purports to be a verbatim copy of the royal decree. It condemns Haman in strong terms, and gives royal support to the Jews, who, according to E, worship the great God and creator of all things. At the end of E we drop back into the Hebrew text, where the Jews respond with rejoicing to the issues of the letter. In chapter 9, the Jews kill off their enemies, and the holiday of Purim is established to commemorate the victory.
Hebrew Esther comes to an end with a note about the splendor of Ahasuerus and Mordecai, claiming that its story is supported by the annals of the Medes and the Persians.
Here the Greek versions adds F, which, picking up the thread from A, gives the interpretation of Mordecai's dream. There is then a curious end-note to the whole book, which claims to date to somewhere in the second or first centuries BCE, depending on exactly how it is interpreted.
In the Septuagint, the additions appear interspersed throughout the text. When Jerome made his Vulgate, he held the Hebrew version in higher regard to the Greek, but he didn't want to entirely remove the Greek material, so he moved the additions to the end of the book. As a result of this complicated process, varying chapter and verse numberings for the additions appear in modern Bibles.
If I can remember to, I will generally follow the versification practices of the Catholic modern standard Nova Vulgata for Esther, because those make sense to me. In the Nova Vulgata, the additions are placed into the text in their locations as in the Greek text, but the versification overall is dominated by the Hebrew numbering, with Greek additions indicated with lower-case letters.
So, for example, where the Hebrew book of Esther starts with verses 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, etc.; the Greek text adds ten extra verses at the beginning. Instead of disturbing the Hebrew order, the Nova Vulgata marks these verse 1:1a, 1:1b, etc., until the Hebrew text starts with 1:1.
An additional wrinkle occurs as there are two preserved forms of the Greek text: the main Septuagint text ("the Old Greek") and one preserved in just four manuscripts ("the Alpha Text"). I'm using the terms "Old Greek" and "Alpha Text" as they are found in the New English Translation of the Septuagint.
You can see the Nova Vulgata text of Esther here.
For the New English Translation of the Septuagint, see here.
Another way of versifying the text can be found in the New American Bible, here.
To read an English text of Esther, with the additions clearly marked as A, B, C, D, E, F, see the NRSV Catholic Edition, here.
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