ESTHER, BOOK OF, records events in Jewish history belonging to the interval of nearly 60 years that elapsed between the sixth and seventh chapters of Ezra. It has always been accepted by the Jews as canonical, and by many of them is esteemed worthy to be classed with the Pentateuch itself. Among Christians some have questioned its canon ical authority, because it does not mention even the name of God, and because, as they say, it breathes a spirit of national pride and of revenge. To these objections it has been replied that, although the name of Gq1 appear, his providence is, in fact, exhibited, and the advantage of prayer and faith is shown; and that the traits of char acter ascribed to both Persians and Jews of that day are in strict accordance with history. While the book may be reasonably defended on these grounds, the defense appears much more triumphant on the hypothesis, which many advance, that the whole narrative is a transcript from the records of the Persian court which Esther or Mordecai obtained from the king. When it is read with .his idea in mind, new light is poured on it. Everything in it is seen to be stated according to the Persian view, and the book bears the same relation to the Bible as the decrees of Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and Darius recorded in the books of Daniel and Ezra. According to this view the book itself is not to be regarded as inspired, and no part of it need be defended as if it were. It exhibits Persian luxury, despotism, and caprice, as well as traits of Jewish character that are not to be praised. If any ask, " What, then, is inspired about the book ?" the answer is that the direction to place it in the canon of Scripture was inspired; just as the direction to record Satan's words to Eve and to Christ was inspired, although the words them. selves were blasphemous and false. That this historical narrative should have a place in Scripture was important on many accounts, one of which afone (capable of being rightly estimated only by the Divine mind) was sufficient to require it, viz., that the
interposition of God's providence to save the Jews when they were in imminent peril of being exterminated might be shown to the world. That, without this interposition, the line of human descent from which the Messiah was to spring would, in all probability, have been cut off, links the book of Esther into the unity of the Scriptures by which, they all refer to Christ. And as the Passover, observed by the Jews throughout their generations, is the memorial of their exodus from Egypt, so the feast of Purim, likewise observed by them to this day, commemorates their deliverance through Esther the queen.
Apocryphal Additions to the the Septuagint version of E. there are six important passages, having no Hebrew original, inserted at different points of the narra tive, and forming with the rest a well digested whole. They were probably designed to meet the objection that the book did not contain the name of God, and to make his agency in the deliverance of his people more prominent and clear. In the 4th c. after Christ, when Jerome translated the book into Latin, he gave first the parts contained in the Hebrew, and placed the six others by themselves, adding marks and explanations by which their design and connection might be known. But in subsequent editions of the Vulgate these explanations were removed and the additions printed as supplemental chapters of the original book. This plan, which greatly impairs their significance and force, has been followed in the English version of the apocryphal parts, where they are called " The rest of the chapters of the book of Hester which are found neither in the Hebrew nor in the Chaldee."