VI. CommenfiiriPS. — The following are separate ex- egotical W(n'ks on the canonical portion of tlie book of Esther, in addition to the formal Introductions to tliat portion of Scripture, and exclusive of the purejy rabl)inical treatises on the Jewish usages referred to in the book; the most important have an asterisk (*) prefixed: Kaban Maurus, Commcntarii (in 0pp.) \ Ara- ma, t'113 (Constantinople, 1518, 4to) ; Banolas, ITIIQ
ESTHER
311
ESTHER
(Riva di Trento, loGO, 4to) : Strigel, Scholia (Lips. 157], 157'2, 8vo) ; Brentius, Commentarii (Tubing. 1575, 4to; in Engl, liy Stockwood, Lond. 1584, 8vo) ; Aske- nazi, npb rpi"' (Cremona, 1576, 4to, etc.); Feuai'- dent, Commentaria (Par. 1585, 8vo, etc.) ; Melammed, 'iD'7"l^ "l'55<^ (Constantpl. 1585, 4to) ; *Drusius', An- notaiiones (Lej'd. 1586, 8v()) ; *Senariu?, Commentarii (Mogunt. 1590, fol., etc.) ; Zahalon, d-Tlbx VC^ (Ven. 1594, 4to); Alsheich, ITjn rxb^ (Ven." 1601, 4to) ; Cooper, Notes (London, 1009, 4to) ; U'Aquine, Raschii Scholia (Par. 1(;-J2, 4to) ; Wolder, Dispnsitiones (Dantz. 1625, 4to); *Sanclius, Commentarii (LeyA. 1628, fol.); Conzio, Commento (Cliieri, 1628, 4to) ; Duran, T^'ip "25 (Ven. 1632, 4to) ; Cronimins, T^fses (Lovan. 16o2, 4toj; Merkel, X^=n Xni-S (Luhlin, 1637, 4to) ; *Bo- navt. Commentaries {Qo\. Agr. 1647, fol.) ; Montanus, Commentarins (iNIadr. 1648, fol.) ; Trapp, Commentary (London, 1656, fol.); De Celada, Commentarii (Lugd. 1658, fol.) ; Jackson, Explanation (London, 1658, 4to) ; Barnes, Paraphrasis poetica (Lond. 1679, 8vo); Adam, Observationes (Groningen, 1710, 4to); Kamhach, NoicB (in his Adnot. V. T. ii, 1043); Heumann, Estherm auc- toritas (Getting. 1736, 4to) ; Meir, •^•^'; nnd'Q (Flirth, 1737, 8vo) ; Nestorides, Annotazioni (Ven. 1746, 4to) ; Aucher. De avctoritate Esthera: (Havn.1772, 4to) ; Cru- sius, JVlltzl. Gebrauch der B. Esther (from the Latin, Lpz. 1773, 4to) ; *Vos, Oratio (Ultr. 1775, 4to) ; Zinck, Cominentarius (Augsb. 1780, 4to) ; De Rossi, ]'ar. Lcct. (Rome, 1782, 8vo) ; Pereles, r^r^Tl t^h^ (Prague, 1784, 4to); Wolfssohn, ^npX (Berl. 1788, 8 vo) ; Lam- son, Discourses (Edinb. 1804, 12nio) ; Lowe, d"'n "IX (Nouydwor, 1804, 4to); *Schirmer, Cbservationes (Vra- ti-slav. 1820, 8vo); *Kele, Vindiiix (Freib. 1820, 4to) ; *Calmberg, Commentarius (Hamb. 1837, 4to) ; * Jl'Crie, Lectures {Works, 1838, 8vo) ; *Baumgarten, De Jide Esthene (Hal. 1839, 8vo) ; Morgan, Esther typical (Lon- don, 1855, 8vo) ; Crosthwaite, Lectures (London, 1858, 12mo) ; Davidson, Lectures (Edinb. 1859, 8vo) ; *Ber- theau (in the Kurzgef. ereg. Handb. Lpz. 1802, 8vo) ; Opjiert, Commentaire d'apres les itiscriptions Perses (Far. 1864, 8vo). See Old Testament.
ESTHER, Apocrypii.al adpitions to the Bonk o/'.^Besides the many minor deviations from the He- brew, there are six important additions in the Septua- gint and the other ancient versions of the book of Esther.
I. Title and Position. — In the Sept. and the Old L^atin these additions are dispersed through the canoni- cal book, forming therewith a well-adjusted whole, and have therefore no separate title. St. Jerome, however, separated them in his translation, and removed them to the end of the book, because they are not found in the Hebrew. They are, therefore, in tliis position in tlie MRS. and the printed editions of the Vulgate, and form, according to cardinal Hugo's division, the last seven chapters of the canonical Esther. Luther, who was the first that separated the apocryphal from the canoni- cal books, entire]}- detached these additions, and placed them among tlie Apocrypha under the title ''Sti'tcke in Esther." In the Zurich Bible, where the apocryphal and canonical books are also separated, the canonical volume is called 1 Esther, and these additions are de- nominated 2 Esther. Our English versions, though following Luther's arrangements, are not uniform in their designation of these additions. Thus Coverdale calls them " The chapters of the booh of Hester, wldch are not found in the text of the Hebrew, fnit in the Gredc and Latin." In INIatthews and the Bishops' Bible, •which are followed by the A. V., they are entitled, ' ' The rest of the chapters of the book of Esther, which are found neither in the Hehrew nor in the Chaldee,^' •whilst tlie Geneva version adopts Luther's title.
The reason of their present confused arrangement seems to be this : When Jerome translated the book
of Esther, he first gave the version of the Hebrew only as being alone authentic. He then added at the end a version in Latin of tliose several passages which he found in the Sept., and which were not in the Hebrew, stating where each passage came in, and marking them all with an obelus. The first passage so given is that ■which forms the continuation of ch. x (which of course immediatelj' precedes it), ending with the entr}' about Dositheus. Having annexed this conclusion, he then gives the Procemiiim, which he saj's forms the begin- ning of the Greek Vulgate, beginning with what is now ver. 2 of ch. xi ; and so proceeds ■with the other passages. But in subsequent editions all Jerome's ex- planatory matter has been swept away, and the dis- jointed portions have been printed as ch. xi, xii, xiii, xiv, XV, xvi, as if thcj^ formed a narrative in continu- ance of the canonical book. The extreme absurdity . of this arrangement is nowhere more apparent than in ch. xi, ■where the verse (1) which closes the ■whole book in the Greek copies, and in St. Jerome's Latin translation, is actually made immediately to precede that (ver. 2) which is the verj' first verse of the Prooe- mium. As regards the place assigned to Esther in the printed Sept., in the Vatican edition (not MS.), and most others, it comes between Judith and Job. Its place before Job is a remnant of the Hebrew order, Esther there closing the historical, and Job beginning the metrical Meyilloth. Tobit and Judith have been placed between it and Nehemiah, doubtless for chro- nological reasons. But in the ancient MSS. the posi- tion is different. See Bible.