On the Hebrew Vorlage of AT Esther 2:1-18
Author: Lydia LEE, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Fudan University. Email: lisiqi@fudan.edu.cn
Abstract:
Three ancient manuscript traditions are particularly important for understanding the ancient textual transmission of the Esther story: the Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT), the Greek Septuagint (LXX), and the Greek Alpha-Text (AT). The AT with its unique textual features has garnered much scholarly attention and its Hebrew Vorlage has generated widely different scholarly imaginations. Some hold its Hebrew Vorlage to be different from and earlier than the Hebrew parent text of the MT, while others argue that all the differences between the MT, the LXX, and the AT should be attributed to the free rewriting of the AT’s translator. Comparing the three variant editions of Esther 2:1-18, this article argues that some of the textual differences must be explained by positing a different Hebrew Vorlage of AT Esther. This conclusion coheres with the attested textual variety of biblical texts during the Hellenistic period.
Keywords:
Book of Esther, Alpha-Text, literary comparison, Hellenistic period
