TWO EUNUCHS, TWO CONSPIRACIES, AND ONE LOYAL JEW: THE NARRATIVE OF BOTCHED REGICIDE IN ESTHER AS TEXT- AND REDACTION-CRITICAL TEST CASE

Abstract

Abstract The article revisits the problem of relationship between the Hebrew and Greek versions of the book of Esther, using the episode, in which Mordechai discloses a regicidal conspiracy of two eunuchs, as a test case. Analyzing the pattern of agreements and disagreements between the four versions of the episode (MT ii 21-23; AT A 11b-18; LXX A 12-17; ii 21-23), it argues that the A-text had a Hebrew Vorlage. This Vorlage emerged in the process of profound revision of what we know as the Masoretic text, aimed at making it more specific and disallowing certain interpretations. The author of the LXX knew both the Masoretic version and the Hebrew Vorlage of the A-text; hence his or her willingness to tell the story twice, in Addition A and in chapter ii.

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