Apocryphal Additions to Esther Refuted

The Meaning of Esther and its Integration with the Bible Wheel

Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it.

Esther 2:10 (Spoke 17, Cycle 1)

One of the most significant results derived from the Bible Wheel, which profoundly impacts all aspects of canonical studies, is the synergistic mutual confirmation of the content of Holy Scripture with its geometric form and integration with the Hebrew Alphabet.

The integration of the content of Esther with its position on the Bible Wheel is one of the most astounding examples of God's providential supervision over the formation of the Canon. The full explanation is given on pages 307-309 of the BW book, reproduced here online in the Spoke 17 article called Esther: The Hidden Face of God. The explanation is based on the nearly universal understanding of the real meaning of Esther propounded by both Christian and Jewish exegetes throughout the ages, the earliest witness being found in the Talmud (5th century). Here is how A. M. Hodgkin expressed it in his review of every Book of the Bible called Christ in All the Scriptures :

The Book of Esther is designed to show God's providential care of His people. Through the name of God is not mentioned, the hand of God, ruling and over-ruling the events for the preservation of His people, can be seen throughout. In the Talmud the question is asked: "Where do we get Esther in the Law?" The answer is Deuteronomy 31:18 "And I will surely hide my face, or presence." God was hiding His face from His people on account of their sins; they had deliberately chosen to continue in the land of their captivity among the heathen, instead of availing themselves of the opportunity of returning to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel.

The Jews use the phrase hester panim to refer to this "hiddenness" of God's "face" that characterizes the Book of Esther. It is based on a pun on the name "Esther" and the Pey KeyWord panim (face) which God used frequently in the corresponding Alphabetic Verses. We have therefore a direct and incontrovertible integration of the primary theme of the Seventeenth Book with the symbolic meaning of the Seventeenth Letter as established by God Himself in the Alphabetic Verses and which has been expounded by biblical exegetes throughout the ages! The Bible Wheel therefore confirms the inclusion of Esther in the Canon. Furthermore, the integration of its content with the symbolic meaning of the corresponding Hebrew letter confirms the design of the whole Bible on the pattern of the Wheel. Yet there is more ....

The Apocryphal Additions to Esther

Having discovered how the primary theme of Esther integrates with its position on the Wheel and the meaning of the corresponding Hebrew letter, we have extremely strong evidence - indeed proof - for the validity of its inclusion in the Canon. The miracle of God is that exactly the same evidence that proves Esther belongs in the canon also proves that we most definitely must exclude the apocryphal additions because they expressly contradict the whole lesson the Book was designed to teach!

The apocryphal additions to Esther consist of 107 verses in seven short chapters interspersed throughout the Greek Septuagint version. They were not found in the Hebrew text that Jerome used when he produced the Latin Vulgate (5th century) and he did not recognize them as Scripture, so he moved them to an appendix at the end of his translation. The Roman Catholic Church still considers the Vulgate to be the authoritative Latin version of the Bible. Its content - including all the apocrypha - was canonized by the Council of Trent in 1545 in reaction to the Protestant Reformation which held only to the protocanonical Books accepted by the Jews.

As noted above, the additions to Esther consist of seven short chapters amounting to a total of 107 verses. Yet within these 107 verses, we find a total of twenty-five references to "God" and twenty-three references to "Lord" which yields an average of one such reference in almost every other verse! These additions therefore expressly contradict the primary message of the Book as explained at length above and in the article called Esther: The Hidden Face of God. It is good at this point to recall how Baxter explained it:

The purpose of this book is to demonstrate the providential care of God over His people. It is vital to see this, for herein lies the living significance and permanent value of the book. ... It is this which explains why the name of God does not occur in the Book of Esther. This non-mention of God in the story has been a problem to many. Martin Luther, in one of his occasional lapses of self-restraint, went so far as to say that he wished the book did not exist! Others have contested its right to a place in the canon. Yet surely to find a problem in this non-mention of God is to miss that which above all else we are intended to see! We say it reverently, yet none the less unhesitatingly, that if God had been specifically mentioned in the story, or, still more, if the story had specifically explained, in so many words, that it was God who was bringing about all those happenings which are recorded, the dramatic force and moral impact of the story would have been reduced; for above all, we are meant to see, in the natural outworking of events, how without violating human free will, and without interrupting the ordinary ongoing of human affairs, a hidden Power unsuspectedly but infallibly controls all things. There may have been other reasons the anonymous author may have omitted any direct reference to God ... but we believe one main reason to be that which we have given, namely, the emphasizing of God's invisible activity in providence.

To see the complete divergence of the apocryphal additions from whole thrust of the truly canonical Book of Esther, we need only to quote the first chapter. Here we find seven references to "God", two to "Lord", and the express statement that "God hath done these things":

Additions to Esther, Chapter 10:4-13 

Obviously, the aprocryphal additions are the work of mere humans who felt a need to thrust God into the story in which He Himself had clearly chosen to "hide His face." There are many lessons to be learned here. We must never think to "improve" on the Word of God. Many aspects of its design are hidden from us. If we try to "force-fit" anything to conform to our limited human understanding, we most certainly will distort the Work of God.

These results demonstrate yet again the overwhelming power of the Bible Wheel. It truly is the Rosetta Stone of Biblical Hermeneutics. It confirms the canonical Books even as it proves (with the same evidence, no less!) that the apocryphal additions must be excluded. Note also that we have the mutual confirmation of the Canon and the Wheel. The Canon proves the Bible Wheel, and the Bible Wheel proves the Canon. This may appear to be circular reasoning, but it is not because there is a third element - an independent parameter - found in the sequence and symbolic meaning of the Hebrew Alphabet that unites the two.

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