The Book of Esther in the Light of History

Abstract

ahead)' suggested in Chapter I/' who intended to represent that racial contrast, after the story had been rendered into Greek. The Alexandrian translator was undoubtedly well acquainted with the Scriptures and thus knew who Agag was. If he had found the gentilic noun "JJNn in his Hebrew text he certainly would have rendered it 'Ayayalo^, not Bovyahs}^There can scarcely be any doubt concerning the meaning of the latter term. The Persian word baga -' God ' is found in numerous Persian personal names, as for instance, Bagacaiis, Bagons, Bagopates, Bagophanes, Bagosaces, &c.'^Therefore, if we find Bovyam as gentilic name of a Persian, in a narrative the scene of action of which is Persia, we may reasonably see in it the Persian element baga and assume that BovyaTo? = Bayalo?. The same element no doubt occurs in the names of the eunuchs, Nnn and fn:2 . The latter is rendered in the Greek version BovyaOdv = BayaOdv. Paul Haupt's explanation of the Greek Bovyalo'i as a Homeric term, ' braggart ' is far fetched.-*^The fact that the Alexandrian translator was forced to substitute fictitious names for the genuine Persian names in the Hebrew text, evidently shows that he did not understand the Persian language. Nevertheless the gentilic noun Bovyalos is genuine Persian. Therefore we may safely assume that the equivalent of this term in the Hebrew original was not ''JJNn , but '32n ' the Bagoan '. A similar " Cf. Chapter I, n. 8. * Or the Alexandrian translator might have rendered it Tu'yaios, as did Lucian. The name Hegai usually rendered Tat in the Greek version, is 2. 15 rendered raifaio<s.

Religijny czy świecki charakter Księgi Estery?

“…A. Scholz9 a za nim Fr. V i g o uwaniu Żydów (13, 1-7), Modlitwa Mardocheusza i Estery (13,(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)19), Estera udaje się do króla (15,(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19), Nowy dekret króla, sprzyjający Ży dom (16, 1-24), Wyjaśnienie snu Mardocheusza (10,(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13) Oboje wychowani na dworze perskim zdaniem H os c h a n d e r'a, nasiąkli tak dalece obcymi wpływami, że stali się niegodnymi tego, aby ich okre ślać jako narzędzia Bożej Opatrzności. Dlatego uczeni rabini mający wpływ na powstanie księgi, postanowili wydarzenia w niej zawarte opisać krótko, bez specjalnego zazniaozania w nich ingerencji Bożej.…”