Esther Addition F— Interpretation of Mordecai's Dream
11 verses • standalone (no MT counterpart)
About This Addition
Summary
Addition F, appended after Esther 10:3, provides the interpretation of Mordecai's dream from Addition A and concludes with a unique scribal colophon. Mordecai interprets the two dragons as himself and Haman, the tiny spring that became a river as Esther, and the nations as those who sought to destroy Israel. He declares that 'these things have come from God' and that 'the Lord saved his people.' The colophon dates the Greek translation and names the translator.
Remarkable
The dream interpretation creates a theological envelope around the entire book — Addition A opens with the dream, Addition F closes with its meaning. The tiny-spring-to-river metaphor for Esther is profoundly beautiful: salvation flows from the most unlikely source. The colophon is archaeologically invaluable — it is the only passage in the entire LXX that names a specific translator (Lysimachus of Jerusalem) and provides a dated chain of transmission.
Friction
This addition has no Hebrew counterpart. The dream-and-interpretation framework imposes an apocalyptic lens on what the MT presents as a this-worldly narrative. The colophon's date is debated (78 BCE or 114 BCE), and the claim of priestly authentication raises questions about the text's reception history.
Connections
Addition A (the dream itself); Esther 10:1-3 (MT ending); Daniel 2, 7 (dream-interpretation genre); Genesis 37-41 (Joseph's dream cycle); Joel 2:28 (dreams as prophetic medium).
Then Mordecai said, 'These things have come from God.'
Greek: Καὶ εἶπεν Μαρδοχαῖος Παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐγένετο ταῦτα
Addition F returns to the dream of Addition A and provides the authoritative interpretation. The opening declaration — 'These things have come from God' — is the theological thesis of the entire LXX Esther.
'For I remember the dream that I had concerning these matters, and not one detail has failed to be fulfilled.'
Greek: μνημονεύω γὰρ τὸ ἐνύπνιον ὃ εἶδον περὶ τούτων τῶν λόγων
'The little spring that became a river, and there was light and sun and abundant water — the river is Esther, whom the king married and made queen.'
Greek: ἡ μικρὰ πηγή ἥτις ἐγένετο ποταμός
The identification is revealed: the tiny spring = Esther. From one person's courage, the river of national salvation flows. This is the LXX's master metaphor for divine providence through human agency.
'The two dragons are myself and Haman.'
Greek: οἱ δὲ δύο δράκοντες ἐγώ εἰμι καὶ Αμαν
Mordecai identifies himself as one of the dragons — not just Haman. Both are instruments in a cosmic drama larger than either.
'The nations are those that gathered together to destroy the name of the Jews.'
Greek: τὰ δὲ ἔθνη τὰ ἐπισυναχθέντα ἀπολέσαι τὸ ὄνομα τῶν Ιουδαίων
'And my nation — this is Israel, who cried out to God and were saved. The Lord saved his people.'
Greek: καὶ τὸ ἔθνος τὸ ἐμόν οὗτός ἐστιν Ισραηλ
'The Lord saved his people' — a declarative summary absent from the MT, which ends with Mordecai's political success but never names God as the agent of salvation.
'The Lord delivered us from all these evils. God performed signs and great wonders — wonders that have not occurred among the nations.'
Greek: καὶ ἐρρύσατο κύριος τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ
'For this purpose he made two lots: one for the people of God, and one for all the nations.'
Greek: διὰ τοῦτο ἐποίησεν δύο κλήρους
The 'two lots' (duo klērous) reinterprets Purim theologically. The lots are not Haman's random dice but God's sovereign division of history into two destinies.
'And these two lots came to their appointed hour and time and day of judgment before God, among all the nations.'
Greek: καὶ ἦλθον οἱ δύο κλῆροι οὗτοι εἰς ὥραν καὶ καιρόν
'And God remembered his people and brought justice to his inheritance.'
Greek: καὶ ἐμνήσθη ὁ θεὸς τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ
'So they will observe these days in the month of Adar, on the fourteenth and fifteenth of that month, with assembly and joy and gladness before God, throughout all generations forever, among his people Israel.' [Colophon:] In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemy and Cleopatra, Dositheus — who claimed to be a priest and a Levite — and his son Ptolemy brought the foregoing letter of Purim, which they declared to be authentic and to have been translated by Lysimachus, son of Ptolemy, a resident of Jerusalem.
Greek: καὶ ἔσονται αὐτοῖς αἱ ἡμέραι αὗται ἐν μηνὶ Αδαρ
The colophon is one of the most valuable pieces of evidence for dating the LXX Esther. 'The fourth year of Ptolemy and Cleopatra' most likely refers to Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra V (78-77 BCE) or Ptolemy VIII (114 BCE). Either date places the Greek translation in the late Hellenistic period. The translator Lysimachus of Jerusalem is otherwise unknown. The claim of priestly authentication (Dositheus as 'a priest and a Levite') suggests the translation sought official approval.
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