IECOT: Esther (Jean-Daniel Macchi) / January 01, 2018

Requires Accordance 11.2 or above.

The Book of Esther is one of the five Megillot. It tells the story of a Jewish girl in Persia, who becomes queen and saves her people from a genocide. The story of Esther forms the core of the Jewish festival of Purim. The commentary presents a literary analysis of the text, taking into account the inclusion and arrangement of different pericopes, and an analysis of the narration. Likewise, it will discuss the style, the syntax, and the vocabulary. The examination of the intellectual context of the book, biblical and extrabiblical textual traditions on which the book is based and with which it is in intertextual dialogue, leads to a discussion of the redactional process and the historical and social contexts in which the authors and redactors worked.

About This Series:
The International Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament (IECOT) is designed to offer an international, ecumenical and contemporary interpretation of the Old Testament (including deutero-canonical books) to a broad audience of scholars, laypeople, and pastors. IECOT is international: it has editorial board members and authors from North America, Europe and Israel and all volumes will appear in both English and German.

The main feature of this new commentary series is the interlinkage of both synchronic and diachronic perspectives in analysis of texts. Other emphases include treatment of social-historical background, liberation-theological viewpoints, gender aspects and elements of the history of reception. For the first time in the history of bible commentaries, both a German and an English version are being edited simultaneously. The delay between the respective original and its translated version is expected to be less than two years. The group of editors and authors includes Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish biblical scholars. The scope of the commentary series includes books in the 20pxr Septuagint canon in addition to books of the Hebrew Bible.

While the available volumes are different, you may also be interested in the 7-volume English set or the 6-volume German set.