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Esther

About this book
Chapter 10

1 King Ahasuerus then imposed forced labor on the land and on the coastlands of the sea. 2 Now all the actions carried out under his authority and his great achievements, along with an exact statement concerning the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king promoted, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?⁠ 3 Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus.⁠ He was the highest-ranking Jew, and he was admired by his numerous relatives. He worked enthusiastically for the good of his people and was an advocate for the welfare of all his descendants.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Kings 14:29 and Esther 10:2

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

1 Kings ends the description of each king’s reign by noting that his deeds are written in the royal annals. Esther ends with the same formula, pointing readers to the Persian chronicles for the deeds of Mordecai.

Passages

1 Kings 14:29

Hebrew Bible
28 Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guard carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom. 29 The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 30 Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other. 31 Rehoboam passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. His son Abijah replaced him as king.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Kings

Esther 10:2

Hebrew Bible
1 King Ahasuerus then imposed forced labor on the land and on the coastlands of the sea. 2 Now all the actions carried out under his authority and his great achievements, along with an exact statement concerning the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king promoted, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia? 3 Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus. He was the highest-ranking Jew, and he was admired by his numerous relatives. He worked enthusiastically for the good of his people and was an advocate for the welfare of all his descendants.
200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Esther

References

... Despite all of the distinctive characteristics of Esther and the possible separate provenance of 9:20-10:3, the same four-part citation pattern is used. Hence, like the Chronicler, the writer of Esther has used the first element of the four-part citation pattern for his own purposes but has retained the distinctive structure of this formula. This expression in Esther 10:2 stands out among all regnal source formulae. An explanation of the presence of this four-part formula in such an individualistic work suggests that its use here is best accounted for by attributing it to a shared literary convention for citing (court) records among the communities that produced Kings, Chronicles, and Esther. The alternative view that this formula in Esther 10:2 is due to the influence of Kings or Chronicles appears less likely. ...
Kevin L. Spawn, "As It Is Written" and Other Citation Formulae in the Old Testament: Their Use, Development, Syntax, and Significance (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2002), 28–29.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Kings 14:29 and Esther 10:2

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