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The numerical composition of the book of Esther focuses
primarily on the number 17, as one moves from the beginning to the end
of the book— utilizing the cumulative number of words before and
after 'atnah, as well as the total word count.
Esther—Summary
| Chap. 1 words before ’atnah: |
187 = 17 x 11 |
| Chap. 3 words after ’atnah: |
119 = 17 x 7 |
| Chap. 6 words after ’atnah: |
136 = 17 x 8 |
| Chap. 7 words before ’atnah: |
119 = 17 x 7 |
| words after ’atnah |
68 = 17 x 4 |
| total words: |
187 = 17 x 11 |
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| Chap. 9 total words: |
544 = 17 x 32 |
| Chap. 10 total words: |
46 = 23 x 2 |
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| Chaps. 1-5 words after ’atnah: |
714 = 17 x 42 |
| Chaps. 1-6 words after ’atnah: |
850 = 17 x 50 |
| Chaps. 1-7 words after ’atnah: |
918 = 17 x 54 |
| Chaps. 1-9 words after ’atnah: |
1224 = 17 x 12 x 6 |
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| Chaps. 1-10 words before ’atnah: |
1802 = 17 x 106 |
| words after ’atnah: |
1241 = 17 x 73 |
| total words: |
3043 = 17 x 179 |
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| Chaps. 6-7 words after ’atnah: |
204 = 17 x 12 |
| Chaps. 6-8 words after ’atnah: |
338 = 26 x 13 |
Note in particular the numbers for Esther 7 and the
book as a whole, where all three numbers are divisible by 17.
Textual emendations:
To achieve this remarkable list of numbers (most of
which are divisible by 17), two minor emendations were made (each removing
a single word), as follows:
5:4b omit hayyom with a few Heb Mss & Syriac
6:8b omit wa’aser with LXX (see note in BHS)
These two changes were made on the basis of a careful
prosodic analysis of the book of Esther as a whole. This prosodic
analysis (with a tentative translation of the entire book) will be posted
as well.
Your comments, suggestions, and corrections are welcome
as we take these small steps toward a numerical analysis of the entire
Bible.
Duane Christensen
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