Intertextuality and Its Different Facets in the Narrative Analysis of the Book of Esther and 3 Maccabees

Abstract

While the interpretation of the book of Esther has posed many challenges in the past, a key and well-recognized aspect of this text is that it presents a narrative behind one of the most important Jewish holidays, namely, Purim. As such, it also strongly influenced Jewish culture, including similar texts written to cultivate Jewish traditions in the diaspora. In this article, an analysis of possible intertextual connections between Esther and the apocryphal book of 3 Maccabees is presented. The latter was likely written for Jews living in Alexandria. While this topic has been studied in the past by several authors, in this article emphasis is laid on narrative similarity between both books. In particular, five key elements of this similarity have been identified, and additional parallel fragments have been presented. Their distribution and their likely origin from different versions of the book of Esther support claims about the possible origin of 3 Maccabees from a mature version of Esther.