The verses 33-39_a_, which introduce the Habakkuk episode, are probably from some legend regarding the prophet of that name; they have been ineptly inserted here; the narrative reads far better without them, viz.: (verse 32) “And Daniel was in the lion’s den six days; (verse 39_b_) but the Lord God remembered Daniel....” It would be hazardous to attempt to assign any particular place as the home of this addition, beyond saying that, if we are correct in supposing that the little composition was written for propagandist purposes, it is more likely to have been written somewhere in the Dispersion than in Palestine. CHAPTER V The Additions to the Book of Esther [LITERATURE.—Josephus, _Antiq._, XI, vi.; Fritzsche, in _Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Handbuch zu den Apokryphen des Alten Testamentes_ (1851); Schürer, _Op. cit._, II, iii., pp. 181-183 (1891); Scholz, _Kommentar über das Buch Esther mit seinen Zusätzen_ (1892); Cornill, _Op. cit._, pp. 261-263 (1896); Jacob, _Das Buch Esther bei den lxx._, in the “Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft” (1890), pp. 241 ff.; Swete, _Op. cit._, pp. 257-259 (1900); Ryssel, in Kautzsch, _Op. cit._, I, pp. 193 ff. (1900); Gregg, in Charles, _Op. cit._, I. pp. 665-684.] I. THE NATURE AND OBJECT OF THE ADDITIONS In the canonical Book of Esther the story is told of how Ahasuerus, king of Persia, dismissed his queen, Vashti, because she refused to obey his commandment to come and show her beauty to his assembled guests at a festival. In her place the king chose Esther, a Jewish maiden belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, to be his queen. Esther was of the Jewish exiles living in Persia, and was under the protection of her cousin Mordecai; but she “had not showed (it to) her people, nor her kindred; for Mordecai had charged her that she should not show it.” In consequence of the position now occupied by his cousin, Mordecai came to court every day in order to watch over her interests. On one occasion he was the means of saving the king, all unconscious, from assassination; this was duly told to the king by Esther. But Mordecai had the misfortune to offend Haman, the king’s chamberlain; in consequence of this Haman represented the Jews to the king as a turbulent and disloyal people. The result was that the king issued a proclamation according to which the Jews were to be plundered and massacred. The day for this Haman fixed by lot (“they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day,” iii. 7). Esther, persuaded by Mordecai, resolves to save her people. She invites the king and Haman to a banquet. On the night preceding the banquet, the king, being unable to sleep, orders the national records to be brought to him; in reading these he comes across the account of Mordecai’s service in saving the king from assassination; this the king had presumably forgotten, for Mordecai had never been rewarded. In the meantime, Haman, secure of favour, resolves upon