'Seventh' Acrostic in Esther

A seventh hidden Divine Acrostic in Esther, repeated tenfold

I have been captivated by E W Bullinger's work on the Acrostics in Esther. It is a glorious insight into the hidden depths of the inspired volume and dovetails both with its name (I hide, Deut.31.17) and its theme.
He reveals the genius of the Holy Spirit's concealment of the unmentioned Name within the book and gently but persuasively reveals its precision, detail and care, with much more skill than I can recapitulate here.
However seven is a sacred number of perfection in Scripture, as is abundantly evident in Revelation, and it also is prominent in Esther. It is number of days of the feast till Vashti's disobedience (1.5,10), the number of the king's chamberlains (1.14), the number of Esther's maids (2.9), and the year of Ahasuerus' choice of her (2.16).
So it is curious that there should only be six acrostics, the five Bullinger lists, and the occurence of a palindrome in 7.4, which he does not mention, though he notes the location.

The four acrostics of the Divine Name are symmetrical, two from the first letters, two from the last letters, two in the direction of the script, two in reverse order.

There are 6074 first and last characters in the words in Esther. If a four letter word is to be found, one would expect an occurrence by chance once every 234,256 characters, assuming even distribution of characters. Of course this cannot be assumed, but even if there were only 7 characters in Hebrew, not 22, which is the approximate frequency of the most common characters (c.14%), a specific four letter word would be expected only once every 2,401 characters.
So Bullinger's reports are highly unusual. There are indications from the old manuscripts that scribes were aware of the acrostics by the extra size they appoint for the characters involved in them.

There are more detailed calculations of observed and expected frequency based on the occurrence of characters as first or last in the document of Esther, in the spreadsheet and some exploration of the clustering of characters.
These acrostics are highly improbable, even ignoring the semantic significance of their placement.

First and last character frequency

We have examined the meaning of the the sacred Divine Name before.
יהוה , I have not vowelled it, but it is widely acknowledged that the Masoretic text vowels it to enable the reading of the word 'Adonai', which derives from an excessive caution of breaking the third commandment and is inaccurate.
To honour the Name and the commandment, the text should be amended.

The sacred Name is not יהיה , which means 'He is', though the key to understanding what had long eluded the Hebrews, given to Moses, Ex.3.14, 6.3, was the Name, אהיה , meaning 'I AM'.
It may seem strange to us that the meaning of a derivative of so simple a verb was missed.
However היה , the root verb, to be, is triply weak, difficult to conjugate, and is never ordinarily found in the causative or Hiphil form, unlike a closely related verb חיה , to live.

Nevertheless, with Albright, I am persuaded that the Sacred Name is causative, in the 3 person, masculine singular form, meaning,
He causes to be, or He brings into being.
If this is the case, it raises an obvious question.
What about the first person form of the same verb?
This would be אהוה , I cause to be, or I bring into being.
אהוה is to אהיה , what יהוה is to יהיה .

אהיה is also a Divine Name, Ex.3.14, and so is אהוה .

אהוה is the seventh acrostic in Esther.

It occurs ten times. Five times in the direction of reading, five times in the reverse order, exactly as with Bullinger's acrostics of יהוה , and with similar intent in the meaning of the text.
Where the Divine plan is concealed in apparently counterproductive developments, the order is reversed, for He will mysteriously overrule the malice of His enemies for good.

As with אהיה in Esther, at 7.4, there is also a single palindromic occurrence of אהוה .
It occurs at the very place in which Haman effects his evil plan, demonstrating that God is in absolute control of the minutest details of history, even at the very darkest moments.

I need hardly underscore that the statistical likelihood of 10 occurences of this highly significant Name, all at semantically strategic places, exactly divided between the direction of the reading and a single palindrome, is minute.
This is the Divine hand at work, behind the scenes.

There is one other observation.
Unlike Bullinger's acrostics of יהוה , two of which require the last letters and two the first letters, every single occurrence of אהוה occurs only in the the first letters.
There is not a single occurrence of אהוה in the last letters of the book. Given that these particular letters are from 1.8 to 3.3 times less likely to be found at the end of a word, this is not so surprising, cumulative ratio of likelihood 23.6 x less likely of finding the acrostic in final letters (3.3 x 1.76 x 1.76 x 2.5).

Here are the verses where they are found, three cross verse divisions, none chapter divisions:
3.12 6.10 6.11 7.1-2 8.9 (in the direction of script)
3.9-10 3.12 5.4 5.11-12 7.4-5 (in reverse order)

Here are the texts, colour coded characters indicate the word אהוה : red for reverse order, blue for in order of the reading text and purple for both.

3.9
If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those that have the charge of the king's business, to bring it into the king's treasuries.' 10 And the king took his ring
אֶל-גִּנְזֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ.
וַיָּסַר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת-טַבַּעְתּוֹ

3.12 (palindromic, ie the word is found both directions).
Haman commanded, unto the king's satraps, and to the governors that were over every province
צִוָּה הָמָן אֶל אֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנֵי- הַמֶּלֶךְ וְאֶל- הַפַּחוֹת אֲשֶׁר

5.4
And Esther said: 'If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him.'
וַתֹּאמֶר אֶסְתֵּר, אִם-עַל-הַמֶּלֶךְ טוֹב--יָבוֹא הַמֶּלֶךְ וְהָמָן הַיּוֹם, אֶל-הַמִּשְׁתֶּה אֲשֶׁר-עָשִׂיתִי לוֹ.

5.11-12
11 And Haman recounted unto them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and everything as to how the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. 12 Haman said moreover: 'Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself;
עַל-הַשָּׂרִים וְעַבְדֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ.
וַיֹּאמֶר, הָמָן--אַף לֹא-הֵבִיאָה אֶסְתֵּר הַמַּלְכָּה עִם-הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל-הַמִּשְׁתֶּה אֲשֶׁר-עָשָׂתָה, כִּי אִם-אוֹתִי

6.10
Then the king said to Haman: 'Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said,
וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ לְהָמָן, מַהֵר קַח אֶת- הַלְּבוּשׁ וְאֶת- הַסּוּס

6.11
Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai
וַיִּקַּח הָמָן אֶת- הַלְּבוּשׁ וְאֶת- הַסּוּס

7.1-2
1 So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.
2 And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine
לִשְׁתּוֹת עִם- אֶסְתֵּר הַמַּלְכָּה.
וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ לְאֶסְתֵּר

7.4-5
4 ...not worthy that the king be endamaged.
5 Then spoke the king Ahasuerus
הַמֶּלֶךְ
וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ

8.9
Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, even to the satraps, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia
צִוָּה מָרְדֳּכַי אֶל- הַיְּהוּדִים וְאֶל הָאֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנִים-וְהַפַּחוֹת וְשָׂרֵי הַמְּדִינוֹת אֲשֶׁר מֵהֹדּוּ

The analysis of the acrostics is not as easy as the יהוה acrostics, though the symmetry and positioning is striking.
The relation to the text is different, and seems to relate to the advance of the Jews or their danger or demise, a positive development being with the text, a description or development of their demise being against.
ince Esther's initial invitation seems like an advance for Haman, it is against the textual direction 5.4, and Esther's description of the woes of the Jews, her modest request and the King's turn to respond, also seems at first only to underscore their misery.
Esther and the inspired author sometimes are speaking when the direction of the acrostic counters the text.
Somewhat like the אהיה palindrome (the bidirectional acrostic at 7.4), at the crucial unmasking of Haman, the אהוה palindrome occurs at the most critical implementation of Haman's plan. It is worth reemphasising this reveals The unseen LORD is in absolute control, even of the minutest details of His enemies, both back and front.
Here are some observations.
Esther Table

Is it possible that אהוה is the form of the Hebrew expression the Saviour employed in the Temple in John 8.58?
It would be difficult to translate directly into Greek, and the simplest, equivalent expression would be 'I AM'.
The expression alludes so directly to the Divine Name, it would excite the most profound hostility from those intent on denying His Deity, even more so than אהיה .

וְשַׁח גַּבְהוּת הָאָדָם, וְשָׁפֵל רוּם אֲנָשִׁים; וְנִשְׂגַּב יְהוָה לְבַדּוֹ, בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא.
Isaiah 2.17

Page created 11/11/24. Last updated 2/12/24.

Some resources and the raw data.
A Hebrew/English interlinear.
My raw data, the text of Esther in a spreadsheet and its translation of the characters into alphanumeric characters to enable easy word searches.
The text of Esther's first and last characters for all its words in alphanumeric.

The Divine Name.
Semiarian translations of John 8.58.

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