Mordecai

Lore & Background

Mordecai resided in Susa (Shushan or Shoushan), the metropolis of Persia (now Iran). He adopted his orphaned cousin Hadassah (Esther), whom he brought up as if she were his own daughter. When 'young virgins' were sought, she was taken into the presence of King Ahasuerus and was made queen in the place of the exiled queen Vashti. Subsequently, Mordecai discovered a plot of the king's chamberlains Bigthan and Teresh to assassinate the king. Because of Mordecai's vigilance, the plot was foiled. Haman the Agagite had been raised to the highest position at court. In spite of the king's decree that all should prostrate themselves before Haman, Mordecai refused to do so. Haman, stung by Mordecai's refusal, resolved to kill not only Mordecai but all Jewish exiles throughout the Persian empire, and won the king's permission to carry out his plan. Mordecai communicated Haman's scheme to Queen Esther, who used her favor with the king to reverse the scheme, leading the king to authorize Jews to kill their enemies, which they did. During all this, the king had happened to learn of Mordecai's service in foiling the assassination plot and had asked Haman how a person who did a great service to the king should be honored. Haman answered, thinking the question was about him; and the king followed this advice, and honored Mordecai, and eventually made Mordecai his chief advisor. Haman was executed on gallows that he had set up for Mordecai. The feast of Purim celebrates these reversals of fortune.

Reader's Guide

The historicity of Mordecai and the other characters in the Book of Esther is a topic of longstanding debate. Traditionally seen as historical characters, there are scholars which still ascribe to this view. A popular theory frequently discussed in scholarship suggests that the Book of Esther serves as an etiology for Purim, with Mordecai and Esther representing the Babylonian gods Marduk and Ishtar in a historicized Babylonian myth or ritual. The identification of Mordecai with a Persian official named 'Marduka' mentioned in an inscription from the reign of Xerxes I is debated, with some scholars rejecting the connection while others support it due to the commonality of name and office. Even if the Marduka who was mentioned in the inscription was not Mordecai himself it shows the name was in use during that period. The name 'Mordecai' is of uncertain origin but is considered identical to the name Marduka or Marduku, attested as the name of up to four Persian court officials in thirty texts from the period of Xerxes I and his father Darius. The Talmud (Menachot 64b and 65a) relates that his full name was 'Mordechai Bilshan' (which occurs in Ezra 2:2 and Nehemiah 7:7, albeit likely as two separate names in sequence). Hoschander interpreted this as the Babylonian 'Marduk-belshunu', meaning 'Marduk is their lord', 'Mordecai' being thus a hypocorism. In the King James Version of the deuterocanonical Greek additions to Esther, his name is spelled as 'Mardocheus', which may better preserve the original vowels, though the Masoretic Text versions of the Persian names in the Bible are known to be the most reliable. The Talmud lists Esther as a prophet. Some talmudic scholars such as Nachman b. Yaakov have suggested that Mordecai is the Biblical prophet Malachi, but this argument is rejected by other scholars in the Talmud. Mordecai's genealogy in the second chapter of the Book of Esther is given as a descendant of a Benjaminite named Kish. As 'Kish' was also the name of the father of King Saul, another Benjaminite, the Talmud accords Mordecai the status of a descendant of the first King of Israel.

Did You Know?

• Esther 2:5-6 is ambiguous: it may mean that Mordecai himself was carried into exile by Nebuchadnezzar, or that his ancestor Kish was the one exiled.
• The Targum Sheni gives Mordecai's genealogy in detail, tracing him back to Benjamin, son of Jacob.
• The Talmud (Menachot 64b and 65a) relates that Mordecai's full name was 'Mordechai Bilshan'.
• Some scholars identify Mordecai with a Persian official named 'Marduka' mentioned in an inscription from the reign of Xerxes I, but this is debated.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"And all the Israelites also cried aloud with all their strength, since death was before their eyes." — Mordecai "Book of Eshter, Chapter C, Prayer of Mordechai NCB." — Mordecai