Mordecai

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For other uses, see Mordecai (disambiguation).

Mordecai or Mordechai (מָרְדֳּכַי, Standard Hebrew Mordoḫay, Tiberian Hebrew Mordŏḵay - the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin, is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible.

1 His life and deeds
2 The name
3 See also
4 External link

[edit] His life and deeds

The Shrine of Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan, Iran, is a popular attraction for Iranian Jews.

Mordecai resided at Susa, the metropolis of Persia. He adopted his cousin Hadassah (Esther), an orphan child, whom he tenderly brought up as his own daughter. When she was brought into the harem of king Ahasuerus and made queen in the place of the deposed queen Vashti, Mordecai was promoted to some office in the court, and was one of those who "sat in the king's gate". While holding this office, he discovered a plot of the eunuchs to put the king to death, which, by his vigilance, was defeated. His services to the king in this matter were duly recorded in the royal chronicles.

Haman the Agagite had been raised to the highest position at court. Mordecai refused to bow down before him; and Haman, being stung to the quick by the conduct of Mordecai, resolved to accomplish his death in a wholesale destruction of the Jewish exiles throughout the Persian empire. Tidings of this cruel scheme soon reached the ears of Mordecai, who communicated with Queen Esther regarding it, and by her wise and bold intervention the scheme was frustrated. The Jews were delivered from destruction, Mordecai was raised to a high rank, and Haman was executed on the gallows he had by anticipation erected for Mordecai. In memory of the deliverance thus wrought for them, the Jews to this day celebrate the feast of Purim.

Esther 2:5-6 states:

There was a Jewish man in Susa the capital, whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair the son of Shimei the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been exiled from Jerusalem with the exile that was exiled with Jeconiah, king of Judah, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had exiled.

Some interpret this verse to mean that Mordecai himself was exiled by Nebuchadnezzar, others interpret it to mean that his great-grandfather Kish was exiled making Mordecai three generations removed from the time of Jeconiah's exile.

[edit] The name

The name Mordecai is of uncertain origin. It is most commonly understood to mean "[servant] of Marduk" in Aramaic, identical to the name Marduka attested in the Persian period. Mordecai may have been a Persian or Babylonian name given to him. (The Book of Daniel contains similar accounts of Jews living in exile in Babylonia being assigned names relating to Babylonian gods.)

Some suggest that as Marduk was a war god, the expression "[servant] of Marduk" may simply denote a warrior - the popular translation of "warrior" is commonly found in naming dictionaries. Others note that Marduk was the creator in Babylonian mythology whence the term might have been understood by Jews to mean simply "[servant] of God".

Another interpretation of the name is that that it is of Persian origin meaning "little boy". Other suggested meanings of "contrition", "bitter" or "bruising" are listed in Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary of the late 19th century.

There is also reason to belive that the name is rooted from the two words mar dochi. Mar used in a similar fashion that westerners use Mr. (like Mar Zutra from the Talmud) and Dochi, which is Aramaic for 'one who incurs merit', similar to the Hebrew word zoche.