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. Mordecai discovered a plot of the king's chamberlains Bigthan and Teresh to assassinate the king, and the plot was foiled. Haman the Agagite, raised to the highest position at court, was offended by Mordecai's refusal to bow before him; Mordecai's excuse was that he was a Jew. Haman plotted to have all of Persia's Jews killed and convinced Ahasuerus to permit it. Mordecai communicated Haman's scheme to Esther, who used her favor with the king to reverse the scheme, leading the king to authorize Jews to kill their enemies. The king learned of Mordecai's service in foiling the assassination plot and honored Mordecai, eventually making him chief advisor. Haman was executed on gallows he had set up for Mordecai. The feast of Purim celebrates these reversals of fortune.

In Their Own Story

The torchlight gutters as you round the ridge. The air tastes of ash and old iron. Ahead, where the broken arches of what was once a waystation still stand, a figure waits with the patience of something that has been waiting a very long time. Mordecai does not turn. He does not need to. You can feel the weight of his attention settle on your shoulders like a cold hand. The ground beneath your boots cracks, just slightly, as if the earth itself is holding its breath. You check your potions. You check your resistances. You check the one skill you've been saving. Then you step forward, and the silence breaks.

Reader's Guide

The historicity of Mordecai is a topic of longstanding debate. Traditionally seen as historical, some scholars still ascribe to this view. A popular theory suggests the Book of Esther serves as an etiology for Purim, with Mordecai and Esther representing the Babylonian gods Marduk and Ishtar. The identification of Mordecai with a Persian official named 'Marduka' mentioned in an inscription from the reign of Xerxes I is debated. The name 'Mordecai' 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 lists Esther as a prophet; some talmudic scholars have suggested Mordecai is the Biblical prophet Malachi, but this argument is rejected by other scholars in the Talmud.

Did You Know?

• Mordecai's story is celebrated in the Jewish holiday of Purim.
• The Talmud (Menachot 64b and 65a) relates that his full name was 'Mordechai Bilshan'.
• In the King James Version of the deuterocanonical Greek additions to Esther, his name is spelled as 'Mardocheus'.
• The Targum Sheni gives his genealogy in detail, tracing him back to Benjamin, son of Jacob.