Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MORDECAI

(Heb. mordoḵay, mordĕḵay)

1. A character in the book of Esther who is identified as Esther’s cousin and who becomes her foster father (Esth, 2:5, 7). Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman, the highest official of the Persian king Ahasuerus, causes Haman to plan a pogrom of all Persian Jews. By identifying Mordecai as a Benjaminite and Haman as an Agagite, the narrator subtly links their conflict with that of Saul and Agag (cf. 1 Sam. 15). When Haman decides not to wait for the pogrom to be rid of Mordecai, he erects a stake on which to impale him. Mordecai is saved by Queen Esther, however, who in the pivotal scene of Esth. 7 shifts the king’s loyalties away from Haman. The narrator leaves unclear whether the shift is due to the fact that she is a Jew, and thus under threat from the planned pogrom, or that the king thinks Haman is making advances toward Esther. Queen Esther then puts Mordecai in charge of Haman’s property, the king bestows upon him the royal signet ring, and together Esther and Mordecai work to thwart the pogrom.

Bibliography. T. K. Beal, The Book of Hiding: Gender, Ethnicity, Annihilation and Esther (London, 1997).

Tod Linafelt

2. An Israelite who returned from exile with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:2 = Neh. 7:7).

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MORDECAI

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)