Esther 2:5

Now in Shushan the palace was a certain Jew,.... Not one of the tribe of Judah, for he was afterwards called a Benjaminite; but was so called, because he was of the kingdom of Judah, which consisted of both tribes.

Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite; Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew.

Esther 2:5 [Now] in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name [was] Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;Ver. 5. Now in Shushan the palace] Not in Babylon, as Josephus doteth. There was a certain Jew] That had not returned to Jerusalem, as he ought to have done; and as another of his name did, Ezra 2:2. Whose name was Mordecai] That is, pure myrrh, say some; bitter contrition, say others; he is the son of contrition, that must be the son of consolation. This Mordecai was one of those few that both lived and died with glory; being not taxed for any gross sin. The son of Jair] Happy father in such a son; much more joy might he well be to his parents than Epaminondas was to his: and of him it might be sung, Tοιςμακαρεςτεκασιγνητοιτε, κασιγνηταιτε (Homer). The son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite] He descended, then, either from some other son of Kish, the father of Saul, or else from Jonathan, Saul’ s son; for he only, of all the sons of Saul, left issue behind him. But the Kish here mentioned, though of his line, lived many years after Saul’ s father.

(5) Mordecai.—Canon Rawlinson is disposed to identify Mordecai with Matacas, who was the most powerful of the eunuchs in the reign of Xerxes. It may be assumed that Mordecai was a eunuch, by the way in which he was allowed access to the royal harem (Esther 2:11; Esther 2:22). The name Mordecai occurs in Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7, as one of those who returned to Judæa with Zerubbabel. The son of Jair.—It is probable that the names here given are those of the actual father, grandfather, and great-grandfather of Mordecai; though some have thought that they are merely some of the more famous ancestors, Shimei being assumed to be the assailant of David, and Kish the father of Saul. The character of Mordecai strikes us at the outset as that of an ambitious, worldly man; who, though numbers of his tribe had returned to the land of their fathers, preferred to remain behind on the alien soil. The heroic lament of the exiles by Babel’s streams, who would not sing the Lord’s song in a strange land, who looked with horror at the thought that Jerusalem should be forgotten—such were not Mordecai’s thoughts, far from it: why endure hardships, when there is a chance of his adopted daughter’s beauty catching the eye of the sensual king, when through her he may vanquish his rival, and become that king’s chief minister?

Verse 5. Whose name was Mordecai] The Targum says, "He was the son of Jair, the son of Shimea, the son of Gera, the son of Kish." And "this was the same Shimea that cursed David; and whom David forbade Joab to slay because he saw, in the spirit of prophecy, that he was to be the predecessor of Esther and Mordecai; but when he became old, and incapable of having children, David ordered Solomon to put him to death."

5. There was a certain Jew] The grammatical form in the original may be intended to emphasize the abruptness with which Mordecai is brought upon the scene. The influence which he, a Jew, is to have upon the history is thus placed in significant contrast with the brilliancy of the court of Susa. Mordecai] It may surprise us that a name which properly means a votary of the Babylonian god Marduk, another form of Merodach (Jupiter), should be borne by a Jew.[64] It has been suggested that it may have been given to the son in compliment to a Babylonian friend or master, and without any reference to its derivation, just as, in later days, the name Martin, e.g. St Martin of Tours, is completely devoid of associations with its etymological source, Mars. Mordecai, the cousin and adoptive father of Esther, is to be distinguished from the Mordecai who was a companion of Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7). He has, without justification, been identified with Matacas, described by Ctesias[65] as a powerful favourite of Xerxes. [64] But see Sayce (The Higher Criticism and the Monuments, p. 470), who points out that “in the contract tablets which have been discovered under the soil of Babylonia we occasionally find the names of Jews, and in some instances these Jews are associated with persons evidently of the same nationality, but who have adopted, if not the beliefs, at all events the divine names of the Babylonian religion.” He adds instances. [65] Persica, xxvii.the son of Jair etc.] These names may denote respectively Mordecai’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. It is better, however, to consider Shimei and Kish to be the well-known members of the tribe of Benjamin, the former appearing in the history of David (2 Samuel 16:5 ff.; 1 Kings 2:8; 1 Kings 2:36-46), and the latter as father of Saul (1 Samuel 9:1; 1 Samuel 14:51; 1 Chronicles 8:33). Thus only these prominent links are mentioned in tracing the descent, it being a frequent practice among the Jews to omit less important members of a genealogy. Jewish tradition, accordingly, as expressed in the Targum on this passage, identifies Shimei with the enemy of David. Josephus takes the same view, as is shewn by his statement that Esther, Mordecai’s cousin, was of royal descent, thus referring to Kish in his relationship to Saul. See further in note on Esther 3:1.

Mordecai, the eunuch Esther 2:7, Esther 2:11, has been conjectured to be the same as Matacas, who, according to Ctesias, was the most powerful of the eunuchs during the latter portion of the reign of Xerxes.

5. Mordecai — Some scholars connect this name with Merodach, the Babylonian idol, (Jeremiah 50:2,) but the etymology is uncertain.