Mordecai and Hadassah in Exile

Mordecai is introduced with unusually loaded ancestry: he is a Jew, a Benjaminite, and is associated with Kish—the name of Saul’s father. Esther’s Hebrew name is Hadassah, and she has been raised by Mordecai after losing both parents. These details will become far more important when Haman appears as “the Agagite.”

The exile notice in verse 6 contains a famous grammatical question. The relative clause may be read as referring to Mordecai himself or to Kish. If Mordecai personally had been deported with Jeconiah in 597 BCE, identifying Ahasuerus with Xerxes creates a serious age problem by Esther’s time. Many interpreters therefore understand the deported ancestor as Kish. The Hebrew syntax has been debated, so A careful reading should explain the issue rather than pretending it does not exist.