Mor´duh-ki; from Akkadian Marduk, Merodach
1 One of the exiles who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:2; Neh 7:7; 1Esd 5:8). 2 The hero of the book of Esther. Mordecai raised his orphaned cousin Esther and enabled her to become the queen of King Ahasuerus of Persia. But Mordecai aroused the anger of the king’s vizier, Haman, by refusing to bow down to him. Haman therefore plotted to have Mordecai and all the Jews of Persia killed in revenge, but Mordecai prompted Esther to appeal to Ahasuerus to spare her people.
