by
Damien F. Mackey
A reader
writes (e-mail):
.... The
crest on the door of the Vatican is a Dragon. I think that is a clue to what is
inside. ....
Damien Mackey’s
response:
Then you’d have trouble with the
Book of Esther, in which the holy Mordecai, the Jew, is depicted as a great
dragon. Mordecai in his dream (Apocr. Esth. i. 4-11) sees two dragons coming to
fight each other (representing Mordecai and Haman, ib. vi. 4); the nations make
ready to destroy the “people of the righteous,” but the tears of the righteous
well up in a little spring that grows into a mighty stream (comp. Ezek. xlvii.
3-12; according to Apocr. Esth. vi. 3, the spring symbolizes Esther, who rose
from a poor Jewess to be a Persian queen).
The sun now rises, and those who
had hitherto been suppressed “devoured those who till then had been honored”
(comp. Esth. ix. 1-17).
A Vatican emblem is a dragon, but
this has nothing to do with Satan. The Bible says Yahweh spews fire from his
mouth and smoke from his nostrils in II Samuel, that he has enormous wings in
Psalms. In Numbers, he orders Moses to make a bronze fiery serpent image. Etc.
[End of e-mail exchange]
Historically, some think that Mordecai
may have been a Persian official of the name, Marduka.
See e.g. my article on this:
Now, if the highly pious Jew,
Mordecai, had actually borne the name of the pagan god, Marduk, then those (e.g.
Creationists) seeking to identify other biblical characters (like Joseph, Egypt)
in foreign lands may be wrong in thinking that these pious souls could not
possibly have had names that included pagan gods.
According to Wikipedia (article “Mordecai”),
though, there are various possibilities to account for the name, “Mordecai”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordecai
The name "Mordecai" is of
uncertain origin but is considered identical to the name Marduka or Marduku
(Akkadian: 𒀫𒌓), attested as the name of officials in
the Persian court in thirty texts (the Persepolis Administrative Archives)
from the period of Xerxes I and his father Darius, and may refer to up to four
individuals, one of which might have served as the prototype for the biblical
Mordecai.
The Talmud (Menachot
64b and 65a) relates that his full name was "Mordechai Bilshan"
(which occurs in Ezra 2:2 and Nehemiah 7:7). Hoschander interpreted this as the
Babylonian "Marduk Belshunu" (… dMarduk-Bel-šu-nu, meaning "Marduk is their
lord") "Mordecai" being thus a hypocorism.
Another interpretation of the name is that
it is of Persian origin meaning "little boy".
Other suggested meanings of "contrition" (Hebrew root m-r-d),
"bitter" (Hebrew root m-r), or "bruising" (Hebrew root
r-d-d) are listed in Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary of the late 19th
century. There is also speculation that the name is derived from Aramaic mar
dochi; mar being a title address for a gentleman, and dochi
meaning "one who incurs merit" (cf. Hebrew zoche).
The Talmud provides a Midrashic
interpretation of the name Mordechai Bilshan as mara dachia ("pure
myrrh") alluding to Exodus 30:23 and ba'al lashon [4] ("master of languages")
reminding us that as a member of the Great
Assembly he was familiar with many foreign languages.
[End of quote]
Biblically, I have identified Mordecai with
Joakim, the husband of Susanna:
Well-Respected
Mordecai. Part Two: As Joakim, Husband of Susanna
and:
Susanna, for
her part, is Queen Esther herself according to e.g. my article:
Well-Respected
Mordecai. Part Five (a): Susanna and Esther identified as one
Some have gone so far as to connect: https://ononion.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/161/
Posted on February 20, 2013 by Aliyah
bat Stam
It has often
been suggested — and by often, I mean every single Pagan I have ever talked to
has mentioned it, and half of the Jews who knew anything about Judaism have
said it to me, personally, at least once– that the Book of Ester was actually a
veiled myth about Marduk and Ishtar.
Can you blame
them?
Purim is widely
known to be a Jewish adaptation of a Babylonian drinking holiday. Just listen
to the names, too. Mordechai and Esther. They sound like the dames of those two
deities.
I decided to do
some investigation into this Babylonian drinking holiday, and was lead back to
an ancient Babylonian tale about how the hero, Marduk, defeated Tiamat. In it,
there are indeed many similarities to the Purim story.
The antagonist,
Tiamat, is terrorizing the good gods (or the ones that the reader is supposed
to be rooting for). In the third tablet we learn,
17. “All the
gods have turned to her,
18. “With those,
whom ye created, they go at her side.
19. ”They are
banded together, and at the side of Tiamat they advance;
20 . “They are
furious, they devise mischief without resting night and day.
21. ”They
prepare for battle, fuming and raging;
22. “They have
joined their forces and are making war.”
“The gods” here
are sort of a faceless multitude.
Likewise, in the
Book of Ester, there is a faceless multitude waiting to do evil to the Jews:
“And the letters
were sent by posts into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to
cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in
one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month
Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.” (Esther, 3:13)
In both, there
is also a wine feast that is instrumental in swinging the tide of history over
to the side of the “good guys.”
In the Enuma
Elish, Tablet 3:
133. They made
ready for the feast, at the banquet [they sat];
134. They ate
bread, they mixed [sesame-wine].
135. The sweet
drink, the mead, confused their […],
136. They were
drunk with drinking, their bodies were filled.
137. They were
wholly at ease, their spirit was exalted;
138. Then for
Marduk, their avenger, did they decree the fate.
and in the Book
of Esther:
“Now it came to
pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the
inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house: and the king
sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the
house.
And it was so,
when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained
favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that
was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.
Then said the
king unto her, What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall
be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.
And Esther
answered, If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day
unto the banquet that I have prepared for him.”(Esther, 5:1-4)
An aside:
Scepter? Do you mean his staff? His power rod? The big long thing he likes to
have in his hand? Yeah. It’s tip. She touched it. Oh yes, the Jewish people
went there.
The stories also
have a very similar ending, too.
From the Enumah
Elish (fourth tablet):
27. When the
gods, his fathers, beheld (the fulfilment of) his word,
28. They
rejoiced, and they did homage (unto him, saying), ” Marduk is king! ”
29. They
bestowed upon him the sceptre, and the throne, and the ring,
and then,
101. He seized
the spear and burst her belly,
102. He severed
her inward parts, he pierced (her) heart.
103. He overcame
her and cut off her life;
104. He cast
down her body and stood upon it.
105. When he had
slain Tiamat, the leader,
106. Her might
was broken, her host was scattered.
107. And the
gods her helpers, who marched by her side,
108. Trembled,
and were afraid, and turned back.
109. They took
to flight to save their lives;
110. But they
were surrounded, so that they could not escape.
111. He took
them captive, he broke their weapons;
112. In the net
they were caught and in the snare they sat down.
113. The […] …
of the world they filled with cries of grief.
And in the book
of Ester:
“8:1 On that day
did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews’ enemy unto Esther the
queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was unto
her.
8:2 And the king
took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai.
And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.”
and then,
“8:17 And in
every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his
decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of
the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.”
and then, just
in case the Hebrew Mythos left it unclear as to who, exactly, is wearing the
pants:
“And the king
said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men
in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the
rest of the king’s provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted
thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done.
Then said
Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in
Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s
ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.” (Esther, 9:12-13)
Do not. Mess.
With Jewish. Women. Ever.
Aaron Koller, in Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought (pp. 115-116), likens Mordecai to other biblical dreamers,
Joseph and Daniel: https://thetorah.com/a-more-religious-megillat-esther/
As a dreamer,
and especially as a dream interpreter, Mordecai is brought in line with Daniel
and, more importantly, with their predecessor Joseph.[6] This
not only established Mordecai as reminiscent of earlier biblical heroes, but
also establishes his religious bona fides: he, like Joseph and Daniel, was the
recipient of divine revelation and (by implication) divine approval.
Certainly, the author of Addition A was biblically-oriented:[7] the
dream contains many intertextual references to other biblical books.
These include use of the imagery of the dragon, fountain, battle, and the
contrast between dark and light from Jeremiah 28.[8] ….
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