Addition A

Mordecai's Dream

^1-2-3[2-4] Mordecai son of Jair was a Jew from the Benjamin tribe, and he lived in the city of Susa in Persia. Mordecai had been taken away from Jerusalem as a prisoner, when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia had captured King Jehoiachin. Mordecai had become an important official in the court of Artaxerxes the Great, the king of Persia. And on the first day of the month of Nisan in the second year that Artaxerxes was king, Mordecai had a dream.[#2 K 24.10-16.; #11.2-4 Greek “Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish.”; #11.2-4 Ruled 605–562 b.c.; #11.2-4 Ruled Judah for three months in 598 b.c.; #11.2-4 Probably Artaxerxes I (ruled 465–425 b.c. ) but may refer to Artaxerxes II (ruled 405–358 b.c. ). In the Hebrew version of Esther, the king is identified as Ahaseurus, better known as Xerxes I (ruled 485–465 b.c. ).; #11.2-4 Also called Abib, the first month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-March to mid-April.]

In Mordecai's dream,

⁴[5] there was confusion and unrest all over the world. He heard crashing thunder, and the earth shook with an earthquake

⁵[6] as two huge dragons went toward each other, ready to fight. They roared,

⁶[7] and every nation on earth prepared to go to war against God's people.

⁷[8] It was a dark and hopeless time; the world was full of suffering and hardship and conflict.

⁸[9] God's people were afraid of the disaster that was about to strike them, and they were sure they were going to be killed.

⁹[10] But when they cried out to God for help, a tiny stream suddenly became a mighty river,

¹⁰[11] and the sun rose and shone brightly. God's people were given power, and they destroyed those who had oppressed them.

¹¹[12] Mordecai woke up, but he knew that in his dream he had seen what God was planning to do. And so, Mordecai thought about his dream all day, trying to understand exactly what it meant.