Esther 2 · a question people ask
Is this Kish the father of Saul, and is this Mordecai the one named in Ezra 2:2?
Esther 2:5 ends Mordecai's line with "the son of Kish, a Benjamite" (2:5). 1 Samuel tells of "a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish the son of Abiel" (1 Samuel 9:1), and "He had a son whose name was Saul" (1 Samuel 9:2). Both are of Benjamin, but Esther doesn't say its Kish is Saul's father, and this study doesn't join them; the family tree keeps them apart. A Mordecai is also named among those "who came with Zerubbabel" (Ezra 2:2). Ezra 2's honest question, Is this the Nehemiah of the book of Nehemiah, and the Mordecai of Esther?, sets out what the text gives and leaves it there. It isn't repeated here, and this study doesn't decide it.
The verses
“There was a certain Jew in the citadel of Susa whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite,”
“Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor. He had a son whose name was Saul, an impressive young man; and there was not among the children of Israel a more handsome person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was taller than any of the people.”
“who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:”