and his party traveled from Ur to Haran, which was another major center of moon worship. Abraham’s father, Terah, who died in Haran, apparently practiced such idolatrous worship. (Gen. 11:31, 32) In any case these circumstances add weight to the significance of Joshua’s warning to Israel prior to their entry into the Promised Land, as recorded at Joshua 24:2, 14: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘It was on the other side of the River [Euphrates] that your forefathers dwelt a long time ago, Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they used to serve other gods.’ And now fear Jehovah and serve him in faultlessness and in truth, and remove the gods that your forefathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt, and serve Jehovah.”

Job also lived among moon worshipers and he faithfully rejected their practice of kissing the hand to the moon. (Job 31:26-28) The neighboring Midianites used moon-shaped ornaments, even placing them on their camels. (Judg. 8:21, 26) In Egypt, where both Abraham and later the people of Israel resided, moon worship was prominently practiced in honor of the moon-god Thoth, the Egyptian god of measures. Every full moon the Egyptians sacrificed a pig to him. He came to be worshiped in Greece under the title of Hermes Trismegistus (Hermes Thrice Greatest). Moon worship, in fact, extended all the way to the western hemisphere, where ancient ziggurat temples dedicated to the moon have been found in Mexico and Central America. Note, too, that in English the second day of the week still derives its name from the Anglo-Saxon worship of the moon, Monday originally meaning “moon-day.”

The moon worshipers attributed powers of fertility to the moon and looked to it to make their crops and even their animals grow. In Canaan, where the Israelites finally settled, the worship of the moon was carried on by the Canaanite tribes with the accompaniment of immoral rites and ceremonies. There the moon was sometimes worshiped under the symbol of the goddess Ashtoreth (Astarte). Ashtoreth was said to be the female consort of the male god Baal, and the worship of these two frequently ensnared the Israelites during the period of the Judges. (Judg. 2:13; 10:6) King Solomon’s foreign wives brought the contamination of moon worship into Judah. Foreign-god priests directed the people of Judah and Jerusalem in making sacrificial smoke to the sun, moon and stars, a practice that continued until King Josiah’s time. (1 Ki. 11:3-5, 33; 2 Ki. 23:5, 13, 14) When Jezebel, the daughter of the pagan king Ethbaal who ruled the Sidonians, married King Ahab of Israel she also brought with her the worship of Baal and, apparently, of the moon-goddess Ashtoreth. (1 Ki. 16:31) The Israelites again met up with moon worship during their exile in Babylon, where the times of the new moons were considered propitious by the Babylonian astrologers for making forecasts of the future.—Isa. 47:12, 13.

God’s Word should have served as a protection for the Israelites against such moon worship. It showed the moon to be simply a luminary and a convenient time indicator, but devoid of personality. (Gen. 1:14-18) At the time of their approaching Canaan Jehovah specifically warned the nation of Israel that they should not worship him as being represented by his heavenly creations. Anyone practicing such worship was to be stoned to death. (Deut. 4:15-19; 17:2-5) By his prophet Jeremiah, God later declared that whether they were kings, priests, prophets or of the common people, such ones should become as “manure upon the face of the ground.”—Jer. 8:1, 2.

Some have tried to read into the text at Deuteronomy 33:14 an evidence of pagan influence or a superstitious attitude toward the moon. In the Authorized Version this text speaks of the “precious things put forth by the moon.” However, as more modern translations show, the sense of the word “moon” here is actually “months” or “lunar months” and basically refers to the monthly periods in which the fruits ripen.

Similarly, Psalm 121:6 has been held by some to indicate a belief in the idea of illness caused by exposure to the moonlight. By reading the entire Psalm, however, it becomes evident that such assumption is unfounded, since the Psalm rather expresses in poetical form the assurance of God’s protection against adversity’s stroke under all circumstances and at all times, whether in the sunlit day or the moonlit night.

Still others have taken exception to the term “lunatick” found in the Authorized Version at Matthew 4:24 and Matthew 17:15. This expression comes from the Greek word se·le·ni·aʹzo·mai and literally means “stricken by the moon.” In modern translations it is rendered by the word “epileptic.” Matthew’s use of this common Greek term for an epileptic on these two occasions does not mean that he attributed such illness to the moon nor that the Bible so teaches, but simply indicates that he used the word that was evidently, among Greek-speaking people of that time, the currently understood name for an epileptic. In this regard, we might note that the term “lunacy” is today primarily a legal term used by the courts to designate a degree of insanity, even though they do not attribute such insanity to the effects of the moon. Christians today similarly continue to use the name Monday for the second day of the week even though they do not view it as a day sacred to the moon.

IN THE COMMON ERA

In the days of Christ Jesus and the apostles, moon worship was not in practice among the Jewish people. They did, of course, observe the new moons in accord with the Law covenant. The new moon of each month is still observed by Orthodox Jews as a minor day of atonement for sins committed during the month just ended.

Nisan 14, when the moon was approaching fullness, marked the time of the celebration of the Passover and also the time of the initiation by Jesus of the memorial supper or the Lord’s Evening Meal in memory of his death.—Matt. 26:2, 20, 26-30; 1 Cor. 11:20-26.

With the entrance of the new covenant, replacing the Law covenant, some of the Jewish Christians, as well as others, tended to hold to the practice of the celebration of the new moons as well as of the sabbath days, as shown by Paul’s corrective counsel at Colossians 2:16, 17 and Galatians 4:9-11.

MORDECAI

(Morʹde·cai) [like pure myrrh or bruised myrrh].

1. One who returned to Jerusalem and Judah in 537 B.C.E. after the seventy years of exile in Babylon. (Ezra 2:1, 2) Mordecai was a prominent Israelite and leader who assisted Zerubbabel and was distinguished in the initial genealogical enrollment of the reestablished community in Judah.—Neh. 7:5-7.

2. “The son of Jair the son of Shimei the son of Kish a Benjaminite” (Esther 2:5), an older cousin and guardian of Esther. (Esther 2:7) Mordecai is portrayed solely in the Bible book of Esther. The book recounts his prominent part in the affairs of the Persian Empire during the years of approximately 484 to 474 B.C.E. Evidence points to him as the writer of the book of Esther.

Some doubt the authenticity of the book or that Mordecai was a real person. Their objection, that he would have to be at least 120 years old and have a beautiful cousin 100 years younger, is based on the erroneous assumption that Esther 2:5, 6 denotes that Mordecai went into captivity to Nebuchadnezzar along with King Jeconiah. However, the Bible’s purpose in this text is, not to recount Mordecai’s history, but to give his lineage. Kish may have been Mordecai’s great-grandfather, or even an earlier ancestor who was “taken into exile.” Another view, harmonious with Biblical expression, is that Mordecai, though born in captivity, was considered to be taken captive in 617 B.C.E., since he was in the loins of his ancestors, as yet unborn.—Compare Hebrews 7:9, 10.

LOYAL AS SERVANT TO THE KING

In the account, Mordecai, although having a slave status as a Jewish captive, was a servant of the king. He heard that Queen Vashti had been deposed by King Ahasuerus of Persia and that all the beautiful young virgins throughout the empire were being brought together so that from among them a replacement might be found for the queenly office. Adroitly Mordecai introduced Esther, a girl “pretty in form and beautiful in appearance” into the candidacy for queenship, not revealing that she was a Jewess. (Esther 2:7) She was selected as queen. Mordecai continued in his duties, “sitting in the king’s gate,” when information was brought to him that two of the court officials, Bigthan and Teresh, were plotting to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. He warned the king through Esther and his act of loyalty was recorded in “the book of the affairs of the days.”—Esther 2:21-23.

REFUSES TO BOW TO HAMAN

Subsequent to this, Haman the Agagite was made prime minister by Ahasuerus, who ordered that all the king’s gate must prostrate themselves before Haman in his newly exalted position. Mordecai staunchly refused to do so and gave as a reason that he was a Jew. (Esther 3:1-4) The fact that Mordecai based his action on this reason proves that it had to do with his relationship, as a dedicated Jew, to his God Jehovah. He recognized that prostrating himself before Haman involved more than falling down to the earth for an exalted personage, as Israelites had done in the past, merely acknowledging such one’s superior position as a ruler. (2 Sam. 14:4; 18:28; 1 Ki. 1:16) In Haman’s case there were good reasons why Mordecai did not bow, and these had nothing to do with disrespect for authority: (1) The Persians regarded the act as one of homage performed to a king as a divine being. Herodotus (vii, 136) relates that it was because of this that the Spartans refused to bow down before King Xerxes. (2) Haman was probably an Amalekite, with which nation Jehovah expressed himself as being at war “from generation to generation.” (Ex. 17:16; see HAMAN.) It was a matter of worship and integrity to God and not a political issue on Mordecai’s part.

Haman was infuriated, particularly after he realized that Mordecai was a Jew. So great was his hatred that the enjoyment of all his power and privileges was spoiled as long as Mordecai sat at the gate and refused to bow before him. Not limiting his vindictiveness to Mordecai alone, Haman extracted a decree from the king for the destruction of all of Mordecai’s people in the realm of Persia.—Esther 3:5-12.

USED IN DELIVERING ISRAEL

In the face of the edict to destroy all the Jews in the empire, Mordecai expressed faith that Esther had been brought to her royal dignity at this very time for deliverance of the Jews. He showed Esther her weighty responsibility and directed her to implore the favor and help of the king. Although it jeopardized her own life, Esther agreed to follow through.—Esther 4:7–5:2.

Most timely for Mordecai and the Jews (for it was on the very issue of Mordecai’s loyalty to the king), King Ahasuerus’ attention was providentially directed, during a sleepless night, to the official book of records of the state. The king was thereby reminded of the fact that Mordecai had not been rewarded for his past service, that of uncovering the seditious plot of Bigthan and Teresh. At this the king desired to honor Mordecai grandly, to the mortification of Haman, who was commanded to arrange and announce this honor publicly.—Esther 6:1-12.

Esther succeeded in indicting Haman as responsible for gross misrepresentation and calumniation of the Jews and as a treacherous schemer against the king’s own interests as well. The enraged Ahasuerus ordered the death sentence for Haman, and the seventy-three-foot- (22.25-meter-) high stake Haman had built for Mordecai became the site where his own body was hung.—Esther 7:1-10.

Mordecai now replaced Haman as prime minister and received the king’s own signet ring for sealing state documents. Esther placed Mordecai over the house of Haman, which the king had turned over to her. Then Mordecai used the king’s authorization to issue a counterdecree giving the Jews the legal right to defend themselves. To the Jews it was a light of deliverance and joy. Many in the Persian Empire aligned themselves with the Jews, and when Adar 13, the day for the laws to take force, arrived, the Jews were prepared. Officialdom stood behind them because of Mordecai’s high position. In Shushan the fighting was extended for another day. More than 75,000 enemies of the Jews in the Persian Empire were destroyed, including the ten sons of Haman. (Esther 8:1–9:18) With Esther’s confirmation Mordecai commanded the annual celebration of the festival of the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, the “days of Purim,” for rejoicing and banqueting and giving gifts to one another and to the poor. The Jews accepted and imposed the festival on their offspring and all those joining themselves to them. As second in the empire Mordecai continued, respected by God’s dedicated people the Jews and working for their welfare.—Esther 9:19-22, 27-32; 10:2, 3.

A MAN OF FAITH

Mordecai was a man of faith like those spoken of by the apostle Paul at Hebrews chapter 11, though not mentioned there by name. He displayed courage, decisiveness, integrity and loyalty to God and his people and followed the principle later expressed by Jesus: “Pay back, therefore, Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.” (Matt. 22:21) He and Esther were of the tribe of Benjamin, of whom the patriarch Jacob had prophesied: “Benjamin will keep on tearing like a wolf. In the morning he will eat the animal seized and at evening he will divide spoil.” (Gen. 49:27) The activity of these Benjamites was in the evening of the nation of Israel, after their kings were no longer on the throne and they had come under Gentile domination. It is possible that Mordecai and Esther had the privilege of destroying the last of the hated Amalekites. Mordecai’s interest in the welfare of his countrymen indicates that he had faith that from among the children of Israel would come the seed of Abraham to bless all families of the earth.—Gen. 12:2; 22:18.

MOREH

(Moʹreh) [instructor].

1. At least by Abraham’s time the big trees of Moreh constituted a well-known landmark near Shechem and seemingly continued to be such for centuries afterward. (Gen. 12:6; Deut. 11:30; perhaps also alluded to at Genesis 35:4; Joshua 24:25, 26; Judges 9:6.) Some scholars link the “big tree of Meonenim” with the “big trees of Moreh.” (Judg. 9:37) “Moreh” was perhaps the name of the original owner of the plot near Shechem having one especially prominent tree or a clump or grove of big trees.

2. The name of a hill, in the vicinity of which the Midianites were defeated by Gideon. (Judg. 7:1) This hill is generally thought to be the bare gray ridge of Jebel Dahi (sometimes called “Little Hermon”), about five miles (8 kilometers) N of the suggested site for the well of Harod.

MORESHETH

(Moʹresh·eth), Moresheth-gath [possession of Gath].

Apparently the home of the prophet Micah. (Jer. 26:18; Mic. 1:1) Tell el-Judeideh, about twenty-two miles (35 kilometers) SW of Jerusalem and about the same distance NE of