Comparing Foreign Experiences of Leading Biblical Characters

 

 

1.   The Old Testament’s narrations of the experiences gained by Joseph, Daniel and Esther whilst navigating the ruling echelons in foreign jurisdictions have piqued the interest of many a believer.  Why were they in positions of influence among pagan cultures?  Did they contribute to the heathens’ causes?  Had they compromised themselves in the process?

 

2.     It should at the inception be pointed out that God is actually silent in the entire book of Esther whereas His leading is very much evident in the lives of Joseph and Daniel.  Perhaps looking at how the three of them ended up outside the Promised Land is of assistance when seeking to understand the context for each character’s life journey.  God told Abraham that his entire family would have to leave Canaan for Egypt, and Joseph was the first to do so.  God told Jeremiah that the Jews would have to leave Judah for Babylon, and Daniel was among those who did so.  However, God also told Jeremiah that the Jews could return from Babylon to Judah after 70 years, but not all deportees (including Esther’s generation) did so.  Although God chose not to interact directly with Esther and her guardian (in the manner that He did with Joseph and Daniel individually), He still protected those Jews who did not join the waves of returnees after the end of the 70-year exile and His intervention is unmistakeable in Esther 6-8 during their desperation to foil Haman’s plan of pogrom against them.

 

3.    How else do the circumstances differ for these three characters whose names continue to feature prominently among God’s children?  There is a need, before commencing on such comparison, to first review what happened to them prior to their being placed in positions of influence so far removed from their homeland:

(a)   Although God called Abram to leave Haran and then promised that his descendants would inherit the land flowing with milk and honey, the generations of Isaac and Jacob “were few in number, indeed very few, and strangers” (Psalm 105:12) in the initially-unfamiliar land of Canaan.  A safe haven was required for the chosen race to grow in strength because the Hebrews faced mounting difficulties while trying to settle among the sinful tribes resident in the Promised Land at the time.  Hence, God had to coax Israel to temporarily re-locate: “Do not fear to go down to Egypt for I will make you a great nation there” (Genesis 46:3).  To ensure that favour would be extended to Jacob’s 70-strong family so that “the best of the land of Egypt and … the fat of the land” (Genesis 45:18) would be available to them, God planned for Joseph to end up (after a 13-year period of testing) before Pharoah who adjudged him to be “a man in whom is the Spirit of God” (Genesis 41:38) and promptly appointed him to the second highest office in this foreign country: “All my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I [viz Pharoah] be greater than you” (Genesis 41:40).

(b)   Since the Jews unrepentantly “mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people till there was no remedy, He brought against them the Chaldeans” (II Chronicles 36:16-17).  However, God did not intend the Jews to be enslaved during the punitive period and the prophet present at the time of the Jerusalem siege prophesised that they would instead “serve the king of Babylon for 70 years” (Jeremiah 25:11).  Given the backdrop of this particular prophecy, it is not surprising to learn that King Nebuchadnezzar, after deporting the upper strata of Jewish society to Babylon, arranged for his staff “to bring some of the children of Israel … who had ability to serve in the king’s palace and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans … so that at the end of the three years of training they might serve before the king” (Daniel 1:3-5).  As for Daniel and his three fellow deportees-turned-trainees, “God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and [in addition] Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams” (Daniel 1:17).  An end-of-training assessment exercise was conducted by King Nebuchadnezzar and “in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined, he found [the four of] them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm” (Daniel 1:20).  In due time, this enlightened (but prideful) king “promoted Daniel and … made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon” (Daniel 2:48) as well as “set Shadrach, Meschah and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the whole province of Babylon” (Daniel 2:49).

(c)    Although God assured the deportees that “after 70 years are completed at Babylon I will visit you and … cause you to return to this place [viz Judah]” (Jeremiah 29:10), only a limited number of the Jews in the pagan empire heeded the call to join the different waves of returnees recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.  Daniel is by far the most well-known example of the deportees who did not return to Judah after the Babylonians were duly conquered by the Medo-Persians and “the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, ‘All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me.  And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem.  Who is among you of all His people?  May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house …’.” (Ezra 1:1-4)  By the time of Esther’s generation, the Medo-Persian empire continued to house a sizeable remnant of Jews who were described by their adversary Haman as “a certain people scattered and dispersed in all the provinces of the kingdom; their laws are different from all other peoples’ and they do not keep the king’s laws” (Esther 3:8) but actually the original deportees from Judah had been instructed by God to “… seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive …” (Jeremiah 29:7).

 

4.   The background accounts in S/No 3 furnish the requisite launch-pad for the analysis of the similarities and differences among the narrations of these three interesting characters:

(a)   How was each of them inducted into palace life whilst in foreign territory?  Sold as a slave to Midianite traders bound for Egypt, Joseph was subsequently cast by his influential master into jail (where coincidentally the king’s prisoners were also confined); despite his effort to seek the favour of a temporarily-disfavoured butler to “make mention of me to Pharoah and get me out” (Genesis 40:14), Joseph remained incarcerated until the time was due for God to orchestrate the opportunity for him to meet and impress Pharaoh so much as to secure his unconditional release and immediate appointment to the highest office in Egypt (reporting only to the throne).  On the other hand, Daniel was already in the Babylonian civil service when God decided to provide the opportunity (which was similar to what Joseph had been presented earlier) for King Nebuchadnezzar to be so overwhelmed as to promote him straight to the top office of chief administrator.  In contrast, there is no indication at all in Esther 2:8-17 of God’s overt involvement in the Persian court’s selection-of-queen process that resulted in a commoner Jewess being crowned personally by King Ahasuerus; the opportunity for Esther to even enter the palace as one of the selection candidates arose because then-Queen Vashti had been summarily deposed after having incurred the egotistical king’s hot displeasure.

(b)   Whom did each of them serve after having been catapulted to the highest strata of palace life while living far away from home?  Before the arrival of his brothers in Egypt, Joseph is observed in Genesis 41:46-49 to be diligently discharging his duty to Pharoah by travelling throughout Egypt to build up grain reserves during the seven-year window of plentiful harvests; there is not the slightest suggestion in Genesis 39-41 that he was cognisant of God’s purpose for him in Egypt and instead he subscribed to the view that “God has made me forget … all my father’s house” (Genesis 41:51).  On the other hand, Daniel knew fully well that he was serving pagan kings; during a court session, for example, King Nebuchadnezzar publicly called him “chief of the magicians” (Daniel 4:9) which is in the sight of God certainly not a job-title to aspire after.  Nevertheless, Daniel applied himself to his secular duties so much that he “distinguished himself above the governors and satraps … and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm” (Daniel 6:3).  In contrast, the book of Esther seems to portray the picture of the commoner-turned-queen not being actively involved in the administration of the Persian empire since the narrations of both Esther and her predecessor Vashti focus on the queen’s duty of hospitality in hosting banquets; hence, there is no discernible evidence (from either scriptural or secular accounts) of Queen Esther ever having offered substantial contributions of particular benefit to Persian causes.

(c)   Did what each of them achieve in the foreign palace yield any benefits directly for the Jews as well?  Although Joseph was all along aware that “God has made me lord of all Egypt” (Genesis 45:9) whilst serving Pharoah during the initial seven years of plenty and the first two years of famine, Genesis 42:9 points out that it was only when his brothers bowed before him during their first trip to secure grain (from the only supply available during the scarcity afflicting the entire region since two years ago) that he was jolted to remember the dream of his brothers’ sheaves bowing before his own sheaf two decades ago and thereafter came to the realisation that “God sent me [to Egypt] before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:7) ― with the eventual outcome being that by the fourth generation, as planned by God, “the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty” (Exodus 1:7).  On the other hand, there is no hint in the scriptures that Daniel’s service before the various Babylonian and Medo-Persian kings resulted in attributable benefits for the Jews; for example, he was not present in Daniel 3 to help channel Shadrach, Meschah and Abed-Nego away from the assembly where all attendees had to bow and worship the gold image specifically erected by King Nebuchadnezzar for the dedication ceremony.  Instead, the value inherent in the book of Daniel, apart from recording the remarkable visions of future world events received by him while placed at the heart of sprawling empires, is in furnishing insights into the characters of the different kings whom God arranged for him to interact with.  In contrast, the entire book of Esther describes in detail how Mordecai’s refusal to bow before Haman led to the latter’s scheme to exterminate all Jews in the Persian empire and how, in response, Esther had been co-opted to counter the evil decree that had been sealed by King Ahasuerus’s signet ring; although Esther initially attempted to excuse herself when first approached by her guardian, what she subsequently set in motion prepared the stage for Mordecai to be elevated to high office so as to quickly promulgate a new decree to pre-empt that already despatched in Haman’s name earlier on.  Consequently, the Jews were permitted to destroy their enemies instead and the eleventh-hour success in averting the genocide attempt launched by Haman has since been commemorated by the annual festival of Purim originally proposed in Esther 9:26-28.

(d)  Was each of them assimilated into pagan culture while living among the heathens whose routines and traditions did not agree with Jewish practices?  Genesis 41:42 tells of Joseph being presented with majestic garments, gold chain and signet ring befitting his high office and Genesis 42:8 draws attention to the observation that even his brothers failed to recognise him when outfitted in Egyptian court trappings; continuing with the assimilation process, “Pharoah called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-Paaneah and gave him a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On” (Genesis 41:45) and the religious persuasion of his two mixed-heritage sons (who had not been exposed to Jewish worship during their formative years) would naturally have come under the influence of their Egyptian mother and priestly grandfather.  That he might have forgotten his father’s household (as freely admitted by him in Genesis 41:51) explains why there is no indication of any attempt by him (or some trusted staff assigned by him) to embark on a trip to Canaan and notify his father of developments after the 13-year period of slavery/incarceration.  On the other hand, Daniel religiously resisted attempts to assimilate him into foreign customs (like refusing to defile himself by eating any of the king’s delicacies offered to all trainees as recounted in Daniel 1:8-16 and maintaining his thrice-a-day prayer commitment despite the recently-issued decree temporarily prohibiting petitions to God as reported in Daniel 6:7) but then he could not prevent the Babylonians from addressing him by his localised name of Belteshazzar; instead of acknowledging other deities, he unreservedly advised kings on all matters concerning God whenever the opportunities arose ― so effectively that King Darius proclaimed in a decree that “in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel” (Daniel 6:26) and King Nebuchadnezzar’s first-person testimony of his humiliating experience before God has been reproduced in Daniel 4.  In contrast, Esther had been residing in Sushan all her life because her forefathers chose not to join the waves of Jews returning to Judah after the 70-year sojourn prophesied by Jeremiah; hence, she was not aware of what was happening in the Promised Land and had to be tutored by a male guardian on Jewish protocol after the death of both her parents.  Esther 2 does not disclose whether she had been counselled or coerced to join the selection-of-queen process (which entailed a year of preparations primarily comprising regulated periods of beauty treatments and possibly accompanied by a special diet for enhancing skin complexion and heightening erotic passion); in any event, “Mordecai had charged Esther not to reveal her people or family” (Esther 2:10) and the food available at the feasts she was duty-bound to attend ― such as the “great feast, [hailed as] the Feast of Esther, for all officials and servants” (Esther 2:18) held by King Ahasuerus in honour of his freshly-inaugurated queen ― would therefore not be in strict compliance with Jewish dietary stipulations.

(e)   Did each of them ever forgo foreign domicile and eventually return to the Promised Land?  Although Joseph did live in Canaan during the first 17 years of his life (before he was sold to be a slave in Egypt), there was no possibility for him (together with Jacob’s entire family) to plan for homeward return after the end of the prophesised seven-year famine so as to settle in the land of milk and honey after overcoming the sinful tribes still entrenched there because, among other things, “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Genesis 15:16); nevertheless, Joseph “took an oath from the children of Israel … to carry up my bones from here” (Genesis 50:25) for burial in the home-land when the time appointed by God came for His chosen people to leave Egypt and inherit the Promised Land.  On the other hand, Daniel (who likewise lived in Jerusalem only during his youth) “in the first year of Darius’s reign … understood by the books the number of years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet” (Daniel 9:2) but still he decided to remain in the Medo-Persian empire instead of joining those Jews who, authorised by King Cyrus’s decree, heeded the call to return to Judah after the 70-year punitive period ordained by God; having served different kings during his high-profile career, Daniel would have been advanced in years by the time Darius ascended the throne and could likely not be fit enough to withstand the rigours of the long journey back to Judah.  In contrast, Esther had never lived in the Promised Land at all and inertia would thus have propelled her not to depart from the land of her birth ― especially after having learned (during the deadly confrontation with Haman) how to wield influence in the initially-alien palace; in addition, the guardian whom the since-emboldened queen formally introduced to the Persian palace (following the hanging of Haman) thereafter became “second to King Ahasuerus and was great among the Jews and well-received by the multitude of his brethren, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his country-men” (Esther 10:3) and so letting Mordecai and Esther stay there to look out for the welfare of the Jews who chose foreign domicile must presumably have seemed appropriate to God (although, remarkably, He proffered not a whiff of comment throughout the book of Esther).

 

5.    That the lives of Joseph, Daniel and Esther continue to impart invaluable lessons even for modern-day believers and ought thus to be brought to remembrance time and again during pulpit preaching, scripture study or personal meditation is not to be doubted.  It is hoped that the present article has adequately addressed the questions that may be raised by those who wonder why these three oft-mentioned characters remained outside the milk-and-honey land that God deliberately selected for His chosen race to call home.