Joseph And Daniel
i went fishing for similarities and found some.

The Stories
Joseph
a wealthy young man
- the favorite son, with the cool cloak
- unliked by his brothers
downfall...sold to slavery
- brothers beat him up and threw him in a cistern
- they were going to kill him, but they ended up selling him for 20 shekels of silver
rise...in charge of all other slaves
joseph is sold into potiphars family as a slave.
he does well and is given more responsibility until he ran the household.
fall...into prison because he was faithful
but he is also good looking.
potiphars wife wants to sleep with this hunk, and begs him to do so. he refuses...
she accuses him of attempted rape and joseph ends up in jail.
dreams...interprets dreams
joseph answers dreams in jail for some important prisoners, both of which come true.
the baker ends up dead, the cup bearer ends up back with pharaoh.
 
after a while, pharoah has a dream no one can explain, and the cup bearer remembers joe.
sweet success...moves to top of empire
joseph interprets the dream and impresses pharoah.
pharoah makes joseph in charge of egypt.
role in deliverance of israel
provides food to family
moves family to egypt for food/etc
everyone lives happily ever after.

 
Daniel
a wealthy young man
- a wealthy court kid.
downfall...carried off to court
- babylonians ransack the city and take the nice stuff. and the educated good looking kids.
- daniel wins an all expenses trip to sunny babylon.
rise...in charge of all other
daniel manages to look good on vegetables (probably taking artificial testosterone too)
daniel interprets the kings dream and becomes the guy in charge.
dreams...interprets dreams
nebuchadnezzar eats ice cream before bed and has a scary dream.
"no problem, boss. you tell us the dream and we'll tell you what it means," his army of interpreters replied.
"if you're so smart, then you tell me the dream and the interpretation," caged king nebu.
 
only daniel can do this task...
fall...into the lions den because he was faithful
new king, cyrus. daniel's working his way up the line there to, ends up in charge.
jealous competition tries to find something wrong, can't; has the king make a law that says that no one can pray to anyone other than darius for 30 days.
daniel prays to god, daniel is thrown to the lions.
god spares daniel, daniel comes out.
role in deliverance of israel
prays for deliverance of israel as predicted by jeremiah
reveals future of israel...
everyone lives happily ever after.

 

The Similarities
1. Young and Wealthy
makes them sound like the bad guy in some 80s teen flick.
 
Joseph was 30 when he interpreted Pharoh's dream.
Daniel is described as a youth.
 
Be careful not to underestimate those younger. Parents especially seem to have a hard time with their kids (a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown...)

 
2. Taken To Foreign Land
These heroes are both stuck far from the land God's promises are tied to.
This is a significant problem for both of them.
god's promises to israel were tied to the location.
gen 12:7 And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "to your descendants I will give this land."
gen 13:14-17 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. Arise, walk about the land through it's length and breadth; for I will give it to you."

these promises are repeated to jacob as well.
gen 35:12 "and the land which i gave to abraham and isaac, i will give to you, and i will give the land to your descendants after you"

 
They're also stuck in the land of the most powerful country around (in their time).
egypt was the power at the time.
babylon was the power in it's time.

 
They both go ahead of most of their family.
Joseph heads to Egypt and prepares a means of deliverance for them.
Daniel is taken in 605 BC (usual guess), ahead of the major exiles. He, as a powerful Jew, serves as an advocate for the Jews.

 

 
3. Put In Charge Of Their Host Nations
Both end up in charge...
pharoah says "You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne i will be greater than you" (gen 41:40)
nebu "promoted daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of babylon." (dan 2:48)
darius planned to put daniel "over the entire kingdom" (dan 6:3)

 
God demonstrates his power over both of these nations through them.
in both cases, the ruler's visions serve as an example for god to demonstrate superiority through the young heroes.
the magicians and wise men are frustrated both times, and joe/dan aren't.

 

 
4. Interpreted Dreams
major parallel here - both guys had dream interpretation high up on their list of talents.

 
5. Maintained Righteousness
Many OT heroes have sin recorded; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob seem human. Moses strikes the rock. Judges is depressing. David falls, Elijah whines, etc...
daniel and joseph have nothing negative recorded about them.
unless you want to guess that joseph was a whiny punk favorite kid before egypt.
Both got into trouble for their righteousness.
potiphar's wife had joseph thrown into jail for not sleeping with her wrongfully.
daniel was thrown to the lions for praying.


 
6. Served Pagan Masters
Both Joseph and Daniel were in the service of pagan authorities.
This is the real application for us.
Both served pagan masters with pagan "coworkers" (wise men, magicians, etc).
Both were seen as being full of wisdom by their masters and were elevated.
We should:
- be full of tolerance
working for pagan masters with pagan coworkers requires tolerance.
don't hold non-believers to the standards of the church.
don't refuse to help them, don't be unkind.

- be full of wisdom
how do we do this?
well...ask for it.
exercise, sleep, whatever helps. do what you can to be ready to do good work.

- work hard for the success of the jobs entrusted to us. (daniel and joseph both did this)
work to do good work; concentrate; strive for creativity and responsibility.
balance? does this mean i should work all the time? no.

- be so good that our enemies can't find anything wrong with us (dan. 6:4 "no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption...was to be found in him")
self explanatory. but hard.