“Daniel was
renamed Belteshazzar, and his 3 friends were also given Babylonian names.
Hadassah was given the name Esther, a name by which most people remember her,
and by which her book is known. Having both been taken into the palace of the
king, they were supplied with what they will need to fulfill their role in the
palace”.
Gretchen S.
“Luke” has blogged
(April 4, 2014):
The Book of Daniel has been one of my favorite
biblical books for a while now, and I’ve always enjoyed the Book of
Esther as well. A while back, I heard a lesson on Esther which got me to
thinking about the striking similarities between the two:
Faithful Living in
a Hostile Environment
Many of the following similarities can be traced to the
overriding similarity in the setting of both books. The Book
of Daniel follows the lives of Daniel and his three friends as they
live godly lives during a time of captivity in Babylon, working in conjunction
with powerful kings (first Nebuchadnezzar, then Belshazzar, then Darius).
The Book of Esther focuses on the lives of
Esther and Mordecai as they live in Susa under the reign of Ahasuerus/Xerxes.
Emphasis on the
Physical Beauty of Young People
Daniel 1.3-6 mentions that Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah were chosen for the king’s service because they were,
among other things, “without blemish, of good appearance.” They were taken
aside and were to be given special training and a special diet to prepare them
to assist the king.
Similarly, Esther was chosen as part of the harem of
Ahasuerus based on her great beauty (Esther 2.3, 8) and was similarly
treated with a special diet and also given cosmetic treatment (vv. 9-12).
The Changing of
Names
Daniel 1.7 is clear that Daniel and his friends are
given new names in Babylon (Daniel becomes Belteshazzar, Hananiah is called
Shadrach, Mishael is now Meshach, and Azariah is called Abednego) which seems
to be an attempt to change the identity and allegiances of the young men.
Allusions to Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, were removed from their names
and were replaced with references to false Babylonian gods.
The Book of Esther is not as explicit,
but Esther 2.7 mentions that Mordecai was “bringing up Hadassah, that
is Esther….” Hadassah is a Hebrew name, which indicates that her name must have
been changed to Esther at some point while she was under Persian influence and
authority.
Accusations
Against God’s People
In both Daniel and Esther, we have
the theme of wicked men bringing accusations against God’s people.
In Daniel, political officials who are jealous of the level of authority
that Daniel has achieved under Darius realize that the only way they can get
him in trouble is to outlaw his devotion to Jehovah, and they then inform
Darius that he has violated the law by continuing to pray to his
God (Daniel 6.1-14).
In Esther 3, Haman’s rage over Mordecai’s refusal to
bow before him leads him to propose a scheme to Ahasueras to eradicate the
Hebrew people (Also, this incident could be compared to the refusal of
Shadrach, Mishael, and Azariah to bow to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image
in Daniel 3).
God’s Ability to
Save in Difficult Situations
In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Mishael, and Azariah are
confident that God has the ability to rescue them from the fiery furnace.
Later, in Daniel 6, Daniel seems to be unfazed by his punishment of being
thrown in the lion’s den.
When Mordecai learns of Haman’s plan to wipe out the Jewish
people, he reflects a similar attitude, telling Esther that the Jews will be
delivered one way or another (Esther 4.13-14).*
Stubborn,
Determined Faith
One awesome theme of both books is the portrayal of
determined, defiant faith from the characters. Shadrach, Meschach, Abednego,
and Esther all realize the possibility of dying for their actions, but are
determined to remain faithful regardless. Their declarations of stubborn faith
in Daniel 3.16-18 and Esther 4.16 are among my favorite
passages in Scripture.
Promotion of God’s
People to Places of High Authority
A final related theme of both Daniel and Esther is the
way that God leads his faithful followers to places of high authority in their
respective foreign lands. Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego (Daniel
1.20, 2.46-49, 3.30, 5.29, 6.1-4, 6.25) all find favor in the sight of their
superiors and are elevated to positions of high authority.
Similarly, Esther and Mordecai (Esther 2.1-18,
5.1-8, 6.10-11, 10.2-3) are appreciated by their superiors and granted
power and authority as well.
Conclusion
These are just some of the similarities that struck me
between the two books; I’m sure there are more that could be listed. As I
mentioned above, I think a lot of the similarities stem from the overall similarity
in setting, as we have the stories of people trying to be faithful to God in a
surrounding culture which doesn’t always support that lifestyle. In that sense,
I think the books of Daniel and Esther are incredibly relevant to Christians
today as we strive to live as “sojourners and exiles” in our world (1
Peter 2.11).
*Much has been made of the fact that Esther is
the only biblical book which does not explicitly mention God. While this is
interesting, I don’t think it is particularly significant, as the idea of God
providentially caring for His people is as central to the Book of
Esther as it is to the Book of Daniel.
Similarly, Gretchen S. has written:
The
Similarities Between the Books of Daniel and Esther
The books of
Daniel and Esther have much in common. These commonalities include the overall
genre of the successful courtier, the slander of a Jew (or all Jews), the
triumph of the main character, and other parallels between the texts. This is
not to say that the stories are wholly the same, only that they share much in
common. The common themes in Daniel and Esther can tell a great deal about the
Jewish people of the time. The timelessness of the two books indicates that the
themes continue to have relevance for the Jewish people.
The stories start
similarly for the two main characters. Daniel was taken into the court of the
Babylonian king, with a number of other Judean youths. "Then the king
ordered Ashpenaz, his chief officer, to bring some Israelites of royal descent
and of the nobility--youths without blemish, handsome, proficient in all
wisdom, knowledgeable and intelligent, and capable of serving in the royal
palace" (Daniel 1:3-4).1 They were to be groomed to be advisors
to the king. A similar thing happened to the Jewess, Hadassah, who was taken
into the palace of King Ahasuerus along with other virgins of his kingdom as a
candidate to be his new wife (Esther 2). Both were renamed with non-Jewish
names. Daniel was renamed Belteshazzar, and his 3 friends were also given
Babylonian names. Hadassah was given the name Esther, a name by which most
people remember her, and by which her book is known.
Having both been
taken into the palace of the king, they were supplied with what they will need
to fulfill their role in the palace. For Daniel and his three friends, this
meant food, training in Aramaic, and writing. "Daniel resolved not to
defile himself with the king's food or the wine he drank, so he sought
permission of the chief officer not to defile himself, and God disposed the
chief officer to be kind and compassionate toward Daniel." (Daniel 1:8-9).
Esther, though she did not ask for anything, was given the perfume, make-up,
and beauty treatments needed for her role by the eunuch in charge (Esther 2:8-9
and 2:15). Daniel's resistance was an active one, while Esther's was one of
passivity. She did not ask for anything with which to beautify herself; it had
to be given to her by the chief eunuch. Even though they resisted in their own
ways, they both found favor in the eyes of those who are charged to making them
ready (Daniel 1:9 and Esther 2:8).
Having been well
prepared, both Daniel and his three companions, and Esther, were taken into the
presence of their respective kings. "Whenever the king put a question to
them requiring wisdom and understanding, he found them to be ten times better
than all the magicians and exorcists throughout his realm." (Daniel 1:20).
"The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his
grace and favor more than all the virgins. So he set a royal diadem on her head
and made her queen instead of Vashti." (Esther 2:17). All of them found
favor in the eyes of the kings involved. They, like Joseph before them, became
successful courtiers.
Esther's uncle,
Mordecai, became involved in the politics of the court just as Daniel did, when
he saved the king from a plot against his life by Bigthan and Teresh (Esther
2:21-23). Daniel was called in to interpret a dream, and in doing so not only
helped the king, he also saved the lives of his three companions and himself as
chapter 2 of Daniel discusses. Daniel was well rewarded for his dream
interpretation: "The king then elevated Daniel and gave him very many
gifts, and made him governor of the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect
of all the wise men of Babylon." (Daniel 2:48). While Mordecai was not
rewarded immediately, the king did eventually reward him. Haman ... in Esther
6:7-9, advised the king: "For the man whom the king desires to honor, let
royal garb which the king has worn be brought, and a horse on which the king
has ridden and on whose head a royal diadem has been set; and let the attire
and the horse be put in the charge of one of the king’s noble courtiers. And
let the man whom the king desires to honor be attired and paraded on the horse
through the city square, while they proclaim before him: This is what is done
for the man whom the king desires to honor!" Haman himself, who had
planned on having Mordecai impaled, instead had to lead Mordecai around on the
king's horse dressed in royal clothing. Similarly, Daniel was arrayed in
clothing of the royal purple in Daniel 5:22. "Then, at Belshazzar’s
command, they clothed Daniel in purple, placed a golden chain on his neck, and
proclaimed that he should rule as one of three in the kingdom.
"The Book of
Daniel describes an episode of slander against the Jews in general, and later,
Daniel in particular. Chapter three of Daniel tells about the statue of
Nebuchadnezzar and the law that was made requiring all the people of Babylon to
bow down and worship the statue. Those who did not do so, were to be thrown in
a fiery furnace. "Seizing the occasion, certain Chaldeans came forward to
slander the Jews" (Daniel 3:8). Though their goal was to take power away
from Daniel's three companions, as verse 3:12 makes clear, they had slandered
all of the Jews. Later, in Daniel 6:6-18, other men sought to slander and
entrap Daniel himself. A law--made this time by Darius at the instigation of
the men--made it illegal to bow down to anyone but Darius for thirty days. The
men asked for this law to be made to entrap Daniel, who they knew prayed to G-d
three times a day, bowing down to Him.
They also knew
that a law, once written by Darius, could not be revoked. Similarly, "When
Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel or bow low to him, Haman was filled
with rage. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone; having been told
who Mordecai’s people were, Haman plotted to do away with all the Jews,
Mordecai's people, throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus." (Esther 3:5-6).
This is similar to the two cases in Daniel, where both Daniel and his three
companions refused to bow down to kings or statues of kings and worship them.
Granted, Haman (hiss) was not asking to be worshiped, but he was asking
Mordecai to bow down to him. Haman approached the king, saying (Esther 3:8)
"There is a certain people, scattered and dispersed among the other
peoples in all the provinces of your realm, whose laws are different from those
of any other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; and it is not in Your
Majesty’s interest to tolerate them." Haman thus convinced Ahasuerus to
write a law that will allow for the massacre of all Jews in the kingdom on a
day selected by lots; again, this law cannot be revoked by the king.
Those people who
are threatened were saved miraculously in all three cases. An angel rescued
Hannaniah, Mishial, and Azuria from the fiery furnace. Another angel closed up
the lions' mouths, saving Daniel. Both of these stories in Daniel end with the
instigators, those trying to kill the heroes, themselves being killed or
executed. The heros are elevated. Esther's story has the instigator, Haman ... executed,
on the very same stakes on which he had planned to impale Mordecai.. The
survival of the Jews of Persia in the story of Esther was a bit more complex,
but nonetheless, it had a miraculous element about it. Esther put her own life
in jeopardy to save the lives of her people. She found favor in the eyes of her
king who, though unable to rescind the law, wrote another law allowing the Jews
to defend themselves. Miraculously, no Jewish lives were lost, while those who
wanted to annihilate them were all killed.
After the incident
with Daniel's three friends, Nebuchadnezzer made a proclamation: "King
Nebuchadnezzar to all people and nations of every language that inhabit the
whole earth: May your well-being abound! The signs and wonders that the Most
High G-d has worked for me I am pleased to relate. How great are His signs; how
mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion
endures throughout the generations." (Daniel 3:31-33) Similarly, a
proclamation was made in the book of Esther. This proclamation, like the whole
book of Esther, made no mention of G-d. Esther 8:9 says, "So the king’s
scribes were summoned at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month,
that is, the month of Sivan; and letters were written, at Mordecai’s dictation,
to the Jews and to the satraps, the governors and the officials of the one
hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia: to every province in
its own script and to every people in its own language, and to the Jews in
their own script and language..." This proclamation gave all of the Jews
permission to defend themselves.
Both the
proclamation in Daniel and the one in Esther went out to all nations and all
tongues under the rule of the respective kings. ....
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