Quasi-royal influence of Joseph, Haman, and prophet Daniel, all entitled “Father”

 

 

by

Damien F. Mackey

  

Just as Joseph the Dreamer was like the Sun, obfuscating the light of his parents and brothers (Genesis 37:9), so did his quasi-royal power, and that of Haman and Daniel, at times, even seem to overshadow, or usurp, that of the Pharaoh/king.

  

This is based on my most recent article:

 

King Nabonidus may have thought of wise Daniel, Nabu-balatsu-iqbi, as his “father”

 

(7) King Nabonidus may have thought of wise Daniel, Nabu-balatsu-iqbi, as his "father"

 

It was customary for ancient kings to refer to their wise mentors and counsellors, their second-in-command, as “Father”.

 

Here, I just want to reflect upon the enormous power and/or influence exerted by three high officials known as “Father”: viz. Joseph of Egypt; Haman; and the prophet Daniel.

 

Just as Joseph the Dreamer was like the Sun, obfuscating the light of his parents and brothers (Genesis 37:9), so did his quasi-royal power, and that of Haman and Daniel, at times, seem even to overshadow, or usurp, that of the Pharaoh/king.

 

Joseph

 

Joseph, son of Jacob, was apparently, in his character and temperament, rather different from the extremely mild Moses (Numbers 12:3): “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth”.

 

Moses, of many different historical guises (alter egos), had tasted total power as Pharaoh - as Userkare of Egypt’s Sixth Dynasty - but decided that he did not want that (cf. Hebrews 11:24-25), and so he abdicated.

 

Joseph, also of many different historical guises (alter egos), ruled as a virtual Pharaoh, for instance, as Den (Udimu) of Egypt’s First Dynasty, who bore a royal cartouche.

 

On this, see my article:

 

Joseph also as Den, ‘he who brings water’

 

(11) Joseph also as Den, 'he who brings water'

 

And as Ankhtifi, the saviour of Egypt from a protracted Famine, Joseph even seemed to have excluded Pharaoh entirely. 

 

Previously I wrote on this (and note how dramatically he contrasts with the mild Moses):

 

Just who was this incredible character like no other, the mysterious Ankhtifi?

 

I asked this question right at the end of my recent article:

 

Egypt’s high official, Ankhtifi, outboasts even great Senenmut

 

(4) Egypt’s high official, Ankhtifi, outboasts even great Senenmut | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu

 

Who, indeed, was Ankhtifi, a high official of Egypt, seemingly a quasi-Pharaoh (see “ruled like a pharaoh” below), who, in his Autobiography, did not even bother to observe standard Egyptian protocol by mentioning the current Pharaoh?

Which means that Egyptologists cannot be exactly sure when Ankhtifi lived.

 

Bearing a host of impressive titles, Anhktifi - or whoever wrote his Autobiography - boasted of his having been like no other man ever born:

 

“I am a man without equal …. I am the front of people and the

back of people because (my) like will not exist; he will not exist.

(My) like could not have been born; he was not born”.

 

Could Ankhtifi have been the renowned Joseph, who likewise was front and centre involved in a terrible Famine?

Certainly Ankhtifi’s claim to have been the greatest ever to have been born seems to be echoed in the sage Sirach’s short praise of Joseph (Sirach 49:15):

 

“Nor was anyone ever born like Joseph …”.

Haman

 

Joseph, who was righteous, pure and honourable, and a faithful servant of the Lord, may also have inherited some of his father Jacob’s cunning, and that’s alright (Matthew 10:16): ‘Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves’, was nothing, however, like the conspiratorial Haman, and his perhaps even shrewder wife:

 

Haman and his shrewd wife, Zeresh, remind us of Ahab and wife, Jezebel

 

(4) Haman and his shrewd wife, Zeresh, remind us of Ahab and wife, Jezebel

 

Right at the beginning, the machiavellian Haman had been involved in a conspiracy against King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) that was foiled by Mordecai. And this was one of the reasons for Haman’s fierce resentment against Mordecai. Haman had been planning to overthrow the Medo-Persian kingdom and return it to the Babylonians.

Some texts wrongly say “Macedonians” (Esther 16:13-14):

 

For with certain new and unheard of devices he hath sought the destruction of Mardochai [Mordecai], by whose fidelity and good services our life was saved, and of Esther the partner of our kingdom, with all their nation:

Thinking that after they were slain, he might work treason against us left alone without friends, and might transfer the kingdom of the Persians to the Macedonians.

 

Haman had weasled his way into respect and had thus completely captivated the admiration and hearts of the King and the people (vv. 10-12):

 

Now that you may more plainly understand what we say, Aman [Haman] the son of Amadathi [Hammedatha], a Macedonian [sic] both in mind and country, and having nothing of the Persian blood, but with his cruelty staining our goodness, was received being a stranger by us:

And found our humanity so great towards him, that he was called our father, and was worshipped by all as the next man after the king:

But he was so far puffed up with arrogancy, as to go about to deprive us of our kingdom and life.

 

This “father” of the Medo-Persians even authored a conspiratorial edict (decree) on behalf of the king, who gave Haman his signet ring (3:8-10):

 

Then Haman said to King Xerxes, ‘There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury’.

So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite [Captive], the enemy of the Jews.

 

Contrast this with, the albeit shrewd, Joseph, who greatly respected his superiors and who would do nothing dishonourable against them, e.g. in the case of Potipher’s wife.

 

Joseph, was highly honoured by the ruler just as Haman would later be, but Joseph’s exaltation did nothing to harm the country in which he abode as a foreigner, unlike the foreign Haman, who intended to use his power to bring down the King and the Jews.

 

Daniel

 

The wise and holy Daniel was historically (as Nabu-balatsu-iqbi, see article above) called “father” by the eccentric and superstitious king, Nabonidus (Nebuchadnezzar).

 

So wise was he (cf. Ezekiel 28:3: “Are you wiser than Daniel? Is no secret hidden from you?”), having not only interpreted the King’s Dream, but having actually recalled it for the King (Daniel 2), that King Nebuchadnezzar fell down and virtually worshipped Daniel.

 

Once again, as with Joseph and Haman, the superior-ranked ruler was lowering himself before the inferior-ranked official.

 

Daniel 2:46-47:

Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, ‘Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery’.