“Joseph is a fruitful bough, Even a fruitful bough by a well; Whose branches run over the wall; The archers have sorely grieved him, And shot at him, and hated him; But his bow abode in strength, And the arms of his hands were made strong By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; ... Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; And by the Almighty, who shall bless thee With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lieth under; ... The blessings of thy father have prevailed Above the blessings of my progenitors Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.”[58] Loyalty to God, faith in the Unseen, was Joseph’s anchor. In this lay the hiding of his power. “The arms of his hands were made strong By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.” * * * * * [Sidenote: _Daniel_] [Sidenote: _Perils in Babylon_] Daniel and his companions in Babylon were, in their youth, apparently more favored of fortune than was Joseph in the earlier years of his life in Egypt; yet they were subjected to tests of character scarcely less severe. From the comparative simplicity of their Judean home these youth of royal line were transported to the most magnificent of cities, to the court of its greatest monarch, and were singled out to be trained for the king’s special service. Strong were the temptations surrounding them in that corrupt and luxurious court. The fact that they, the worshipers of Jehovah, were captives to Babylon; that the vessels of God’s house had been placed in the temple of the gods of Babylon; that the king of Israel was himself a prisoner in the hands of the Babylonians, was boastfully cited by the victors as evidence that their religion and customs were superior to the religion and customs of the Hebrews. Under such circumstances, through the very humiliations that Israel’s departure from His commandments had invited, God gave to Babylon evidence of His supremacy, of the holiness of His requirements, and of the sure result of obedience. And this testimony He gave, as alone it could be given, through those who still held fast their loyalty. [Sidenote: _A Test of Character_] To Daniel and his companions, at the very outset of their career, there came a decisive test. The direction that their food should be supplied from the royal table was an expression both of the king’s favor and of his solicitude for their welfare. But a portion having been offered to idols, the food from the king’s table was consecrated to idolatry; and in partaking of the king’s bounty these youth would be regarded as uniting in his homage to false gods. In such homage loyalty to Jehovah forbade them to participate. Nor dared they risk the enervating effect of luxury and dissipation on physical, mental, and spiritual development.