Throughout the Hebrew Bible YHWH's chosen people, more popularly known as the Jews, continually find themselves driven from their homeland by a foreign power only to return. Furthermore, these chosen people struggle to find ways to maintain their identity in a foreign land. As the cycle of expulsion and return repeats, YHWH's people eventually come to identify themselves as living in diaspora, maintaining their identity and, more importantly, their religious identity in foreign lands among foreign powers. Joseph, Esther, and Daniel are figures whose books in the Hebrew Bible are considered Jewish novellas - short works of fiction that have a historical setting, but contain imprecise details - figures. These three chosen people find themselves part of the aforementioned cycle, however each has a different story to tell. While these three figures share fundamental similarities in plot reversals and instructions on faithfulness in the diaspora, there are more essential differences in the role God plays and how each individual identifies himself. Joseph, Esther, and Daniel all find themselves in an extraordinarily influential royal family. positions which then save YHWH's chosen people. Joseph acts as Pharaoh's highest official or vizier, Esther undoubtedly saves her Jewish people with her courage to approach her husband, King Ahasuerus, and Daniel is central to the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, for whom he plays the dreams. Thus, not only do these three find themselves with extremely powerful royal ties, but they also do so in a foreign land. Both Daniel and Joseph are models of how to faithfully follow God in a foreign land and are also “examples of how God will protect his faithful… middle of paper… cle of the diaspora and faithfulness in a foreign land work together to show the omnipotence of God and love for His people. Although he plays a different role in each Jewish novella, ultimately the reader sees his loyalty to those who love and follow him among the foreigners. These differences are key to interpreting the underlying meaning of the story: it is possible to remain faithful in the diaspora in a way that maintains a person's Jewish identity and, more importantly, their religious identity. Works Cited Coogan, Michael David. and Michael David. Coogan. A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in Context. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.Meeks, Wayne A., and Jouette M. Bassler. The HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version, with Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1993. Print.