Birthday
In the UPDV the birthday appears in two opposite registers. On one side it is the day a king celebrates with a banquet — a court occasion at which favor is dispensed and oaths are rashly sworn. On the other side it is the day a sufferer curses, wishing the night of his conception had never come into the calendar at all. The narrative scenes are royal and Egyptian or Galilean; the laments are private and come from Job and from Jeremiah.
A Royal Court Occasion
The first birthday in scripture is Pharaoh's. Joseph, in prison with the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, has interpreted their dreams; the third day proves him out. "And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast to all his slaves: and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his slaves" (Gen 40:20). The day of the king's birth is the day on which judgment is publicly executed. The cupbearer is restored; the baker is hanged (Gen 40:22).
Centuries later in Galilee the same shape recurs. "And when a convenient day came, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, and the generals, and the chief men of Galilee" (Mark 6:21). Again the guest list is the inner circle of the realm; again a head is taken before the day is over.
Herod's Birthday and the Death of John
Mark frames the Herod scene with Herodias and John the Baptist. Herod had imprisoned John "for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her" (Mark 6:17), and he kept John alive because he "feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was much perplexed; and he heard him gladly" (Mark 6:20).
The birthday banquet is the hinge. "And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and those who sat to eat with him; the king said to the girl, Ask of me whatever you will, and I will give it to you. And he swore to her, Whatever you will ask of me, I will give it you, to the half of my kingdom" (Mark 6:22-23). The dance, the unbounded oath, and the king's wish to honor his guests interlock. Herodias prompts her daughter to ask for John's head. "And right away the king sent forth a soldier of his guard, and commanded to bring his head: and he went and beheaded him in the prison" (Mark 6:27).
The aftermath is silent. "And when his disciples heard [of it], they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb" (Mark 6:29). Herod afterward hears of the works of Jesus and concludes, "John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore do these powers work in him" (Mark 6:14).
The pattern of the birthday banquet — public favor, a rash oath, an irrevocable execution — is what the UPDV records of the day, not festal cheerfulness in itself.
The Day Cursed: Job
The opposite register is Job's. After his losses, "after this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day" (Job 3:1). The day cursed is the day he was born. "Let the day perish in which I was born, And the night which said, A [noble] man was conceived" (Job 3:3). What follows is a sustained anti-blessing in which every property a birthday should have is reversed. "Let that day be darkness; Don't let God from above seek for it, Neither let the light shine on it" (Job 3:4). "As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it: Don't let it rejoice among the days of the year; Don't let it come into the number of the months" (Job 3:6). "Look, let that night be barren; Let no joyful voice come in it" (Job 3:7).
The cursing widens into a wish that birth had failed. "Why didn't I die from the womb? Why didn't I give up the ghost when my mother bore me?" (Job 3:11). On that account light itself is the wrong gift: "Why is light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter in soul? Who long for death, but it does not come, And dig for it more than for hid treasures" (Job 3:20-21).
The Day Cursed: Jeremiah
Jeremiah's lament parallels Job's, in nearly the same vocabulary. "Cursed be the day in which I was born: don't let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed" (Jer 20:14). The very announcement that should have made the birthday a celebration is reversed: "Cursed be the man who brought good news to my father, saying, A man-child is born to you; making him very glad" (Jer 20:15). The lament closes, "Why did I come forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?" (Jer 20:18).
What Job and Jeremiah share is a precise inversion of the birthday motif of Genesis 40 and Mark 6. The royal banquets are loud, public, and ruinous to others. The prophets' laments are private, addressed to God, and ruinous only in wish — the day itself is asked to be unmade. The UPDV records both, side by side, without resolving them.