Birthdays are rare in Scripture, and the two shown are dark ones. Pharaoh’s birthday feast ends with a death sentence for his chief baker and a restoration for his cupbearer (Genesis 40:20), just as Joseph had said. Jeremiah, worn down by opposition, curses his own: “Cursed be the day wherein I was born” (Jeremiah 20:14), asking why he came out of the womb “to see labour and sorrow.” One is a feast, the other a lament, and neither is a happy celebration. The Genesis scene and Jeremiah 20:7-18 are the places to read.
3 verses
And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.
Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
Matthew George Easton, 1897
The observance of birth-days was common in early times (Job 1:4, 13, 18). They were specially celebrated in the land of Egypt (Gen. 40:20). There is no recorded instance in Scripture of the celebration of birth-days among the Jews. On the occasion of Herod’s birth-day John the Baptist was beheaded (Matt. 14:6).
William Smith, 1884
The custom of observing birthdays is very ancient, (Genesis 40:20; Jeremiah 20:15) and in (Job 1:4) etc., we read that Job’s sons "feasted every one his day." In Persia birthdays were celebrated with peculiar honors and banquets, and in Egypt those of the king were kept with great pomp. It is very probable that in (Matthew 14:6) the feast to commemorate Herod’s accession is intended, for we know that such feasts were common, and were called "the day of the king." (Hosea 7:5)