Genesis 40:1-23
The Prisoners’ Dreams
1 It came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. 3 So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. 4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; so they were in custody for a while.
5 Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream, both of them, each man’s dream in one night and each man’s dream with its own interpretation. 6 And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were sad. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in the custody of his lord’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?”
8 And they said to him, “We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.”
So Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.”
9 Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, 10 and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. 11 Then Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”
12 And Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days. 13 Now within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler. 14 But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. 15 For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.”
16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head. 17 In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”
18 So Joseph answered and said, “This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. 19 Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.”
20 Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21 Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
While innocent Joseph was incarcerated in pharaoh’s prison, two convicted men joined him there. They were the king’s chief of the cupbearers and the chief of the bakers. Since Joseph had been blessed by God and put in charge of the prisoners as he had been over the household of Potiphar, he attended to these two. After a while, both of them had dreams on the same night and were perplexed at their meanings. Joseph observed that they both were down and out that morning when they awoke from their respective dreams and found out that they could not understand and needed an interpreter. Of course, we know that this is only possible if the Lord provides the interpretation because only He knows (Acts 15:8, Matthew 9:4) the minds and hearts of men and women, including their dreams, some of which He gives us as in these cases. Joseph knew this and told them that the interpretation of each was only in God’s power to reveal and that he would be able to tell them if God told him. They told their seemingly unrelated accounts and Joseph was given the meaning to tell them, one at a time. The chief cupbearer and butler was to be reinstated in three days to Pharaoh’s good favor. By revealing this to the butler, Joseph hoped to have his own case brought up to the potentate by the head butler as he asked him to. The second man, the baker, eagerly wanted to hear the same good interpretation of his own dream, but unfortunately found out he would be hanged and eaten by the birds as bread on his head in a basket. On the third day all came to pass as God had planned and revealed. But the restored chief butler forgot all about Joseph’s case and failed to bring it up as promised most likely because he was happy to be alive and back in his position. May we look to the Lord for guidance and understanding of hidden truths and events, not seeking to spiritualize every dream and event, but being open to God’s revelation when it is in His will for His glory when the time arises. We need to be attentive to God’s Spirit for guidance (Isaiah 30:21) but not make ourselves the focus when He does show us things to come as in dreams revealed or the meaning of things (1 Corinthians 14:30-33) we or others are in at the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment