November 26, Genesis 40
"For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit."
- Genesis 40:15
Do you dream? Can you remember your dreams after you wake up the next morning? I suppose I dream every night. People who study such matters tell us we all do. But it would be hard for me to get my dreams interpreted because I usually can't remember anything about them. I recall back in high school days how we would swap reports of our dreams with friends who would “interpret” what the dreams meant. Our interpretations were guesses, and no one involved took the dreams or the playful interpretations seriously.
The Egyptians were serious about dreams and what they meant. Maybe that's why God used dreams to address Pharaoh himself. In this chapter, Joseph (himself a vivid dreamer as you may recall) is joined in prison by two high-ranking servants of Pharaoh, his chief cupbearer (or butler) and his chief baker. They each committed some offense against Pharaoh and were sent to jail. They were confined in the same prison where Potiphar put Joseph after Mrs. Potiphar made false accusations against him. You recall that Joseph rose to be in charge of the other prisoners. So he was responsible for Pharaoh's servants while they were incarcerated.
While the men were doing their time, they dreamed and complained that there was no one to interpret them. They were probably thinking of the magicians in Pharaoh's court who supposedly could interpret dreams. (In the next chapter we'll see they weren't very good at interpreting Pharaoh’s double feature of dreams about the cows and ears of grain.) In one single phrase, Joseph discredited the Egyptian dream experts, proclaimed the power of God and modestly took no credit for his ability to interpret the dreams.
To our ears, the dreams of the prisoners don't sound too complicated. I guess it helps to already know their meaning since we've read this chapter. The butler dreamed of three vine branches, Pharaoh's cup and how he squeezed the grapes into Pharaoh’s cup and gave it to his master. It's not too hard to connect the dots on that one, or the three cake baskets and the birds in the baker’s dream. The baker dreamed of walking with three baskets of food on his head. The cakes were intended for Pharaoh, but were eaten by birds as the baker transported them. When Joseph told the exact details about the three days and the restoration of the butler and the execution of the baker, it was obviously an inspired interpretation.
In this “I’ve got good news and bad news” scenario, Joseph used the same phrase with two drastically different meanings. He told the baker, "Pharaoh will lift up your head.” He meant he would be raised up from prison and reinstated. But the same words had a very different meaning for the baker. His head was lifted up, too, when he was taken from prison and executed.
Joseph pleaded with his cupbearer friend to put in a good word to Pharaoh for him after he was restored. Three days later, the king recalled his servants on his birthday. Just as Joseph foretold, the cupbearer got his job back, and the baker got the death penalty. In his euphoria about being out of jail, alive and back in his rightful place, the cupbearer forgot all about Joseph. So another bitter disappointment came to our young Hebrew hero. His hateful brothers had mistreated and sold him. The slave traders had merchandised him as if he were an animal or some object. He had been falsely accused and sent to prison without a trial. Now when he at least had a friend in high places, the friend forgot about him.
Forgetting is not an intentional act. It’s neither unkind nor hateful in itself. But the cupbearer's carelessness had the same discouraging effect on Joseph as if his forgetfulness had been a malicious act.
The banner flying over all these episodes in Joseph's life reads "God's providence is at work here." Joseph couldn't read it yet. Neither his brothers nor the Egyptians realized they were tools in God’s hands. But God was steering the events toward his purpose of bringing Joseph's family to Egypt. The Lord put Joseph in the exact place he needed to be at the exact time he needed to be there, to carry out God's plan.
Copyright © 2021 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—November 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
Comments