Declaring God's Truth
a commentary on Genesis 40
Thanks for stopping in for another Biblit! This week we are diving into Genesis 40 as we continue studying the life of Joseph. If you recall, last week Joseph was wrongfully thrown in the king’s prison when Potiphar’s wife claimed he committed a crime he did not commit. However, Joseph prospered once again and became the leader of all the prisoners. In today’s passage, Joseph has a chance to be freed from this wrongdoing, but is it in God’s plan yet? Let’s find out as we dive into this commentary on Genesis 40.
Context
Joseph has been in prison now for some time. Most Biblical scholars believe it would have been a matter of months, not years at this point. It was common practice in Egypt that the Pharaoh would have a chief cupbearer and a chief baker, and it was no different for the Pharaoh in Joseph’s day.
I have been doing a lot of interesting research on who this Pharaoh might be and am working on writing a synopsis of all I’ve learned. Be on the lookout for this future bonus Biblit!
Back to the story now haha. We are not given the actual offense, but the Pharaoh's chief cupbearer and chief baker do something to anger Pharaoh and end up in prison to await their trial. Joseph was chosen to attend to the two prisoners.
“They continued for some time in custody.” (Genesis 40:4 ESV).
Again, we don’t know how long they were in prison together, but it was long enough for Joseph to get to know these two men. One night both the cupbearer and the baker had dreams they wanted interpreted. Dream interpretations were a very common practice in this day, and oftentimes the Pharaoh would surround himself with multiple interpreters. These two men were probably used to having dream interpreters all around to bounce dreams off of. Now they are in prison with two dreams they are desperate to have interpreted. Cue Joseph.
Joseph enters the scene and notices the two men are downcast. He asks them what’s wrong and after telling Joseph they have these uninterpreted dreams, Joseph responds by asking:
“Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.” (Genesis 40:8 ESV).
Joseph declares he is a prophet of God and asks for the dreams so the Lord can interpret them.
The cupbearer jumps at this opportunity and tells Joseph his dream. He dreamt of 3 grape vines that budded until grapes clustered, and then he filled Pharoah’s cup again. (Pretty boring dream if you ask me). Joseph interprets the dream as a good omen and tells the cupbearer that in 3 days he will be reestablished to his old position as chief cupbearer. Joseph uses the phrase, “lift your head up” which was a common Hebrew idiom meaning to restore to honor. The cupbearer is ecstatic! Joseph asks him for a favor in exchange for this good news, hoping that once the cupbearer is back in office he might put in a good word for Joseph so he can be released too.
Meanwhile, the baker sees that Joseph interpreted the dream as “good” and wants his interpretation too. He dreamed he had 3 baskets on his head (common practice back then for bakers) with baked goods for Pharaoh and there were some birds eating from them. In Noah’s story, birds were a good omen, unfortunately, this is not the case here. Joseph takes the opportunity to use a Hebrew pun and tells him that his head too will be lifted...from his body.
3 days later, on Pharaoh's birthday, Joseph was right! The chief baker was killed and hung up for all to see. The cupbearer was released and established back as the chief cupbearer! The cool part is that it was a common tradition for the Pharaoh to release a prisoner on his birthday! The timing of all this could have only been orchestrated by a sovereign God!
Unfortunately for Joseph, the cupbearer forgot him and he remained in prison for another 2 years.
Interpretation
We learn a lot from these men in this passage, and a whole lot more than what I’m going to share. I want to highlight a few specific things:
God’s sovereignty is seen throughout. God prospers Joseph’s work in prison and he’s made the leader of the prison. Then two of Pharaoh's chief officers are thrown into prison for insulting him. These two Egyptians had dreams that they believed had to be interpreted by official dream interpreters. Again, through God's sovereignty, Joseph, who has had a lot of experience with dreams already, declares God’s truth in the pit of darkness and interprets the dreams. Only a sovereign God could orchestrate all of this; it’s just beautiful!
Joseph spoke God’s truth boldly. Not only does Joseph interpret the dreams, but one of the interpretations is a pretty rough one. I don’t know what kind of relationship he had with these men, but I’d be pretty nervous to tell someone they are going to die in 3 days. Fear didn’t stop Joseph from sharing the truth of God with his brothers and it didn’t stop him here either!
The baker didn’t trust God. I think it’s interesting that the cupbearer had a good interpretation and was also the first to actually put his faith in God and hear the interpretation from God’s servant, Joseph. The baker only decided to put his faith in God when he saw it was a good interpretation. It reminds me of Laban and Potiphar and how they used the men of God to gain their own prosperity. I don’t think the baker is any different; he didn’t truly have faith in the Lord, he just wanted to be freed too!
God’s in control of Joseph. It’s hard to see, but God’s control is still seen when Joseph is forgotten for another 2 years. It was not his time yet. He had no idea, but greater things than freedom awaited him. The future race of Egypt was actually in his hands, the life of his family was in his hands, and he had no idea. (It was all in God’s hands, but Joseph was to play a crucial role in it!) For 2 years he sat in prison with no knowledge. Just faith. Waiting and hoping he might be remembered.
Application
There are 3 things I’d like to apply to my life from this passage:
Speak up for the Lord no matter what. I want to have the boldness Joseph had to speak God’s truth. He spoke the Lord’s interpretations to his brothers (which may or may not have been from an arrogant heart) earlier, and he spoke it now. He interpreted these dreams with boldness, even telling one man he was going to die! Do I have the boldness to tell someone they are going to die? Because that is the reality we face. If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Lord and savior, then you will die. Is that the truth I’m sharing? Am I boldly proclaiming the great things God has done and will do; of his magnificent grace that saves beyond hope?
I want to seek and desire God’s truth and plans, not my own. The baker didn’t want his dream interpreted until he saw Joseph interpreted good dreams. He didn’t trust in God’s truth unless it meant he would prosper! I want to make sure I don’t live that way ever. We don’t believe in a prosperity gospel. I believe that as a Christian I will suffer. I want to ensure I always trust and desire God’s plan to be done in my life no matter what happens. I don’t want to ever expect worldly “good” things. We have the greatest inheritance one could ever dream of already! What more “good” could God give us than eternal life in His presence?
I want to trust in God like Joseph. Joseph felt forgotten and abandoned, yet he trusted in the Lord. We don’t see into Joseph’s heart and his prayers to God, but I assume he prayed. I don’t know how they looked, but I imagine he was angry and confused at times. He was sold into slavery, wrongly accused and thrown into prison, and now he’s been forgotten by a man who could have freed him. Then he has to wait in that prison, forgotten, for 2 years. However, God didn’t forget him; it was all in His timing. When there are times we feel God has forgotten us, we need to stand firm and trust in His faithfulness. He has not and will not ever forget us! He loves each and every one of us dearly and individually!