Sunday, April 19, 2020

Genesis, chapter 40 comments: Joseph interprets the dreams of two notable prisoners


Genesis 40:1 ¶  And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt. 2  And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers. 3  And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. 4  And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward.
The king of Egypt’s butler and his baker were both, “in the soup,” so to speak. Wroth is a form of wrath, fierce and abiding anger. These were the chiefs of the butlers and the bakers who served the king, the top dogs. To place someone in ward is to put them in jail or prison as the princes of Israel under the Babylonians or even just confinement as David did with his concubines.
Ezekiel 19:9  And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
2Samuel 20:3  And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood.
We learn here that Potiphar, being the captain of the guard (see 39:1) had this prison as part of his house and that was his post, to keep it. So, it appears that the captain of the guard was also responsible for the king’s prisoners. Joseph became the servant, in prison, of these high court officials whose fate had yet to be determined.
Pharaoh and king of Egypt are synonyms, notice the parallel phrasing linking the word and the phrase in verses 1 and 2, here as titles for Egypt’s ruler who was the executive, legislative, and judicial branch of the government all rolled into one, a virtual dictator except for the hold the priests had on the people.
God is our chief executive (king, prime minister, or president), our lawmaker (like congress or parliament), and our judiciary (like the Supreme Court). There is no appeal from Him. Although the following verse was not used by America’s Founding Fathers in their debates on the Constitution, as they leaned on Enlightenment and humanistic writers, it is interesting how our three branches of government in America line up with it.
Isaiah 33:22  For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
Genesis 40:5 ¶  And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison. 6  And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad. 7  And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in the ward of his lord’s house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day? 8  And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you. 9  And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; 10  And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: 11  And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. 12  And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days: 13  Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. 14  But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: 15  For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. 16  When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: 17  And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head. 18  And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days: 19  Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.
 40:20 ¶  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. 21  And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand: 22  But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23  Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.
Isn’t it odd how both chapters 39 and 40 have 23 verses? The baker and the butler both are given a dream. Each one had their own dream. The dreams grieved them and confused them. Joseph, being an astute observer wanted to know why they were so downcast. They told Joseph it was because they dreamed dreams that they did not understand. Joseph acknowledged that all interpretations of dreams belonged to God and offered to help.
The butler’s dream meant that he would be restored to his position and the baker’s meant that he would be executed. Joseph asked only of the butler that he would bring up Joseph to the Pharaoh himself due to Joseph’s predicament. Both consequences for the two officials would occur in three days.
Daniel will also interpret dreams by God’s understanding. 
Three days is a very significant in that it represents three days when mankind’s fate is settled, either to resurrection in glory or in an eternity of agony. Consider these possibilities, even if you disagree. They are interesting to ponder prayerfully.
The third day represents to us the resurrection of Christ after three days.
Luke 24:46  And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
This resurrection is a theme mentioned in several places in prophetic verses in the Old Testament.
Hosea 6:2  After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
Matthew 12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Jesus Christ was three days in Hell preaching to the lost. He arose from the dead. What the dead of that time and the living of the time since choose, Him or Hell, determines their fate.
1Peter 3:18 ¶  For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19  By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20  Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
But, for our purposes here, the chief butler forgot all about Joseph. God’s timing isn’t always pleasant to those whom He uses for His purposes.

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