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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