Some time later, the
cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of
Egypt. 2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the
chief baker, 3 and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard,
in the same prison where Joseph was confined. 4 The captain of the guard
assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.
Lesson One: God is working behind the scenes even if we
do not see or know it. The divine scene
was being set. Two of Pharaoah’s
officials offended him at the same time and was put in the same prison as
Joseph. God’s hand is all over
this. Notice in whose custody they are
in. Just a note here, In the house of
the captain of the guard means under the authority of the captain of the
guard. We are getting a view of the
administration of Egypt. Moses who wrote
this need how the government of Egypt worked because he was a Prince of
Egypt. Now what I find fascinating is
that Potiphar assigned Joseph the care of these two men to Joseph and he
attended them. Now this brings me two
thoughts. Did Potiphar figure out that
Joseph was wrongly accused or did he observe Joseph’s faithfulness. Either way, we know that this was divine
providence and godly circumstances.
When Joseph came to them
the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s
officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look
so sad today?” 8 “We both had dreams,”
they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not
interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”
Lesson Two: Joseph comes to them the morning after they
are detained and they both look sad and confused. He asked them why they were sad and they both
tell him them had dreams but they had no one to interpret them. The Egyptians were great believers in dreams
and their powers and influence. The Dream Book is a papyrus that contains dream
examples and dream interpretations and it is believed to date back to the early
reign of Ramesses II. All dreams were listed as good or bad, with the bad
dreams being written in red, which was the colour of a bad omen. The Dream Book
is currently part of the archives at the British Museum in London.
The Egyptians believed their gods showed
themselves in dreams and visions. They divided their dreams into three
categories: those in which the gods demanded things, those that were warnings,
and those that came to them during dream rituals. Regardless of the type of
dream, they felt all dreams were oracles - that is, answers giving to them by
the gods. Hoping to induce dreams, some temples held special "dream
beds" on which people would lay, hoping to have a dream of advice,
comfort, or healing.
So Joseph’s ability would be paramount
to his future and God would use this to give him access to the highest levels
of government. Joseph had come to learn
the world in which he lived. The secret
of both Joseph and Daniel’s success is that understood the times in which they
lived. They understood the culture, the
religious climate and the way people thought of that day. We need to do the same. They were a group of men in David’s day from
the tribe of Issachar. They understood
the times in which they lived. That does
not mean we join the culture or times.
Instead we know how to operate and influence them. This was Joseph’s and later Daniel’s
secret. God can give us this
wisdom. Joseph knew that dreams were a
way to God to speak and all true interpretations belong to God. The dream world can be a subconscious gate to
the spiritual realm. In the last day’s
old men will dream dreams. This was
God’s and Joseph’s platform to the next step in Joseph’s life.
So the chief cupbearer told
Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, 10
and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and
its clusters ripened into grapes. 11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took
the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.”
12 “This is what it means,”
Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. 13 Within three days
Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will
put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his
cupbearer. 14 But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me
kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. 15 I was
forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done
nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”
Lesson Three: The Lord uses a dream that is familiar to the
cupbearer. The vine, the grapes and
three branches were all familiar and essential to His work. A cup-bearer was an officer of high rank in
royal courts whose duty it was to serve the drinks at the royal table. On
account of the constant fear of plots and intrigues, a person must be regarded
as thoroughly trustworthy to hold the position.
Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the Persian King.
Joseph tells him that he will be restored to his position in three
days. It will go well with him. Joseph then makes his request. Remember me, show me kindness. He was carried off as a slave from the
Hebrews. This is where we get an actual
reference to whom the Hebrews were and how they were viewed by the
Egyptians. Remember they had some
contact because of Abraham. He then
states that he is in prison because of false charges. Joseph doesn’t want to just remember him but
to actually investigate the charges.
Joseph is making his pitch to get out of jail. You scratch my back and I will scratch yours.
When the chief baker saw
that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I too had
a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread.[a] 17 In the top basket were
all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the
basket on my head.” 18 “This is what it
means,” Joseph said. “The three baskets are three days. 19 Within three days
Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale your body on a pole. And the birds
will eat away your flesh.”
Lesson Four: When the baker saw the dream was favorable he
is excited to tell Joseph his dream but the interpretation is not good. He was going to be killed. Simple lesson, sometimes the truth is hard to
tell but it must be told. It must have
broken Joseph’s heart to tell this man this.
I can see the compassion in Joseph’s eyes. His heart breaking. Yet truth must be told. Truth must be given even if it is not
popular, politically correct or culturally relevant. Truth is truth. That is why we must preach the word with
broken hearts, eyes tearing with compassion and love. A lost world needs to hear the truth. We are called to be proclaimers of truth. They must know there is a heaven to gain and
a hell to shun. They must know what God
thinks about things even if it was not popular among the culture of the day. We need to be more afraid of God than the
culture of the day. We must be so
powerful that the culture of the day is more afraid of us than we are of them. Talk about Patrick.
20 Now the third day was
Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the
heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his
officials: 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once
again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand— 22 but he impaled the chief baker, just
as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation. 23 The chief cupbearer, however, did not
remember Joseph; he forgot him.
Lesson Five: True prophecy and interpretation comes
true. Even today this truth
prevails. If a prophecy, dream, vision
or tongue comes it must come to pass and line up with God’s word. It must be able to be judged and pass the
test of truth. So three days later on
the king’s birthday he decides the fate of the two officials. The cupbearer is restored. The baker is killed, just as Joseph
said. So Joseph was correct and true. Then something happened. Something unfair, wrong and unjust. The cupbearer forgot about Joseph. The cupbearer was not grateful or just. He simply forgot about Joseph. This looks bad for Joseph. An opportunity lost it seems. Yet even when things look bad. God is working. There are a couple things we will learn from
Joseph’s life. Things are not always
fair. Next ,timing is everything. When things don’t go our way we need to trust
God and his providence. We need to remember
He is working behind the scene.
Sometimes providential waiting is God’s way of preparing us for greater
things. There was obviously some more
lessons that Joseph had to learn. Learn
that failures are blessings in disguise when you trust the Lord. Live in the moment because it is all you
have. Worrying about tomorrow never
amounts to anything. Keep focused on
God. Work hard and be faithful where you
are. Promotion comes in God’s time and
usually bigger than you can. Dream, ask or imagine
You reaction and actions speak louder
than words. Kindness and love are the
keys to success and victory. When the
time was right for Joseph and us everything falls into place. Now, next Sunday we will see what happens
when God moves so today let us learn what we have too and then get ready for
the next step and stage.
