Genesis 40 - Dreams Do Come True

 

While Joseph was in the king's prison, the chief butler and the chief baker of the Egyptian king offended him. Due to Pharaoh's anger, he had them thrown into the prison where Joseph was. The captain of the guard put them under Joseph's responsibility. Some Bible versions say that Joseph served them, others say that he attended to them; he took care of them; or even stated that he became their personal attendant. It all sounds like Joseph became their servant. First of all, I wonder what the butler and the baker did to make the king throw them into prison. Secondly, it must have been nice to go to prison and to be given a servant. This sounds like prestige in prison. They all were in prison for a good while.

One night, both the butler and the baker had troubling dreams. Each of the dreams had its own interpretation. The next morning, Joseph noticed that they were sad. So, he asked them, "Why do you look so sad today?" So they told him that they both had dreams, but there was no one to interpret them. One Google source indicated that dreams were very important in the Egyptian culture and the butler and baker were referring to "dream specialists" when they said no one was there to interpret the dreams. Thus Joseph's statement, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please." Joseph was confident that God would reveal the meaning of the dreams to him.

The Butler's Dream - There was a vine before him that had three branches; it was as though it budded. It blossomed and its clusters had ripe grapes. Then Pharaoh's cup was in his hand. He took the grapes and pressed them into the cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. Joseph's interpretation was that the three branches represented three days. Within three days Pharaoh would "lift up" his head (pardon) and restore him to his position. He would assume his duties as chief butler just as he had done previously. Joseph asked the butler to "put in a good word for him" to Pharaoh so that he could get out of prison. He pleaded his case by stating that he was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews and he had not done anything for him to be put into the dungeon.

The Baker's Dream - When he saw that the interpretation of the butler's dream was good, he told Joseph his dream. He said that he was also in his dream and there were three white baskets on his head. In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh. The birds ate them out of the basket on his head. Joseph's interpretation was that the three baskets represented three days. Within three days, Pharoah would "lift off" his head (kill) and hang him on a tree. The birds would eat his flesh. I'm sure this interpretation must have terrified the baker and he had three days to think about it.

On the third day, Pharoah celebrated his birthday and had a feast for all of his servants. He presented the chief butler and the chief baker publicly among his servants. Pharaoh restored the chief butler to his position and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. He hanged the chief baker just as Joseph interpreted. After being restored to his position, the chief butler forgot all about Joseph. Keep in mind, God's timing is always perfect. So, the restoration to his position, was not the right time for the butler to remember and mention Joseph to Pharaoh.

Dreams are mentioned throughout the Bible. Do you pay attention to your dreams? Or do you just "pass them off" by saying, "it was just a dream"? Dreams can be warnings, prophetic, reflect God's presence in your life and even give you revelation about issues that may be clouded in suspicion.

Below is a review of dreams since we started our Biblical Journey. 

In Genesis 20, God gave Abimelech a warning in a dream about giving Sarah back to Abraham. In Genesis 28, Jacob had a dream about God's presence in which angels were ascending and descending on a ladder. In Genesis 31 there's a combination of a warning dream and a reflection of God's presence. Jacob dreamed about the flocks (streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted). God told Jacob that He saw all that Laban was doing to him and told Jacob to leave that land and return to the land of his family. Also in Genesis 31, God warns Laban about how to treat Jacob when he caught up with him. Joseph's dreams in Genesis 37 are prophetic as we will see as we continue on this journey. In the New Testament, Matthew 1:20, Joseph has a dream of revelation where an angel of the Lord tells him not to be afraid to make Mary his wife because the child she's carrying is of the Holy Spirit. So, dreams are very prevalent in the Bible.

Our next stop is Genesis 41.