Part 2. Joseph Interprets the Dreams of the Butler, the Baker, and the Pharoah. Genesis 40
Truth In Scripture Pastor Rick Kabrick Thursday, June 22, 2023 Joseph Interprets the Dreams of the Butler, the Baker, and the Pharoah. Pastor Rick KabrickPO BOX 595 Tiverton RI 02878www.paypal.me/PastorRickkwww.truthinscripture.org Even as believers and followers of Yeshua, things don’t always work out the way we might have wanted. Which is why it is that we need to stay in the plan of GOD. Cupbearer is the Hebrew noun מַשְׁקֶה mašqê = cupbearer or among other things a butler. Baker is the Hebrew verb אָפָה āp̄â = baker. They are identified as the chief = שַׂר śar = the head chief is good translation. 3 And he (Pharoah) put them in custody (מִשְׁמָרmišmār = custody, under guard) in the house (bet = house, here the home of or building or prison) of the captain (sar = ruler) of the guard (that was probably Potiphar, guard = טַבָּח ṭabāḥ = executioner, butcher, bodyguard, guardsman), into the prison, the place where Yoseph was also bound. These 2 new prisoners are the former cupbearer and baker of Egypt’s ruler, Pharaoh. Now we don’t know what these people did to warrant their arrest. But according to Rabbinical writings and other traditions, the cupbearer let a spoiled cup of wine to the Pharoah, one account said a fly was found in the wine. Neither would be good. As for the baker, tradition holds the Pharoah found a pebble in the bread. Not good either. The first mention of bread and wine is GEN 14, Melchizedek and Abraham. Then we have this incident, wine steward (cupbearer) and baker of bread. Of course. this is a glimpse of the LORD’s Supper. Professional dream interpreters had no idea what they were doing. If they were right it was that GOD allowed them an understanding or they were just vague enough to give the illusion they knew something. They do not have the power to look into or understand the human mind. GOD is the one who created the human mind. HE alone is omniscient, so interpretations belong to HIM. Well, there is certainly some typology there. 3 days (Divine, 3 days and nights in the tomb, being raised after 3 days. The grapes representing a purification a redemption.Pharoah here represents the ultimate authority. GOD we know is the ultimate authority. GOD casts judgement and GOD provides Redemption, Salvation. 13 within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head (a sign of recognition) and restore (מִשְׁפָּט mišpāṭ = connotation of judgement and restoration) you to your office and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer. 3 days in the bible of course well that phrase is used many times.Abraham and Isaac CH 22.Yonah 3 days in the whale, Yeshua references Yonah when HE talked about HIS own 3 days 3 nights in the tomb.I believe that Yoseph was in that pit for 3 days and 3 nights… of course I can’t prove that. Certainly, they had talked and in that there is hope. Perhaps the soon-to-be-released man will speak well of Joseph, tell Pharoah the truth of the matter and ask Pharaoh to free him. Taking free men captive and selling them as slaves, even in that era, was seen as unfair treatment and would later be made a crime punishable by death under GOD’s Law (EXO 21:16). Not that it didn’t happen. This is not a faithless act on Yoseph’s part; although it was totally unnecessary. Yoseph is going to be there just as long as the LORD wanted him to be there. The first dream, seen by the cupbearer, was a prediction that he would be restored to his former position, that was good. The baker is hopeful for a similar interpretation. Remember in his dream, he carries 3 baskets of bread or baked goods.Threes run wild in this part of HIS Story. “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head.” This would be like a wicker basket or woven reed baskets. To the cupbearer, his head will be lifted up, restored. To the baker his head, well it will be lifted off the ground, not beheaded. This means he would be hanged. So, unlike the chief cupbearer, the chief baker was in for a rude awakening. The meaning of his dream was that he was to be executed in three days. His dead body would left out and exposited to the birds who would clean the flesh from his bones. The dreams of these two men were dreams of life and death. Likewise, Pharaoh’s dreams deal with the life and death of Egypt (7 years of prosperity followed by 7 years of famine). So, on that day, Pharoah brought these 2 in front of the crowd, he makes a public example of them both. One good one bad. Why did he choose the cupbearer? I don’t know, well actually we do know, don’t we?We do know GOD has decreed it, Yoseph had prophesied it, and of course it happened. So that is the answer.
