Verses 1–8: After some time in Pharaoh's prison, Joseph becomes responsible for two more royal prisoners: the king’s chief cupbearer and chief baker. They're all imprisoned together in a wing of Potiphar’s house used as a dungeon, and Joseph is assigned to serve them. Apparently, this was a common arrangement in ancient eastern prisons.* One morning, Joseph notices that they’re unusually sad. Upon inquiry, he learns they both had dreams the night before that no one could interpret. Yet somehow, they know that these dreams are important.
Joseph credits God as the only one truly able to interpret dreams, but God has gifted him with the supernatural ability to hear and know this interpretation to benefit others. Full of faith and confidence in God, Joseph asks them to tell him their dreams.
9–15: The chief cupbearer dreamt of a vine with three branches. The branches quickly budded, blossomed, and bore clusters of grapes, which he squeezed into Pharaoh’s cup, placing it into his hands. Joseph encourages him with the news that he'll be restored to his former position in three days. He only asks that the cupbearer remember him when it happens. He was not only sold into slavery by his brothers and forcibly brought to Egypt through no fault of his own, but wrongfully imprisoned based on the rape accusation from Potiphar's wife. He’s simply asking for justice and freedom.
16–19: Once the chief baker hears the cupbearer’s good news, he also tells Joseph his dream. In it, he saw three baskets on his head, full of pastries for Pharaoh. But birds were eating them out of the basket. Joseph explains that in three days, he would also be brought before Pharaoh, but not for restoration. Instead, Pharaoh would hang him.
20–23: Just as Joseph said, Pharaoh brings both the cupbearer and baker before him on the third day, during his birthday feast. He restores the cupbearer, but hangs the baker. And Joseph, as so often happens in life, sees justice delayed as the cupbearer forgets him.
Genesis 41:1–40
1–8: For two more years Joseph remains imprisoned, while the cupbearer resumes his normal life. Eventually, Pharaoh has a distressing dream, and like his cupbearer and former baker, he senses that his dream is pregnant with meaning. He’s standing by the Nile, when seven fat cows come out of the water, followed by seven malnourished cows. The skinny cows eat the fat ones, yet appear no better off. Then, he dreams of a grain of wheat with seven fully formed heads of grain, followed by another grain with scrawny, underdeveloped grains. Again, the sparse heads consume the full ones. He’s so distraught over the dream that he calls upon every magician and wise man in Egypt to interpret it for him. Not one can.
9–16: Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer, though, remembers Joseph, ashamed over forgetting him for so long. He tells Pharaoh about Joseph's dream interpretation, and Pharaoh summons him immediately from prison. Joseph cleans up and presents himself to Pharoah, who expects him to interpret his dream, but Joseph denies having the ability to do it. He once again acknowledges that dream interpretation comes from God alone. Yet, he reassures Pharaoh that God will reveal the meaning of his dream.
17–32: Pharaoh relates his dreams to Joseph. Joseph assures him they are one and the same dream. Seven years of abundance will be followed by seven years of severe famine. God has given him this “double vision” to communicate his determination to carry out these events, and carry them out soon.
33–36: Joseph not only shares the meaning of the dream with Pharaoh, but wisdom for surviving the famine. He advises Pharaoh to place a man in charge of Egypt to oversee the coming storm, along with commissioners to store one-fifth of Egypt’s grain harvest during the years of plenty.
37–40: Pharaoh's heart is willing to listen to God, and he believes everything Joseph tells him. He recognizes that God's spirit lives in Joseph, producing revelation, wisdom, and ability beyond normal human capacity. He sets Joseph over his palace and people, over the entire land of Egypt.
And so we see Joseph rise from prison to palace; we see God execute justice in his faithful servant’s life. In reality, on many different levels, we all face injustices throughout life, some great, and some small. My heart rests in all of this, knowing that the God I’ve entrusted my life to is completely just. Nothing escapes his view. And he promises to square all accounts, sooner or later. I don’t have to hang on to the wrongs committed against me, and thankfully those I’ve wronged don’t have to keep my offenses either.
We live under a loving, merciful God, and his love cuts both ways. We’re held accountable, yet simultaneously offered forgiveness and limitless grace in the midst of our consequences, the chance to step into the abundant life that he desires for every one of us in this life and the greater one to come. The more we walk in his ways, the more we access it in this life, and the more reward we’ll receive in the next, once all is finally and eternally settled. Let’s give and receive forgiveness, and like Joseph, walk in the freedom and fullness God has for us, regardless of our circumstances. In the end, if you’re with God, it’s all good.
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