Genesis 40: 1-23
The story so far has Joseph sold by his own brothers into slavery in Egypt. He is an honest man, who worships the Lord God, Who gives him grace in the eyes of his master Potiphar, who puts him in charge of his whole estate. Then when Joseph refuses his master's wife's seductions, Potiphar has to put him in jail to protect his family's reputation. And the chief jailer also recognized Joseph's abilities and gave him responsibility for taking care of the other prisoners.
(1) Then it came about after these things, the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. (2) Pharoah was furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. (3) So he put them in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned.
This was the elite jail where they would put the servants of the king who offended him, not the common jail full of criminals. And the royal chief cupbearer and the royal chief baker did something that angered the king, so he put them into the jail where Joseph was.
(4) The captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he took care of them; and they were in confinement for some time.
The captain of the bodyguard was Potiphar, and he knew Joseph, so he made sure that Joseph had charge of these king's servants, to take good care of them.
(5) Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation.
They'd been there for some time, which could have been several months. Now these two officials each have a significant dream in the same night.
(6) When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, behold, they were dejected. (7) He asked Pharaoh's officials who were with him in confinement in his master's house, "Why are your faces so sad today?" (8) Then they said to him, "We have had a dream and there is no one to interpret it." Then Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please."
Joseph is serving the servants of the king, who are in the jail with him, and as he prepares their morning routines, he notices how dejected they were, even more so than usual; and they relate to him that they each had a dream.
Joseph tells them that only the Lord God can give a dream that has an interpretation, and he encourages them to tell him their dream.
(9) So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, "In my dream, behold, there was a vine in front of me; (10) and on the vine were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its clusters of ripe grapes. (11) Now Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh's hand."
The cupbearer goes first, and tells his dream to Joseph, which relates to his job for Pharaoh in being his cupbearer.
(12) Then Joseph said to him, "This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days; (13) within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and and you will put Pharaoh's cup into his hand according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer.
This is good news. In three days, Pharaoh will give him back his job.
(14) "Only keep me in mind when it goes well with you, and please do me a kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house. (15) For I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon."
And, since he will be serving Pharaoh in a very personal way, Joseph asks him a favor, to put in a good word for him to the king, since he never should have been in that jail in the first place, to give him justice.
(16) When the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, he said to Joseph, "I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head; (17) and in the top basket there were some of all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head."
Since the cupbearer got such good news, the baker was encouraged to also tell him his dream; and it also was about his job for the king.
(18) Then Joseph answered and said, "This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; (19) Within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you."
This was not so good a prospect. Again, in three days Pharaoh will decide about this servant, too, and execute him.
(20) Thus it came about on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants;
It's Pharaoh's birthday and he gives himself a party with all his servants.
and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.
Pharaoh used the party to lift up the head of his servants in jail, too. He called them out of the prison to the party, and pronounced sentence on them both.
(21) He restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and he put the cup into Pharaoh's hand; (22) but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them.
Possibly, the king had been doing some investigating while both men were confined, and deduced that the blame for whatever went down accrued to his baker.
(23) Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Now that the cupbearer is again serving the king at his side, in all the excitement of getting his job back, he completely forgets all about Joseph. He gets into the regimen of his old workday routine, and never even thinks about his time in jail any more.
Joseph is still sitting, unjustly but patiently, in the jail.
O my Father, Joseph still was not released from confinement. But if he had been let out then, and allowed his freedom from the unjust slavery, he would have gone back home to his father Jacob, and not been there in Egypt to save his family from starvation! You knew he needed to be right there, and You remained with him to encourage him and keep him patiently serving the other prisoners while he waited for Your time.
O Father, help me also to continue to be patient, and lead me to be in the right place I'll need to be when my time comes, too. Just as Joseph didn't know what You were planning for him, I also do not know what You have planned for me, either. So I will continue to do what You lead me to do each day, looking for opportunities to share Your love with others.
My Father, let my words and my stories and my testimony of You go out to all the nations of the world, so that others will get to know You through my insights, and be drawn to seek you. Bring all Your embryos to the birth, and fill Your great house with all of Your uncountable children.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
