Joseph Interprets Dreams - Part 1 (Gen 40)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Genesis 40.

As you’re turning there, let me refresh your memory with where we are in Genesis—we’ve been following the life of Joseph, one of Jacob—now named Israel’s—sons and we’ve realized that he’s essentially living a life in which the situations around him seem to get worse and worse and worse.

When we first see him, he’s clearly the favored son of Israel—he has a special coat, which gives the impression of not being a laborer in the fields, but an overseer. We immediately see him having a few dreams and these dreams essentially puts him at odds with his siblings—the dreams given to him by God show him to be over his brothers and even his parents in some way.

So, his siblings concoct a plan—originally to murder him, but through some discussion, they decide to sell him into slavery instead—and that’s exactly what they do, they sell him to some merchants that happen to travel by them.

And those merchants eventually sell him to a man named Potiphar, who realizes that there’s something unique about Joseph—and while Potiphar probably wouldn’t admit that Yahweh was really the reason for Joseph’s work being blessed—we know with hindsight, through God’s Word, that that’s exactly why Joseph’s work was blessed.

Unfortunately, while working for Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife developed an appetite for Joseph and tries to seduce him multiple times—and though Joseph does act in integrity and refuses her advances, she gets angry, lies, and accuses him of attempting to rape her.

So, Joseph winds up in prison and that’s when we step back into his life—Joseph is in prison, he’s serving as the overseer of the prison, when he meets two prisoners who are about to change things significantly for him—though we won’t see that as of yet.

Read Genesis 40 with me.

Genesis 40 ESV

1 Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. 2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3 and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. 4 The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody. 5 And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. 6 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” 8 They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.” 9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, 10 and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. 11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” 12 Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. 13 In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer. 14 Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. 15 For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.” 16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, 17 and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” 18 And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. 19 In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.” 20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

As we study this passage, we’re going to look at it in two parts: (1) The Dreams (1-19) and (2) The Dreams’ Conclusions (20-23). Really, we could probably just do all this in one part, but I think it might help to divide it with the intent of looking at dreams and God’s providence in more detail towards the end. In this morning’s passage, the author, Moses, essentially lays the foundation for what will eventually save not just Joseph and his family, but really all of Israel in this passage—though, if we focus too much on the dreams, we might completely miss how God lays this foundation.

Ultimately, the idea that I want you to see today isn’t that you should seek dreams or that you should try to interpret someone else’s dreams, but that even though Joseph is in prison, even though Joseph’s forgotten about at the end of the text, God is still providentially working through all these situations—and it is the knowledge of God providentially working that gives us our application for the day—to trust that God really is working all things for the good of His people, even when we can’t see Him doing these things.

Prayer for Illumination

The Dreams (1-19)

The Setting (1-8)—Joseph is in prison, but this probably isn’t like a dark and dreary dungeon—this is a different type of prison that’s reserved specifically for Pharaoh’s prisoners.

The first two people that we’re introduced to in Genesis 40:1 remind us that this is Pharaoh’s prison and it tells them who they are.

We see the cupbearer and the baker of Pharaoh had been thrown into prison for some sort of offense, but we’re really not told what that offense was—truthfully, we don’t necessarily need to know what the offense was.

We just need to know that they’ve been imprisoned and they’re in the custody “in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined” — again, it doesn’t seem like a dungeon-like prison as it’s in the house of the captain of the guard and the captain of the guard appoints Joseph to be with them.

Of course, the king’s baker is very much a person who bakes food. A cupbearer, if you’re unfamiliar with the terminology would be almost like a butler to the king with the specific role of guarding against poison when serving the king.

After they’re initially imprisoned, they spend some unrevealed amount of time in custody before we’re told that they both have different dreams with different interpretations, but neither one of them can figure out what their dreams mean and their lack of interpretation causes them to be troubled.

When Joseph sees that they’re troubled, he checks on them and their response is that they’ve had dreams, but no one there can interpret them.

Joseph responds with, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.” — there’s an element in Joseph’s statement here in which he acknowledges God’s sovereignty.

Even while in prison, Joseph ultimately recognizes what Daniel will eventually say—that dreams and their interpretations are of the LORD, thus, who better to interpret dreams than the one with the gift of interpretation from the LORD.

In addition, even while in prison, Joseph recognizes that God was and still is providentially working throughout everything happening—so much so, that God is giving dreams and their interpretations even while he’s still in prison.

The Dreams and their Interpretations (9-19)—So, Joseph makes that comment and then we’re told of two different dreams—one from each person.

The Cupbearer’s Dream (9-13)—the cupbearer’s dream starts in v. 9 and is relatively simple.

The cupbearer has this dream in which there was a vine with three branches—and when those three branches blossomed, they ripened into grapes and he took the grapes, pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed it into Pharaoh’s hand.

Joseph, through God revealing the interpretation of that dream says that in three days, “Pharaoh will lift up [his] head and restore [him] to [his] office, and [he will] place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly.”

Or, in other words, though the cupbearer had somehow offended Pharaoh—it wouldn’t be long before the cupbearer would be restored into his original position.

The Chief Baker’s Dream (1-19)—the chief baker’s dream starts in v. 16 and part of the reason for the baker sharing his dream was because he heard that the interpretation for the cupbearer was favorable—however, the baker’s interpretation isn’t quite so favorably.

The baker had a dream in which there were three cake baskets on his head and in the uppermost basket there were varying types of baked food for Pharaoh, but rather than Pharaoh eating the food, birds were eating the food.

Joseph, through God revealing the interpretation of that dream says that in three days “Pharaoh will lift up [the baker’s] head—from [him] and hang [him] on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh” of his body.

Or, in other words, unlike the cupbearer—the baker had somehow offended Pharaoh and it wouldn’t be long before the baker pays for that offense with his life.

Joseph’s Request (14-15)—now wedged in-between the two dreams is a request from Joseph.

He gives the request in vv. 14-15 and you’ll notice that he only gives this request to the cupbearer, which makes sense since the interpretation for the baker includes the baker’s death.

He simply asks for the cupbearer to remember him and to do kindness towards him to “get [him] out of [prison].” Joseph explains the reasoning, “For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”

He says, “I was kidnapped and I’m innocent.”

Transition: So we see these dreams and their interpretations—and while they may seem almost like fever dreams, the reality is that God was providentially working through them and through Joseph and his interpretations of the dreams. How do we know? Because the last few verses shows us that the interpretation of the dreams that Joseph gave was absolutely correct—a sign of true revelation from God.

Look at the final four verses with me. vv. 20-23.

The Dreams’ Conclusions (20-23)

Genesis 40:20–23 ESV

20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Pharaoh’s Feast (20)—our text ends by giving us the results of the dreams and their interpretations.

The Bible says that on the third day, which would be the third day after their dreams were interpreted, it happened to be Pharaoh’s birthday and he had a large feast for all his servants.

During this feast, he brings the chief cupbearer and the chief baker up amongst all his servants—and he does exactly as Joseph said he would do.

As the dream stated, Pharaoh lifted up the chief cupbearer’s head by restoring him to his position; Pharaoh lifted up the baker’s head by hanging him, just as Joseph said.

Unfortunately for Joseph, despite asking the chief cupbearer to remember Joseph, the chief cupbearer didn’t.

The Bible says that all these things happened exactly as Joseph had interpreted them, “yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.”

We don’t know it from this passage, but we see in the very next verse that Joseph remained in that prison for another two years.

Concerning Dreams and Visions

Now, before we jump into application, I just want to take a few minutes to talk about dreams and visions because a lot of Christians read passages and assume that because God spoke to Joseph so many times through visions and dreams or because there are so many visions and dreams throughout the Bible, that must be a normative and maybe even a prescriptive thing—that we ought to always expect to hear from God through dreams and visions.

Let me encourage you to not assume that just because dreams and visions seem to be common that they actually are common—in fact, in Scripture, which is where we know for sure that a dream or a vision is from God because it is God’s breathed out text, dreams and visions aren’t actually common whatsoever:

We see them with the patriarchs on occasion—Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph.

We see them with prophets like Daniel and Ezekiel.

We see them rarely in the New Testament—Joseph, Mary, Peter, Paul, and John.

Notice how they went from occurring occasionally with the patriarchs to occurring rarely in the New Testament?

What that tells us is that the majority of God’s communication is through written or spoken means rather than through visions and dreams; and as the Bible continues, those sorts of revelation from God lessens and lessens and lessens.

And, the author of Hebrews actually explains that idea to us rather well. Hebrews 1:1–2 “1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

Before, God spoke through a variety of different ways; now, He speaks through His Son, whose Words we have recorded for us in Scripture.

So, should we continue looking for dreams and visions to hear from God? Or should we just read the Word that He has already given us?

Yes, dreams and visions are biblical means through which God has spoken to His people, but they’re not normative nor are they prescriptive—they’re rather rare and Scripture doesn’t encourage us seeking dreams and visions as a means to hear from God—rather, it encourages us to delight in the Word already given.

Transition: With that said, let’s talk a bit about our application.

Application

I’ve mentioned a few times so far that there seems to be something in Joseph’s life in which he keeps experiencing things that make his life worse and worse—he goes from being the favored son, to being thrown in a pit, to being sold into slavery, to being imprisoned, and now, to being forgotten by someone who could’ve potentially made his life better. Things just seemingly keep getting worse and worse in his life; and yet, those of us who are familiar with his life in Genesis knows that God is behind the scenes orchestrating not just his own salvation, but the salvation of his family, which will eventually become the start of the nation of Israel.

And that’s what our application is based on—that God is providentially working behind the scenes even during times in life when Joseph feels forgotten—even in moments of life when we feel forgotten—even in moments of life when you feel forgotten. Let’s talk about this.

God is always working providentially—If you look at this passage from a purely human perspective, it’s miserable, isn’t it?

We see glimpses in Joseph’s life when it seems like things are getting better.

We see him being the overseer of Potiphar’s house, we see him being the overseer of the prison, but every time it seems like things are good, things really don’t end up being good.

And yet, just when things seem to be getting better—we also see things getting worse, again, the pit, slavery, prison, etc.

Again, it’s miserable from a completely human perspective until you consider all that God is doing behind the scenes.

While Joseph is experiencing significant hardship in life, God is actually maneuvering things behind the scenes to cause Joseph to eventually be in a position of great power and authority that will save God’s covenant people.

While Joseph is in prison for an extra two years because someone had forgotten him, God is still working in the background—concerning a famine, concerning placing Joseph into a place of significant authority, concerning providing food and sustenance to both Joseph, his family, and really all of Egypt.

God’s plan is clearly far greater than Joseph being forgotten.

In fact, God’s plan is clearly far greater than his being forgotten, his imprisonment, his being sold into slavery, his being in a pit.

In fact, God’s plan is far greater than all the instances in Joseph’s life that seems to be great—his being favored, his special coat, his overseer roles not just with Potiphar, but even in prison.

Joseph feels forgotten in the moment, but God’s plan is far greater than his feelings—you might feel forgotten in this moment, but God’s plan is far greater than your feelings.

The reality is that God is constantly working—in particular, He’s constantly working to mature you and to grow you—even when you don’t realize that He is working in the background to mature you and to grow you.

In fact, I would suggest that the vast majority of the time that God is working to mature and grow you, you’re completely unaware of just how He is doing it.

A great example of this is school itself—those who are in school or those who remember being in school—you go to school day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year.

What you don’t realize as you’re working through class after class is how much you’re actually learning—how much you’re actually retaining—and most likely, you won’t recognize until much later in life, in the moment, it feels as if it’s just a waste day after day after day. Even though you don’t remember the time when you learned specific mathematical equations, or specific ideas or words or whatever it might be—you know the material even years later because you were taught.

Or for instance, I grew up playing musical instruments, you can see that I can play instruments, but I couldn’t tell you when exactly I learned which notes were which nor could i tell you exactly how I learned to play, but you know that I can play instruments.

Consider that in terms of God’s sanctifying of you—more than likely, you can’t remember exact dates or precise details, but who you are today is a product of God maturing you and growing you even in the background.

How often in life do you not realize what you’re learning until much later in life?

In the moment, you feel the difficulties and hardships, but a year from now, two years from now—several years from now, you recognize all the things that you learned through that situation.

God is constantly working and as part of that He is constantly working to mature you and to grow you.

As Christians, we can tie a lot of this in with God’s sovereign providence—the fact that He is in control and He is working within you.

God is providentially utilizing all things in your life to conform you into the image of Jesus Christ—as Romans 8:28–29 “28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

So, how do we apply all these various reminders? How do we apply this idea that we might feel forgotten today, but God is still working?

It’s actually really simple:

You might feel forgotten right now, but God is still working in your life—trust Him through this moment—He’s the all-powerful, all-sovereign, only good God, He’s worth your trust.

You might feel forgotten right now, but God is still working in your life—have hope through this moment—this isn’t the end, He’s working, so have hope.

You might feel forgotten right now, but God is still working in your life—keep serving, keep moving, keep going—your King is still worth serving.

When you feel that life is horrible, that everyone around you has forgotten you—God hasn’t forgotten you—He’s working, even when you can’t see it.

You might feel forgotten—but God is working. You may not see it now—but He is shaping you. So trust Him, have hope, and keep going.

Pastoral Prayer