Genesis 40

Growing up, My brothers and I all went to Conway Christian school.

If you know anything about Conway Christian school, you know that K4 all the way through 12th grade all go to the same place.

It’s not separate schools like a lot of schools.

It’s a small school and so the elementary middle school and the high school are all in the same place.

And so, To the disappointment of my brothers they always had to take me to school with them and pick me up from school and take me home and all those things.

I remember one day Nathan and Tim had a baseball game, they both played for the school, but the game was an away game.

The game was close enough to where they didn’t drive the school bus.

They were able to drive their own vehicle over to the game, but they left before school ended.

And so I was there at school my brothers and my ride had gone to their baseball game.

Obviously, my dad and mom had communicated about arranging for me to be picked up from school.

And so I remember sitting by the flag pole at Conway Christian school all my friends having been picked up.

I’m sitting there and after about an hour, I am wondering when somebody was going to come and pick me up.

After a while, I started to panic a little bit.

You don’t understand things as a fourth grader and so I am worried.

Of course I didn’t arrange for me to be picked up.

That’s their job.

And so I’m just sitting there.

And I remember eventually leaving the flag pole and walking over to the school office, hoping that the secretary was still there.

She was not and so I remember wandering around the school and I finally found the janitor.

The janitor let me use a phone.

I called my dad and ask him who was going to come pick me up from school.

And from his response, it was obvious that he had forgotten something

My mom was on her way to my brother‘s baseball game.

My dad was on his way somewhere else.

And dad had forgotten to call my granddaddy to come and get me from school.

They had talked about it, but he never did it.

I’ll be honest with you… That didn’t feel good that day.

It never feels good to be forgotten. Does it?

As I think about that one minor inconvenience in my life, I can’t imagine how Joseph must’ve felt in this passage.

Forgotten.

Look with me beginning in verse number one.

Genesis 40:1–4 ESV

Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody.

And so the text says “some time after this.”

That is sometime after Joseph had been in prison and remember what we ended with last week.

Remember, Joseph had been wrongfully accused by his masters wife.

He had been thrown into prison

But even last week as we ended we saw where Joseph was blessed again… even in prison God was with him.

Joseph is given charge over the prison.

And after sometime, we’re not told how long. But after sometime. This is where the story picks back up in chapter 40.

And in chapter 40- Two interesting people are thrown into the prison where Joseph is.

You have the cup bearer of Pharaoh.

This is the man whose job it was to bring drinks.

And we understand from ancient history that the cupbearer was a very important position.

He was often a main confidant of the King.

He would’ve had to have been a trustworthy person to hold this title because he guarded the king from being poisoned with anything in his cup.

And then you have the baker of the king.

The baker have been in charge of cooking sweet treats, Amen?

He would have made the king bread, jalapeño cheese bread, cinnamon rolls, pumpkin desserts, blueberry bars and things like that.

Right Mrs. Pam?

Nevertheless, that is who we have here..

And so Joseph the cup bearer and a baker walked into a prison. Sounds like the start of a joke.

Actually, though it’s the continuation of God‘s providence in Joseph’s life.

As you look at this chapter and you see what happens here, what’s clear is there is an unseen hand, ordering the events of Joseph’s life to bring him to another place of leadership.

We said this last time— but I’ll say it again…

Even in prison, the Lord is with Joseph placing the right people in his path at the right time.

Proverbs 16:9 ESV

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

I’m convinced that the Lord is purposeful in the lives of his people.

You know while we are here— I just want to say I’m convinced that the Lord places individuals in our lives at specific times to help us in each specific season.

You know there are some people in my life.

I look back and I have regrets at how I interacted with them or how I allowed them to influence me or maybe even I regret how I influenced them.

But in the Providence of God, when I think about how he is ordering my life and ordering the lives of others, I think it’s important that we see that even people and our interactions with people are providential.

I don’t believe it’s an accident that both the Cupbearer and the baker and Joseph are in the prison at the same time.

This is no accident of nature that this happens.

This is the plan of God.

Keep reading with me and will see this.

Genesis 40:5–8 ESV

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. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” 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.”

And so in the Providence of God, Though he is in prison himself, Joseph is ruling over the prison and the prisoners.

And so one of his jobs is to check on the prisoners.

And So, one morning he gets up and he goes to the cup bearer and the baker and they both look dejected.

They are troubled.

And they are troubled because they’ve had a dream and they have no one to interpret the dream.

Now, as pharaoh’s cup bearer and Baker, these two men are most likely not godly individuals seeking out God first for God‘s will over their lives.

Whenever they speak of interpreters for their dreams, most likely, these men would’ve engaged in dark arts with regard to the interpretation of their dream.

If something were troubling them they would’ve found what we in our modern day will call a fortuneteller.

And so they’re upset that they’re in prison and they’ve had this dream but they have no one to tell them what the dream means.

And Joseph notices!

Now let’s take a moment to appreciate this.

Isn’t that amazing that Joseph after all his troubles would take time to care?

If anybody’s had trouble with dreams, it’s Joseph. Remember, it was Joseph’s dreams that landed him in the pit before. Which now has him in another pit.

And so he could’ve looked at these guys and said quit your whining about your dreams. If anybody should be whining about dreams, it’s me.

But that’s not what he does.

He doesn’t allow the difficulties of his own life. remove his heart for others and their suffering.

You know it’s often true that Suffering can have the tendency to turn us inward.

Where we can’t think about anybody but ourselves.

This is not the case with Joseph

Joseph notices others even in the middle of his suffering

Joseph, then hearing their problem, makes a statement “do not interpretations belong to God?”

So Joseph says, tell me the dream.

Genesis 40:9–19 ESV

So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. 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.” Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. 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. 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. 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.” 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, 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.” And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. 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.”

And so just in summary the cup bearer’s dream.

in the dream— There are three branches and it’s budding.

It produces grapes and he takes the grapes and squeezes them into Pharaoh’s cup and puts Pharaoh’s cup in Pharaoh hand.

Joseph then gives the interpretation..

That his dream points forward to his restoration as the cup bearer in the house of pharaoh.

Three days from now he will be restored to his once prominent position again. He will indeed again be the cupbearer of Pharoah.

Wow. Can you imagine the excitement here for this guy.. I’m going to get my job back and get out of this prison.

So you can imagine the excitement here for the baker.

His dream is similar.

The number three was in the cup bearer’s dream.

And so he starts telling Joseph his dream. Hoping for the same type of interpretation.

However, the baker’s dream points to his own death.

That in three days, Pharaoh is going to kill the baker.

Joseph delivers the good news to the cup bearer.

And he delivers the bad news to the baker.

One comment on this passage was that Joseph faithfully delivers both messages — the pleasant and the painful — without alteration and this A model of faithful proclamation.

This is what God calls all his people to.

Truthfulness.

A person who won’t tell you, the truth is not your friend.

A person who will tell you the truth even when it’s difficult to hear is your friend.

Think about the blessing that this would’ve been to the baker.

Yes, he was delivered bad news, but he knows that in three days he will meet his maker.

So Joseph is a friend to both of them. In telling them the truth.

Now there’s something unique here I want to emphasize.

This brings up the question dreams and the interpretation of dreams.

What should you do with your dreams?

It’s obvious here that Joseph has the gift of the interpretation of dreams.

I believe this is given to him uniquely by God for this specific time and purpose.

I believe that Joseph knows the interpretation of the dream because God gives it to him on the spot.

He really serves here in the role of an OT prophet as he reveals God’s will to these two men.

I do think that in scripture we find these specialized gifting for people within the storyline of the Bible.

Certainly there are people who were inspired of the spirit of God who wrote down scripture.

And so in the past, God has used these specialized gifting and ministries in the lives of the people in the Bible.

However, there’s something different now than then.

We now have the fullness of God’s revelation to us.

We now have the completed Canon scripture.

I do not believe that God is inspiring any more scripture to be written.

Furthermore, I would caution you about putting stock into the information you see in your dreams.

I would discourage you from setting up an appointment with me to tell me about your dreams thinking that I could somehow tell you what that dream means.

Just know my encouragement to you is going to be this— the word of God is sufficient and perfect, and it is all that God intends for us to have and its good enough.

If you wish to know, God‘s will. Take it up and read.

I said this on Sunday night, but I think many people look for private revelation from God whenever we have the perfect word of God contained within the scriptures in its fullness.

And so what we found here in this account here of Joseph is much like the accounts we find in the book of acts in the early church of the miraculous things happening during that time.

We have to understand that these were special times in redemptive history, where God was doing some special things.

And so I think the best way to understand this is that the accounts like this are descriptive, not prescriptive for today.

They describe what happened accurately. But they are not prescribing for us. What we should seek to do today.

We live in a different time in redemptive history.

We have the fullness of God‘s word and in that he has revealed all that we need for life and godliness.

2 Peter 1:3 ESV

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,

So if you want to know God‘s will read your Bible.

Now, Joseph proves to be a true prophet. He proves to be right in their dreams.

Look beginning in verse 20…

Genesis 40:20–22 ESV

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. He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.

Everything Joseph says, happens.

Everything just as he said it would happen happened.

God had given him grace and his providence. He is accurate and everything that he says.

But then we see something that really makes us sad.

Remember what Joseph said to the cupbearer.

Genesis 40:14–15 ESV

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. 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.”

Joseph here, knowing that God is going to give the cupbearer his position back, he begs him not to forget him. He begs him to remember him whenever he comes back into his role.

And he even explains the injustice of his current condition.

He was kidnapped. He was sold. And now he sits in prison for a crime he did not do.

Then we get to verse 23 and we read—

Genesis 40:23 ESV

Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Now, that is how this chapter ends, but I do want you to take a quick peek at verse number one of chapter 41.

Genesis 41:1 ESV

After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile,

That dream of Pharoah we will see will lead to Joseph finally getting out of prison.

But that doesn’t change the misery of the moment for Joseph.

The cupbearer forgot Joseph. And Joseph sits in that prison for two whole years.

Imagine the days after.. waiting.. and then weeks, and then months.

Joseph sits there.

Forgotten.

Waiting.

Wondering.

Two years is a long time.

But what is amazing to me, is that the Bible never records Joseph getting angry.

Did he? He may have, but it seems Joseph continues to trust God.

he doesn’t say, you know God, how could you let him forget?

Haven’t I been serving you here ?

Don’t you love me?

No we don’t see any of that.

And this is what we are called to do.

In case you are wondering, I don’t think we are ever in the right to be angry at God.

To be angry at God about our situation implies that we think we are wiser than God and more good than God.

God is good. Eternally and infintiely Good.

For next week, we will see that even though it took longer, God was holding Joseph there, preserving Joseph there until the proper time.

God in his kind providence though it may have been tough for Jospeh, kept the prison door shut, so that he could open the door to Pharoah’s palace for him.

All in all to say, we will see next week, that though Joseph is forgotten by men. God has never forgotten him.

Though it seems that man has left him never to remember him.

The Lord has never left him, but is waiting for the right time.

Let me just say…

This is hard.

I think waiting on the Lord is one of the hardest things to do.

There have been periods in my life where I felt like I prayed and prayed, and prayed for things and waited and waited and waited, and then one day almost even after I had forgotten it, the Lord brings it to be.

God‘s providence is sometimes slow, but I think we must understand that God is never slow and he has never still.

He was always working always guiding. Even always guarding our lives and preserving our live lives for the very purposes he has for us.

There have been times in my life where I thought why me Lord?

There have been times where I wrestle with why is this have to happen now.

There have been times where I think to myself this could not have come at a worst time.

And yet looking back at many of those instances, I see God’s hand working a beautiful plan that I could’ve never envisioned.

So maybe you find yourself in a period of waiting currently.

One thing I would tell you from this passage is , number 1, don’t miss the ministry that God has placed in front of you while you wait.

Joseph here ministered to the prisoners.

It will be that ministry that will lead to next chapter him being remembered, and being brought out of that prison and into the house of Pharaoh.

Just because you feel like something is delayed, does not mean that God is denying that you will still be useful to him.

And what I have found is this - God’s plan is better than what I think should be the plan.

Two more years will pass before God brings Joseph before Pharaoh — but His plan is unfolding perfectly.

God is doing ALL of this, for the good of Joseph, for the good of Israel, and ultimately for the good of the world.

Even this two years stent in prison for Jospel, serves the redemptive narrative in which Christ will come and die for his people.

I’ll end with this

God is faithful. You can trust him. You are not forgotten.