Genesis 40.1-4-Pharaoh's Cupbearer and Baker are Imprisoned with Joseph
Tuesday December 12, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 40:1-4-Pharaoh’s Cupbearer and Baker are Imprisoned with Joseph
Lesson # 253
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 40:1.
This evening we will begin a study of Genesis 40, which contains the story of Joseph interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker who were imprisoned with Joseph because they offended Pharaoh.
Let’s begin by reading the entire chapter and then we will look at in detail the first four verses.
Genesis 40:1, “Then it came about after these things, the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt.”
Genesis 40:2, “Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.”
Genesis 40:3, “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.”
Genesis 40:4, “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.”
Genesis 40:5, “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.”
Genesis 40:6, “When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, behold, they were dejected.”
Genesis 40:7, “He asked Pharaoh's officials who were with him in confinement in his master's house, ‘Why are your faces so sad today?’”
Genesis 40:8, “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.’”
Genesis 40:9-10, “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; and on the vine were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its clusters produced ripe grapes.’”
Genesis 40:11, “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.”
Genesis 40:12-13, “Then Joseph said to him, ‘This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days; within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you will put Pharaoh's cup into his hand according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer.’”
Genesis 40:14, “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.”
Genesis 40:15, “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.”
Genesis 40:16-17, “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; 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.’”
Genesis 40:18-19, “Then Joseph answered and said, ‘This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; 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.’”
Genesis 40:20, “Thus it came about on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.”
Genesis 40:21-22, “He restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and he put the cup into Pharaoh's hand; but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them.”
Genesis 40:23, “Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.”
Now, let’s begin to look at in detail Genesis 40:1-4, which records Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker being incarcerated in the same prison as Joseph.
Genesis 40:1, “Then it came about after these things, the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt.”
Genesis 40:2, “Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.”
“After these things” indicates that the events recorded in Genesis 40 took place after the events of Genesis 39, which records Potiphar imprisoning Joseph as a result of his wife accusing Joseph of disrobing in front of her.
The title “the king of Egypt” is synonymous with the designation “Pharaoh” which in the Hebrew means, “great house” and was the title of the kings of Egypt until 323 B.C. and meant something like “his honor, his majesty.”
The “Pharaoh” or “king of Egypt” during the time of Joseph’s imprisonment would have been Sesostris II (1897-1878 B.C.) and whose dreams Joseph interpreted and whom he served as prime minister.
“The Cupbearer” was an important official who held a position of trust in the Egyptian court since he was responsible for protecting the king from being poisoned by the beverages he was served.
Therefore, his loyalty to the king had to be beyond reproach because of the sensitivity of his position and as a result these officials were often wealthy and influential as Egyptian documents testify (See Nehemiah 1:11).
Nehemiah occupied a similar position in the Persian court according to Nehemiah 1:11-2:8.
Also, in many cases they became confidants and favorites of the kings they served and wielded political influence.
“The baker” was also an important official who held a position of trust in the Egyptian court since he was responsible for preparing the food that the king would eat.
Therefore, both the “cupbearer” and the “baker” of Pharaoh attended to his food and drink and had close access to him and both could play a role in a conspiracy against him.
“Offended” is the verb chata (afj) (khaw-taw), which is in the qal stem and means, “to be guilty of a moral wrongdoing,” which causes offense to another.
Therefore, this verb indicates that Pharaoh was justified in his anger towards the cupbearer and the baker since they were guilty of a moral wrongdoing, which offended Pharaoh, the king of Egypt but what they did is not identified to the reader by the Scriptures.
In contrast to Joseph who was imprisoned unjustly for a crime he did not commit, the imprisonment of the “cupbearer” and the “baker” had been justified because they were guilty of moral wrongdoing that offended their master, Pharaoh.
Unlike, Joseph who did not commit a crime against his master, Potiphar, the cupbearer and the baker did commit an offense against their master, Pharaoh.
“Officials” is the noun saris (syr!s*), which refers to either court officials or to literal eunuchs and is regarded as a loanword from Akkadian referring to a high-ranking court official, which in early biblical literature appears to be the meaning.
However, in later times, the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians adopted the practice of castrating those who served in the royal palace and the harems.
Consequently, the term came to mean “eunuch” meaning a castrated male, thus one who is sexually impotent.
Kings did not wish to risk a son of a servant being an heir to the throne.
The cupbearer and the baker were probably eunuchs and castrated since they were part of Pharaoh’s court unlike Potiphar as indicated in that he had a wife.
Genesis 40:3, “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.”
“Confinement” is the noun mishmar (rm*v+m!) (mish-mawr), which means, “custody.”
Therefore, Pharaoh placed his cupbearer and baker in the “custody” of the captain of the bodyguard, who was Potiphar.
“Bodyguard” is the noun tabbach (jBf^) (tab-bawkh), which means, “butcher,” or “cook” and is derived from the verb tavach (jb^f) (taw-vakh), which means, “to slaughter.”
Basically, the connotation of the verbal root is to deliberately “butcher” or “slaughter” an animal for food.
However, this concept is also used metaphorically to indicate the killing of human beings.
When tabbach appears in the plural as it does in Genesis 37:36, it means, “bodyguards” or “executioners.”
The word appears 32 times in the Hebrew Old Testament and appears twice in 1 Samuel 9:23f with the meaning “cook” and 30 times and always in the plural with the meaning “bodyguards” (cf. Genesis 39:1; 2 Kings 25:8; Jeremiah 39:9ff).
The history of this term tells us that the bodyguards had as one of their responsibilities the slaughtering and preparing of animals for food (Compare Genesis 40:2) and these men functioned also as executioners.
Therefore, the expression “the captain of the bodyguard” reveals that Potiphar was the leader of not only the royal bodyguards offering protection to Pharaoh and his family but also he was one of the royal executioners for Pharaoh who executed capital sentences ordered by Pharaoh.
“Jail” is composed of the noun bayith (ty!B^) (bah-yith), which means, “house” and the articular noun sohar (rh^s)) (so-har), which means, “prison,” thus a “prison house” and was a fortified prison and was usually attached to the dwelling of such an officer as Potiphar.
It was partly a underground dungeon according to Genesis 41:14, though the brick-built walls rose considerably above the surface of the ground, and were surmounted by a vaulted roof, somewhat in the form of an inverted bowl.
Genesis 40:3 records that Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker were imprisoned in the house of the captain of the bodyguard who we know was Potiphar and Genesis 40:7 records that this prison was located in Potiphar’s house as indicated by the phrase “in his (Joseph’s) master’s house,” and which dungeon was in the basement.
If we compare these passages of Scripture we know that Joseph was imprisoned in a house which belonged to the “captain of the bodyguard” (Genesis 40:3), and we know this captain to be Potiphar (Genesis 39:1).
Furthermore, Joseph is said to have been in confinement “in his master’s house” (Genesis 40:7), which we know was Potiphar’s house.
Therefore, the prison house under the warden was situated on the estate of the captain of the bodyguard who was Potiphar, Joseph’s master.
Genesis 40:4, “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.”
Genesis 40:4 records that the captain of the bodyguard, who was none other than Potiphar put Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker under Joseph’s authority.
Remember, the prison warden was under the authority of Potiphar and we saw that the prison warden gave authority to Joseph over all the prisoners according to Genesis 39:21-23.
Therefore, Joseph was functioning in the place of the prison warden.
Genesis 39:22, “The chief jailer committed to Joseph's charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it.”
Genesis 39:23, “The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made to prosper.”
The prison warden who was under Potiphar’s authority would have known of Joseph’s administrative skills and was either ordered by Potiphar or decided himself to delegate authority to Joseph over the entire prison population.
The fact that Potiphar would do such a thing is further evidence that Potiphar believed Joseph to be innocent of the charges leveled at him by his wife since he wouldn’t have done so if he thought Joseph guilty.
Genesis 40:4, “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.”
“Put…in charge of” is the verb paqadh (dq^P*) (paw-kad), which is used in an administrative context and involves the appointing of Joseph over Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker as well as entrusting these high ranking officials in Pharaoh’s court to Joseph.
This same verb appears in Genesis 39:4 and was used to describe Potiphar appointing Joseph the overseer of his entire estate.
Potiphar knew that either the cupbearer and the baker or both could be released and restored to the favor of Pharaoh.
Therefore, he knew it would be wise to treat these men very well since if he didn’t and they were restored to their former positions, they would bear a grudge against him and speak badly of him to Pharaoh and so he entrusts these men to Joseph who he knew would take good care of these men.
The expression “he (Joseph) took care of them (Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker)” in the Hebrew literally means that Joseph “waited on” or “served” these men as indicated by the verb sharath (tr^v*) (shaw-rath), which appears in Genesis 39:4 describing Joseph “serving” as Potiphar’s personal servant.
This expression emphasizes again Joseph’s role as a servant and was another test for Joseph since he would not have authority over them but rather be their servants.
Joseph performed his duties as unto the Lord, which is a principle that the apostle Paul taught to the slaves residing in the churches throughout the Roman Empire in the first century (See Ephesians 6:5-8).
Colossians 3:22, “Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.”
Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.”
Colossians 3:24, “knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”
The fact that Pharaoh’s cupbearer was incarcerated in the same prison as Joseph was another manifestation of the providence of God in Joseph’s life.
The providence of God is the divine outworking of the divine decree, the object being the final manifestation of God’s glory and expresses the fact that the world and our lives are not ruled by chance or fate but by God.
Therefore, the fact that Pharaoh’s cupbearer was incarcerated in the same prison as Joseph did not happen by chance or fate but because God ordained for it to take place in order to fulfill His plan for Joseph’s family and to bring glory to Himself.
The fact that a high ranking official in Pharaoh’s court would be incarcerated in the same prison as Joseph was a manifestation of the providence of God in Joseph’s life since the cupbearer would introduce Joseph to Pharaoh according to Genesis 41:9-14.
The cupbearer introduced Joseph to Pharaoh since the latter was troubled by dreams, which Joseph interpreted and which led to Pharaoh promoting Joseph to prime minister of Egypt.