Genesis 40.16-19-Joseph Interprets the Dream of the Baker
Thursday December 14, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 40:16-19-Joseph Interprets the Dream of the Baker
Lesson # 255
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 40:1.
This evening we will continue with our 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.
Genesis 40:1-4 records Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker being incarcerated in the same prison as Joseph.
Last evening we noted Genesis 40:5-15, which records Joseph interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and making a personal request of the cupbearer to bring to Pharaoh’s attention his situation.
This evening we will study Joseph’s interpretation of the baker’s dream, which is recorded in Genesis 40:16-19.
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 40:9-11 reveals the content of the cupbearer’s dream whereas Genesis 40:12-13 records Joseph’s interpretation of the dream.
Genesis 40:14-15 records Joseph making a personal request for intercession by the cupbearer to Pharaoh in his behalf.
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 records the content of the baker’s dream and Genesis 40:18-19 records Joseph’s interpretation of the dream.
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.’”
Like the cupbearer, the dream of the baker reflects his profession.
Now once Joseph had given the cupbearer a favorable interpretation of his dream, the baker felt encouraged and compelled to relate his dream to Joseph as well since his dream was similar to that of the cupbearer’s dream where the number three was predominate.
However, Joseph’s interpretation of the baker’s dream was not favorable.
Like the cupbearer’s dream, the number three dominates the baker’s dream.
The three baskets represent or signify three days.
The recurrence of the number three confirms the fulfillment of the dream in three days.
A comparison of Genesis 40:9-13 and Genesis 40:20 reveals that Pharaoh’s birthday took place three days after Joseph interpreted the dream of the cupbearer.
The image of “all sorts of baked food” on the head of the baker in his dream is reflected in Egyptian hieroglyphics, which lists thirty-eight kinds of cake and fifty-seven varieties of bread.
The prepositional phrase “on my head” appears once in Genesis 40:16 and 17.
It is interesting that in Egyptian art portrays bakers carrying a basket on their head, which is a fitting image since the baker will be executed by decapitation (See Genesis 40:17, 19).
Notice that unlike the cupbearer who serves Pharaoh in his dream, the baker does not serve Pharaoh in his dream.
In fact, the food that the baker is carrying in the dream does not even reach the mouth of Pharaoh since it is eaten by birds, which symbolizes the devouring of the baker’s body by the vultures.
The statement “the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head” symbolizes the baker’s unconscionable failure to protect Pharaoh’s table from poison since he never drives the birds away from the baked goods that was in a basket on his head.
The expression “Lift up your head from you” refers to the form of capital punishment the baker will be subject to, namely, decapitation.
The statement “will hang you on a tree” would be better translated “will impale you on a pole.”
The reason for this rendering is that the Hebrew text contains the verb talah (hlT) (taw-law), which is translated “hang” however, it means, “to impale” and also the noun `ets (Ju@) (ates), which is translated “tree” but refers to a pole cut from a tree.
Further supporting this rendering is that the baker was decapitated thus making it impossible for him to be hanged.
The prediction that “the birds will eat your flesh off you” reveals that the baker’s corpse would be publicly exposed after execution and pecked by carrion birds.
This severe punishment rather than a decent burial indicates that in the eyes of Pharaoh, the baker committed a crime that demanded public censure.
The Egyptian belief system motivated them to pay special attention to the body after death, thus this type of severe punishment was considered awful by the Egyptians since they believed that this type of punishment prevented the victim’s spirit from resting in the afterlife.
Notice also that Joseph tells it like it is, which is an essential quality for a leader.
Because of our sin natures, we are naturally inclined to gather about us men who will tell us what we want to hear rather than to confront us with what we need to hear.
The apostle Paul predicts to Timothy that this attitude of surrounding oneself with people who will only tell you want you want to hear is sign of the end times.
2 Timothy 4:1-2, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”
2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
The news Joseph had to share with Pharaoh was not entirely good news, but it was the truth.
On the basis of this message from God, provision could be made for the times of adversity which lay ahead.
Pharaoh wanted a man under him who would tell him the truth, not give him reports designed only to make him feel good about his admin¬istration.
This unpleasant task of telling the baker what his future held was not only for his good, but for Joseph’s, who would continue to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).
Joseph didn’t pull any punches with the baker and informed him that he would die, which reflects his integrity in that he told the truth since he could have told him anything and the baker would have never known the difference.
Joseph wasn’t trying to win friends but was concerned about representing God.
Joseph’s interpretation of the baker’s dream, which speaks of impending judgment seems severe to us but we must remember that it was given to him by God in order to bring this man to a saving knowledge of Joseph’s God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is why Jonah dreaded preaching a message of condemnation to the people of Ninevah (cf. Jonah 3:5 4:3).
He knew that God was gracious and not willing that men should perish but that they come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 2:4, “God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
In the same way, the prediction of the death of the baker was intended to bring him to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ who is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.
As Christians we must not only be prepared to tell the unsaved the good news of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone but also to tell them that they will be judged for rejecting Christ as Savior.
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:17, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
John 3:18, “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Hebrews 9:27, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.”
Those who reject Jesus Christ as Savior will be thrown into the eternal Lake of Fire forever and ever.
Every unbeliever in history will have to stand before Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment, which will take place at the end of human history and is the judgment of all unregenerate humanity in human history for the rejection of Christ as Savior (Rev. 20:11-15).
Revelation 20:1, ‘Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.”
Revelation 20:2-3, ‘And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.”
Revelation 20:4, “Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”
Revelation 20:5, “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.”
Revelation 20:6, “Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.”
Revelation 20:7-8, “When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.”
Revelation 20:9, “And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.”
Revelation 20:10, “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Revelation 20:11, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.”
Revelation 20:12, “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”
Revelation 20:13, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.”
Revelation 20:14, “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”
Revelation 20:15, “And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”