Genesis 40:1-23

February 12, 2017

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

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The sermon starts at 17:01 in the audio file.

Or, A Place Where Dreams Come True

If we didn’t know the end of this story or know one critical piece of the context we would have a hard time believing that Joseph was going to be alright. So far in Genesis, every step forward he’s taken has been followed by five steps back; his trajectory is mostly down and to the wrong. After dreaming about his brothers bowing before him they sold him as a slave. After bringing abundance to the house of Potiphar the wife of Potiphar falsely accused him of attempted rape and he was thrown in prison. In chapter 40, while showing remarkable kindness and giftedness, he is no better off by the end, at least so it seems. He cared for two officials of the Pharaoh, he told the future to these officials, and he was still forgotten.

Joseph was 17 at the start of chapter 37, he is 30 when he starts working for Pharaoh at the end of chapter 41. At this point it’s probably been over ten years, and “seemed to himself to be buried in perpetual oblivion” (Calvin).

The decisive piece of context is found in chapter 39, namely, that the LORD was with him. The LORD’s presence with Joseph punctuates long sentences of faithful work and troubles, but the punctuation changes the tone of how we read the sentences. Even in prison “the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison” (Genesis 39:21). It got to the point that “the keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the LORD was with him” (39:23). So when a unique window opens, Joseph was in position.

In chapter 40 we’ll see Duties Performed (verses 1-4), Dreams Interpreted (verses 5-19), and Deeds Forgotten (verses 20-23).

Duties Performed (verses 1-4)

We already learned that “whatever [Joseph] did the LORD made it succeed” (39:23). Joseph had worked himself up to doing the warden’s work even though he was one of the wards; it’s like the fresh donut on top of a napkin on top of the garbage pile of his situation: the best in a bad situation. Then one day wheels jumped the rut of routine.

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. (Genesis 40:1–4)

The chief cupbearer and chief baker were much more than kitchen help, they were similar to senior cabinet members. Their arrival was hot news in the prison and all throughout Pharaoh’s household; they were household names. The cupbearer had responsibility to secure wine for Pharaoh and to keep the wine secure, meaning that he put his own life on the line by testing the drink for poison. He tested by drinking it, not by using a pH balance kit. This role put him close to the king and cupbearers often became confidants and counselors to the crown, as later seen between Nehemiah and Artaxerxes.

The baker may not have had such an intimate connection, but his responsibilities also brought him into frequent contact with the king.

Both of them committed an offense against their lord. Was it the same offense? Were they separate offenses but committed at the same time? What was the offense? Moses doesn’t say, mainly because that doesn’t matter for the point of the story and probably also because it lets us imagine a more serious conspiracy against the king. Pharaoh was angry.

It just so happened that Pharaoh put them in the prison where Joseph was confined, and it just so happened that the captain of the guard, the title given to Potiphar in t[...]