GENESIS

Notes on Genesis 40

Genesis 40:1 And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt.

God warned Israel once when they wanted a king like other nations that a king would assume power so much so that they could take their sons or daughters into their service without anyone's permission to do so. Kings are not like the president of the United States that have limited powers that the founding fathers made under a constitution. They can't assume full authority like a dictator.

Every time I read the bible, I am thankful for the United States. Sometimes we hear of people who hate the United States and we do have our faults but the freedom here is tremendous compared to societies of the past and even some present countries. It is the balance of power that is in our constitution, that makes our government, not perfect of course, but the best government in existence today.

The only drawback is that the freedom to do good also brings freedom to do evil and some of the evil we choose, break the laws of God and will cause us to eventually face God's judgment if we do not repent and exercise restraint on moral issues. We are not going to get by with abortion, fornication and adultery. That is just a few of our moral evils in this country. There are more. We think we are getting by with this stuff but eventually it will catch up with us and could remove God's hand of protection from out country.

Genesis 40:2 And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers.
3 And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.
4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward.
5 And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.

Evidently their dreams meant something pertaining to their near future. I certainly hope some of my crazy dreams do not mean anything. Sometimes our dreams are just results of something that happens during the day and do not mean anything. If we remember the dreams and they seem different than usual they may have a meaning. If they are from God, however, I believe He will make a way for us to understand them. In this case, God prepared Joseph to be able to interpret the dreams. This was making the way for Joseph to eventually be able to become a ruler in Egypt.

Genesis 40:6 And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad.
7 And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly today?

This shows us what kind of a person Joseph was. He was a man of compassion and that cared when someone was not happy.

I remember when I was a child in grade school, I saw a little girl sitting alone and crying. I went over to her and asked her what was the matter. I felt compassion and cared. The girl snapped at me and said, "None of your business." I immediately left her alone and went away. After school that day, she was with either her sisters or friends and they got behind me walking home and started pushing me and shoving me around. I was alone. We got to the corner where I was going a different way than them so I escaped further abuse.

This crazy incident effected my whole life I think. I very seldom will go up to a stranger to try to help them. It takes the spirit of God and a very strong prompting of the spirit before I will venture to ask someone if they need my help. The saying, once bitten, twice shy is true in my case. I had forgotten this for years until I wondered why I wasn't a compassionate caring person like other Christians. This incident came to my mind and I realized that it wasn't because I lack compassion but was afraid of doing the wrong thing and making things worse for the person hurting. I guess the little girl misinterpreted my concern and thought I was just being nosy. I do have a fear of doing the wrong things at the wrong time. I don't think I had that fear as a child before that incident.

Genesis 40:8 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.

Truly godly interpretations are from the Lord.

Genesis 40:9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;
10 And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:
11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.
12 And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days:
13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.
14 But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:
15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

This shows us that even though Joseph was doing well in the places where he ended up, his real desire was to go back home and be free.

Genesis 40:16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head:
17 And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of baked meats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.
18 And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days:
19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.
20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.
21 And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand:
22 But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.
23 Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him.

He was so happy to be restored to his own place that the sufferings of Joseph was forgotten. It is sad that the only time we remember those that are hurting is when we are hurting. When things are going well for us, we tend to forget those that are in trouble. Another reason could have been that the butler didn't want to jeopardize his restoration to his butler position by bringing up mentioning Joseph. What we would call, rocking the boat.

There are people today in countries where the gospel of Jesus Christ is not welcome. They are being persecuted and even killed for believing in Jesus. We need to remember them and pray for them that their faith fail not and that they may reach the lost. Sometimes though I wonder if we should desire their prayers for us. They risk their lives to share the gospel. We in the United States have the freedom to share the gospel without any harm coming to us but yet, I wonder if we do enough. Do we share the gospel enough? Something to think about. DC

Genesis 41