The story of the life of Joseph is a study of what God does in the life of an individual, and not only in an individual, but also in the nation of Israel, descended from the 12 sons of Jacob, the founding fathers of the nation of Israel. The story of the survival of this nation is told against the background of the 11th born son of Jacob, and the first born of his favourite wife, Rachel.
This is the story
of Joseph. He is the main character of the closing chapters of Genesis,
although technically speaking the book of Genesis ends with the last
days and the death of his father, Jacob.
Dreams loom large in the next few
chapters. We have the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker here in the 40th
chapter. Chapter 41 deals with the dreams of the Egyptian Pharaoh and
Joseph’s interpretation of these and then the 42nd chapter
is essentially an account of Joseph’s dreams in Genesis 37
come true. There we shall see
that Joseph’s dreams come true.
In fact all the dreams described here come true!
When I preached last from Genesis
(20/06/21) we considered Genesis 39. The
very next day I heard that I was Covid
positive (Marcelle, 4 days later), and we
went through our own nightmare so to speak, although in a very real sense we knew God’s presence and by
His kind providence we were spared and brought
through this season.
It is this marvellous phrase, the kind providence of God, which draws our attention to the life of Joseph, and to this passage in particular. Poor Joseph! He had to go through so much and yet this key phrase in Genesis 39 must govern our thinking in terms of how we process Joseph’s sufferings: “The Lord was with Joseph” (39: 2,3,21,23). The Lord did not deliver Joseph from trouble, but in his troubles. This is one of the hardest lessons to learn for Christians.
God has not promised us a life of ease, but He promises to be with us in our troubles: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned”.(Isa 43:2)
Having been a Christian for
43 years and a pastor at Eastside for 31 years I have
often experienced this, and often have I
marvelled and asked myself, ”How
did I get here?” The answer is, “by Grace alone - by His kind providence alone”. This providence can take us on many circuitous paths.
The Lord is with His people! It is this golden thread that runs through the history of Israel’s history, and through all of Joseph’s disastrous experiences:
- his exile to Egypt [Gen.37]
- the unfortunate incident in Potiphar’s household [Gen.39]
- the imprisonment [Gen. 39/40]
“The Lord was with Joseph”. God certainly “works in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform[1].
And now as we come to Genesis 40 we find Joseph providentially in prison as
a result of having been misrepresented
and maligned by Mrs Potiphar.
OUTLINE
1. 40:1-4 Setting the scene – Joseph imprisoned with 2 personal servants of Pharaoh
2. 40:5-8 Troublesome dreams
3. 40:9-19 Joseph is enabled to accurately interpret the dreams
4. 40:20-23 Joseph's interpretations both come to pass within three days but Joseph is forgotten.
1. 40:1-4 Setting the scene – Joseph is imprisoned with 2 personal servants of Pharaoh
We have seen that Joseph was
imprisoned on account of a false testimony (39:20-23). But God is at work in this situation. In prison he finds
two personal servants of the Egyptian king, Pharaoh. The cupbearer and the
baker were trusted persons that had regular access to the king. You will remember that
Nehemiah was as a cupbearer to the Persian king, Artaxerxes (Neh.1:11), a
very trusted position. These two men,
close to the Pharaoh, had been imprisoned on account of an unspecified offense
(lit. they had sinned against their master). While Joseph had ended up in
prison for refusing to sin against God (39:9), the cupbearer and the baker were in prison for sinning
against Pharaoh (40:1). Potiphar, who is the captain of the guard
(see 39:1; 40:4) assigns Joseph to
care for the cupbearer and the baker. This is quite interesting. It almost
seems as if Potiphar had perhaps he suspected that perhaps Joseph wasn't in
fact guilty after all.
In this process one cannot fail to think about poor Joseph. We are not told what he was thinking at this stage as he thinks about how he got to this place.
Here are some of the facts: His mother Rachel died in childbirth whilst giving birth to his brother Benjamin. He must have been a young boy then. His brothers hated him. They sold him into slavery in Egypt. In Egypt he was misrepresented, and now he is in jail. Can get things get any worse than this?
Many modern preachers and many Christians dealing with will write this simply off to Satan’s doing. They want to absolve God. They say, “God doesn’t have anything to do with this.” “God will not allow bad things to happen to His people“. But this sort of talk is neither helpful nor true. Reading Joseph’s story certainly puts God at the centre. The cruel cross of Christ and the sufferings of God’s people are a mystery, and it is hard to fathom these things. But we know this. God works in this fallen world, in 'all things'. [Rom 8:28]. He does not take His people out of this fallen world, but He provides for them in their suffering in this fallen world. This is the doctrine of God’s providence.
Our 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith has a wonderful paragraph on the doctrine of the providence of God[2]:
“The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God
are so thoroughly demonstrated in his providence, that his sovereign plan
includes even the first fall and every other sinful action both of angels and
humans. God’s providence over sinful actions does not occur by simple
permission. Instead, God most wisely and powerfully limits and in other ways
arranges and governs sinful actions. Through a complex arrangement of methods
he governs sinful actions to accomplish his perfectly holy purposes. Yet he
does this in such a way that the sinfulness of their acts arises only from the
creatures and not from God. Because God is altogether holy and righteous, he
can neither originate nor approve of sin.”
If God is not in control of the
bad things that happen to us, then we are not in a good place at all. And we are not helped at all. Joseph’s story teaches us that God is in
charge. So here Joseph is. The world may have forgotten him, but God has not
forgotten him. Dear child of God, He
knows where you are at. And He will make
a way, because He loves you, and He cares for you.
2. 40:5-8: Troublesome dreams
This portion gives us a wonderful insight into Joseph’s caring concern for others. Matthew Henry comment , “Communion in sufferings helps to work compassion towards those that do suffer”.It all begins when both servants of Pharaoh have disturbing dreams that same night. Dreams, even vivid dreams are a common human experience. Whilst dreams ordinarily do not provide us with future guidance (thank God that in many cases they do not come true!), in this case they are providentially used of God.
Remember that Joseph himself had dreams about his own future in Genesis 37[3]. In Joseph’s case nobody in his family needed an interpreter to know what theses dreams meant. Joseph's brothers and father immediately knew what they meant, and they didn't like it. These two Egyptians did not know what these dreams meant. They sensed that it may have had something to do with their futures, and thus they were anxious about these dreams. Apparently there were in those days a professional class of interpreters of dreams that would interpret what your dream meant. The Egyptians believed that the gods gave you the dreams, but they didn't give you the interpretations, and so you needed to find such a “diviner”. When Joseph saw that these 2 men looked troubled (40:7) they answered him, and Joseph directs their attention immediately to the sovereign God for the interpretation of their dreams (40:8). Daniel did the same with Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:30).
Now these two prisoners did not have anyone to give them an answer as to what their dreams meant. And so Joseph replies in 40:8: “Do not interpretations belong to God?” In Joseph’s understanding such interpretations do not belong to a special class of diviners. They belong to God! God holds the future. He alone can reveal it.
3. 40:9-19 Joseph is enabled
to interpret the dreams
The cupbearer is first (40:9-13). Joseph tells him that in three days he will be a free man. Matthew Henry says, “Observe, Joseph foretold the chief butler’s deliverance, but he did not foresee his own.” Joseph has a request (40:14,15). He does not want to be in this prison, and thus he asks the cupbearer to remember him before Pharaoh once he is released. Again we learn that it is not wrong to use means for securing our freedoms, as long as we know that God always reserves the right to work in His ways.
The baker's dream(40: 16-19) by contrast
is sobering. Joseph could not put it in any nice way. Joseph himself would have been reluctant to
share this kind of a message. But he does it faithfully. He simply reported it. Again, Matthew Henry says, “Ministers are but interpreters, they cannot make the thing otherwise
than it is; if therefore they deal faithfully, and their message prove
unpleasing, it is not their fault. Bad dreams cannot expect a good
interpretation”. Likewise, preachers can only say what God says. There is
just no way in which truths contained in texts like Romans
6:23, “The wages of sin is death” can be relayed in a pleasant way.
4. 40:20-23 Joseph's interpretations both come
to pass within three days but Joseph is forgotten.
The dreams come true and the
cupbearer is restored and the baker is hanged. (40:20-22). But Joseph is promptly
forgotten – at least for a time. In
Chapter 41 we shall see however
that these dreams will not be
ultimately forgotten. They will eventually lead to Joseph’s deliverance – just not
in his own planning. It is God’s plan
that must prevail. God is doing at least
three things simultaneously.
(i)
God
is teaching Joseph by causing him to have to learn patience and endurance.
(ii) God
is teaching Joseph that He is His Deliverer. If Joseph had come out of prison
through the cupbearer's intervention Joseph might have been tempted to think of
the cupbearer as his rescuer. But God made it clear that He alone would come to
Joseph's rescue. How often in our own experience have we hoped for some
instrument to be the means of our deliverance, and it doesn't happen. God alone
is our strength and refuge, our present help in trouble. (Psalm 46)
(iii) God
is concerned about greater things. God is establishing His plan for the
salvation of Israel. The salvation of Israel (Jacob) depends upon Joseph's soon
new position as Pharaoh’s right hand man. If Joseph is freed from prison now through the mere appeal of the cupbearer at
this point, he will not be appointed to this position. God has a better plan and that plan meant
waiting a little longer. It meant being patient.
So thank God that our dreams and
plans do not always come true. But the things that God has surely promised,
things that bring glory to Him, things that He has clearly purposed – such as for His
kingdom to come and His will being done,
and for Him to bring you safe home to
heaven - that you can continue to dream of !
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