Genesis40chapter 40

Genesis 40:9-11

there was a vine before me: The cupbearer dreams his own day's work, a vine with three branches, grapes, and the cup of Pharaoh. Clarke notes that the juice is pressed straight from the grape into the cup with no fermenting, which is how the office was done. Jamieson adds that the cup rested on the fingertips. Nothing in the picture is strange to the man dreaming it, and what he lacks is the count of days.

on the vine were three branches: The vine buds, blossoms and ripens in a single sentence, a whole season passing in moments. The speed fits the answer Joseph gives, restoration within three days. Egyptian tomb paintings at Thebes show vineyards, grape treading and wine jars.

squeezed them into his cup: The Hebrew names Pharaoh three times in this one verse, his cup twice and his hand once. Squeezed renders sachat, a verb found only here in the Old Testament. Joseph's own silver cup later tests his brothers at Genesis 44:2.

Genesis 40:12-13

The three branches are three days: Gill points out that three branches would serve as well for three months or three years, so the reading is given to Joseph. He tells the cupbearer that Pharaoh will lift up his head within three days and restore his position. The cup goes back into Pharaoh's hand the way it always did. The same phrase about the head returns six verses on.

Pharaoh will lift up your head: The Hebrew of 2 Kings 25:27 uses the same phrase when the king of Babylon releases Jehoiachin from prison. Numbers 1:2 uses the idiom for taking a census, calling a man up to be counted. Pharaoh will call the cupbearer up by name.

Genesis 40:14-15

please remember me: This is the only thing Joseph asks of anyone. He asks the cupbearer to remember him to Pharaoh and get him out of the prison. The word behind remember is the one Genesis uses when God remembered Noah at 8:1 and remembered Rachel at 30:22. Wesley notes that Joseph says only that he was kidnapped, taken from the land of the Hebrews.

I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews: Kidnapped is a doubled verb in Hebrew, stolen, yes stolen. The word for dungeon is bor, the pit of Genesis 37:24, so this prison and his first prison share a name. The land of the Hebrews is a name for Canaan used in this verse alone.

Genesis 40:16-17

the interpretation was favorable: The baker speaks only after he hears a favorable answer. His dream keeps the three, and the baskets sit on his head while birds eat out of the top one. Jamieson notes that birds were held sacred in Egypt and could not lawfully be killed, so a man who let them settle would feel the dread of it. Jerome records that where the Greek had three baskets of wheat, the Hebrew gives three measures of meal.

the birds were eating them out of the basket: In the cupbearer's dream the service reaches Pharaoh's hand, and in this dream the king's food goes to the birds. Abram drove the birds of prey away from his offering at Genesis 15:11. The baker lets them eat.

Genesis 40:18-19

The three baskets are three days: Joseph gives the true reading when the true reading is a death sentence. Pharaoh will lift off the head this time, and the body goes on a tree for the birds. Clarke notes that Egyptian practice beheaded the man first and hung the body after, so the two halves belong to one sentence. The word that restored the cupbearer condemns the baker.

hang you on a tree: Egyptians set great weight on the burial of the body, and a body left for the birds to eat its flesh was denied it. The law at Deuteronomy 21:22 to 23 ordered a hanged body taken down before night. Paul applies that verse to Christ at Galatians 3:13.

Genesis 40:20-22

which was Pharaoh’s birthday: Both readings come true on the third day, when the feast lifts up the heads of both men, one to his office and the other to a tree. Clarke notes the first birthday feast in Scripture, and the only other the Bible reports is Herod's. Gill passes on a Jewish tradition that the cupbearer was cleared of a plot to poison Pharaoh and the baker held guilty.

Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position: The cupbearer takes up the office he held before, and the dream is fulfilled to the letter. At Genesis 41:9 to 13 he tells Pharaoh this very outcome, his own restoration and the baker's hanging. The fulfilled dream becomes Joseph's reference.

But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker: Deuteronomy 18:22 later gives the test of a prophet's word, whether it comes true. Joseph's two readings pass that test within three days. Pharaoh's own dreams at Genesis 41 are the next test.

he forgot all about him: The verse says it twice, that the cupbearer did not remember Joseph and that he forgot all about him. The word is the one Joseph used when he asked to be remembered, and it is the word that fails him. The cupbearer goes back to Pharaoh's cup. Joseph stays in the prison.