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1 And it came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. Neh. 1:11 2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. vv.20-22 3 So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard,in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. 39:20 4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; so they were in custody for awhile.
What The baker and the butler did to offend the Pharaoh we do not know, some speculate the maybe they tried to poison him, or that a fly was found in the wine cup of the Pharaoh, and that maybe some sand or a pebble was found in a loaf of bread. As I said it is mere speculation as to the offense caused by these men, so I won’t dwell on this matter. One thing I can feel comfortable in saying for sure is that God has a special purpose for Joseph. And so I call it divine intervention for His purpose and will in Joseph’s life. It is interesting to note, and remind the reader, that the Captain of the guard of the prison is none other than Potipher himself (Gen 39:1), So when Joseph was placed in prison by Potipher because of his wife’s accusation against Joseph, it makes it clear to me that this is why Joseph was put in charge of all the prisoners by the keeper of the prison. Either the keeper of the prison already knew of Joseph because of his stature during his time in charge of Potipher’s house and saw how everything prospered under Joseph’s care, or Potipher himself ordered the keeper of the prison to place him in charge of the prisoners. On the spiritual side of these verses I see another example, or instance; if you will? Of Joseph being seen here as a type of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: Joseph is placed in charge of all the prisoners, yet in the instance of the Butler and baker We read in verse four that Joseph served these two men. I am reminded of what Jesus Himself said to his disciples about the master being the servant and the servant is the master during the passover dinner and the ( John 13:13-16), Wait !! oh but it doesn’t end there, here comes the meat! Which was just revealed to me as I was reading about the passover dinner, but I will only give you a taste of the meat here in this comment. We see that these two men, one identified as the cupbearer; (Gen 40:11,21) He poured the wine and gave it to the Pharaoh, and the baker made the bread for the Pharah to eat. In the New Covenant Jesus took the cup gave thanks, and gave it to his disciples, telling them, “Drink all of it, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins.” (Matt. 26:27-28), As we will read in the following Verses the butler is a symbol of the wine of the New Covenant. Also at the passover dinner, as they ate, Jesus took a loaf of bread and blessed it and broke it, and He gave it to the disciples saying, “Take, Eat; this is my body (Mark 14: 22, Luke 22:19), here the baker is symbolic of the bread at the passover dinner. I will elaborate more on what I mean by the butler and baker being symbolic of the bread and wine of the New Covenant in verses twenty one thru twenty three of this chapter (which I feel is more appropriate to comment on then, rather than now).
5 Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream, both of them, each man’s dream in one night and each man’s dream with it’s own interpretation. 41:1 6 And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were sad. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in the custody of his lord’s house, saying, “why do you look so sad today?” Neh. 2:2 8 And they said to him, “We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.” So Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.”
In chapter thirty seven we see that Joseph has been given the gift of the interpretation of dreams. Joseph does not boast of himself for this gift, instead he gives all the glory to God, vs. 8. knowing this Joseph may be reflecting back to his own dreams he had when he lived with his family in Canaan, yet still unfulfilled. The butler and the baker (Which are not slaves) but Egyptians of high authority in some form or another, which is why they are entrusted with the food and drink of the Pharaoh (Who is considered a god to the Egyptian people), I am saying this to point out the fact that the Egyptians placed dreams of great importance and meaning in their lives. Joseph exhorts them that it is God alone who interprets dreams. Joseph asking them to tell him of their dreams is not his way of claiming to be God, instead he is saying (In my opinion), and I’m only second guessing here, “Tell me of these dreams and I will go to God and ask him the meanings of them.” not boasting of himself, but giving the glory to God Almighty.
9 Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him,”Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, 10 “and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, it’s blossoms shot forth, and it’s clusters brought forth ripe grapes. 11 “Then the Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into the Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 12 And Joseph said to him,”This is the interpretation of it:The three branches are three days. v.20 13 “Now within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler. 14 But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house. 15 “For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.”
In my opinion, verse nine is another example of Joseph being a type of Jesus. The chief butler told Joseph, “In my dream a vine was before me,” Jesus said to his disciples: I am the vine (John. 15:1), Joseph is before the butler, and the vine here in the butler’s dream is Joseph, and he is symbolic of Jesus Christ (Who is the true vine), Joseph being the type of Jesus here, would never claim to be the vine, for that title belongs to our Lord and savior (Which in my opinion is why he gives no interpretation of the vine), I believe Joseph is well aware of the promise of the coming Messiah, and he would dare not claim to be the Messiah. God may have even revealed the Messiah to him when he went and inquired to the Lord of the butler’s dream. The branches tell of the fate of the butler. Again Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches” in this case, Joseph is symbolic of the vine, and the butler is symbolic of the branches. Let’s not forget that in this dream, the butler saw the branches flowered and the clusters brought forth much grapes. The butler pressed the grapes, poured them into to cup, and layed it in the Pharaoh’s hand: Jesus also said that the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it remains in the vine (John 15:5),The butler took and pruned the grapes, pressed them in the Pharaohs cup, produced a wonderful drink for the king, and put the cup in his hand. And it was thru Joseph who revealed this dream to him. We in the church are the branches, just as the butler was, and we cannot bear much fruit nor do nothing by and of ourselves, unless God, thru Jesus, living in us as the vine, reveals His word to us, just as God revealed this dream to the butler thru Joseph.
16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head. 17 “In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.” 18 So Joseph answered and said, “This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. v.20 19 “Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.” Deut. 21:22 20 Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants vv. 12, 17 21 Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.
We read earlier that the reason the butler was in prison is because he had offended their lord, the king of Egypt, who is the Pharaoh. The word “Offended” in the Strong’s Lexicon number is (H2398), meaning, “To sin” Jesus Christ said in the passover dinner, before His death, that the wine he gave the disciples was His blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matt. 26:27-28), The butler was forgiven for the sin he committed against his lord, the king of Egypt (The Pharaoh), it may have been the Pharaoh who pardoned the butler, but make no mistake, God put it in his heart to forgive him. Joseph asked the butler to remember him for the correct interpretation of his dream, so to did Jesus Christ command his disciples, every time they drank the cup which represented His blood, they should do so in remembrance of Him (1 Cor 11:25). Joseph is truly a type of our Lord Jesus Christ in so many ways, and this is just another example of that fact.
22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.
As I stated earlier: The baker is symbolic of the bread that Jesus broke and gave to His disciples when He introduced the New Covenant to them. In this covenant Jesus said take, eat, this is my body ( Rom. 11:27, Mark 14:22, Matt. 26:26), Jesus’s blood was poured out for the remission of our sins (Matt 26:28), and His body was hanged from a tree (Acts. 5:30, 10:39, 13:29), That dying to sins, we might live to righteousness; by whose stripes we were healed (1 Pet 2:24), The baker was hanged from a tree, but as Christ rose on the third day, so to the baker will be called to rise again and given his first opportunity to truly live in righteousness, and have everlasting life.
23 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Jesus asked the butler to remember him when he was released from Jail. Jesus Christ instructed His disciple’s and the church, that whenever they drank of the cup, to do it in remembrance of him (1 Cor 11:25), it took the butler a couple years to remember Joseph (Gen. 41:1), Yet during this time, he probably poured into the Pharaoh’s cup, placed it in his hand, on numerous occasions, too many to count I imagine; it is hard to believe that he never remembered Joseph until the Pharaoh had his dream. But when I think about it, how often does the world, and mainstream christianity, partake of the practice of the wine and bread? typically once a year during the passover season, or the so called easter holiday. People may never go to church all year long, but during their “easter holiday” they will go and take of the cup and wine, and then go back into the world and all it’s evil, not coming to church again until the next year (there was a time I was in the world and guilty of the same) not truly understanding the New Covenant ritual of the wine and Bread. Most churches stop there and forget the foot washing (which Jesus also said we should do) (John 13:12-15), and forget what Jesus had done for us, they do this in an unworthy manner, not discerning the Lord’s body, and are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord (1 Cor 11:26-29), Don’t get me wrong, at one time in my life, I too took of the bread and wine in an unworthy manner, until I truly came to understand and discern the Lord’s body. Thru His body and blood, there is no condemnation, but forgiveness for all our sins past and present, we cannot think that whatever sin we may have, or may commit, is greater than the sacrifice He gave on calvary long long ago. Joseph told the Butler to remember him, we must never forget What Christ truly did for us on that great and terrible day.