40:8
“Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”
The chapter at a glance
The chapter in brief
Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and chief baker offend him and are put in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph is confined, and Joseph is appointed to attend them. One night each has a dream. In the morning Joseph sees their troubled faces and asks why. They have no one to interpret their dreams. “Do not interpretations belong to God?” Joseph says, and asks to hear them. The cupbearer saw a vine with three branches whose grapes he pressed into Pharaoh’s cup; in three days, Joseph says, Pharaoh will restore him. Joseph asks him to remember him to Pharaoh, for he was stolen from his land and has done nothing to deserve the pit. The baker saw three cake baskets on his head and birds eating from the top one; in three days, Joseph says, Pharaoh will hang him. On the third day, Pharaoh’s birthday, both interpretations come true. But the cupbearer does not remember Joseph; he forgets him.
This is a chapter of faithful service in a hidden place. The young man who once told his own dreams to his brothers now interprets other men’s dreams and gives the credit to God. His only request is to be remembered, and he is forgotten for “two whole years” (41:1). Yet God has not forgotten him; the delay is the road to the throne room. The chapter points to Christ in two ways. The God who seemed to forget Joseph says, “Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Isaiah 49:15). And on a hill outside Jerusalem a condemned man asked the one crucified beside him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” and was promised, “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43). The cupbearer forgot Joseph. Christ does not forget anyone who calls on Him. Some readers also see the two officials, one restored and one condemned, as a picture that the two criminals crucified with Christ recall (Luke 23:39-43), though the New Testament does not draw that line.
Points for discussion
vv. 1–8
Joseph sees faces
Joseph has been wronged twice over, by his brothers and by his master’s wife, and he could be absorbed in his own grievance. Instead he “attended them” (v. 4), and one morning he notices that two prisoners look troubled: “Why are your faces downcast today?” (v. 7). Suffering has not made him blind to others. Their problem is that in prison there is no expert to interpret dreams; Egypt’s learned men specialized in such things (41:8). Joseph’s answer is the center of the chapter: “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me” (v. 8). He will say the same to Pharaoh: “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer” (41:16). Daniel will say it again in Babylon: “there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries” (Daniel 2:28). Joseph’s gift is real, but it is God’s, and he says so.
vv. 9–15
“Remember me”
The cupbearer’s dream is quick and full of life: budding, blossoms, clusters, grapes, a cup in Pharaoh’s hand. In three days, Joseph says, “Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office” (v. 13). Then, for the first time in the story, we hear Joseph speak of his own suffering: “Only remember me, when it is well with you... For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit” (vv. 14-15). He uses bor, “pit,” the word for the dry cistern his brothers threw him into (37:24). Notice what he does not say: he does not name his brothers or Potiphar’s wife. And asking for help is not a failure of faith. Joseph uses a lawful means to seek justice, as Paul would one day appeal to Caesar (Acts 25:11).
vv. 16–19
The baker’s dream
The baker, seeing “that the interpretation was favorable” (v. 16), hopes for the same. Joseph tells him the truth, though it is terrible: in three days Pharaoh will hang him, and the birds will eat his flesh. The phrase “lift up your head” is used for both men (vv. 13, 19), and then for both together on the feast day (v. 20): one head lifted to honor, the other lifted off. A faithful interpreter does not soften what God has shown. Speaking the truth in love sometimes means speaking a truth no one wants to hear.
For discussion
Joseph tells the baker a hard truth plainly. When is it loving to say what someone does not want to hear, and how should it be said? Compare Ephesians 4:15 and Proverbs 27:6.
vv. 20–23
Forgotten
Everything happens “as Joseph had interpreted to them” (v. 22). Then comes the last line, which the Hebrew makes heavy by saying it twice: “Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him” (v. 23). Two more years pass (41:1). The cupbearer remembers only when it is useful to him (41:9). For Joseph this is the hardest kind of suffering, hope raised and then left hanging. But the delay is not God’s neglect. Had Joseph been released now, he would not have been there when Pharaoh dreamed. This is the testing Psalm 105:19 describes (see chapter 39). For anyone who has served faithfully and been forgotten by those they helped: “God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name” (Hebrews 6:10).
Threads across the chapter
Three days. Three branches (vv. 10, 12), three baskets (vv. 16, 18), and the third day of Pharaoh’s feast (v. 20) set the clock for both men’s fates.
Lifting the head. The same phrase means restoration for the cupbearer (v. 13), execution for the baker (v. 19), and the summons of both (v. 20).
Remembering and forgetting. Joseph asks to be remembered (v. 14), and the cupbearer forgets (v. 23) until it suits him (41:9).
The pit. Joseph calls his prison “the pit” (v. 15), the word for the cistern of 37:24, and he will be brought “out of the pit” to Pharaoh (41:14).
Key words
- 40:8
- פִּתְרוֹן pitron“Interpretation”; the meaning of a dream, which Joseph says belongs to God
- 40:13, 19–20
- נָשָׂא רֹאשׁ nasa rosh“Lift up the head”; the same phrase for restoration, execution, and summons
- 40:14, 23
- זָכַר zakar“Remember”; Joseph’s plea, and the cupbearer’s failure
- 40:23
- שָׁכַח shakach“Forget”; the second verb that doubles the cupbearer’s neglect
Cross-references
- Genesis 41:1, 9-14Two whole years, then the cupbearer remembers and Joseph is brought out of the pit
- Genesis 41:16“It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer”
- Daniel 2:27-28There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries
- Psalm 105:19-20The word of the LORD tested him until the king released him
- Isaiah 49:15“Yet I will not forget you”
- Luke 23:39-43“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”
- Acts 25:11Paul uses a lawful appeal to seek justice
- Hebrews 6:10God does not overlook the work and love of His people
- 1
How does chapter 40 prepare for Joseph’s meeting with Pharaoh in chapter 41, and why might the two-year delay matter?
- 2
What does Joseph’s question, “Do not interpretations belong to God?”, teach about using the gifts God gives us?
- 3
Joseph notices other people’s troubled faces while he is suffering unjustly himself. What makes that possible?
- 4
Have you ever helped someone who then forgot you? How does the cupbearer’s forgetting compare with Christ’s answer to the thief on the cross?
- 5
Was it right for Joseph to ask the cupbearer for help, or should he simply have waited on God? What do the texts suggest?
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