Genesis 40:16-23 He forgot all about him!

16When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: There were three baskets of white bread on my head. 17In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

18Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days. 19Within three days Pharaoh will lift your head off of you and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”

20On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he held a feast for all his officials, and in their presence he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. 21Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted the dream to them.

23The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.

“How many there are who are willing to preach the cupbearer’s sermon but are unwilling to preach the baker’s sermon!” (Boice)

It appears that the baker was guilty, he did something against the Pharaoh and what is striking is the three day period. 

Do you remember Haman? 

Ester 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

Our pastor described the hanging, it’s not with a rope. They used a pike, a pole and they impaled a person on it and raised the pole in the air where the person writhed in pain until they died!

And Joseph was forgotten again.....”23The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.”

But the Lord was with him. Remember, Gods timing not ours.

Have you ever been forgotten or failed to keep a promise?

Blessings, David 

Genesis 40:9-15 Please remember me!

9So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream: “In my dream there was a vine before me, 10and on the vine were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes. 11Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into his cup, and placed the cup into his hand.”

12Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three branches are three days. 13Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer. 14But when it goes well for you, please remember me and show me kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh, that he might bring me out of this prison. 15For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which they should have put me in this dungeon.”

Joseph used his spiritual gift to interpret the dream. 

In return, Joseph asked the cupbearer to remember him. 

“please remember me and show me kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh, that he might bring me out of this prison”.

Will the cupbearer remember?

Gods timing usually isn’t our timing!

Have you ever helped someone and asked them in return for help only to be snubbed or forgotten?

Blessings, David 

Genesis 40:1-8 The cupbearer and baker meet Joseph

1Some time later, the king’s cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt. 2Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3and imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard, the same prison where Joseph was confined. 4The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he became their personal attendant.

After they had been in custody for some time, 5both of these men—the Egyptian king’s cupbearer and baker, who were being held in the prison—had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.

6When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were distraught. 7So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so downcast today?”

8“We both had dreams,” they replied, “but there is no one to interpret them.”

Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

Who was the captain of the guard?

Genesis 39:1Meanwhile, Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, where an Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

Potiphar was the captain of the guard and he didn’t believe the charge his wife made against Joseph because he put Joseph in prison instead of putting him to death.

4The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he became their personal attendant. 

“Why are your faces so downcast today?”

Notice Joseph’s heart condition, he was concerned for the cupbearer and the baker because they looked distraught. Joseph didn’t seem to care about his own living conditions in prison, instead he cared for others around him.

Sounds like Jesus doesn’t it?

“We both had dreams,” they replied, “but there is no one to interpret them.”

The “dreamer” is getting ready to use his God given spiritual gift.

God wanted the cupbearer and baker to meet Joseph.

Has God wanted you to meet someone?

Blessings, David 

Genesis 39:21-23 The Lord was with him!

While Joseph was there in the prison, 21the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden, 22who put all those held in the prison under Joseph’s authority, so that he was responsible for all that was done there. 23The warden did not concern himself with anything under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him and gave him success in whatever he did.

“The Lord was with Joseph none the less when he was cast into the prison. He knew God was with him in prison, and therefore he did not sit down sullenly in his sorrow, but he bestirred himself to make the best of his afflicted condition.” (Spurgeon)

“because the LORD was with him and gave him success in whatever he did.”

We need to take a lesson from Joseph, when we are cast down into the pit or thrown into prison, look up to the One that can lift you out of despair. Rejoice in Him!

If in the pit get on your knees!

Psalm 40:2 He lifted me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.

If a prisoner in prison, pray and sing hymns to Him!

Acts 16:25 About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

What do you do when all seems lost? Remember, the world is watching you....

Blessings, David 

Genesis 39:13-20 HE never said a word!

13When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14she called her household servants. “Look,” she said, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, but I screamed as loud as I could. 15When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

16So Potiphar’s wife kept Joseph’s garment beside her until his master came home. 17Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me, 18but when I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

19When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” he burned with anger. 20So Joseph’s master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined.

“he burned with anger”, the question is with who?

He could have put Joseph to death but instead he had him put him in prison.

Spurgeon’s teaching on the verses are fascinating, let his words sink in....

“He never said a word, that I can learn, about Potiphar’s wife. It seemed necessary to his own defense, but he would not accuse the woman; he let judgment go by default, and left her to her own conscience and her husband’s cooler consideration. This showed great power; it is hard for a man to compress his lips, saying nothing when his character is at stake. So eloquent was Joseph in his silence that there is not a word of complaint throughout the whole record of his life.” (Spurgeon)

“He felt it a cruel thing, to be under such a slander, and to suffer for his innocence. A young man so pure, so chaste, must have felt it to be sharper than a whip of scorpions to be accused as he was; yet as he sat down in the gloom of his cell, the Lord was with him.” (Spurgeon)

Another stood silent in His own defense, He never said a word! Instead He accepted the punishment for you. He became your sin.

Blessings, David 

Genesis 39:7-12 He escaped and ran outside!

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7and after some time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”

8But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has entrusted everything he owns to my care. 9No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”

10Although Potiphar’s wife spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or be with her. 11One day, however, Joseph went into the house to attend to his work, and not a single household servant was inside. 12She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.

Joseph had it right, “So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”

Our society teaches us to seek pleasure at all cost and specifically try’s to separate us from God. 

1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

Joseph did what was expected by God, he fled!

“Slavery itself was a small calamity compared with that which would have happened to young Joseph had he been enslaved by wicked passions.” (Spurgeon)

“When I regarded God as a tyrant, I thought sin a trifle; but when I knew him to be my father, then I mourned that I could ever have kicked against him. When I thought that God was hard, I found it easy to sin; but when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against one who loved me so, and sought my good” (Spurgeon).

Do you think of God as a tyrant or as a loving Father? 

Are you enslaved by wicked passions?

Blessings, David 

Genesis 39:1-6 And the Lord was with Joseph!

1Meanwhile, Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, where an Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. 2And the LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.

3When his master saw that the LORD was with him and made him prosper in all he did, 4Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant.

Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted him with everything he owned. 5From the time that he put Joseph in charge of his household and all he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s household on account of him. The LORD’s blessing was on everything he owned, both in his house and in his field. 6So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph’s care; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Joseph was seventeen years old when he was sold into slavery.

“Externally it did not always appear that God was with him, for he did not always seem to be a prosperous man; but when you come to look into the inmost soul of this servant of God, you see his true likeness—he lived in communion with the Most High, and God blessed him.” (Spurgeon)

“And the LORD was with Joseph”...

“When his master saw that the LORD was with him and made him prosper in all he did”... 

What is striking to me is Joseph was the slave, he was told when to get up, when to go to bed, but the Lord was with him. Then look at his brothers who slept in their own beds and did as they pleased but slept and lived with a terrible secret of what they did to their brother. 

Who was the real slave?

Joseph lived with Potiphar for eleven years and in that time the Lord was preparing him for administration of a country. He had “on the job” training in the administration of his masters household and all that his master owned. 

The Lord had given Joseph the spiritual gift of administration.

What spiritual gift did He give you?

Blessings, David