Joseph Interprets Two Dreams
40 Some time later, Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer and chief baker offended their royal master. 2 Pharaoh became angry with these two officials, 3 and he put them in the prison where Joseph was, in the palace of the captain of the guard. 4 They remained in prison for quite some time, and the captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, who looked after them.
5 While they were in prison, Pharaoh’s cup-bearer and baker each had a dream one night, and each dream had its own meaning. 6 When Joseph saw them the next morning, he noticed that they both looked upset. 7 “Why do you look so worried today?” he asked them.
8 And they replied, “We both had dreams last night, but no one can tell us what they mean.”
“Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph replied. “Go ahead and tell me your dreams.”
9 So the chief cup-bearer told Joseph his dream first. “In my dream,” he said, “I saw a grapevine in front of me. 10 The vine had three branches that began to bud and blossom, and soon it produced clusters of ripe grapes. 11 I was holding Pharaoh’s wine cup in my hand, so I took a cluster of grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”
12 “This is what the dream means,” Joseph said. “The three branches represent three days. 13 Within three days Pharaoh will lift you up and restore you to your position as his chief cup-bearer. 14 And please remember me and do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh, so he might let me out of this place. 15 For I was kidnapped from my homeland, the land of the Hebrews, and now I’m here in prison, but I did nothing to deserve it.”
16 When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given the first dream such a positive interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I had a dream, too. In my dream there were three baskets of white pastries stacked on my head. 17 The top basket contained all kinds of pastries for Pharaoh, but the birds came and ate them from the basket on my head.”
18 “This is what the dream means,” Joseph told him. “The three baskets also represent three days. 19 Three days from now Pharaoh will lift you up and impale your body on a pole. Then birds will come and peck away at your flesh.”
20 Pharaoh’s birthday came three days later, and he prepared a banquet for all his officials and staff. He summoned[a] his chief cup-bearer and chief baker to join the other officials. 21 He then restored the chief cup-bearer to his former position, so he could again hand Pharaoh his cup. 22 But Pharaoh impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had predicted when he interpreted his dream. 23 Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.
Footnotes:
40:20 Hebrew He lifted up the head of.
Dreams. They can be a reflection of the day to come or the day just passed. Or they can contain symbols and imagery that makes no sense at all. I know there are seers out there that interpret and guide, but maybe those interpretations truly are for the Lord. It's hard sometimes though. We want to know what our minds are trying to tell us... or do we?
Here we have one given hope, but the other? What is he given? A way out? No. He could not escape what was to come. A time of preparation? Probably not. How do you prepare for something like that? My guess is, the baker either stewed for three days, mad at Joseph for giving such good news to the cupbearer, while giving nothing but despair to him or he did not even really believe what Joseph had told him anyway. Would we really beleive if our dreams were all interpreted and tied with a pretty bow for us?
Sometimes I think we want to know more than we need to know. Yes, our psyche continues to work and yes, there are times it actually gives us a glimpse of all it is trying to work out, but most of the time, it is really more than we can deal with. So instead of wasting a lot of money on a reader or interpreter of some kind, we simply go to the One who knows. We bow before God and we ask "Should I know more? Is this dream worthy of interpretation or should I just let it go with the morning sun?" And then we wait... and we listen.
If we hear nothing more, than we say "Thank you!" for we are likely being prevented something we really don't want to know anyway. And if we get more clarification, then we ponder those words and continue to ask more questions, like "What would you like me to do with this? Is there a change you would like from me? Is there a lesson I am missing here?"
Otherwise, we enjoy the view when we fly in our sleep, and we are thankful when we wake before hitting the bottom of the ravine when we feel ourselves falling... And we know there are times our dreams mean nothing more than an overactive brain inside an overly tired body, or we ate too much jalapeno dip.
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