May 15 Sermon: Joseph the Interpreter

Consider these questions as you listen to this week’s message from Genesis 40:1-23:

1. How does Joseph's experience in prison reflect the idea that God's plan often moves slowly and doesn't immediately right wrongs?

2. In what ways does Joseph's ability to interpret dreams demonstrate God's continued presence and blessing in his life despite his challenging circumstances?

3. What lessons can we draw from Joseph's story about waiting on the Lord and trusting in His sovereignty, even when faced with difficulties and uncertainties in our own lives?

Transcript:

It wouldn’t take too much thinking for us to come up with stories in the Bible where the people in the stories are facing the worst of circumstances and then we find out that this is the means by which God has decided to accomplish his purposes. I’m sure you have some that have come to mind but we aren’t exactly the blurt out answers kind of church so I’ll save you the awkwardness of that and float a few that have likely come to mind for you.‌

One of the big ones would most assuredly be David facing Goliath. I mean, if you you were gambling on that fight, we all know who we would have likely put the money on. We also would have probably assumed that the armies of Pharaoh were going to crush the people of God on the shores of the Red Sea. Who would have expected the walls of Jericho to come down simply by walking around it as God commanded and blowing the trumpets. In that same vein, you wouldn’t have thought that Gideon and his small band of men would have been able to overcome their enemies. You also would not have expected to open the hatch to the lions den the next morning and find anything other than the bones of Daniel completely cleaned off by the hungry lions. And you would not have expected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to walk away from the fiery furnace. Another big story that comes to mind for me is Jonah who was as good as dead in the belly of the great fish.‌

Now, most of us probably recall these stories of God being at work in the most unlikely circumstances, not from our perusal of the scriptures as adults but from learning them in Sunday School. These types of stories are at the top of the list because they are amazing and God shows his love, sovereign power, and mercy in these stories.‌

And as we think about stories like this one that would probably be at the top of the list of God being at work in the most unlikely of circumstances would be what we have read from Genesis this morning. We have been following Joseph and unlike what we expect from a main character, his story has been one of descent. He was seen by his father as the prince of the family. He starts out at the top in their powerful clan and he is thrown in a pit by his brothers. It seems as though things can’t get any worse for the guy but then he is spared but things get worse. He is sold into slavery. And even though he has an ascent to a position of influence as a slave in the house of Potiphar that still isn’t enough difficulty for his life and so the wicked scheming of Potiphar’s wife lands our hero in prison and it seems as though nothing is ever going to go well for Joseph again. He has used all his good fortune chips on being daddy’s favorite and having that fancy robe of many colors.‌

But when we left off with Joseph last week we heard of hope in the story. God was with Joseph, even in prison and he had risen to a position of leadership in the prison. But it’s still prison, right? I mean, what good could possibly come to Joseph here. He is at the top of the prison but that’s still far from being in a place where he can make a difference for the God, right? Well, God is at work, even in this prison and so let’s line out our three points and embark on this amazing story of God at work in the life of Joseph.‌

The first thing that we see is that God’s plan is moving slowly. We have seen that God is at work in the life of Joseph and we get the sense in the story that God is doing something but we do not see God immediately righting the wrong that has come upon Joseph because of the deception of Potiphar’s wife. Instead, Joseph is forced to endure the hardship of prison and make the best of where the situation he finds himself in.‌

Second, we find that God once again God is using dreams in the life of Joseph. There is something interesting going on in this situation though. It is not Joseph that is receiving the dreams and sharing them with people. Previously it was Joseph with the dreams about his brothers and father and mother bowing down before him and his family had to do the interpreting and it was offensive to them. This time it isn’t one of the people of God who are receiving the dreams it is Egyptian servants occupying the prison with Joseph and we see that God has divinely blessed Joseph with the ability to interpret these dreams.‌

Finally, we observe that not only is Joseph able to interpret the dreams but his interpretations are accurate. The feeling in Genesis is continuing this idea that Joseph is divinely blessed and God is with him. And we find that while God has his hand of blessing on Joseph and the almighty has not forgotten Joseph but people continue to fail Joseph as time continues to pass for this one favored and blessed by God and he remains in prison.‌

And so, lets kick things off as we land in the beginning verses of our passage today and look at verses one through four.‌​

Genesis 40:1–4

 ESV

Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody.‌

In my opening, I talked about the idea that God is at work and we have seen this in the story of Joseph and every time I spin it pretty positively because we know where the story is headed because most of us remember the story from the cool flannel-graphs we had when we were in Sunday School. You kids don’t know what you are missing out with your movies and PowerPoint presentations. We used to have felt boards with cutouts of Bible characters and we thought it was cooler than anything ever.‌

Anyway, I’ve been spinning the drama and tension in the extended narrative about Joseph is a pretty positive manner but as we start out here in Genesis 40 my positive spin gets a pretty unsettling slap in the face, so to speak. God is on the move in the life of Joseph but it isn’t happening quickly. He has been treated unjustly and is in prison for something he didn’t do. You would think that if God really has his divine hand upon him there would be a quick reversal of fortune and Joseph would be getting on with his life and be the biblical hero we expect him to be. But Moses really wants us to understand that Joseph is in prison for a while. Verse one tells us right off that our story has jumped ahead. The events we are looking at today are happening some time after the soap opera level scheming of Potiphar’s wife. From what we know here in Genesis 37 Joseph was 17 when he was sold into slavery and in the next chapter we find out that he is 30 when he is released. Now, we don’t know how much of that was time in Potiphar’s household as a slave and how much of it was in the prison but the implication in the way Moses gives us the biography of Joseph leads us to imply that the balance of this time was likely spent as a prisoner.‌

Think about how Joseph must have felt about this. He has had these dreams of his brothers and parents bowing down before him and now he is in a prison. Now, several of you have been on the inside of a prison with us for church at Cornerstone and it is a humbling thing to go in and have the bars go shut behind you, right? I mean the eminent philosopher Barney Fife wasn’t lying when he said “It’s definitely no fun when those iron doors clang shut”. But, when you and I go in, we know we are leaving. Now maybe the fact that you can’t get out on your own whenever you want might give you a mild sense of anxiety, we walk down the stairs from the chapel and we wait in line, zap the tags on the sensor, and we walk out to our vehicles and head home. To be imprisoned for an extended period of time is something that we struggle to wrap our minds around even if we are familiar with how incarceration works. I talk with some guys who are lifers and in the course of conversation they will tell us how long they’ve been in and it’s been for nearly as long as I’ve been alive and I ain’t young. They don’t call it doing hard time for nothing. It is slow and difficult and it can very easily break you.‌

Another part about this imprisonment of that I want us to consider is what it must have been like. There is a lot of talk about prison conditions. Rightfully so, we don’t want to have cruel punishment but if you’ve ever been on the inside you would probably say the conditions are the best but they are acceptable in our era. I’ve even eaten the food on multiple occasions and while it makes for a good story to tell about how awful it was, it was edible and sufficient nutrition for the day. Having been back and around in different parts the prisons are clean. Again, no one is going to choose it but lets get that modern standard out of our heads because I’m guessing the prison for those who had offended Pharaoh wasn’t exactly the model of excellent treatment and cleanliness. Not only is Joseph there for a long time, this is truly hard time.‌

And we get a little bit of an understanding of what his time looked like through this story. I’m sure many people came and went in his time in the hoosegow but Moses zoom sin for us on one instance and we see that two people have committed an offense against Pharaoh and so they are sent a cupbearer and a baker down to be in custody at the prison occupied by Joseph. Essentially they are there to await their sentences. Now, imagine for a second what this must have been like. You have no idea how this guy is going to rule in judgment against you. You probably also have seen other people from Pharaoh’s court upset him and you wonder if you’ll be like the person you know who got out or the guy who ended up being executed. This would be a time riddled with anxiety and uncertainty. And Joseph is put in charge of these fellows. And Moses once again makes sure that we understand the passing of time because he lets us know that they continued for some time in custody in this prison. Not only are we feeling the passing of time for Joseph with this statement in verse four but the time that’s passing for these men awaiting their fate to be determined by Pharaoh.‌​

Genesis 40:5–8

 ESV

And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”‌

And this is the tension that continues in the text as we move on to verse five and our second point.‌

We don’t have an idea of how long the cupbearer and the baker are awaiting their fates at the hand of Pharaoh but we do know that it is a significant amount of time and so when we hear that they are having dreams and they are concerned about them we shouldn’t be all that surprised. You know how you can have strange dreams when something in your life is uncertain. And then, we find that they both have a dream the same night.‌

Now, this might seem like a big deal to us but in this time there was a great significance that was placed upon dreams and their meaning. And we can understand that because I think we wake up sometimes and wonder what in the world a strange dream was about. If your culture appropriates a lot of meaning from dreams you are going to ask more than the question “what in the world did I eat last night?” when you have a strange dream and also, don’t forget the level of anxiety that these men would have had.‌

And there is something else significant in the text here that we see after Joseph asks them why they are so downcast. They tell Joseph that they have had these dreams and there is no one to interpret them. In their Egyptian culture dream interpretation was a very big deal and were seen as a means by which they could know the future. And having been a part of the royal court they would have known that Pharaoh employed someone who interpreted dreams for him. Perhaps as people who worked in the royal court they had access to these kinds of services. Regardless, they feel helpless on their own and once again, knowing their circumstances of awaiting their fates you can imagine that this would probably increase their anxiety.

‌Joseph’s answer is interesting and shows a trust in the sovereignty of God in saying that all interpretations belong to God. And again, I want to draw us back to the dreams that he has had about his ruling over his brothers and parents. The text gives us the idea that even in the middle of all this affliction perhaps Joseph trusts that they will still come to pass. His dreams were super easy to interpret and if all interpretation belongs to God then he likely would have trusted that they were going to come to pass.‌

In addition, we get the idea that he has not lost his trust in God even in the midst of his imprisonment. He speaks freely of God as though the prisoners would understand that God is at work through him and he lets them know that their pagan assumptions about dreams are off and the sovereign Lord of creation is alone the one who can help them to understand their dreams.‌

And so, the cupbearer is the first one to drop his dream on Joseph to interpret.‌​

Genesis 40:9–15

 ESV

So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer. Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. 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.”‌

And we see that it is pretty straightforward. He is the cupbearer and so his dream is about vines and putting something into Pharaoh’s cup. While it is pretty straightforward Joseph provides some clarity about the details of the dream telling him that even though he’s been in custody for quite a while the result of his dream is coming soon. Just three days.‌

And it is good news for the cupbearer and Joseph makes a statement hoping to have the good fortune of the cupbearer be an avenue for his release and notice what Joseph says here. There is a bit of a double meaning right. I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit. He did nothing to warrant the treatment of his brothers and they put him in a pit. He also did nothing wrong in the incident with Potiphar’s wife and now he is in the pit with his imprisonment. Joseph is hoping that this person who will have access to Pharaoh will get him justice.‌

But that is only half of the story of the dreams. There were two men with dreams and two men who had anxiety about the interpretation.‌​

Genesis 40:16–19

 ESV

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.”‌

And we can see here that the interpretation of the first dream eases the anxiety but we also see in the interpretation Joseph gives that this is a false hope. Joseph tells him that his dream means that he is going to be executed in just three days. Now, imagine how that must have felt. I mean the other guy is going to be restored but you are going to have your flesh eaten by birds. Yeah, I’m guessing tensions were high the next three days for both men as one wishes that his dream interpretation will not come to pass and the other one is living in hope that it will.‌

Before we move on it is important that we address how God is working here. God is sovereignly giving dreams to unbelievers and those outside the covenant to shape history and to rescue his people. And what we see from this is that God is the one who is in control of Joseph’s fate. It isn’t his brothers. It isn’t Potiphar’s wife. It isn’t the master of the prison. It isn’t even Joseph himself. God is in control and he is working all of this together for the good of his people. That is an important overarching theme we see in all of this as we move into the final four verses of our passage for today and see our final point that God’s hand is upon Joseph because his interpretations of the dream are accurate.‌​

Genesis 40:20–23

 ESV

On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.‌

What we find here is that the time period of three days was significant because it was Pharaoh’s birthday. I don’t know if this was some sort of a tradition to take care of sentences for prisoners on his big day or if maybe he just wanted libations and so he needed a cupbearer but the chief cupbearer is restored to his position. We don’t know why he was feeling benevolent to the one and had wrath towards the other but that is most certainly the case. I struggle to imagine how this all plays out. It’s your birthday. I’m guessing you have a big party and you decide to issue sentences. I get setting the guy free to bring you your beverage but did the baker stink at making a birthday cake or something? How do you let your cupbearer out of prison on your birthday and then sentence the baker to be executed on the same day? We don’t live in that world and frankly, I’m pretty happy about that. It sounds brutal.‌

But what we are to feel out of the story is not about what Pharaoh is doing but what God is doing. Joseph is set up for us as one who is a prophet and a servant of God. We have gotten this feeling throughout the story because we are told that God is with him but this story gives us significant confirmation. The predictions that Joseph gives happen and so the view that we feel about Joseph continues to escalate. We started out maybe lacking in affection for Joseph because he was the snotty little brother who was daddy’s favorite but as the story has continued we are feeling compassion for him as nothing seems to go right for him and even though we have been told that God’s hand is upon him because he continues to climb into positions of influence wherever he goes, this passage shows that he is a prophet. He is able to tell people their dreams and they actually come to pass.‌

And yet, the final verse here brings us back to reality very quickly. If we didn’t know the story and were coming to it for the first time we would be a bit shocked and perplexed by the fact that this cupbearer forgets about Joseph. Once again, we have a clear sign that God is at work but it isn’t a quick fix and it isn’t the easy path. But just as we see in the rest of Genesis and in scripture as a whole the path that God uses to bring salvation is not easy and it happens in his timing. This is true from the stories of the patriarchs in Genesis and the last minute rescue on the shores of the Red Sea. It is true as we read of Gideon and his band of men smashing the jars and it is true as the young David stands over Goliath after cutting off his head. And it is most assuredly true in the story of God the Son bearing the wrath of God for our sin at the cross and being resurrected on the third day to win victory over sin, death, hell, and the devil for the people of God.‌

And so, we have to be patient and wait on the Lord in the story of Joseph because God will do his good will in his timing, not the timing of man.‌

And so, we come to the end of the passage and take a moment to consider application for us to take into the world in the coming week.‌

I want us to dwell on one point that continues to come out of the text of Genesis here in the story of Joseph and that is to wait on the Lord. It is easy for us to be like the baker and the cupbearer and be filled with anxiety and concerns over what is taking place in our lives. This can be something we are experiencing at a personal level in the circumstances we are facing in our vocations, families, or with our health. It could be anxiety from what we see in the times we are living in and the awareness of things going on in the world that comes from a 24 hour news cycle and the perpetual stream of information available to us via social media.‌

Regardless of what we are experiencing we can have that sure trust that God is in control and that he is working things together for good for those that he loves. We can imagine the anxiety that the cupbearer and baker were experiencing but imagine the hope and trust that Joseph needed to have in God’s sovereign hand. His dreams caused him to expect ascent but all that had happened to him was continual descent and ending up in the pit. But we can clearly see that God’s hand was upon Joseph and we can have the exact same faith and trust that he had.‌

We know this because we have the indwelling Holy Spirit to comfort us. He has given us the gift of faith and so we know that God is at work for us for our good and his glory. We don’t know what it will look like and just like in the life of Joseph it might be thorny and difficult but we can know that God is working for us just as surely as he was working in the life of Jesus because we have faith in the one who raised us from the pit. And so, may we trust God’s sovereign hand, knowing that because he has saved us we will be lifted up. Amen.