Knowing
Christ
Bible
Study of
Genesis
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Commentary By Dr. Byrns
Coleman
Joseph, in this study lesson
from Genesis, is asked to interpret the dreams of
the cupbearer and the baker. He boldly does so and
they both come true. Who gets the credit? God. Was
there risk involved with the interpretation?
Absolutely, but Joseph took the risk because he was
faithful to God.
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Genesis 40:1-23
Joseph
The Cupbearer and the
Baker have a Dream
-
- 40:1
Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of
the king of Egypt offended their master, the
king of Egypt.
-
- 2 Pharaoh was angry
with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and
the chief baker,
-
- 3 and put them in
custody in the house of the captain of the
guard, in the same prison where Joseph was
confined.
-
- 4 The captain of the
guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended
them.
-
- After they had been in
custody for some time,
-
- 5 each of the two
menthe cupbearer and the baker of the king
of Egypt, who were being held in prisonhad
a dream the same night, and each dream had a
meaning of its own.
-
- 6 When Joseph came to
them the next morning, he saw that they were
dejected.
-
- 7 So he asked
Pharaoh's officials who were in custody with him
in his master's house, "Why are your faces so
sad today?"
-
- 8 "We both had
dreams," they answered, "but there is no one to
interpret them."
-
- Then Joseph said to
them, "Do not interpretations belong to God?
Tell me your dreams."
-
- 9 So the chief
cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him,
"In my dream I saw a vine in front of me,
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- 10 and on the vine
were three branches.
-
- As soon as it budded,
it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into
grapes.
-
- 11 Pharaoh's cup was
in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them
into Pharaoh's cup and put the cup in his hand."
-
- 12 "This is what it
means," Joseph said to him. "The three branches
are three days.
-
- 13 Within three days
Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you
to your position, and you will put Pharaoh's cup
in his hand, just as you used to do when you
were his cupbearer.
-
- 14 But when all goes
well with you, remember me and show me kindness;
mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this
prison.
-
- 15 For I was forcibly
carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and
even here I have done nothing to deserve being
put in a dungeon."
-
- 16 When the chief
baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable
interpretation, he said to Joseph, "I too had a
dream: On my head were three baskets of bread.
-
- 17 In the top basket
were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but
the birds were eating them out of the basket on
my head."
-
- 18 "This is what it
means," Joseph said. "The three baskets are
three days.
-
- 19 Within three days
Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on
a tree. And the birds will eat away your flesh."
-
- 20 Now the third day
was Pharaoh's birthday, and he gave a feast for
all his officials.
-
- He lifted up the heads
of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in
the presence of his officials:
-
- 21 He restored the
chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once
again put the cup into Pharaoh's hand,
-
- 22 but he hanged the
chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in
his interpretation.
-
- 23 The chief
cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he
forgot him.
-
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is meant to
change the way that we think, and the way that
we live.
Commentary
by Bob Pardue
Joseph and the baker and
the cupbearer
How soon we
forget!!
Joseph interpreted each of
the men's dreams but did not hesitate to give the
credit to God.
If Joseph had predicted these
things on his own and they came true, it would have
been a mere coincidence. But, with God involved,
Joseph could interpret with the confidence that
what he saw in the dreams was absolute.
Something just came to mind
when I read this passage again. Interpreting the
cupholder's dream was easy for Joseph because the
cupholder would be restored to his high position in
the king's court.
The risk
However, it was a bold move
for Joseph to tell the baker the meaning of his
dream. What if the baker were not executed and
instead the king put him back into a position of
power? There is a good chance that Joseph would
have lost his life in that situation.
Faith
It took a deep faith for
Joseph to make the decision to interpret the
baker's dream just the way God explained it to
him.
How about us?
Would we be willing to share
and do what God told us to do even if it meant a
possibility of losing our lives? Could we go into
harm's way to tell about Christ?
Quest of the
missionaries
Many people in the world
today are doing just that. There are Christians in
certain parts of the world such as China and
Afghanistan who risk their lives to share the faith
of Jesus Christ.
Now, back to us. Sometimes
we're afraid even to mention Christ to a friend or
someone we know needs His message of salvation and
there is not a remote chance of our being hurt or
abused by telling them. All we have to risk is a
little rejection.
Let's pray that God will make
us bolder in our commitment to share the word of
Christ to those who need it.
The benefit
Wouldn't it be wonderful if
some stranger (or even a friend or family
member) came up to us in heaven and said; "It was
that day you shared Jesus Christ with me that I
made a decision to have my life
changed."?
Love in Christ
- Bob
If you have never made the
commitment to receive the love and life-changing
experience of Jesus Christ, please take a moment to
go
here and take the
first
steps to salvation.
Verses from Genesis about Joseph
interpreting dreams from the cupbearer and the
baker are from Life Application Study Bible: New
International Version
Lessons and Study - The Old
Testament
Genesis
33:1-16 - Jacob and Esau
Meet
Genesis
37:1-36
- Joseph
has a dream
Genesis
37:12-36
- The
Brothers Sell
Joseph
Genesis
39:1-23
- Joseph
is Tempted with Adultery
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