Gen 40 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, Joseph refused to sleep with his master’s wife, was falsely accused, and was put in prison. Yet the passage says, “But the LORD was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison” (Gen 39:21). The keeper put all the prisoners in Joseph’s hands (Gen 39:22).
In this lesson, two new men arrive in the prison. Joseph helps them, and he asks for one thing.
The king of Egypt’s chief cup bearer and chief baker offended Pharaoh and were put in custody in the prison where Joseph was held. (vv. 1–3)
4The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he took care of them. They stayed in prison many days.
5They both dreamed a dream, each man his dream, in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the cup bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison.
6Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and saw that they were sad.
7He asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?”
8They said to him, “We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.” Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me.”
9The chief cup bearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, behold, a vine was in front of me,
10and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters produced ripe grapes.
11Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.”
12Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days.
13Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head, and restore you to your office. You will give Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, the way you did when you were his cup bearer.
14But remember me when it is well with you. Please show kindness to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.
15For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.”
16When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head.
17In the uppermost basket there were all kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”
18Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation. The three baskets are three days.
19Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from off you, and will hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from off you.”
20On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief cup bearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.
21He restored the chief cup bearer to his position again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand;
22but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.
23Yet the chief cup bearer didn’t remember Joseph, but forgot him.
To read the whole chapter: Gen 40, 23 verses.
Serving in prison. Joseph is a prisoner himself, yet “he took care of them” (v. 4). That morning he “saw that they were sad” (v. 6) and asked, “Why do you look so sad today?” (v. 7). A man locked up for something he did not do is still noticing the sadness on other people’s faces.
Who interprets dreams. The two men say “there is no one who can interpret it” (v. 8). Joseph does not say ‘I can.’ He says, “Don’t interpretations belong to God?” (v. 8). His circumstances have not changed, and neither has the God he speaks of.
One request. Joseph gives the cup bearer a good interpretation, then asks him, “But remember me when it is well with you” (v. 14). For the first time he speaks about what happened to him: “For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing” (v. 15). He does not say his brothers sold him, or that his master’s wife accused him. He only says he has done nothing.
Two dreams, two endings. Within three days, both dreams come true. The cup bearer is restored “to his position again” (v. 21), and the baker is hanged, “as Joseph had interpreted to them” (v. 22). Not one word of Joseph’s interpretation falls short.
The last sentence. The chapter ends briefly: “Yet the chief cup bearer didn’t remember Joseph, but forgot him” (v. 23). The dreams all came true. The one thing Joseph asked for did not.
Two full years. The next chapter begins, “At the end of two full years, Pharaoh dreamed” (Gen 41:1). The passage does not tell us what Joseph thought during those two years, or what he did each day. We only know that the forgotten days added up to two years. Only when Pharaoh dreamed did the cup bearer say, “I remember my faults today” (Gen 41:9).
Forgotten is not the same as abandoned. People forgot Joseph, but the passage never says God forgot him. The words from the last lesson still stand: “But the LORD was with Joseph” (Gen 39:21). Not one sentence in this chapter has God speaking, yet the God Joseph speaks of, and Joseph’s place in that prison, are both still there. God’s timing does not follow the cup bearer’s memory.
Joseph was Abraham’s great-grandson. He carried God’s promise, yet he sat in a foreign prison, waiting for a foreign official to remember him.
God’s promise was not cancelled because one man forgot. But it was not fulfilled right away either. In between stood “two full years” (Gen 41:1).
Maybe you, too, are waiting for someone to remember you: a letter that never got an answer, help that was promised and never came. This lesson is not telling you ‘keep waiting and you are sure to be rewarded’ — the passage does not say that. It only lets you see that the two years Joseph was forgotten were not outside God’s hands.
This week: Think of someone you once promised to help and then forgot. This week, get in touch — make good on what you said, or simply say, ‘I’m sorry, I forgot.’
Scripture: World English Bible.