Two men, two destinies Genesis 40
Two Cape Bretoners were lost in the woods and one of them said, “I heard that the best way to get someone’s attention is to shoot three times into the air. So, the other guy shot three times in the air and then they waited for about a half an hour. Then he shot again and they waited for about a half an hour but no one responded. Then the guy who was shooting said, “I sure hope someone shows up soon; I’ve only got three arrows left.”
Then there were two other Cape Bretoners who also went hunting but somehow they got separated and the first guy shot the other guy by accident. Well, he called 911 and said, “I had an accident and I think I might have killed my friend.” The operator said, “Are you sure he’s dead?” And he said, “Hold on.” And then she heard a gunshot and then he came back on and said, “Okay, I’m sure, now, what do I do now?”
See, there’s a good lesson here. Never go hunting or get lost in the woods with a Cape Bretoner.
“And it came to pass after these things, (What things? After Joseph was falsely charged and thrown into prison where he had to stay for about twelve years.) “And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers. And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward. And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison. And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad. And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in the ward of his lord’s house, saying, wherefore look ye so sadly to day? And they said unto him, we have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them, I pray you. And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, in my dream, behold, a vine was before me; and in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: and Pharaoh’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.
And Joseph said unto him, this is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days: yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: for indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.
When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: and in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bake meats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head. And Joseph answered and said, this is the interpretation thereof: the three baskets are three days: yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand: but he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him.”
Now, that phrase, “After these things” could also be referring to the previous chapters where Joseph had been sold into slavery, falsely accused of sexual assault and now, he was spending time in prison. And what we have to understand here is that Joseph was a slave and as I said last day that literally meant that he had no rights whatsoever, not even the right of a trial. So, when a slave was accused of something he was either executed or simply thrown into prison for the rest of his life. And you have to consider this; a slave’s testimony would be considered absolutely useless. It would be the equivalent of putting a dog on trial for biting someone. I mean, no one is going to ask the dog what happened because those of us who own dogs know they’d lie anyways; after all, dogs are always just looking out for themselves. And a slave wasn’t considered to be much better except that he or she had the ability to talk.
We have a hard time understanding what Joseph went through from the standpoint that we live in a country where we expect to be shown legal rights and yet; do you know there are places in the world today where people can literally spend years in jail without ever being charged? As a matter of fact the United States is said to have several military prisons around the world where they say people are held who have either committed or helped to commit unbelievable crimes and they’re held without being charged and without being tried and since there’s no finding of guilt or innocence they can be held until the day they die. And there are also several Middle Eastern countries who do the same. So, Joseph’s situation certainly wasn’t unique even though it took place a couple of thousand years ago.
Now Pharaoh’s prison was nothing like the prisons of today. There was no open air, no visitation center, no medical facilities, no chapel and no exercise yard. It would probably be more like a huge cave that went down into the ground and there would be no outside light and no comfort of any kind. And the conditions of such a place left little room for hope.
I was watching the news a couple of weeks ago and they were showing the results of a riot that took place in one of Nova Scotia’s prisons and they were saying it all began when some of the prisoners got bag lunches while others got hot meals. Well, I thought, now, that’s goes beyond torture. I mean, what could these guys possibly have done to deserve being treated like that? (And you know I’m being sarcastic.)
I don’t think that would have been a problem where Joseph was; because all these prisoners were simply put there to rot away as they survived on what was known as ‘the bread and water of affliction’ and that simply meant they were given just enough food to keep them alive but not enough to keep them healthy. So, they’d eventually waste away. And that was Joseph’s situation and yet God had him there for a reason and God was about to perform a miracle but the miracle wasn’t for Joseph but it was given through him.
I So, we’ll begin by looking at the people in this story.
And as I said last day; the man who was called the captain of the guard was actually what we’d refer to as the warden and he noticed that everything Joseph was told to do, he not only did it but he did everything so well that he gave him the responsibility of taking care of everything in the prison just as Potiphar had done in his house.
And it seems like the two other men in this story, the butler and the baker were the celebrity types who were thrown in there as well. And the reason I say they were celebrities is that they had held very important positions in the Egyptian palace. One of them was Pharaoh’s personal butler and he would have had the responsibly of tasting anything that Pharaoh ate or drank; just in case someone tried to kill him by poisoning him and he’d probably also let the Pharaoh know if his food or drink was any good. It would be like having an executive chef on staff; whose job it was to make sure that everything you ate was perfect.
The other man was the head baker and his job was to oversee everything that was cooked in the royal ovens. And he’d be the executive of the kitchens and everybody had to run around doing everything he said in order to get the meals ready on time and then he have to make sure that everything was cleaned up afterwards.
And listen, these two men were considered to be so important that the head of the prison actually assigned Joseph according to verse 4 to take care of these two.
So, here are these two new prisoners and we aren’t even told what their names were or what they had done that got them in prison in the first place. They might have been accused of separate crimes or they might have been accused of doing something together or it could have been something extremely petty because they might have just been in the way somewhere and somehow their being there made the Pharaoh mad and anything that happened to anybody always depended on the mood of the Pharaoh. I mean, if he was having a bad day then everybody was having a bad day.
Well, on the surface, this might seem like taking care of them was just another job for Joseph; but God was going to use their dreams to give Joseph some spiritual influence in their lives and ultimately He’d also use one of them to get Joseph out of the prison and into the palace. Listen, this tells us, we should never ignore the small twists and turns of life that we all go through because God can use the smallest things to direct us wherever He wants us to go and whatever He wants us to do next. And what we might see as a “chance encounter” or “an accident” or even “a coincidence” God can use to work in our lives to give us the direction He wants us to have. Psalm 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and He delighteth in his way.” This tells us that God has a plan for us and He gets exited when we go in the direction He wants us to go. Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” God can also guide and direct us through the smallest and most unusual details of our lives.
I remember when we were living in Oshawa and I had been working as a salesman and Sally was with IBM and everything was going pretty well from a financial standpoint. We were making plenty of money, we had a brand new house and two vehicles and from the outside it looked like we had the world by the tail; but there was something missing and we both felt it but neither one of us had a clue as to what it was.
So, one day, as I was wondering what God wanted us to do I was reading the mail and as usual there were all kinds of junk mail from both secular and Christian organizations. So, as I was flipping through a publication from Word of Life in New York there was a small ad that said they were looking for someone to program their new IBM system. I think someone had donated it. I showed it to Sally and she said they had the exact same system she had been working on at IBM.
So, later on, we told her mom and dad and they said come on we’ll drive you down to Word of Life and while we were there we were introduced to the man who was in charge of the office and he and his boss made an offer that if Sally would work on their system they would pay our rent and all my tuition and in the end they also gave us a free trip to the Middle East.
Listen, what was the chance they would have this specific system that Sally had been trained on and that the paper with the ad would show up at our house on the very day we needed to see it. There are no accidents with God but He directs you and I just as He directed Joseph and these other two men.
I’m sure there were times when Joseph thought he was forgotten both by everyone back home and even by all those he had known at Potiphar’s house but he was never forgotten by God.
So, those are the people in our story:
II And then second, we see where Joseph not only hears but interprets their dreams.
It doesn’t say how long these two men had been there but one morning when Joseph went in to check on them he found they we’re both sad and as I read that I thought, that’s kind of a strange thing to say because they were in prison and who would expect to find anybody who was happy. Anyway, they both tell Joseph that they’ve had these dreams and they were really bothered by them because I think they sensed there was something about these dreams that indicated something about their future and yet neither one could figure out what they meant.
And when Joseph heard that; he must have thought of the dreams he had had years before about him being in charge of everything and how everyone would be serving him and even though he never understood his dreams he asked them to tell him what theirs were and in verse 8 he said, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them, I pray you.”
Now, before we get into Joseph’s interpretation of these dreams I want to say that I’m always leery of those who are the super spiritual types who are constantly hearing from God and especially; when they’re the least effective people spiritually. I’ve heard people say God told me this and God told me to do that; but He never seems to tell them to talk to someone about the need of salvation and never seems to tell them to invite anybody out to church. But; they want everybody to believe both the dreams they’ve had and the voices they’ve heard.
I’ve heard people say after something terrible happens; “I dreamed about that very thing the other night” and the problem is; they never actually tell anyone until after it happens. And then there are others who do dream about something terrible but they spend the next two weeks worrying about it whether it actually happens or not. But; the dreams Joseph had and the ones he interpreted were specific messages that had come from God and remember that God used dreams to speak to Joseph and others like his father Jacob before they had the Bible and here we see where God also used these dreams to give these men direction for their lives.
Now, having said that we always have to be careful about the things that come from the human mind because they can either be the product of things that happened, things that we are worried about that might happen, what we had to eat before we went to bed or even some medications we take.
I remember a number of years ago I was having a problem with depression and I heard about a medication that a couple of people in my church were taking and they seemed to have good results. So, I told my doctor about my problem and she gave me a prescription. And then I started to experience nightmares that were so bad I didn’t want to go to sleep. So, I quit taking these drugs and the depression went away. I think it might have been scared away but I don’t know.
So, dreams can be affected by a lot of things. And then there’s even the influence of demonic oppression. There are certain books I won’t read or even have in the house and there are certain kinds of shows I won’t watch on television because of the influence these things can have on my mind.
I was reading about Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior, who had been a medical doctor. And as a doctor he was very interested in the use of ether. And in order to know how his patients felt when they were under its influence, Holmes decided to have someone try it on him. And, as he was going under the ether a profound thought came to him and he thought he had suddenly grasped the key to all the mysteries of the universe. But; when he regained consciousness, he couldn’t remember what this particular insight was and because it seemed like it would be so important to the rest of the world; Holmes arranged to have himself put under the ether again. But, this time he had a stenographer present so she could write down everything he said and that way they’d have a record of this great thought.
So, they gave him the ether and sure enough, just before he passed out; the insight reappeared. And as he mumbled this great realization, the stenographer wrote exactly what he said and he went off to sleep confident in the knowledge he had succeeded. Well, as soon as he woke up, he turned to the stenographer and asked her to read what he had said because he believed this was the key that unlocks the very secret of life itself. And she read, "The entire universe is permeated with a strong odor of turpentine."
I know exactly what he experienced because of my vast experimentation with illicit narcotics and it’s not so much what you’ve learned as much as it is the feeling of having found something that nobody else knows. You see, even though you didn’t actually find anything; you felt like you did. And it gave you the sense of being smarter than everyone else around you even though you couldn’t remember what it is that you know that they don’t.
But; as I said, the dreams these men had were messages that came from God and so, first, we see that the chief butler told his dream and then Joseph gave him the interpretation. It’s in verses 9-13. “In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; and in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: and Pharaoh’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.”
And Joseph responded by saying, “This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days: yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.”
And then Joseph went on to explain why he was in prison and he asked the butler to speak to Pharaoh on his behalf because he said he wasn’t actually guilty of the things he had been charged with. And I’m sure that Joseph thought, hey, this is my ticket out of this place and I’m sure he would have been absolutely overjoyed. And he was right, it was his ticket, but it would take another two years before the butler even thought of him again.
So, when the baker heard a good interpretation to the butler’s dream he decided he to tell his and he said, “I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: and in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bake meats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head. And Joseph answered and said, this is the interpretation thereof: the three baskets are three days: yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.”
The problem is, when we just read the words the way they’re written Joseph comes off like he’s really cold and he couldn’t care less about what was going to happen to the baker but I’m sure there was more to the story because as we get on in the book we’ll see where Joseph was even compassionate to his brothers and remember, they wanted to kill him. So, it certainly wasn’t in his nature to be cold and unconcerned about the baker’s situation.
So, he interprets the two dreams and one gets good news while the other gets a death sentence and to Joseph’s credit he told the second man the truth even though it was bad news. I mean, he could have said, “Ah, your dream is too obscure or too complex” but he simply told him the truth and let him deal with it.
And listen, you and I have a similar responsibility with the gospel; and we’ve been sent to the world around us to give good news to those who are willing to be saved and the bad news of hell and eternal punishment to those who refuse to accept the good news. As someone said, our goal is to comfort the afflicted and also to afflict the comfortable!
Well, in three days it seems like the Pharaoh thought of both of them; and he decided to give the butler his job back and he also decided to hang the baker. So, both of their dreams were fulfilled just as Joseph said they would; but the butler forgot all about him until God reminded him two years later.
Now listen very carefully, because as difficult as these two years might have been to Joseph they were also a very precious time in his life because it was here that God taught him three valuable lessons we all have to learn.
III Joseph’s lessons.
And the first one is Joseph had to be willing to do the will of God no matter what. And as I said a couple of weeks ago God doesn’t always tell us what we’re going to be doing five years down the road but He does reveal the specifics of his will on a day to day basis, if, we are paying attention.
I remember talking to a non-Christian and he said he wasn’t interested in salvation but he said that he really wanted to know the will of God for his life. So, I asked, “What if you found out that God’s will was something you didn’t want to do?” And he said, “I’d tell Him to forget it.” Well, the fact was, he really didn’t want God’s will, he just wanted to know if God had any good ideas about what he should be doing with his future.
And then, listen to this, part of God’s will for Joseph was his being sold into slavery to Potiphar and then being imprisoned in Egypt. And we know this because that was what he told his brothers at the end of the book because when he spoke about how they sold him, he said, “You meant this for evil but God meant it for good.”
People have the strange idea that God’s will is always going to be the place of peace and prosperity but Job 5:7 says, "People are born for trouble as surely as sparks fly upward." In other words, troubles are part and parcel of our lives and there’s simply no end to them. So, if you’re having problems, don’t think God is mad at you; problems are the result of our living in a sinful world.
Someone said, “We’re either just coming out of a trial, we’re in the midst of a trial or we’re just about to head into another one.”
A jeweler uses what’s known as "the water test" to identify a true diamond because he knows that an imitation stone will never be as brilliant as a genuine one. So, he places the stones in water and the one that sparkles as much as it does when it’s dry is genuine but the imitation one is dull and lifeless. And those whose faith fails under the waters of affliction are just as phony.
So, first Joseph had to learn to wait while he endured the afflictions of his flesh but then second; Joseph also had to learn not to be too dependant on others. And you have to understand that I’m not talking about everybody acting like they’re the Lone Ranger or something like that but there’s a point in all of our lives where we find that the only help we can really count on comes from God Himself. He may use others as a means of comfort, to give us direction or even to provide for us but ultimately everything we have or need comes from Him.
There was an article in the paper a while back about a guy by the name of Danny Sampson who had robbed a bank in Ottawa. And during the robbery Danny used an old Colt 45 and it says he got away with $6,000 but it wasn’t long before the R.C.M.P. arrested him and confiscated his gun. They sent the gun to their laboratory to be tested and they found out it was a collector’s piece. The strange thing was Danny didn’t have to rob a bank because his gun was worth $100,000. He didn’t know it but God had more than provided for his needs but it was when he tried to take matters into his own hands that he got himself in trouble.
And in Joseph’s situation he was constantly confronted with needs that could only be met by God; whether these needs were physical, spiritual, emotional or even mental.
And then third we see is that Joseph learned that God’s will happens according to God’s timing. And I’m sure he thought as soon as the butler got out of prison that he’d be going right out behind him but Joseph had to learn as we do that God is never early but He’s also never late! He always right on time!
The problem we all have is that God doesn’t move when we think He should and rather than waiting for Him we either get discouraged and try to create our own answers or simply give up and say, “I guess I’m wasting my time because either God doesn’t care or isn’t listening.” But listen, the prophet Isaiah wrote, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
And the problem we all have is with the word ‘wait’ because we assume that waiting is just sitting around twiddling our thumbs and we forget that there’s also the idea of waiting; like when a waiter waits on or serves people. In other words, we need to be busy doing God’s business while we’re waiting in expectation of His will.
One problem many of us have is that we assume the will of God is the prize package we’ve always dreamed about. The good health, the material blessings, the unending love from everyone we run into and everything else we see as God’s hand of blessing.
I don’t think that too many of us would argue with the fact that the apostle Paul lived in the will of God but take a quick look at his life. He was certainly an evangelist but as far as we know he never reached any large groups of people and not only that but a few of the places he preached were actually glad when he left.
One of the churches where he had spent the most of his time was the Corinthian church and that church was such a mess when he got there and it even seemed to be worse when he wrote a couple of letters to them later on. And then when he spent his last days in prison he wrote to one of his few friends and said he was all alone because everyone had left him. And listen; Paul was in the centre of God’s will.
Later on in Paul’s life he was on the way to Rome where he’d eventually be killed by the Roman government and while he was on his way; he went through a 14 day storm, then they were shipwrecked and all the sailors wanted to kill him with the rest of the prisoners and when he finally got on shore he was bitten by a poisonous snake. So, at what point do you think Paul said, “Man, there’s nothing but fun in the will of God?”
So, God allows bad things to happen for a reason because He knows more than we do that someday it’s all going to make sense. So, when we’re asking for God’s will to be done remember it might not be what you want but it will be the best thing you can have. And even though we may feel forgotten, we will never be forsaken by the Lord because just like Joseph He had a plan and His plan was sure.
We all experience what I call divine delay and there are a few thoughts I want you to see here. And the first is; we shouldn’t be surprised when things don’t happen when we expect them to. 1 Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.” And if you read through any of the books of the Bible you’ll find that believers have always had to deal with disappointment, frustration and all kinds of difficulties. Listen, God is always working while his people are learning to wait; so, don’t be surprised when things take a little longer than you think they should.
And then second, we also notice that God constantly had His hand on Joseph. And the reason He did was because in every situation Joseph put God first. He had faith God, not in Potiphar, not in the butler and not even in the king of Egypt because he knew that when men failed him, God was still with him, regardless of whether he was walking behind a caravan, working as a slave or locked in a prison.
So, when we find ourselves in a waiting period we need to listen to see what God may be trying to teach us. And there are two questions we need to ask ourselves. And the first is, “Is there something God is trying to teach me while I’m waiting?” And the second is, “Is there something God wants to change in me while I’m waiting?”
CONCLUSION:
So, what was it that set Joseph apart from everyone else around him? He knew the Lord was with him in spite of his circumstances and in spite of the fact he had been forgotten by every one else.
When his brothers sold him like he was some kind of commodity to the Ishmaelites but he knew God was with him. When he was treated like a sex-slave by Potiphar’s wife and stood his ground he did this because he knew he belonged to God. And then when he was still treated like a slave in prison he consistently gave them God’s word even though one of them died and the other seemed to be struck with amnesia. He was always faithful to God.
So, if we know the Lord and believe the Bible we accept that God is in charge and what we have to accept is that God allows certain things to happen and someday they’ll all make sense; because if we believe God doesn’t allow them to happen then He’s not really in charge and that thought is worse than thinking He knows what’s happening and can’t do a thing about it. So, there are some aspects to suffering that we just have to leave in God’s hands and understand that someday we’ll understand the why behind everything.
In her book "A Step Further" Joni Erickson wrote, "Satan doesn’t sneak out and cause cancer and pneumonia while God happens to be looking the other way listening to the prayers of His saints. He can only do what our all-powerful and all-knowing God allows him to do. And we have God’s promises that nothing will be allowed which is not for our good or which is too hard for us to bear.
I sometimes shudder to think where I would be today if I had not broken my neck. I couldn’t see at first why God would possibly allow it, but I sure do now. He has gotten so much glory through my paralysis than through my health! And believe me; you’ll never know how rich that makes me feel. If God chooses to heal you in answer to prayer, that’s great. Thank Him for it. But if He chooses not to, thank Him anyway. You can be sure He has His reasons."
Joni’s attitude makes us all sit back and wonder how grateful we should be for the blessing of salvation. The apostle Paul said he couldn’t contain his gratitude that God had somehow chosen us for no good reason other than His own good pleasure.
It’s like the way they used to pick sports teams back when I was growing up. I remember the two best players always got to pick the teams and they’d always get down to the last couple of guys and they’d pick a slow kid for catcher and someone else to stick way out in right field where no one ever hit the ball and then they chose the very last ones by saying, "If I take him, then you gotta take him." I was usually one of the last ones picked and someone would say, “You take Hugh and I’ll take the dead dog in the ditch and then the other guy would say, “No, you take Hugh and we’ll all play with our eyes closed.” I sure those guys all had the gift of encouragement but I always wanted to be picked with some kind of enthusiasm but I also realize that I wasn’t that good.
But listen, before this world was ever created the Bible says, “God chose you and He did it before the foundation of the world.” Someone always says, “How did He do that?” And I always answer, “I don’t know but I’m sure glad He did.” He chose us because He chose us and He did it because He loves us.
There is an old cemetery outside of New York City, and in that cemetery is a tombstone. It’s rather unusual one because there’s no name on it. In fact, there’s no date of birth or date of death on it either. There is only one word on it and it’s the word "Forgiven." And when you think about it: when you and I are dead, that’s the only word that’s really matters, isn’t it?
