Time went by and relationships formed.  Mundane, so they seemed.  Commonplace is what they appeared to be.  After all, what kind of relationships could exist among fellow prisoners?  Actually, a shared road of suffering and common experience often form a foundation of deep friendship.  The cupbearer and baker may have felt it for Joseph, and he felt it for them.

Genesis 40:4  After they had been in custody for some time, 5 each of the two men– the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison– had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.

Take careful stock of the words.  They, each, the same, and each. 
Together but individual.

Genesis 40:6 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 do you look so sad today?”

Joseph cared about them and wondered why they were sad. Genesis 40:8 “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.”

The cupbearer went first.  Genesis 40: 9 So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, 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.”

Joseph experienced God’s favor yet again with interpretation for the cupbearer.  Genesis 40:12 “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.”

As added assurance, Joseph has a request. 

Genesis 40: 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 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.”

Joseph hadn’t forgotten what happened to him…the wrongs perpetrated against him. 
Their memory was with him in prison.

The chief baker probably sighed in deep relief that there was a happy ending to the cupbearer’s story and felt assured to tell his own dream.  Genesis 40:16 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.”

Again, Joseph experienced the favor of the Lord with interpretation.   Genesis 40: 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 impale your body on a pole. And the birds will eat away your flesh.”

This was not the interpretation the baker wanted.  The clock was ticking and there would be three days of anguish as he waited to see if Joseph was just making stuff up.  He probably hoped that Joseph was wrong.  The cupbearer, too, was probably on the edge of nervousness because Pharaoh’s birthday was coming up.  What if Joseph wasn’t right and he was going to be killed too… or instead of the baker?

Genesis 40: 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 impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.

Think about it:

• Two yearnings compete within every human heart: a happy ending and justice prevailing.  How did both the baker and the cupbearer hope for a happy ending?  Would they have felt justice prevailed?
• Each man had a dream, same night, different interpretation, different proven outcome.  How did both together serve to emphasize Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams? 
• How is this different from telling people what they want to hear?
• Should we feel it was unfair to the baker in the story?  In modern culture, when we clamor for justice are we really protesting reality of a broken world and demanding a happy ending?  How did inequality of outcome propel the storyline of Joseph? 
• Why was the cupbearer alone preserved (hint: what function did he have)? 
• How does the ending as both life and death cause us to yearn for something more than this earthly existence? A happy ending and justice prevailing.  On this side of heaven only the Cross of Christ guarantees both. 

Genesis 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.

The favor of the Lord was upon Joseph in prison and the warden clearly noticed.  Having a responsible, compliant, and hard-working person like Joseph in prison made the process of guarding a delight.  The warden could delegate tasks, put things in Joseph’s hands, and not have to worry that they won’t get done or will become a secret means of revenge.  Joseph was made responsible for all the prisoners and God gave him success and favor in everything he did.

One day, two new prisoners arrived, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.  Both were high level servants of the king of Egypt and had made the Pharaoh angry.  So off to prison they went! 

Little did Joseph know when he was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife (and sent to prison) that jail would be the very place of God’s next intervention.

Little did two prisoners know when they were sent to prison, their story would be told in perpetuity because they encountered Joseph.  They probably thought it was just another day, a bad one, and cursed Pharaoh under their breath for putting them in prison. 

Little did they know that the moments of genuine importance and relationships of greatest significance often enter as a whisper so soft, they’re audible only in the soul.  For them, a bad day—in the moment—would turn into a string of bad days and nights and eventually to a bad night’s dream.  In the story of Joseph, however, these dreams would be predictive of life and death.

Think about it:

• When we meet people, how likely are we to remember their names let alone consider they might be the most significant encounters we’ll have in our entire lives? 
• Is hindsight necessary to have that kind of perspective? If not hindsight, then what? 
• In our story, the baker and the cupbearer don’t have names.  The warden doesn’t have a name.  Yet, their part in the story is integral.  How does this serve to highlight Joseph? 
• Why was it necessary that both the cupbearer and the baker arrive in prison at the same time?

Had Potiphar been mad primarily at Joseph, he could have executed him then, there in front of his wife, no questions asked.  But Potiphar had likely seen God’s favor that followed Joseph and noted that his wife seemed awfully comfortable with that trophy cloak as a souvenir.  He probably knew she was a liar from his prior experience with her, and it didn’t help that she started off by blaming Potiphar.  That slave YOU brought us.  (Just can’t win with that woman.)

So instead of execution, Genesis 39:20 “Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.”

It was an elite sort of prison on (or near) Potiphar’s premises.  This jail also housed Pharaoh’s staff who had failed in their tasks.  Joseph’s sentence was light (but long) because Potiphar’s family honor needed to be upheld even if he expected his wife was nothing but a lying sack of papyrus.

Genesis 39:20 But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

Favor followed Joseph and everyone noticed. 

Genesis 39:22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Think about it:

• God’s favor found Joseph in prison, as a slave, and as a brother who has now had two cloaks taken from him.  Is God’s favor dependent on our circumstances? Or where in the world we are?  
• What about our income level?  What about our demographic characteristics of sex, race, creed, and color? 
• What about our religion?  Stop and think on this last one. 
• Read James 1:17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” 
• Now read Matthew 5:44 “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
• How does these inform the previous question?

Joseph was contented.  He was a slave but a privileged one because Potiphar clearly saw the blessing and didn’t want to jeopardize it at all.  Joseph lived in his master’s house and had a very good life, for a slave, that is.  Genesis 39:6 “So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.”

Genesis 39:6  Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” 8 But he refused.

Talk about awkward.  He’s a slave.  He couldn’t help it that he was good looking.  Potiphar’s wife had too much time on her hands and turned out to be persistent.  Very persistent.  Avoidance wasn’t working so now Joseph tries diplomacy.

Genesis 39:8  “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife.”

She looked at him blankly and expectantly.  Joseph, seeing that reason was getting nowhere, next tried the religious route.

Genesis 39:9 “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

She neither knew nor cared about some Hebrew God.  She was fixated, the self-appointed queen of the I-want-what-I-can’t-get club, and began pressure tactics.  Maybe he was just playing hard to get.  Indeed, she was nothing short of a nag…and a headache for Joseph.  He couldn’t avoid her because he lived in his master’s house too.  Pretending he didn’t hear her and loudly whistling “The Dreidel Song” probably wouldn’t have worked either.  So, he kept to the same story and hoped she’d stop.

Genesis 39:10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

Nag, nag, nag.  She didn’t exactly make her case compelling or display an invitation he couldn’t refuse.  Nag, nag, nag.  What a headache!  Finally, one day, he had to do the escape route.

Genesis 39:11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

Think about it:

• Joseph was well-built and handsome.  He was full of youthful vigor and hormones.  As a slave, he probably wasn’t getting a lot of action, shall we say?  What supported his integrity? What in our culture undermines our own resolve, particularly where sexual expression is concerned?
• At this point in history, it would still be 400 years for the Hebrews in Egypt (many of those years as slaves) before Moses would be born, another 80 plus before he’d ascend the mountain and come down with tablets containing the Ten Commandments, outlining the prohibitions against adultery and coveting.  How did Joseph know it’d be a sin against God (verse 9)? 
• It’d be almost two thousand years before the Apostle Paul would write, 1 Corinthians 3:16 “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” and 1 Corinthians 6:19 “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” The Holy Spirit hadn’t been given yet, so what did Joseph mean when he thought it would be a sin against God?
• What does it say that Joseph knew this before it was written, yet we refuse to honor it after it’s been made explicit?

Fast forward through a chapter of Genesis and we catch up with Joseph far from home.  He was formerly Daddy’s favorite with a coat of authority, but resented by his brothers, and now he’s the slave who had been in the Ishmaelite caravan to be sold a second time, first by family and now by strangers.

Genesis 39:1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

Potiphar unwittingly won the slave-purchase lottery in buying Joseph because God was preparing to prosper and bless Joseph wherever he went, including Egypt.  All Potiphar probably looked for was an able-bodied honest worker.  Little did he know that God’s hand would be upon Joseph and whatever blessing happened to Joseph would overflow to Potiphar’s benefit.  Cool! Buy one slave who is blessed by God, and it’s all upside. 

Genesis 39:2 The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant.

Potiphar, a wise man even before the Magi.  It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that blessing defies gravity and God’s favor upon Joseph could be helpful to Potiphar.  It’s like Potiphar knew this before Malachi.  “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (Malachi 3:10) 

Genesis 39:4 Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.

Think about it:

• Blessings are not geographical, they are personal.  Joseph was in Egypt, but he was still Joseph.  Egypt was the powerful worship epicenter of foreign gods, but there was Joseph, a faithful Jew, shining brightly because of the dark place.  How often do you look to your change your circumstances to bring about blessing?
• In what way could your worship of God, obedience to Him, and your trust in Him stand out and become a blessing to others?
• Read Psalm 67:1 “For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us– 2 so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. 3 May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. 4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth. 5 May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. 6 The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. 7 May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.”  What is God’s purpose in blessing us? 
• What is God’s purpose in our suffering? 
• In what way are blessing and suffering two sides of the same instrument God uses to shape character … whether the character of a person or the character of a culture?
• In what way does that destroy a God-wants-you-happy “prosperity gospel” preached in too many churches? 

A perfectly imperfect plan…ruined!  Reuben had been off somewhere while his brothers were making plans (to foil the plan they didn’t even know existed because Reuben had been keeping it secret). 

Genesis 37:29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.

The tearing of his own clothes—a response of distress—was probably accompanied by an Ancient Near East expletive or a string of them.  He hadn’t shared his plan with his brothers thinking that Joseph was safe in the cistern.

Genesis 37:30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”

Their answer wasn’t, “If you hurry you might be able to catch up to the traders and buy him back. We just happen to have twenty shekels to contribute toward the cause.”  Nope. What did they do?  Cover up the crime.

Genesis 37:31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornate robe back to their father.

Amazingly enough, they still had the robe.  They’d sold Joseph without it.  The robe, the robe, the robe.  It wasn’t the robe his father would want to see.  Certainly not dipped in blood.

Meanwhile Joseph was walking his way to Egypt, never to be seen again by the brothers…except he would be.  You see, it wasn’t really over for Joseph, it was just a scenery change.

Think about it:

• Reuben’s plan was secret and imperfect, but whose plan prevailed?
• Are God’s plans always pleasant and happy?  Who in this story today ended up being truly happy? 
• “Only in darkness do stars shine the brightest.”  In what way is this playing out in the life of Joseph who will be a star someday for the Jewish people? 
• Read Stephen’s account in Acts 7:5-13.  How is Joseph’s being sold into slavery part of God’s unfolding plan?

Those brothers: traitors and betrayers of the family trust, plotting and planning to defy authority and rip up that stupid coat of Joseph’s that they hated.

Genesis 37:23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—

Yeah, that robe of his really ticked them off… (and it’s emphasized to make sure we didn’t miss it).

Genesis 37:24 and the brothers took Joseph and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

That’s how Reuben planned to rescue him.  He knew Joseph wouldn’t drown because it wasn’t the season for rains and therefore, there was no water.  But Reuben’s plan was not well thought through.  He hadn’t counted on two things.  First, if Joseph were to be rescued, he’d squeal, and the resulting report would be damning for the brothers. All of them.  Beating up Daddy’s favorite but throwing him into a cistern might have saved Joseph, but all the brothers would be in big trouble for the treachery.  The other brothers knew it, so there would be no getting Joseph back to Daddy without Reuben’s plan being foiled.  It’s kind of hard to sneak a young man in a colorful coat back to his father without anyone seeing…for the rest of their lives.

But second, Reuben hadn’t counted on the coincidental timing (read as divine Providence) of Traders … those Ishmaelites and Midianites who were passing through.  Second cousins by heritage, but not really close enough to be considered family and therefore, they were just traders and not traitors like Joseph’s brothers.  Judah did a quick calculation about the consequences now that Joseph was in the pit.  If we let him out and he lives to tell about it, we’re in big trouble.  If he dies, we’re in big trouble unless we lie about it and no one finds out.  Either way we’re in big trouble.  Unless there’s another way.  They were all chewing on well more than food.

 Genesis 37:25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. 28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

Think about it: 

• “Come, let’s sell him … after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” How is this a major disconnect of thoughts?  How might selling him be no better than killing him? 
• In what way does it compound their guilt? 
• The brothers were twenty shekels richer and Joseph was out of sight, out of mind…sort of.  Who had they not taken into consideration regarding traders bringing Joseph to Egypt?  For that reason, would their consciences ever rest easy about what they’d done? 
• How are the plans of people always subject to the greater plans of God?  Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”
• God’s itinerary always leads from bondage to victory. How was this borne out in Joseph’s being sent to Egypt?

Joseph’s mission to Shechem was divinely redirected to Dothan but his true destination was an empty cistern.  Only Joseph didn’t know it. He could not predict–as he paraded in with his colorful coat of authority–that he was about to be stripped of that authority and to hit rock bottom.  Of a cistern, that is.

Genesis 37:18 The brothers saw Joseph in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

Whether it began as an idle thought of the moment or had been hatched a long time ago as a carefully planned coup, no one knows.  One thing’s for sure: most of the brothers failed to heed their own conscience. 

Conscience is that small voice beckoning integrity to rise in the face of sin and cowardice.  We all have a conscience, but only Reuben stopped to consider his own.

Genesis 37:21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe– the ornate robe he was wearing– 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern.

Think about it: 

• In Genesis 37:25 Scripture tells us “Then they sat down to eat a meal” (NAS).  What does it say about their conscience that they could carry out a plot like this and then go about life as if they hadn’t done such a horrible thing? 
• Eating a meal together in Biblical times meant a degree of fellowship.  What might it mean that even Reuben was having a meal with them?
• We aren’t told why Reuben thought to consider his conscience.  Perhaps it was a function of his responsibility as the eldest. Maybe he wanted to play the hero and get in on some of that colorful coat action.  Or maybe it was an attempt to repair the badly damaged relationship with his father after Reuben’s insolent and indecent behavior recorded in Genesis 35:22.  How does conscience intervene in the process of desire-sin-death referred to in James 1:15? 
• Habitually ignoring the conscience tends to silence it.  In what ways do you see our culture ignoring its collective conscience, and individuals rejecting each his own?  What is the likely outcome if we persist?

Joseph was wandering around the fields of Shechem when a chance encounter gave him some direction to locate his brothers.  “’They have moved on from here,’ the man answered. ‘I heard them say, “Let’s go to Dothan. “’ So, Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.” (Genesis 37:17)

Joseph–that dreamer who gave a bad report on his brothers in the past.  Oh, how they hated him for it!!  But he went on to find his brothers anyway, and report back…again…at least that was his plan.

“But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.  “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.  “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” (Genesis 37:18-20)

The brothers deserved more than a bad report.  They deserved more than a severe reprimand and a lifetime of anger management counseling because they had decided to take matters in their own hands.  They planned to kill him and put an end to all that dreaming.

“God’s Providence:
when future proves the past
and all present plans of man serve God’s purpose.”

Oddly, God’s providence used their hatred of their own brother to accomplish His good and perfect will.  They just didn’t know it. 

Think about it:

• If Joseph was dead, would his dreams come true? 
• In what ways were the brothers trying to be architects of their own destiny and thwarting whatever God might be doing with Joseph’s dreams?  Is God’s sovereignty that flimsy? 
• What do their actions say about their beliefs regarding the origins of Joseph’s dreams? 
• Joseph had a plan.  The brothers had a plan.  And God had a plan.  Which plan prevailed and how did the other two plans serve to accomplish the best of three?

When we last considered Joseph: A Life with Many Colors in the days leading up to Lent 2019, Joseph (our lead character from this part of the Book of Genesis) was a young emissary sent on a mission to Shechem which was a good four or five-day journey from his father Jacob’s home in the Valley of Hebron.  Jacob sent him to report on his brothers (big mistake) and Joseph, no doubt, had a lot to think about as he traveled in the now famous coat. 

Genesis 37: 14 When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?” 16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?” 17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.'” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.

Don’t you find this story rather mysterious?  Here’s Joseph desperately seeking siblings in Shechem when he runs into some random guy who just happens to be wandering the same fields (for who knows how long), and knows exactly who Joseph’s brothers are, has overheard them saying where they were going…and amazingly remembers it all.

What a coincidence…such a chance encounter!
Or maybe as Théophile Gautier (1845) says,

“Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God
when He does not want to sign.”

When God gives us curious details, it’s worth asking ourselves why.  One answer is unmistakable: It’s so we’ll have evidence to believe God’s story is unfolding exactly how God intends.

Think about it:

1. Why might God want us to know His intention in sending Joseph into harm’s way among his brothers? 
2. How does direction to Dothan from this chance encounter help us to see God’s foreknowledge of what will transpire? 
3. Read Genesis 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”  In what way does this chance encounter offer evidence of God’s will for a greater purpose? 
4. What painful circumstances in your life might be chance encounters for a greater purpose?