Story 62 The Cupbearer and the Baker
Joseph spent year after year in the prison dungeon, humbled to one of the lowest positions in life. Yet he continued to faithfully and loyally serve God. His God was with him in the middle of his suffering, and he trusted that his Lord had a purpose in it. He knew that God loved him with a love called “hesed.” In the Hebrew language, this is the overwhelming, powerful, loyal, merciful, lavish, neverending love of God towards those he is in covenant with. God was committed to Joseph in his time of need, and Joseph believed the LORD would keep his promises.
God gave Joseph favor with his prison warden, and soon he was put in charge of all the other prisoners. It was all a part of the Lord’s plan to bless him. For you see, while Joseph was in prison, God brought him a remarkable opportunity.
It was over ten years after Joseph was first sold into slavery by his brothers. Two officials of the king of Egypt had angered the Pharaoh. Both were thrown into prison as they waited for their trial. One of them was his chief cupbearer, and the other his chief baker. These men watched over the things that the king ate and drank, which were important positions of power. The king put his very life into their hands. Many of the powerful in Egypt longed for the role of the king and plotted to take it from him. Poison was one way to get the Pharaoh out of the way, and they would have been willing to pay a high price to get it to him. The Pharaoh had to be able to trust the loyalty of his chief baker and his cupbearer every time he ate.
Joseph watched over the prisoners as they waited for their trial before the king. One night, they both had mysterious dreams. The next day, they were bothered because they could not understand what their dreams meant. In those days, dreams were understood to be very important. They believed that dreams often told about things to come. They were visions of the future.
Joseph came to them in the morning and saw that they were discouraged. He asked them, “‘Why are your faces so sad today?’” Joseph had a true heart of concern for those under his care.
They told him that they had dreams, but they had nobody to interpret them for them. Joseph knew that the dreams were from the Lord, and since he was a servant of God, he said, “‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.’”
Joseph knew he could turn to his Lord to serve these Egyptian prisoners. The God of Abraham was also reigning over the nation of Egypt.The chief cupbearer of the king told Joseph his dream first;
“‘In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and put it into his hand’” (Gen. 40:9-11).
Joseph had a wonderful interpretation for this dream. He said that within three days, the Pharaoh was going to restore the man to his former job as chief cupbearer! He would be raised back up to his old position of honor! How happy and relieved the cupbearer must have been! When Joseph realized that God was going to return the cupbearer to the court of the king, he gave him a request. He asked the cupbearer to talk to the Pharaoh on his behalf and help him get out of jail. He explained that he had been forced into slavery from faraway lands and had done nothing wrong to deserve being in prison.
When the chief baker heard Joseph’s happy interpretation of the cupbearer’s dream, he wanted Joseph to interpret his own. Maybe there was good news for him, too! But why hadn’t the baker told Joseph his dream in the first place? There are some who think the baker was feeling guilty and didn’t want to know what his dream meant. He had done something wrong, and he knew he deserved punishment. Somehow, hearing the cupbearers happy ending changed his mind. He said:
“‘I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread. 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.’”
What a curious dream. Why didn’t the baker drive the greedy birds away from the Pharaoh’s bread? Why hadn’t he protected the Pharaoh? Joseph’s interpretation for this dream wasn’t nearly as pleasant as the first one. He told the baker that the three baskets were a symbol of three days. At that time, Pharaoh was going to lift the baker’s head off his shoulders by hanging him from a tree. The baker would be sentenced to the most degrading kind of death. He would be found guilty of his crime, and his dead body would be hung out for the public to see as an example of what happens to those who betray the king. Whoa. That wasn’t a fun message for Joseph to give, but it was the truth.
The day that Joseph interpreted the dreams was three days before the Pharaoh’s birthday. The king threw a huge feast and invited all his officials. He brought his chief cupbearer and chief baker in front of them all. Just as Joseph said, he raised the cupbearer back up to his position. He began to hand the Pharaoh his wine once again. The chief baker was put to death. God had faithfully provided Joseph with a right interpretation of their dreams.
The cupbearer had promised to help Joseph once he was restored, but he carelessly forgot. It showed terrible ungratefulness. His heart was cold to the need of his fellow man, and Joseph was left to continue his service in the prison. Nevertheless, Joseph stayed true to the work that was in front of him. He waited and trusted God, not knowing what his future held. One day, in God’s perfect time, the closed doors of Joseph’s prison would become his open doorway to the palace of the king.