Genesis 40:22

_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._ The third day ... Pharaoh's birthday. This was a holiday season, celebrated at court with great magnificence, and honoured by a free pardon to prisoners. Accordingly the issue happened to the butler and baker as Joseph had foretold. Doubtless he felt it painful to communicate such dismal tidings to the baker; but he could not help announcing what God had revealed to him; and it was for the honour of the true God that he should speak plainly....

20-23 Joseph's interpretation of the dreams came to pass on the very day fixed. On Pharaoh's birth-day, all his servants attended him, and then the cases of these two came to be looked into. We may all profitably take notice of our birth-days, with thankfulness for the mercies of our birth, sorrow for the sinfulness of our lives, and expectation of the day of our death, as better than the day of our birth. But it seems strange that worldly people, who are so fond of living here, should rejoice at the end of one year after another of their short span of life. A Christian has cause to rejoice that he was born, also that he comes nearer to the end of his sin and sorrow, and nearer to his everlasting happiness. The chief butler remembered not Joseph, but forgot him. Joseph had deserved well at his hands, yet he forgot him. We must not think it strange, if in this world we have hatred shown...

- Joseph in Prison An uncomplaining patience and an unhesitating hopefulness keep the breast of Joseph in calm tranquillity. There is a God above, and that God is with him. His soul swerves not from this feeling. Meanwhile, new and distinguished prisoners are introduced into his place of confinement. Genesis 40:1 The chief butler and chief baker, high officials in Pharaoh’s court, come under the displeasure of their sovereign. “In the house of the captain of the guards.” It appears that this officer’s establishment contained the keep in which Joseph and these criminals were confined. “Charged Joseph with them.” As Joseph was his slave, and these were state prisoners, he appointed him to wait upon them. It is probable that Joseph’s character had been somewhat re-established with him during

EXPOSITION GENESIS 40:1 AND IT CAME TO PASS (literally, _and it was_) AFTER THESE THINGS (literally, _words_, _i.e._ after the transactions just recorded), THAT THE BUTLER—מָשְׁקֶה, the hiph. part. of שָׁקָה, to drink, signifies one who causes to drink, hence cupbearer (cf. Genesis 40:11)—OF THE KING OF EGYPT AND HIS BAKER—the אֹפֶה (part. of אָפָה, to cook or bake) was the officer who prepared the king's food. The monuments show that the Egyptians had carried the arts of the confectioner and cook to a high degree of perfection—HAD OFFENDED (or sinned against) THEIR LORD (literally, _against, _the preposition being repeated) the king

BUT HE HANGED THE CHIEF BAKER,.... The is, he ordered him to be hanged; because, as the same Targum says, he consulted to kill him (Pharaoh): AS JOSEPH HAD INTERPRETED TO THEM; the events as to both answered to the interpretation Joseph had given of their several dreams....

CHAPTER 40 JOSEPH THE INTERPRETER OF DREAMS _ 1. The fellow prisoners (Genesis 40:1)_ 2. The dream of the chief butler (Genesis 40:9) 3. The interpretation (Genesis 40:12) 4. Joseph's request (Genesis 40:14) 5. The dream of the chief baker (Genesis 40:16) 6. The interpretation (Genesis 40:18) 7. The fulfilment (Genes

GENESIS 40. JOSEPH INTERPRETS THEIR DREAMS TO PHARAOH'S TWO IMPRISONED OFFICERS. This chapter is from E, with harmonistic additions and touches from J (Genesis 40:3_ b_, Genesis 40:5_ b_, Genesis 40:15_ b_). The two officers are in custody, till their case is decided, in the captain's house (not in the prison or Round House as Genesis 40:3_ b_ states). Joseph waits on them, not as a prisoner but as the captain's slave. They attach great importance to dreams, and with their fate hanging in the balance, are troubled that they can consult no interpreter. Joseph piously reminds them that interpretations belong to God, and inter

The Fulfilment 20. _Pharaoh's birthday_ Cf. Matthew 14:6; Mark 6:21. Proclamations of amnesty on royal birthdays have been universal. They can be illustrated from the royal proclamations preserved in Egyptian inscriptions. The title "Pharaoh" (Egypt. _Pr-ô_, "Great House") is constantly used without a personal surname before the 22nd Dynasty (945 745 b.c.)....

AND HE RESTORED, &C.— Calmet and Chais both observe, that as Joseph was an illustrious type of our Saviour, so these two officers of Pharaoh clearly mark out the two thieves, between whom our Lord was crucified; the Saviour pardoned one, and condemned the other, as Joseph predicted the butler's re-establishment, and the baker's death. See ch. Genesis 41:13. the mode of expression in which verse is to be noted and remembered: Joseph is said to have done that which he only predicted. _Me he restored—him he hanged._...

2. _Joseph as Prisoner in Egypt_ (Genesis 39:1 to Genesis 41:45). 39 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh'S, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hand of the Ishmaelites, that had brought him down thither. 2 And Jehovah was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that Jehovah was with him, and that Jehovah made all that he did to prosper in his hand. 4 And Joseph found favor in his sight, and he ministered unto him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. 5 And it came to pass from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that Jehovah blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessi