Daily Scripture Reading Genesis 39:21 - 40:19

Today, many people believe dreams have meanings. There are many theories about how to interpret dreams. There are websites that list words and symbols and the supposed meaning of each if it appears in a dream. Over the past couple centuries many psychologists have delved into the interpretation of dreams.

This belief that dreams have meanings has been common throughout history. In today’s passage we will see an example of that in ancient Egypt.

Joseph’s attitude toward the interpretation of dreams is a good example of how we should approach the interpretation of dreams.

Joseph was sold to the captain of Pharaoh’s bodyguard as a slave. Yahweh was with Joseph, and made him prosper, so much so that the captain placed Joseph in charge of his household. The captain’s wife wanted Joseph to lie with her, but Joseph refused and fled, at which point the wife accused Joseph of assaulting her, resulting in Joseph losing his position and being thrown in prison.

Gen. 39:21 But Yahweh was with Joseph and extended lovingkindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.

Look at the phrase “Yahweh was with Joseph.” Joseph had just been falsely accused of being a sexual predator, resulting in him losing his position as the head of the captain’s house, but that did not mean Yahweh had abandoned him. In fact, Yahweh was still actively helping Joseph.

Gen. 39:22 So the chief jailer gave into the hand of Joseph all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was the one who did it.

Gen. 39:23 The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s hand because Yahweh was with him; and whatever he did, Yahweh made to succeed.

Once again Yahweh caused Joseph to be very successful so that Joseph was given broad responsibility. Joseph’s setback was not permanent, it was merely something that moved Joseph from one sphere to another.

Whenever bad things happen in life, it is natural to blame God, lose hope, and think that God has forgotten about us or abandoned us. However, the life of Joseph teaches us that is not true. Sometimes a setback in life merely moves us somewhere else where we will once again begin to prosper. God may allow bad things to happen in our lives so that He can use us somewhere else.

Gen. 40:1 ¶ Now it happened that after these things, the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt.

Gen. 40:2 And Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.

Take note of the word “furious”. We don’t know what the cupbearer and baker did, but it obviously made Pharaoh very mad.

Gen. 40:3 So he put them in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned.

Gen. 40:4 And the captain of the bodyguard appointed Joseph as overseer over them, and he attended to them; and they were in confinement for some time.

Notice the words “for some time”. The Bible doesn’t tell us how much time elapsed, but it was a significant period of time.

Gen. 40:5 Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation.

Gen. 40:6 Now Joseph came to them in the morning and saw them, and behold, they were dejected.

Gen. 40:7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, saying, “Why are your faces so sad today?”

Gen. 40:8 Then they said to him, “We have had a dream, and there is no one to interpret it.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Recount it to me, please.”

Don’t miss the fact that the men assumed their dreams had a meaning.

Think about how Joseph responded. He immediately acknowledged God’s power and the fact that God knows the meaning behind dreams.

Today, many people still believe dreams have meanings. There are many theories about how to interpret dreams. There are websites that list words and symbols and the supposed meaning of each if it appears in a dream. Over the past couple centuries many psychologists have delved into the interpretation of dreams.

As Christians, we should respond as Joseph did, and remember that, if dreams have meanings, the interpretations belong to God.

Gen. 40:9 ¶ So the chief cupbearer recounted his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream, behold, there was a vine in front of me;

Gen. 40:10 and on the vine were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its clusters produced ripe grapes.

Gen. 40:11 Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.”

Gen. 40:12 Then Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days;

Gen. 40:13 within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer.

Gen. 40:14 Only remember me when it goes well with you, and please show me lovingkindness by remembering me to Pharaoh and getting me out of this house.

Gen. 40:15 For I was in fact stolen from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the pit.”

Take note that Joseph seized the opportunity to plead for help in getting out of his unjust situation, both the fact that he had been stolen from the land of the Hebrews and that he had done nothing worthy of being thrown into jail.

Gen. 40:16 ¶ And the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, so he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head;

Gen. 40:17 and in the top basket there were some of all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

Gen. 40:18 Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days;

Gen. 40:19 within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head off of you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off of you.”

Today, many people still believe dreams have meanings. There are many theories about how to interpret dreams. There are websites that list words and symbols and the supposed meaning of each if it appears in a dream. Over the past couple centuries many psychologists have delved into the interpretation of dreams.

As Christians, we should respond as Joseph did, and remember that, if dreams have meanings, the interpretations belong to God.

What is your belief regarding whether or not dreams have meaning?

Have you had experiences where you related a dream and someone tried to tell you what it meant?

If dreams have meanings, and if God alone knows the meaning of dreams, why might He allow us to have dreams if He is not going to provide an interpretation of our dreams?

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”