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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday March 17, 2019
JOSEPH
INTERPRETS TWO DREAMS
Genesis 40
In Genesis 40, after Joseph had been thrown into prison by Potipher
on false charges (his wife falsely accusing him of attempted rape), once again,
what seems to be a bad place initially, now quickly turns into another
opportunity for advancement. Here we see that, because the LORD is with Joseph,
he was granted favor by the chief jailer, and before long, he was put in charge
of all the other prisoners, and over all things that happened in the prison. In
fact, because of the LORD’s favor upon Joseph, the chief jailer no longer had
any worries concerning his responsibilities of the affairs of the king’s
prison.
Some time after Joseph’s imprisonment, the
Pharaoh became displeased with two of his most trusted servants, the chief
baker, and the chief cup bearer. In any kingdom, the men whom the king trust
the most, are given the job of handling and serving his food and drinks,
because it minimized the risk of being poisoned by someone in their own inner
circle. These two men remained in prison for quite some time, and Joseph,
because he was in charge of the king’s prisoners, was assigned by the chief jailer
to take care of them also.
Once again we see here that Joseph has been
put into “the right place” at “the right time” by the LORD, so that he can
receive even greater blessings as a reward for his faithfulness to HIM. He had
now been put into contact with two of the Pharaoh’s top officials, who had now
found themselves in a pickle, and didn’t know how they were going to extricate
themselves from their predicament.
And so the stage was now set for Joseph,
the man of GOD, to move even closer to the throne of Pharaoh, and namely, to
the position of “second in command” of the Egyptian government (Genesis 41:40).
Because of his continued faith and trust in the “goodness” of GOD, and despite
his condition of unjust imprisonment, the LORD had now already taken him from
“chattel slavery” to prominence among the very people who enslaved him.
One night both the baker, and the cup
bearer, each had a dream, and they were deeply concerned as to what their
dreams meant. In fact, they were so concerned that they both carried a look of
dejection all over their faces. When Joseph saw them he inquired of them what
their problem might be, and both men shared their concerns with him. After
hearing that they had both had distressing dreams, Joseph told them that
interpreting dreams was GOD’s business, and he convinced both men to tell their
dreams to him (Vs.5-8).
The cup-bearer told Joseph his dream first,
which was about a vine with three branches that began to bloom and blossom, and
ultimately produced several cluster of ripened grapes. He took the grapes and
squeezed them into the Pharaoh’s cup and then handed the cup over to him.
Joseph then told the cup-bearer what his dream meant. The three branches
represent three days, he told him, and in three days the Pharaoh will release
you from prison and return you to your former position. Joseph then asked the
man to remember him when gets out, and to put a good word in for him, so he
might win his own release from prison, for he had done nothing to deserve his
incarceration (Vs.9-15).
Next the baker told Joseph his dream of
“the three baskets of pastries that he carried on his head”. However, before he
could deliver them to Pharaoh, the bird came and ate them all up.
Unfortunately, Joseph’s interpretation of his dream did not have a happy ending,
and in fact, his dream forecasted his demise on the orders of the Pharaoh
(Vs.16-19).
Joseph’s interpretations were dead on, and
within three days both men were released from prison. The Pharaoh restored the
cup-bearer back to his former position, and he sentenced the baker to death by
ordering him to be impaled on a pole, where the birds came pecked away his
flesh, just as Joseph had predicted to him. Unfortunately, once the cup-bearer
had received his freedom, he forgot all about Joseph’s request of him to
mention his good deed to him, to the Pharaoh.
A
Sunday school lesson by,
Larry
D. Alexander
LARRY
D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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