9 Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: “I remember my faults this day. 10 When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, 11 we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. 12 Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream. 13 And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.” ~ Genesis 41:9-13
Today, we return to our study of Genesis 41 where we find Joseph still in prison but he is about to get his promotion to freedom. In Galatians 5:1 we read, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” It is only the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that truly frees us from sin to live life the way we were intended, being defined by the God of the Bible. And, this freedom results in the ability to love God, ourselves and others. We show that we are steeped the most in slavery when we desperately try to prove ourselves to others, trying to make our lives look a certain way so that they will accept us. We do this also with God. Well, Christ has remedied this problem for us. And, if we are diligent to allow Him to define us, this is evidence that we have been truly set free.
In v.9 of today’s passage we read, “Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: ‘I remember my faults this day.’”
Only after seeing that the magicians and the wise men couldn’t resolve the matter of the king’s dreams did the butler speak. He obviously felt this would put him in a better light with Pharaoh and so he began with the statement, “I remember my faults this day.” The butler confessed his sin first. In order to have a hearing before the King, we must begin with the confession that we have sinned and that we need His help. Our being made “right with God” is not based on our imperfect confession of our sins, but on the riches of God’s grace and the perfect sacrifice of His Son on the cross.
The concept of confession means “to say the same thing as” or “to agree with.” To confess our sins to God, therefore, is to say the same things about our sins as He does: that it is sin. When we have sinned and we realize we have sinned, true confession is agreeing with God that it was rebellion against Him. Once we have confessed the wrongness of our sin and received the payment the Lord Jesus made for said sin, it is then that we have entered into a personal relationship with God.
In v.10-11 of today’s passage we read, “When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, 11 we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream.”
The butler also known as the cupbearer finally remembered the circumstances that introduced both he and the baker to Joseph and it was at that point that he began to tactfully share the details of those circumstances. God is always at work especially when the circumstances appear to be at their worst. God was always working behind the scenes, getting Joseph ready to meet a disgraced cupbearer in prison. At other times, He, more subtly, confused the experienced dream interpreters so that they suddenly found themselves mute when faced with a pretty simple task of interpreting the king's dream. At other times God’s work is really obvious, as when Joseph was given the interpretation of the king's dream and was as a result promoted to the position of Prime Minister of Egypt. Interestingly, the butler was clueless as to how much he was involved in a story which would eventually not only free Joseph but also up to as many as two million Hebrews from slavery in Egypt many years later.
In v. 12-13 of today’s passage we read, “12 Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream. 13 And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”
The butler took it on assumption that the Pharaoh would have known what a Hebrew was since it had been about 200 years earlier that the very first Hebrew crossed over from the land of divination to the pathway that led him to the true God. Having come originally from the area of Babylon, Abraham would have been learned in arithmetic and astronomy. To introduce to Pharaoh Joseph as a Hebrew then added credibility to the discernment of such important matters, even the interpretation of dreams.
The butler gave a few details of what had happened when Joseph interpreted his dreams and those of the baker. Then he highlighted the fact that Joseph’s interpretation of his dream brought about his deliverance. The butler then concluded that perhaps Joseph could interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. God used an unnamed cupbearer to the Pharaoh as a part of His plan to save the entire world of fallen man! This means He can do the same with us as well. In fact, this is the point of our walk with the Lord, that others might see the work of the Lord in and through our lives and desire a personal relationship with God for themselves. But, God must always do His work in us before He chooses to speak through us. I close with a great quote from A.W. Tozer who once said, “It is doubtful that God can use anyone greatly until He has hurt him deeply.” For sure, we see this truth born out in the life of Joseph and may it be born out in our lives as well.
