Two of the servants of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had made him so angry that he sent them to the jail where Joseph was; they were the head butler, and the head baker. For a while these two men were kept in prison and Joseph had to look after them. One night each of them had a very strange dream, and in the morning when Joseph came in where they were, both were sad. They told him they had dreamed, and there was no one that could tell them what their dreams meant, and of course they were worried, because they thought that the dreams might have something to do with their positions in Pharaoh’s house. In those days, before any of the Bible was written, God spoke to people in dreams, and Joseph wisely said, “Is not God the One that can tell what dreams mean? Tell me your dreams.” So the chief butler told his dream which was about a grape vine that had three branches, and grapes grew on them: he had Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, and in his dream the butler took the grapes, and pressed them into the cup, and gave it to Pharaoh. Joseph told him the dream meant that in three day’s Pharaoh would put him back in his old place as chief butler again, “but think on me,” he said. “when it shall be well with thee.... and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this prison,” and Joseph told him how he had been stolen from his home, and had been put in prison without a cause.
When the chief baker heard’ what Joseph had to say to the other man, he told his dream which was about three baskets that were on his head; in the uppermost basket there were all kinds of baked or cooked dishes, and the birds ate them out of the basket. Joseph had bad news for this man, for he told him that in three days Pharaoh was going to have him hanged.by the neck from a tree, and the birds should eat his flesh. And so it was on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday. He made a feast for all his servants, and the chief butler he took back, but the chief baker was hanged.
And did the butler remember about Joseph. and tell the king about him? No, lie forgot all about him, and so two whole years went by, with Joseph still in the prison. Poor Joseph! how sad he must sometimes have been, far away from home, and a prisoner, with no one at all, as it seemed, to take an interest in him. and get him out of jail and let him go home to his father. But we can say that God never forgot Joseph; He saw him, and took care that he wasn’t too much discouraged, kept him safely, but His time had not come yet. We shall see next week how Joseph made a great change one day.