Is Joseph’s time as slave-manager, then inmate-manager, the ideal career path? Stay tuned!
Joseph didn’t have a Bible; they didn’t start showing up until the days of Joshua. If you don’t have one, or aren’t reading it, God will get your attention somehow, and may speak through dreams. But be careful! The advantage of the Bible over dreams should be obvious. There were many clever people in Egypt, but they couldn’t figure out what the dreams meant. Joseph’s dreams in his childhood were obvious: unlikely as it seemed, Joseph would someday be in a position of power and his brothers would bow before him. But back at the jail, two key figures in Pharaoh’s court, “the chief butler and the chief baker,” had fallen into disfavor. How were they “officers” of the court? Well, Pharaohs couldn’t be voted out, so they were poisoned and carried out! Those who controlled the food and drink supply had to be trusted; these two were not. They each had a dream, and in the morning Joseph “saw that they were sad” (Gen 40:6). They told him they couldn’t figure out their dreams. He replied, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please” (v 8). The baker’s dream was a nightmare: “Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you” (v 19). Oh, no! But the butler’s dream had a happy conclusion. “Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place” (v 13). A big diff between lifting off or lifting up one’s head! Joseph had a request for the butler: “Remember me when it is well with you, and please…make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house” (v 14). How did that work out? “The chief butler did not remember Joseph” (v 23). Some things are hard to take, but God’s plan involved split-second timing, so Joseph, like us sometimes, had to wait a little longer to be delivered.