This chapter is going to tell us that Pharaoh’s baker and cupbearer have offended him and are put in prison, and Joseph interprets their dreams, and they come to pass exactly as Joseph said. We have a picture of the crucifixion and the redemption in this chapter. So for context, we are going to go verse by verse through the chapter with a summation at the end. This is one of the chapters Yeshua was referring to when he said “Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” in Luke 24.44 (see also Psa 40.7 and John 5.39-47).
v 1…Then it came about after these things (Potiphar’s wife and her scandal) the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord the king of Egypt (the Scriptures are silent as to how).
v 2…And Pharaoh was furious (he will be a picture of the Father) with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker (they will be a picture of the two thieves on the cross; the two goats on Yom Kippur; and Yeshua and Barabbas).
v 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 (by God’s providence; Joseph was “numbered with two transgressors” like Yeshua).
v 4…And the captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he took care of them (Joseph is now put in personal contact with those who would ultimately free him), and they were in confinement for some time.
v 5…Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, they both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation.
v 6…When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, behold, they were dejected (aggrieved).
v 7…And he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?”
v 8…Then they said to him, “We have had a dream and there in no one to interpret it (like the magicians and wise men and those who interpret dreams).” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God (God doesn’t need magicians and wise men and professional dream interpreters-Job 33.14-17, 29)? Tell it to me please (obviously Joseph is under the Lord’s inspiration here).”
v 9…So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, behold, there was a vine (suitable to his office; a type of Messiah-John 15.1) in front of me;
v 10…and on the vine were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its clusters produced ripe grapes (a type of the blood of Messiah; life).
v 11…Now Pharaoh’s cup was in his hand, so I took the grapes (from the vine; he took life in the blood, marriage, covenant, teaching) and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand (as he used to do).”
v 12…Then Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it (given to him by God): the three branches are three days (Joseph could only know that by inspiration of the Spirit of God; three is the number of resurrection in Scripture, and in this case, the first resurrection of the righteous);
v 13…within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head (take account of you) 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.
v 14…Only keep me in mind (think of me) when it goes well with you, and please do me a kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this place.
v 15…For I was in fact kidnapped (stolen away by force) from the land of the Hebrews (he thought he was sold by his brothers and taken by the Midianites, then resold to the Ishmaelites; but he does not expose the sin of his brothers that he thinks were responsible; but the brothers had nothing to do with selling him because when Reuben went back to get him, he was gone; and they don’t know what ever happened to him), and I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon.”
v 16…When the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head (speaks of self-righteousness intellectually but not spiritually);
v 17…and in the top basket there were some of all sorts of baked food (man-made) for Pharaoh, and the birds (symbolic of evil sometimes) were eating them out of the baskets on my head (the intellect).”
v 18…Then Joseph answered and said, “This is the interpretation: the three baskets are three days (three is the number of resurrection in the Scriptures, and in this case the second resurrection of the wicked);
v 19…within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head (take account of you) from you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.”
v 20…Thus it came about on the third day, which was Pharaohs’ birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head (took account of) of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.
v 21…And he restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and he put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand;
v 22…but he hanged the chief baker just as Joseph had interpreted to them.
v 23…Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him (did nothing to help, so Yehovah will receive all the glory now).
So, we have a picture of the crucifixion and the redemption in this story. Joseph is a picture of the Messiah and he is in a dungeon, a type of the cross, and he is between two transgressors. The cupbearer is the repentant thief who is saved by the blood (wine) and lives on, and the baker is the unrepentant thief who dies the second death. This story also alludes to the two goats on Yom Kippur, one is called “L’Yehovah” or “to the Lord” and a picture of Messiah, and the other is called, “L’Azazel” or “to the wilderness” and is a picture of Ha Satan, and in particular, the False Messiah. This also alludes to when Yeshua and Bar Abbas stood before Pilate on Passover, one was to the Lord, and the other was released “to the wilderness” of the world and never heard from again.
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