Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Genesis-Chapters 39-40

Now we resume the revelation of the Messiah through the life of Joseph in relation to the deliverance of the non-Jews in the Olam Ha Zeh.

Gen 39.1-23 will tell us about the purchase of Joseph by Potiphar; but Yehovah is with Joseph and blesses Potiphar on account of him; Joseph resists Potiphar’s wife; she falsely accuses Joseph of assaulting her; Joseph is sent to prison and prospers there.

v 1…Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh (we believe the Pharoah in the upcoming famine is Amenemhat III, the sixth king of the Twelfth Dynasty, and we will talk about that shortly), the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there.

v 2…And the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

v 3…Now his master saw that the Lord was with him (like in Gen 26.28; Yehovah granted success and it was noticed)., and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand.

v 4…So Joseph found favor in his sight, and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge.

v 5…And it came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph, thus the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field.

v 6…So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with him he did not concern himself with anything, except the food he ate (no anxious care). Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

v 7…And it came about after these events (as overseer of the house) that his master’s wife looked with desire (lifted up her eyes) at Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.”

v 8…But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, with me, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house and he has put all that he owns in my charge.

v 9…There is no one greater in the house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?”

v 10…And it came about as she spoke to Joseph day after day (hoping to seduce him), that he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her (be in her company).

v 11…Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside (in that part of the house).

v 12…And she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hands (to elude her) and fled and went outside.

v 13…When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had fled outside,

v 14…she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew (she knew he was Hebrew; she is an Egyptian and was appealing to Egyptian prejudice as if it was an insult to have him-Gen 43.32) to us to make sport of me (because he was so handsome; to corrupt her, and expose them to scorn); he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed (causing him to flee).

v 15…And it came about when he heard that I raised my voice and screamed that he left his garment beside me (notice she doesn’t say in her hand, but making it look like he was disrobing), and fled, and went outside.

v 16…So she left his garment beside her (as proof) until his master came home.

v 17…Then she spoke to him with these words, “The Hebrew slave whom you brought to us came in to me to make sport of me (to corrupt her because he wa so handsome);

v 18…and it happened as I raised my voice and screamed, that he left his garment beside me and fled out.”

v 19…Now it came about when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me” that his anger burned.

v 20…So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail (rather than kill him; he knew his wife), the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was kept there in the jail (adjoining the the house of Potiphar-Gen 40.3).

v 21…But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer (who was under Potiphar).

v 22…And the chief jailer committed to Joseph’s charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever waas done there, he was responsible for it.

v 23…The chief jailer did not supervise any thing under Joseph’s charge because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it to prosper.

Gen 40.1-23 tells us that Pharaoh’s baker and cupbearer offend the Pharaoh and are put in prison; Joseph interprets their dreams, and they come to pass exactly as Joseph said. We have a picture of the redemption in this chapter.

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 the transgressors”).

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).”

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) 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 they did; 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 (but Yehovah didn’t as we shall see).

So we have a picture of the Messiah in this story. Joseph is a picture of the Messiah and he is in a dungeon, a type of the cross, and he is in-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 into the wilderness of the world and never heard from again.

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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