“…the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master… Pharaoh was angry with his two officials… and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. …each of the two men… had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. ‘We both had dreams, but there is no one to interpret them.’ Then Joseph said to them, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.'” (v1-8 abr)
So, the cupbearer and baker tell Joseph their dreams, and Joseph, with divine knowledge, interprets. The cupbearer is told: ” ‘Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer.’ ” (v13) Unfortunately for the baker, Joseph tells him ” ‘Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale your body on a pole. And the birds will eat away your flesh.’ ” (v19) Um, not what the baker wanted to hear, I’m sure.
“Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand – but he impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.” (v20-22)
Pretty much all I have to say about this, is the Lord works in mysterious ways. He sends two dreams to two of Pharaoh’s officials, and then tells Joseph the meanings of the dreams. So far, chronologically in scripture, Joseph is the first person recorded to have the “spiritual gift” of interpretations of dreams. Later on others are given this gift as well (eg. Daniel, and a Midianite soldier [kudos if you get this reference]), but right now it’s unique to Joseph, and this isn’t even the first time he has done this (remember he interpreted his own dreams as a teenager back in ch37?).
What makes this so special though, is prior to Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit was not sent to all who follow God (as He was in Acts 2), the Spirit only rests on certain people at certain times in the OT. Joseph was hand-picked by God for this purpose. Why? So God could be glorified through Joseph in all of Egypt and the nation of Israel (more on this in the next few chapters).
Father God, thank you for the gift of Your Spirit. Thank you for the blessing Your Spirit is to others through those who are willing to partner with You. Father please continue teaching us how to be willing partners, to honor You in all that we say and do, so we don’t inhibit the Spirit from working through us. Thank You for Your scriptures, and the records of those who came before us, that we may learn from them and their walks with You. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself when I say I long to fully surrender my words, thoughts and actions to You, so that those around me can be blessed, and so You can be glorified.
~ Conqueror in Training