23. Pharaoh’s Cupbearer’s Dream
The Dream Setting/Backstory
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Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker were in the same prison as Joseph awaiting judgment for offending and angering their powerful master. Joseph was serving them. One night they both had a dream concerning their respective metrons.
The Dream Scripture
Genesis 40:1-13
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Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 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.
After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?” “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”
So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.”
“This is what it means,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. 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. But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.
The Problem
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God was moving His agenda for Joseph forward. He used the cupbearer’s life and death dream to kickstart this process. Like the rest of Egypt the cupbearer and the baker believed Pharaoh was a god, the reincarnation of the Egyptian god Horus. To have angered such a god man who wielded absolute power over his subjects was no small thing.
The Dreamer’s Metron
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The cupbearer’s influential metron was that of a high-ranking officer serving drinks in Pharaoh’s court. He had to be completely trustworthy because his most important role was to guard against Pharaoh being poisoned.
To this end he was often required to swallow some of the drinks before serving them. This intimate relationship and proximity to Pharaoh placed the cupbearer in a position of great influence.
When Pharaoh was troubled by his dreams, after his magicians and wise men couldn’t interpret them, God used the cupbearer to speak well of Joseph to Pharaoh and thereby give him access to Pharaoh.
The Message
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Joseph’s clear interpretation was that Pharaoh would forgive and reinstate the cupbearer to his former position within three days.
God’s Purpose
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God’s purpose was to raise Joseph to a position of influence within Egypt so Joseph could advance God’s plans and purpose. Consequently God gave an unforgettable experience to the cupbearer. His testimony was told to Pharaoh when God’s timing was right.
God was still firmly focused on keeping His promises to Abraham and bringing forth the Messiah. This is the first in a series of dreams God uses to bring Joseph to a position of national prominence in Egypt in order to fulfill Joseph’s previous two prophetic dreams and to bring about God’s prophesy in Abraham’s dream which said,
Know for certain that for four hundred years
your descendants will be strangers in a
country not their own and that they will be
enslaved and mistreated there. But I will
punish the nation they serve as slaves, and
afterward they will come out with great
possessions. [1]
Satan’s Purpose
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Joseph had always been a target for Satan who wanted him dead. He’d tried to rob Joseph’s birthright by making Jacob marry Leah first. He caused Joseph’s brothers to be jealous enough to nearly kill Joseph and ultimately sell him into slavery.
Satan also filled Potiphar’s wife with lust and lies that landed Joseph in prison. Satan was also probably trying to kill the cupbearer and the baker just because he was a murderer from the beginning. God worked all these bad situations for good and used them to further His plans to bring Jacob and his family down to Egypt.
Dreamer’s Eyes Enlightened
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Within three days the relieved cupbearer realised Joseph’s God had given him a correct interpretation to his dream.
Dreamer’s Response and Application
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The dreamer didn’t have any part whatsoever in bringing the dream to pass. This dream as the word of God was like the seed that fell on rocky ground. The cupbearer received it with joy but having no root soon forgot all about his promise to Joseph. Like the nine lepers healed by Jesus he never thought to be thankful. He forgot all about it and quickly returned to his old way of life.
Know God Better
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God is again seen as a dependable promise keeper who can work all things together for good for those who are called according to his purposes. [2] He used this dream incident with the cupbearer to further His own plans and purpose and to bless His faithful servant Joseph.
The Dream Process
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Joseph acknowledged God as the Divine Dream Interpreter and immediately gave a succinct correct interpretation to this complex symbolic dream referring specifically to the dreamer’s metron.
Using the The Symbol Replacement Method he revealed the three branches are three days and interprets the squeezing of grapes into Pharaoh’s cup as the cupbearer’s former work situation being restored. There’s a bustling sense of new life bursting forth throughout this dream.
With hindsight the dream also seems to contain symbolic reference to the coming Messiah. We now know Jesus referred to himself as the true vine. We also know Jesus arose from the dead after three days and we know his blood has been poured out as a sin offering, a drink offering for all nations.
So, on a symbolic level the cupbearer’s dream could represent Christ’s sacrificial offering that freed sinners from Satan’s power and the prison of their transgressions. The vine then represents the true vine, Jesus Christ. The cupbearer squeezed the fruit of the vine into the royal cup, and brought it to his lord for acceptance. This prophetically speaks of the shed blood of Jesus before the Father.
The cupbearer’s goblet of crushed grapes reminds us of Jesus who before the crucifixion fell with his face to the ground and prayed, My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. [3]
Unlike the cupbearer Jesus had to die but in three days like the three vine branches He rose again. Jesus had also refered back to Abraham when He says, This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. [4]
Today, this new covenant in Jesus blood continually bursts forth with new life all over the world resulting in 200,000 new believers daily.
The Usual Suspects
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Joseph says God is the One who interprets dreams. It was Satan that caused Potiphar’s wife to lust after Joseph and tell lies that landed him in prison. Jesus is seen in the image of the vine, the three days of resurrection and the cup of blessing.
Takeaways
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This is the first time in Scripture God uses dream interpretation as a means of placing His servants into positions of power in a world government.
God will again use this same strategy with Daniel in Babylon over twelve hundred years later.
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever so no doubt some Christian master dream interpreters will find themselves in similar circumstances in future.
That God can work all things together for good is again apparent. We are also beginning to see how dreams can impact and save nations.
1 Genesis 15:13
2 Romans 8:28
3 Matthew 26:39
4 Luke 22:20