The Law · Chapter 40 of 50
Genesis 40
In prison, Joseph is put in charge of Pharaoh's imprisoned butler and baker, who each dream a troubling dream on the same night. Trusting that interpretations belong to God, Joseph explains them, foretelling the butler's restoration and the baker's execution within three days. Both come true. Joseph asks the butler to remember him to Pharaoh, but the restored butler forgets him.
What happens in Genesis 40
Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker offend their master and are imprisoned in the same place as Joseph, who is assigned to serve them. One night both dream vivid dreams and wake troubled, with no one to interpret them. Joseph, seeing their sadness, says that interpretations belong to God and invites them to tell him. The butler describes a vine with three branches whose grapes he pressed into Pharaoh's cup. Joseph says the three branches are three days, after which Pharaoh will restore him to his office.
He asks the butler to remember him and mention his unjust imprisonment to Pharaoh. Encouraged, the baker tells his dream of three baskets of bakemeats that birds eat off his head. Joseph reveals that the three baskets are three days, after which Pharaoh will hang him. On the third day, Pharaoh's birthday, both dreams come true. Yet the restored butler forgets Joseph.
Genesis 40 in context
Joseph remains in the Egyptian prison, wrongly accused, yet trusted by the keeper with the other prisoners. This chapter continues his long season of waiting and hiddenness, but it also displays the God given gift of dream interpretation that will eventually bring him before Pharaoh.
The butler's forgetfulness prolongs Joseph's confinement two more years, setting up the dramatic turn of the following chapter, where his gift finally opens the palace door.
Main themes of Genesis 40
Genesis 40 (KJV)
1And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt. 2And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers. 3And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. 4And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward. 5And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison. 6And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad. 7And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in the ward of his lord’s house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day? 8And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you. 9And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; 10And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: 11And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. 12And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days: 13Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. 14But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: 15For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. 16When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: 17And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head. 18And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days: 19Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. 20And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand: 22But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.
Verses to carry from Genesis 40
“And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.”Genesis 40:8
“But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:”Genesis 40:14
“Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.”Genesis 40:23
Thematic connection
How Genesis 40 points to Jesus
This prison scene connects to Christ mainly by theme and echo. Two condemned men flank the faithful Joseph, and their fates diverge, one lifted up to life and one to death, a pattern later mirrored when two criminals hang beside Jesus at the cross, one turning to him and finding paradise, the other perishing. Joseph promises deliverance within three days, and the number quietly foreshadows the third day on which Christ rises.
Joseph, the innocent sufferer, brings a true word of both salvation and judgment to those beside him, just as Jesus does. And though the butler forgot the one who served him, God did not forget Joseph, assuring us that the Father remembered his Son through death and will remember all who are his.
Questions about Genesis 40
Why does Joseph interpret dreams instead of the Egyptian experts?
Joseph attributes his ability entirely to God, saying interpretations belong to him. The Egyptian court prized professional dream readers, yet these two prisoners have none. Joseph's gift comes not from trained magic but from the God who is with him. His confidence rests in the Lord, not in himself, which is why he can speak plainly even a message of coming death.
What does the butler's forgetfulness teach us?
Joseph did a kindness and asked only to be remembered, yet human gratitude failed him, and he languished two more years. The lesson is not to place ultimate hope in people's memory or thanks. God's deliverance, when it came, would arrive on his schedule and by his means, not the butler's. God had not forgotten Joseph even when everyone else did.
Reflection
Joseph served faithfully in a forgotten place and was then forgotten by the man he helped. Have you done good only to be overlooked? His story assures us that God sees what people forget. Keep serving where you are, pointing others to God rather than yourself, and trust that your deliverance rests in his memory, not in human gratitude.
A prayer from Genesis 40
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