Scripture Reading: Genesis 40
Genesis chapter 40, continuing the Joseph narrative, technically the story of Jacob. This is the history of Jacob according to chapter 37, verse 2. Of course, the history of Jacob includes Jacob's sons, one of which is Joseph. And last week we saw how he was tempted, or seduced rather, by Potiphar's wife.
He resisted that successfully and effectively, and ultimately she complained to her husband, and her husband had him placed into prison. So beginning in chapter 40 at verse 1. It came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker.
So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them. So they were in custody for a while. Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream, both of them, each man's dream in one night and each man's dream with its own interpretation.
And Joseph came into them in the morning and looked at them and saw that they were sad. So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in the custody of his lord's house, saying, Why do you look so sad today? And they said to him, We have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. So Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God?
Tell them to me, please. Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. Then Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.
And Joseph said to him, this is the interpretation of it. The three branches are three days. Now within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place, and you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand according to the former manner when you were his butler. But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me.
Make mention of me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house. For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews, and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon. When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, I also was in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head. In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.
So Joseph answered and said, this is the interpretation of it. The three baskets are three days. Within three days, Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh from you. Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.
Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, this is his time in prison and certainly it is sort of a pathway through which he is passing to exaltation. The fact that he had that dream in chapter 37 that indicated that he would be exalted above his brothers and above his father, above his mother, that was something always certainly in the back of his head. He probably never thought that that would come to pass through his brothers throwing him into a pit, and then Potiphar's wife accusing him and having him thrown into another pit of sorts, but that was the means by which God brought him to Pharaoh's house. So chapter 40 is key in the progression of Joseph going from this slave prisoner to ultimately second in charge over all of Egypt and the one tasked with feeding the nations around Egypt.
So the Lord's providence again is evident through here and in the particular situation the fact that he gave Joseph the interpretation of these two men's dreams. Now the butler obviously forgot him, but about two years later he remembers him, and he reports him to Pharaoh, and that brings Joseph into contact with Pharaoh at that point. So
Imprisonment of the Butler and Baker
I want to look first at the imprisonment of the butler and baker, verses 1 to 4. Secondly, the dreams of the butler and the baker in verses 5 to 19. And then finally, the fulfillment of those dreams in verses 20 to 23. Now, obviously, we should go back just a little bit into chapter 39 to see the imprisonment of Joseph.
After Potiphar's wife accused Joseph, verse 19 tells us, "...when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, Your servant did to me after this manner, that his anger was aroused." And then Joseph was placed in prison at that particular point, but we see something that was indicative or characteristic of the first part of the chapter. Verse 21 tells us, the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, it was his doing.
The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper." Now, there's many evidences of God's providence throughout the Old Testament, and obviously in the New Testament, many evidences of God's providence in our own lives, but this is obvious. Each chapter sort of builds on and each chapter sort of indicates how God's providence is at play to bring Joseph into these key places at these key times so that eventually he will meet Pharaoh and interpret his dream. So God is overruling all things in the life of his servant Joseph. Now, with reference to the imprisonment of the butler and the baker, notice the offense in verses 1 and 2.
It came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt, and Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. Now,
Roles and Offense of the Officers
the chief butler was the cup bearer, and the cup bearer had the task of making sure that the king was not poisoned. Kings in these particular times often feared that they would be poisoned, so they would have men that were specifically selected to be their confidants and to be the ones that presented them with their wine. They also had persons looking after their food so that they would not be poisoned and would not end up dead. And oftentimes, these men, because of the nature of their intimate relationship with the king became confidants, became sort of favorites to the king, and oftentimes wielded political influence.
Nehemiah functioned as the cupbearer for the king of Persia, according to Nehemiah 1, verse 11. He indicates that he was the cupbearer. When Nehemiah is found to be sad, The king of Persia asks him why, and then the king of Persia gives him leave to go and help. So he's obviously a man that was esteemed, and the same sort of thing would have happened in this particular instance.
Now, the baker would be responsible with overseeing the king's food. Now, intriguingly, I never knew this, it was in a commentary, there were 38 kinds of cake and 57 varieties of bread. So apparently the Egyptians liked to eat, they liked their grains, and they certainly liked their breads. They weren't pretty hung up on the keto diet with all that cake and bread.
But with reference to the offense, it says that Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the Chief Butler and the Chief Baker. They had offended their lord, but the text doesn't tell us specifically what they had done. Obviously, there's some... supposition, or there's some ideas, but the text is silent. But Waltke makes this observation.
He says, both of his royal inmates attended Pharaoh's food, the cupbearer to the wine in his cup, the baker to the bread and cakes on his table. Both had close access to the Pharaoh, and both could play a sinister role in a conspiracy against him. So whatever it is they did, it was worthy for them as officers of Pharaoh to be put into prison, to be put into custody under the captain of the guard. And then we notice how they then come into contact with Joseph.
They were placed in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, and they were ultimately placed under the authority of Joseph. Chapter 39 has already prepared us for that. Verse 22, chapter 39, the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison. So that when we drop down to verses 5 and following, it makes perfect sense why these two men, this Butler and this Baker, are under Joseph or responsible to speak with Joseph concerning these particular things.
Dreams of the Butler and Baker
And that brings us secondly to the dreams of the butler and their baker. Now the men had dreams, verse 5. Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream, both of them, each man's dream in one night, and each man's dream with its own interpretation.
Dreams Echo Joseph and Foreshadow Pharaoh
Now these two dreams recall Joseph's two dreams. In fact, the dream of the butler is agricultural or agrarian in nature, just like Joseph's first dream. And then the dream of the baker is oriented to the sky, just like the second dream that Joseph had. As well, these dreams foreshadow the two dreams that Pharaoh is going to have, and that's the link and the connection.
Once Joseph correctly interprets these dreams, two years later when Pharaoh has his dreams, the butler says, oh yeah, there was this Hebrew, there was this slave, there was this prisoner, and he was able to interpret these things for me. So Wenham says the pair of dreams recall Joseph's two dreams and foreshadows Pharaoh's two dreams, and especially Joseph's skill at interpreting dreams. And according to verses 6 and 7, both of these men were deeply affected by the dreams. Now, you've got to understand, they were chief officers of Pharaoh, close and intimate associates with Pharaoh, and now they find themselves in prison, and they have this dream given to them, according to verse 5, They are curious.
They want to know what their disposition is going to be. What is the outcome? Are they going to perish in a prison for the rest of their life? Or are they going to be released from prison?
Are they going to be executed for their crimes? What is it? So you can see why there's this emphasis on their part to want to understand or want to know the dream. And so they ask for interpretation.
So verse 6 says, Joseph came into them in the morning and looked at them and saw that they were sad. So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in the custody of his lord's house, saying, why do you look so sad today? And they said to him, we each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. Again, just like with reference to the several varieties of bread, I didn't realize how intense it was in Egypt at this particular time for this very thing.
There's an analogy or a parallel in Daniel's time. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, and there are those who are supposed to be able to interpret the dream. And I think or suspect that what God is doing, both with Joseph and Daniel, is giving them that exalted status. In Daniel's case, he's not only able to interpret the dream, but he's also able to relate the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had.
None of the wise men or the magicians or the sorcerers at that time could do that. So God is exalting his men in these pagan environments and creating a situation where they are invaluable to the pagan king. a foreign situation here in Egypt, later in Daniel with reference to Babylon, God is using and blessing these men in key places for the glory of God and ultimately for the good of his people in those particular places. Now with reference to interpretation, again Wenham says, the Egyptians shared a belief widespread in antiquity that sleep puts us in real and direct contact with the other world, where not only the dead, but also the gods dwell. He says, dreams, therefore, are a gift from the gods.
Their interpretation, however, was a complex science entrusted to learned specialists. While a dreamer might have a hunch whether a dream was auspicious or not, he had to rely on experts for a detailed explanation. In prison, they had no access to such expertise, yet being prisoners, they were most anxious to know their fate, hence their despondency. So again, I think that puts it into context and shows that human element or dementia.
These two men are sad because they've had these significant dreams and now they want the interpretation. If you turn over to 41 for just a moment, you see that emphasized relative to this necessity for interpretation. Now it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled. This is Pharaoh.
And he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh. So it was a very important role. that functioned in this particular society, and here, because of God's grace and his use of these means for the good of Joseph in his ultimate exaltation in Egypt, he gives Joseph the ability to interpret these dreams. And that leads us to consider what Joseph says to these two men.
Interpretations Belong to God
In verse 8b, he says, Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please. So he's saying this is not something that is under the control of the magicians. This is not something that is under the control of the astrologers.
This is something under the control of the sovereign God. If God Almighty is sovereign, if the God of Israel is the one that Scripture declares Him to be, then it's only Him who can give an accurate understanding of what the future holds. So the interpretation of the butlers, bakers, pharaohs, and Nebuchadnezzar's dream is ultimately given by God. You see this in an analogous way as we've been moving through the book of Acts.
It's God who does the signs and wonders. He may use Peter, he may use the apostles, he may use Paul and Barnabas, but it's God who brings this to pass, and in the same way he's using Joseph at this particular point. So Joseph doesn't say, hey, I've got this special insight, I've got this special gift, I've got this special ability. He is a far cry different from the sorts of people today that claim to be able to do miracles.
Those who boast, those who sort of engage in celebrity status because they can pronounce this or do that or cast visions here, but that's not how Joseph functions. He says, do not interpretations belong to God. Tell them to me, please. One other man makes this observation, Joseph's answer, interpretations belong to God, is completely polemic.
Now polemics is when we go against something. Apologetics is when we defend the Christian faith. Polemics is when we as Christians go after false religion. when we try to expose the wretchedness of it. Polemics is tasked with going to a Jehovah's Witness and showing them why the Bible teaches or how the Bible teaches that Jesus is God.
So it's not just defending the faith, but it's going out to try and destroy the faith, not literally to hurt people, but to destroy the objective content of the faith that those people hold to. And this, I think, is absolutely accurate. When he says, do not interpretations belong to God, tell them to me, please, he's not saying, I'm God. He's saying, the God that I serve has divine prerogative in this arena of knowledge.
Any other person that claims to have this is a fake. It's falsehood, and they are wrong. So back to the quote, Joseph's answer, interpretations belong to God, is completely polemic. It is again one of those splendid statements which our narrator loves and which go far beyond the situation in the programmatic doctrinal form in which they are spoken.
Spoken by a very lowly foreign slave whom the two prisoners had not dreamed of questioning, the statement contains a sharp contrast. Joseph means to say that the interpretation of dreams is not a human art, but a charisma, which means gift, a charisma which God can grant. The events of the future lay in Yahweh's hand only, and the only one to whom it was revealed was empowered to interpret it. So it's a polemical statement concerning the bankruptcy of the structure within Egypt.
And again, I think that's what's demonstrated there in Babylon when Daniel is able to not only give the interpretation of the dream, but to be able to tell the contents of the dreams as well. with reference to Nebuchadnezzar. Now, notice the interpretation of their dreams. Now, this is something we're not going to spend a lot of time on, and I think it really does underscore the divine origin of the interpretation, because in terms of the data presented, it'd be very difficult to discern the interpretation if one was not aided by God Almighty.
The Butler's Dream and Its Interpretation
So in the first place you have the butler's dream in verses 9 to 13. He gives the description in verses 9 to 11. Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph and said to him, Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth. and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes.
Then Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand." So that's appropriate to his station as the cup bearer, as the butler, as the one who makes sure that the king or the Pharaoh gets his wine. And then Joseph interprets that dream for him in verses 12 and 13. Joseph said to him, this is the interpretation of it. The three branches are three days.
Again, I think this underscores the divine origin of the interpretation. Commentators rightly point out, how would he know it was three days and not three years? How would he know it was three days specifically relative to the three branches? So this does give us the evidence that God is in it.
And when we see these things come to pass and fulfilled, it's obvious. And then he says in verse 13, he gives him the sum and substance of the interpretation. Now, within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place, and you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand according to the former manner when you were his butler. So in other words, everything's gonna work out for the butler.
Everything's gonna be okay with reference to the cup bearer. You're gonna get off the hook. Yes, the butler. Makes it nice and safe and everybody's happy and good in that particular situation.
Joseph's Request to Be Remembered
But then notice the request of Joseph in verses 14 and 15. Now, Joseph is not a precursor to quid pro joe. This is not a quid pro quo scenario. He is not saying, make sure you tell Pharaoh about me, and then I will give you the interpretation.
That's not what he's done. He has given him the interpretation. He has explained to him what is going to happen. He now just says to him, remember me.
He casts himself upon the mercy of this butler. The butler has received something. Again, it's not a quid pro quo arrangement. However, Joseph does say, I want you to remember me with reference to Pharaoh.
So in verse 14, but remember me when it is well with you and please show kindness to me, make mention of me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house. And I think here it really underscores, you know, the reality of a hope raised and a hope dashed. Right? I mean, he's giving this man the interpretation, and he knows that it's going to be three days that he's going to be released.
So he's probably thinking, I've done this guy a solid. It's not a big thing for him to remember me and simply tell Pharaoh, hey, this fellow expressed some kindness to me. So he probably had a great deal of hope. But we get to verse 23, and we see that he was forgotten.
The chief butler did not report it to Pharaoh. It took two long years. Now for us, reading, it doesn't take two years and it doesn't seem like a long time. But we're not in a prison under Potiphar's house or a dungeon languishing and forgotten.
So Joseph really had a lot of trials and a lot of afflictions and a lot of difficulties that I'm not sure we always get our minds wrapped around. I mean, he is exalted to that glorious station at the right hand of Pharaoh where he is overseeing all these particular things. But boy, this was a tough climb to the top for Joseph. It was a difficult situation that he had to face, a difficult situation that he had to endure.
And Matthew Poole makes that observation. He says, though he patiently endures his prison, yet he prudently useth all lawful means to get his freedom. There's nothing wrong with that. Again, he's not doing anything wrong in this instance.
He's provided the interpretation. He's done a good deed for this particular man. And then he says, please remember me and show me kindness. And then he gives the rationale or reason for this in verse 15.
He says, for indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews, and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon. And so he doesn't drop names. He doesn't say, you know, my rotten, lousy, terrible brothers did this to me. No, he sort of summarizes and says, I was stolen away from my land and I was brought to this place.
He doesn't implicate Potiphar's wife. It doesn't sound like sour grapes or bitterness or resentment or any of that sort of thing. He's simply casting himself upon the mercy of this chief butler, asking him for this favor and then giving him this reason. And then at the end of verse 15 where it says, they should put me into the dungeon, again, that's a pit.
And that's similar to the pit that he was in when his brother sold him into slavery.
The Baker's Dream and Its Interpretation
Now, finally, notice the baker's dream in verses 16 to 19. He describes the dream in verses 16 and 17. Again, it's an appropriate dream to his particular function or activity as the chief baker. And then Joseph interprets it for him.
This is not a happy interpretation. This is most likely what this fellow did not want to hear. In fact, if you look at verse 16, it says, when the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, So the butler immediately sort of spills his dream to Joseph. The baker seems a little bit more hesitant with reference to this Hebrew slave that's sitting in a prison under Potiphar's house.
And yet when he sees that the butler got good news, the baker now steps out and says, okay, Here's my particular dream. I've got these baskets, I've got them on my head, and in the uppermost basket, according to verse 17, were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head. So then, notice the interpretation in verse 18. So Joseph answered and said, this is the interpretation of it.
The three baskets are three days. Again, the same time frame that obtains between the butler and the baker. So whatever is going to happen is going to happen at the same time with the butler. And then he goes on to say, Within three days, Pharaoh will lift off your head.
The same verb is used. He's going to lift up the head of the butler, and he's going to lift up the head of the baker. But he's going to do it in significantly different ways. He's going to lift up the head of the butler to restore him to his position of a chief officer in Pharaoh's court.
He's going to lift up the head of the baker and put it on a, most likely impale him on a tree, and then the carrion birds are going to eat him. So the outcomes differ drastically. But that's the point of verse 19. Within three days, Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh from you.
Deuteronomy 21, later on in redemptive history, owing or specifically with reference to Israel, cursed is anyone who is hung or hangs on a tree overnight. So that would be the case with this particular baker. So whatever the baker did, it was a capital offense. Whatever the butler did, it was not a capital offense.
And so Joseph correctly interprets the dreams. In terms of this particular death, Wenham says, the baker will not simply be executed, but his corpse will be impaled and exposed. This treatment was designed to prevent his spirit from resting in the afterlife. The mention of the birds eating his flesh is both gruesome and emphatic, for it shows Joseph's certainty about the baker's fate.
And again, Joseph's first interpretation shows his certainty as well. Not because Joseph has power, not because Joseph is the gifted one, but because Joseph serves the living and the true God. For Joseph to be able to say to that butler, remember me once you're free, remember me once these things have come to pass, Joseph knows that the interpretation he's giving is absolutely correct, again, because it comes from God. The Spirit is at work in this man's heart, and he is being used by God, not only to get this immediate relief for these two persons, but again, to exalt Joseph before Pharaoh, where he will interpret dreams and then be given power by Pharaoh to orchestrate the affairs of Egypt.
Fulfillment of the Dreams
And that brings us finally to the fulfillment of the dreams of the butler and baker in verses 20 to 23. Now, it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, Calvin has a paragraph-long discussion about birthday celebrations, where he says, it's okay as long as we bring glory to God. But he says, typically on birthdays, everybody brings glory to themselves, and if that's the way that you do it, then you're wrong. But it's just found, I don't know why, I had read that. was using the commentary today, and I had marked that section off, so I had read it at some point in my life.
I don't know whatever sent me there to that section in Calvin's commentary on Genesis about birthdays. I don't know, but it was intriguing, obviously not intriguing enough to bring the whole quote here. In other words, you can celebrate your birthday according to John Calvin, just don't overdo it. Give glory to God, thanks to God, honor to God, praise to God, but yeah, you can have a slice of cake.
He didn't say that, but I don't think he would have an objection to that. But notice in verse 20, on his birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. Again, this particular language is being used figuratively, and it's being used literally. It's lifting up the head means, in this context, to bring them before everybody.
Lifting up the head of the butler means restore him to preeminence. Lifting up the head of the baker means killing him and impaling him so that carrion birds can eat his flesh. So the use of that language is getting a lot of use in this particular section. And then with reference to the specifics, the butler was restored according to verses 20 and 21, and the baker was hanged according to verse 22a.
But then let's look at verse 22b. Verse 22 says, he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted to them. So in other words, Joseph was right Joseph's plight now is demonstrated or demonstrable in the fact that he is a servant of God. He has done what God gave him to do.
And this exacerbates the crime, the wretchedness, the wickedness of this butler who doesn't remember him. Joseph spoke what was true. Joseph was deserving of that kindness on the part of the butler, but he did not get it. And that's what verse 23 ends with.
Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. So the chapter ends with Joseph languishing in prison, and then if you look at verse 1 in chapter 41, then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, Again, he's sitting in this prison for an additional two full years after the chief butler goes free and the chief baker goes to the tree to be impaled and ultimately eaten by birds.
Application
Well, in conclusion, in terms of some practical observations, the providence of God I hope everybody's appreciating. It's like a ladder. God's just building every step of the way so that we can see how God brings Joseph out of these miry pits into the presence of Pharaoh, and then ultimately is the one that is the provider for the nation of Israel. And this leads Joseph in 5020 to declare, you meant this for evil, but God overruled it for good.
So interpret the providence of God in these early chapters of the Joseph narratives as that specifically. God is overruling evil for good, and I think that's supposed to encourage the people of God, because if we find ourselves in situations that are less than desirable, and we find ourselves in affliction or trial or hardship, we might conclude that God has forgotten us, but that's not what the text ever says. The butler did not remember Joseph but forgot him, but God never did. God was present with him in Potiphar's house.
God is present with him in the prison. God is going to be present with him when he's exalted in Egypt. God never forgets His people, and in the midst of afflictions and hardships, He overrules those things ultimately for our good. That's the reality of Romans 8.28.
That's the New Covenant equivalent of Genesis 50.20. You meant this for evil? God overruled it for good. That's exactly Paul's point in Romans 8, 28.
He works all things for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. So the exaltation of Joseph was communicated to Joseph in his dreams. The exaltation of Joseph would come after a time in two pits. The one that his brothers threw him into, and the one that Potiphar had thrown him into.
And then the exaltation of Joseph, like Daniel, ultimately does show God's blessing upon his people in foreign lands. See, the Old Testament speaks to those particular things. What if we end up in a situation where we're out of our nation, or we're in a compromised position? Well, the nation of Israel was obviously tied to the land, but when we see servants of God outside of their land, we don't see them outside of God's will or outside of God's providence.
Just because they were inhabitants of the land of promise that God gave them, it does not mean that God is absent when they are removed from the land. In fact, turn to the prophet Ezekiel for just a moment to see a sample of this in a most vivid and glorious way. Ezekiel 11. It's actually kind of important that we set the stage or the context for Ezekiel 11.
Ezekiel 9 is a particular vision concerning the wickedness of Judah. In other words, as the children of Israel are in exile in Babylon, they've asked questions or they might murmur, they might whine, they might complain, wondering why is it the case that we are now in Babylon? And so, of course, God's prophets tell them, this is why you're in Babylon. You have broken the law of God.
You have transgressed. You have violated the covenant. Everything He stipulated in Deuteronomy 28, you did it. And as a result, you've been cast out of the land.
So Ezekiel 9 is the most vivid and, I think, terrifying vision of God's judgment. Chapter 10 records the departure of God's glory from the temple. Again, it's an amazing situation. God's glory is departing from the temple prior to its destruction.
And then in chapter 11, the reality is that the people of God are outside, not only of the land, but obviously out of their temple. But in verse 16 in chapter 11, therefore say, thus says the Lord God, although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone. Kyle and Delitzsch say they had indeed lost the outward temple at Jerusalem, but the Lord himself had become their temple. And I think that's what's happening when you have Daniel in Babylon, you have the faithful remnant here in Ezekiel's time frame in Babylon, you have Joseph in Egypt, The reality is that when a faithful Israelite is outside of the land of Canaan, it doesn't mean they're outside of the will and the providence of God.
God is the God over the entirety of the earth. He's not just sovereign over Israel, but He is the Lord God of the nations. And so Daniel and Joseph show us that God not only takes care of His people outside of the land, but He can exalt His people outside of the land into positions of great power and prestige and great responsibility. Both men had that, Joseph and Daniel.
And then secondly, we ought to appreciate the presence of God. The presence of God with Joseph in Potiphar's house. Remember, according to verses 1 to 6 in chapter 39, everything that Joseph put his hand to prospered. Potiphar's house benefited.
Potiphar saw that Joseph had the Midas touch, and therefore he put everything under his authority. As soon as he's put into prison, what does the prison warden do? He sees that he's a faithful man. Why?
Because the Lord is with him. That distinguished him. That showed that he was, in fact, trustworthy, and as a result, he gets this position. Calvin says, God, before he opened the door for his servants' deliverance, entered into the very prison to sustain him with his strength.
So before he delivered him, God enters into the very prison itself. The fact that the Lord is with Joseph in prison indicates that reality. Now we know God is omnipresent to be sure, but this sort of language indicates that his special presence is with Joseph even while Joseph is in prison. Another man says this statement, God was with Joseph in prison, implies quite a real protection and promotion in the matters of his external life.
Not, to be sure, protection from distress, but rather in the midst of distress. It's not protection from distress, but it's protection in the midst of distress. And that's where we see the glory of God present with His people. So whatever the situation or whatever the circumstance, we can be of good cheer.
The God of Joseph is our God. And whatever we are called to go through in terms of distress, or in terms of hardship, or in terms of affliction and trial, the Lord's presence with us sustains us, it enables us, and it causes us to persevere in the midst of those hardships. And then finally, in terms of just a couple of real practical lessons, the injustices of men are often inflicted upon the people of God. Remember later on in 1 Kings, there's that instance where Ahab wants to take Naboth's vineyard because he wants a vegetable garden.
And basically Jezebel, that woman of the year, lies and hires liars and they end up having Naboth executed so that Ahab can seize that parcel of property. It's a terrible thing. And you see that in scripture. You see gross injustices inflicted upon the people of God.
I wish it wasn't the case, brethren. I like to say, well, you know, once you're a believer in Jesus, everything always goes great. Everybody always treats you with respect. Oftentimes, it's just the opposite.
You're treated in a more hated way when you're a believer in Jesus Christ. So there will be injustices inflicted on the people of God. Consider Joseph. The brothers sold him.
The master's wife attempted to seduce him and then lied about him and accused him of rape. The butler forgot him, but ultimately God vindicated him. And that's an underlying message in this section as well. And then the faithfulness of God to Joseph.
Not just his presence and providence, we see that, but sort of undergirding everything is his faithfulness. And I think Stephen answers this, or defines this, in the best possible way. In Acts 7, 9 and 10, he said, And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
And he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles. And as we've seen, he had a lot of troubles, but the Lord was there to vindicate him. Well, let us close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you for these wonderful narratives concerning Joseph in this section of Scripture, and the great things it teaches us, not about Joseph, but about our God, about your providence, about your presence with your people, and ultimately your faithfulness. And God, we thank you that you are faithful. We thank you that you, who have begun a good work in us, will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ.
And even now, God, help us to frame our hearts and our minds aright, to see how you work in the midst of providence, not for us to always whine or complain or murmur about the situations we find ourselves in, but help us to submit to you, to trust in your government, to trust in your power and in your sovereignty. And even now, Lord God, we ask that you would go with us, that you would help us each and every day to live in a manner that is consistent with Holy Scripture. And we thank you for the gospel of our salvation for those times, those many times when we do not live in a manner consistent. Thank you for the forgiveness of sins that we have in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's in His name that we pray. Amen.