5 They both dreamed a dream, each man his dream, in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison.
We dreamed a dream in one night, I and he. We dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.
Now Yahweh said to Abram, "Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you, and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. In you will all of the families of the earth be blessed." So Abram went, as Yahweh had spoken to him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother's son, all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls who they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. Into the land of Canaan they came. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land. Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said, "I will give this land to your seed{or, offspring}." He built an altar there to Yahweh, who appeared to him.
Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. He said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: for, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf." His brothers said to him, "Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?" They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me." He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to you to the earth?"
They said to him, "We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it." Joseph said to them, "Don't interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me."
It happened at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. Behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, well-favored and fat-fleshed, and they fed in the reed-grass. Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river. The ill-favored and lean-fleshed cattle ate up the seven well-favored and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke. He slept and dreamed a second time: and, behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good. Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.
He said, Hear now my words: if there be a prophet among you, I Yahweh will make myself known to him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream.
When Gideon had come, behold, there was a man telling a dream to his fellow; and he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream; and, behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat. His fellow answered, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: into his hand God has delivered Midian, and all the host.
In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls on men, In slumbering on the bed; Then he opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction, That he may withdraw man from his purpose, And hide pride from man.
In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep went from him. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the enchanters, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. The king said to them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.
Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no secret troubles you, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation of it.
Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stricken mute for a while, and his thoughts troubled him. The king answered, Belteshazzar, don't let the dream, or the interpretation, trouble you. Belteshazzar answered, My lord, the dream be to those who hate you, and the interpretation of it to your adversaries.
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head on his bed: then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the sky broke forth on the great sea. Four great animals came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I saw until the wings of it were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand on two feet as a man; and a man's heart was given to it. Behold, another animal, a second, like a bear; and it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth: and they said thus to it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I saw, and, behold, another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the animal had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, a fourth animal, awesome and powerful, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet: and it was diverse from all the animals that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 40
Commentary on Genesis 40 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The head cup-bearer and head baker had committed crimes against the king of Egypt, and were imprisoned in “ the prison of the house of the captain of the trabantes, the prison where Joseph himself was confined; ” the state-prison, according to Eastern custom, forming part of the same building as the dwelling-house of the chief of the executioners. From a regard to the exalted position of these two prisoners, Potiphar ordered Joseph to wait upon them, not to keep watch over them; for את פּקד does not mean to appoint as guard, but to place by the side of a person.
After some time (“days,” Genesis 40:4, as in Genesis 4:3), and on the same night, these two prisoners had each a peculiar dream, “ each one according to the interpretation of his dream; ” i.e., each one had a dream corresponding to the interpretation which specially applied to him. On account of these dreams, which seemed to them to have some bearing upon their fate, and, as the issue proved, were really true omens of it, Joseph found them the next morning looking anxious, and asked them the reason of the trouble which was depicted upon their countenances.
On their replying that they had dreamed, and there was no one to interpret the dream, Joseph reminded them first of all that “interpretations are God's,” come from God, are His gift; at the same time he bade them tell him their dreams, from a consciousness, no doubt, that he was endowed with this divine gift.
The cup-bearer gave this account: “ In my dream, behold there was a vine before me, and on the vine three branches; and it was as though blossoming, it shot forth its blossom ( נצּהּ either from the hapax l. נץ = נצּה , or from נצּה with the fem. termination resolved into the 3 pers. suff.: Ewald , §257 d ), its clusters ripened into grapes. And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand .” In this dream the office and duty of the royal cup-bearer were represented in an unmistakeable manner, though the particular details must not be so forced as to lead to the conclusion, that the kings of ancient Egypt drank only the fresh juice of the grape, and not fermented wine as well. The cultivation of the vine, and the making and drinking of wine, among the Egyptians, are established beyond question by ancient testimony and the earliest monuments, notwithstanding the statement of Herodotus (2, 77) to the contrary (see Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses , pp. 13ff.).
Joseph then gave this interpretation: The three branches were three days, in which time Pharaoh would restore him to his post again (“lift up his head,” i.e., raise him from his degradation, send and fetch him from prison, 2 Kings 25:27). And he added this request (Genesis 40:14): “ Only think of me, as it goes well with thee, and show favour to me...for I was stolen (i.e., carried away secretly and by force; I did not abscond because of any crime) out of the land of the Hebrews (the land where the Ibrim live); and here also I have done nothing (committed no crime) for which they should put me into the hole .” בּור : the cell, applied to a prison as a miserable hole, because often dry cess-pools were used as prisons.
Encouraged by this favourable interpretation, the chief baker also told his dream: “ I too,...in my dream: behold, baskets of white bread upon my head, and in the top basket all kinds of food for Pharaoh, pastry; and the birds ate it out of the basket from my head .” In this dream, the carrying of the baskets upon the head is thoroughly Egyptian; for, according to Herod . 2, 35, the men in Egypt carry burdens upon the head, the women upon the shoulders. And, according to the monuments, the variety of confectionary was very extensive (cf. Hengst . p. 27). In the opening words, “ I too, ” the baker points to the resemblance between his dream and the cup-bearer's. The resemblance was not confined to the sameness of the numbers-three baskets of white bread, and three branches of the vine-but was also seen in the fact that his official duty at the court was represented in the dream. But instead of Pharaoh taking the bread from his hand, the birds of heaven ate it out of the basket upon his head. And Joseph gave this interpretation: “ The three baskets signify three days: within that time Pharaoh will take away thy head from thee (“lift up thy head,” as in Genesis 40:13, but with מעליך “away from thee,” i.e., behead thee), and hang thee on the stake (thy body after execution; vid., Deuteronomy 21:22-23), and the birds will eat thy flesh from off thee .” However simple and close this interpretation of the two dreams may appear, the exact accordance with the fulfilment was a miracle wrought by God, and showed that as the dreams originated in the instigation of God, the interpretation was His inspiration also.
Joseph's interpretations were fulfilled three days afterwards, on the king's birth-day. הלּדת יום : the day of being born; the inf. Hoph . is construed as a passive with the accus . obj ., as in Genesis 4:18, etc. Pharaoh gave his servants a feast, and lifted up the heads of both the prisoners, but in very different ways. The cup-bearer was pardoned, and reinstated in his office; the baker, on the other hand, was executed.
But the former forgot Joseph in his prosperity, and did nothing to procure his liberation.