5 And they dream a dream both of them, each his dream in one night, each according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker whom the king of Egypt hath, who `are' prisoners in the round-house.
And Jehovah saith unto Abram, `Go for thyself, from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from the house of thy father, unto the land which I shew thee. And I make thee become a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing. And I bless those blessing thee, and him who is disesteeming thee I curse, and blessed in thee have been all families of the ground.' And Abram goeth on, as Jehovah hath spoken unto him, and Lot goeth with him, and Abram `is' a son of five and seventy years in his going out from Charan. And Abram taketh Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they have gained, and the persons that they have obtained in Charan; and they go out to go towards the land of Canaan; and they come in to the land of Canaan. And Abram passeth over into the land, unto the place Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh; and the Canaanite `is' then in the land. And Jehovah appeareth unto Abram, and saith, `To thy seed I give this land;' and he buildeth there an altar to Jehovah, who hath appeared unto him.
And Joseph dreameth a dream, and declareth to his brethren, and they add still more to hate him. And he saith unto them, `Hear ye, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: that, lo, we are binding bundles in the midst of the field, and lo, my bundle hath arisen, and hath also stood up, and lo, your bundles are round about, and bow themselves to my bundle.' And his brethren say to him, `Dost thou certainly reign over us? dost thou certainly rule over us?' and they add still more to hate him, for his dreams, and for his words. And he dreameth yet another dream, and recounteth it to his brethren, and saith, `Lo, I have dreamed a dream again, and lo, the sun and the moon, and eleven stars, are bowing themselves to me.' And he recounteth unto his father, and unto his brethren; and his father pusheth against him, and saith to him, `What `is' this dream which thou hast dreamt? do we certainly come -- I, and thy mother, and thy brethren -- to bow ourselves to thee, to the earth?'
And it cometh to pass, at the end of two years of days that Pharaoh is dreaming, and lo, he is standing by the River, and lo, from the River coming up are seven kine, of fair appearance, and fat `in' flesh, and they feed among the reeds; and lo, seven other kine are coming up after them out of the River, of bad appearance, and lean `in' flesh, and they stand near the kine on the edge of the River, and the kine of bad appearance and lean `in' flesh eat up the seven kine of fair appearance, and fat -- and Pharaoh awaketh. And he sleepeth, and dreameth a second time, and lo, seven ears are coming up on one stalk, fat and good, and lo, seven ears, thin, and blasted with an east wind, are springing up after them; and the thin ears swallow the seven fat and full ears -- and Pharaoh awaketh, and lo, a dream.
And Gideon cometh in, and lo, a man is recounting to his companion a dream, and saith, `Lo, a dream I have dreamed, and lo, a cake of barley-bread is turning itself over into the camp of Midian, and it cometh in unto the tent, and smiteth it, and it falleth, and turneth it upwards, and the tent hath fallen.' And his companion answereth and saith, `This is nothing save the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel; God hath given into his hand Midian and all the camp.'
In a dream -- a vision of night, In the falling of deep sleep on men, In slumberings on a bed. Then He uncovereth the ear of men, And for their instruction sealeth: To turn aside man `from' doing, And pride from man He concealeth.
And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, dreamed hath Nebuchadnezzar dreams, and his spirit doth move itself, and his sleep hath been against him; and the king saith to call for scribes, and for enchanters, and for sorcerers, and for Chaldeans, to declare to the king his dreams. And they come in and stand before the king; and the king saith to them, `A dream I have dreamed, and moved is my spirit to know the dream.'
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel hath seen a dream, and the visions of his head on his bed, then the dream he hath written, the chief of the things he hath said. Answered hath Daniel and said, `I was seeing in my vision by night, and lo, the four winds of the heavens are coming forth to the great sea; and four great beasts are coming up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first `is' like a lion, and it hath an eagle's wings. I was seeing till that its wings have been plucked, and it hath been lifted up from the earth, and on feet as a man it hath been caused to stand, and a heart of man is given to it. And lo, another beast, a second, like to a bear, and to the same authority it hath been raised, and three ribs `are' in its mouth, between its teeth, and thus they are saying to it, Rise, consume much flesh. `After this I was seeing, and lo, another like a leopard, and it hath four wings of a fowl on its back, and four heads hath the beast, and dominion is given to it. `After this I was seeing in the visions of the night, and lo, a fourth beast, terrible and fearful, and exceedingly strong; and it hath iron teeth very great, it hath consumed, yea, it doth break small, and the remnant with its feet it hath trampled; and it `is' diverse from all the beasts that `are' before it; and it hath ten horns. `I was considering about the horns, and lo, another horn, a little one, hath come up between them, and three of the first horns have been eradicated from before it, and lo, eyes as the eyes of man `are' in this horn, 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.