“Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: “I remember my faults this day. (How lovely to bear witness to the butler’s sincere sorrow at having forgotten Joseph as the Holy Spirit brings it to his remembrance; he is humble and ready to assume full responsibility for the neglect on his part even if it was Sovereignly utilised by God for Joseph’s ultimate Good and His, God’s, perfect timeline.) When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, (it is interesting to note in instances such as these how truly subjective a matter can be and how even the Scriptures can leave many an occurrence open to interpretation, even suggestion, for- or from the reader; in this example we are reminded of Pharaoh’s account which stipulated that the two servants were imprisoned for offending him which would imply a manner of insolence on their part, and yet here we come across the servant’s perspective which alludes to the idea that Pharaoh might have been a little unreasonable and that his temporary human fallible ire * might have been the cause for their imprisonment; his own especially, for the first line from this verse clearly indicates that he is not a proud man who is unable to admit his own wrongdoing) and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, we each had a dream in one night, he and I. (The butler is careful to bring an account of events before Pharaoh in a carefully structured, linear manner – highlighting the most prominent details without being superfluous – so as best to bring evidence in favour of-, and advocating for-, Joseph’s merit. He is most probably also morally urged therein by his conscience from within, namely to do right by Joseph in light of the shame of his forgetfulness up until this point. I would once again also just like to make mention of the fact that I do believe that he did not deliberately disregard Joseph’s request but was rather so overcome with joy at being reinstated to his post that he sincerely forgot. I am furthermore firmly convinced of this in light of his sincere repentance and the zeal with which he hurried to rectify the matter once he did remember, which only attests to his good character all the more. I am also not surprised that he is precisely the type of guy whose life the Lord delighted in saving, as opposed to that of the baker . . . I can furthermore also instantly recognise the most logical possibility, namely that his neuronal pathways were only being stimulated to recall the appropriate memory once the issue of dream interpretation once again came to a fore in this, Pharaoh’s most recent plight. And then finally, as I’ve stated countless times before, I believe that in accordance with the Lord’s Love for- and intimate involvement with- Joseph’s life – in perfect unison with His Sovereign will and the appointed timing of His purposes – the butler was merely responding in kind to what the Lord spoke even before the foundation of the world.) Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. (How truly interesting is the phraseology found here! It quite literally implies that the interpretation came first, i.e. was called into being or decreed From On High, before the actual dream, in other words: they dreamed in accordance with the ultimate truth revealed through the interpretation, the interpretation did not follow from the dream. And when you stop to think about it, how could it possibly be any other way 🤷🏽‍♀️?) Now there was a young Hebrew man (how interesting to see that already here the “rules” that govern the group of sins distinguishable in racism, xenophobia, in-group out-group mentalities, fear of otherness and anti-Semitism is already firmly entrenched within cultures; in this instance for example we can see that “a Hebrew man” is considered the acceptable way to refer to Joseph as opposed to merely “a man” in much the same way as people today would say “a black man” when referring to a man of African descent, but merely say “a man” when referring to a Caucasian male; I am certain that the butler didn’t carry any xenophobic or racist sentiments per se but was merely acting instinctively in accordance with the social norm of the day) with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard (this serves to reiterate my earlier observation that the butler did not look down on Joseph in any way or begrudge him any good fortune, but rather esteemed him highly in remembrance, being sure to make special mention of his exalted position within the prison confines, most probably also to influence Pharaoh in his, Joseph’s, favour). And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream (highlighting the fact that Joseph’s gift was tested in two divergent respects and was proved to be reliable, accurate and praiseworthy in both). And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened (i.e. in the ultimate test of prophetic dream interpretation, namely manifestation in waking reality, Joseph’s gift was proven faithful, even Divine as we of course know, beyond any shadow of a doubt). He (🤯) restored me to my office, and he (🤯) hanged him.” (How delightful, and of course indicative of the Lord’s perfect serendipity, that the two examples upon which the evidence brought by the butler here hangs, should be two waking life realities with which Pharaoh is already intimately familiar.)“

* Beloved Friends, Though it is good for us to use The Word of God as a sounding board and source of pensive meditation for our lived experiences (The Father having giving us This Precious Gift, The Holy Bible: A Book written by The Children of God for The Children of God, as the ultimate tool and manual for The Saints with which to navigate life as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling), we are nevertheless urged to conform to One Ultimate Truth in our understanding as we grow up unto Full Maturity (Eph 4:13).

At the time of my first writing this particular Exegetical Study on Genesis 41 verses 9 to 13, I was yet immature in my understanding of the wrath and justice of God. I considered anger to be inherently bad, an emotion I feared, especially in myself, especially in response to grave sins committed against my person. Unable- and not yet Readied by Grace to face the gross injustice thereof I opted rather to suppress any such feelings and happily justified my emotional cowardice with verses such as James 1:20. I was also yet unable in my ignorance to distinguish between the Righteous variety of Anger beautifully interwoven with Justice and the toxic, destructive kind I had beheld in sinful human beings around me. As previously intimated I considered our Joseph’s Pharaoh to be a representative of Almighty God in The Righteous Judgments he executed in the matter of the butler and the baker, most notably also by way of example, for posterity’s sake. I must therefore concede that in this, as one inspired by The LORD to do so, his Justice was Perfect and his Wrath Just.

“⁹Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: “I remember my faults this day. ¹⁰When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, ¹¹we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. ¹²Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream. ¹³And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”

– Genesis 41:9-13 (NKJV)