Dr Dean Alley, PhD: All right, Chaplain Dean Alley here. I had a moment. I hope you're doing well. We're gonna do some recording and I've been studying chapter 40 and we just finished 39 and I'm looking forward to verse by verse. Read this to you. A couple things I wanna bring to your attention is, as you know, I study thee. the Jewish perspective on what's in the Bible. Now, the authority is the Bible, period. but there's a lot of interpretations by what they call Rebbes or rabbis. And the ones I'm reading now is the Midrash says, and that is by... I had it right here. Wiseman I think, yeah, Rabbi Moses Wiseman. So only to search even deeper in different meanings, the Midrash is a rabbinic way that the Jewish interprets scripture. They would say that they draw out a deeper meaning in practical teaching from the Hebrew Bible. Now, if you saw my post earlier, I mentioned that the Bible came from the Torah, came from Israel, came from the Jewish culture. So we are Judea Christians, right? So it's important that we study in context what it is that we are reading. Now we can take a verse and we do a good job. We can spiritualize it. We can add the practical context and things. But sometimes it's good to go a little deeper. And this is what these studies we've been doing is to dig into it, to exegete a little bit more. And the word, the rash, means the seeker inquire, mid rash. the seeker inquire, require. So there's two kinds that they say, mid rash, halah haqqa, draws out the law. Yeah, so the mid rash. Halalacha is a law and a practice. In Midrash, Agadah draws out the stories, ethics, and theology. But the Midrash can also mean a collection of things, such as Genesis, the rabbis, and or the Mikkei. So anyways, I hope you guys are doing well and we are gonna be working through some things. So I wanna set some context. So the Mikata is an early biblical commentary and it's a book on Exodus. I just wanted to share what that meant as I gave it to you. So it's important, truth is important folks. So let me give you some context, then I'm gonna give you some context from the Christian standpoint, then I'm gonna give you some context from the rabbi's view of this thing with Potiphar. So the context basically is Joseph, what do we know about Joseph? Joseph is now 27 years old, 10 years into Egyptian slavery. So he's confined in the roundhouse of Potiphar. a captain of the guard, he has two prisoners are the chief cup bearer and then the chief baker and real court offices in Egypt where the cup bearer would taste the king's wine and check for poison. So if he dies and you wouldn't drink it. So things were very suspicious. And the baker prepared his food. Both were in the position of him. intimate trust with the king. So you to be in pretty good graces to be a cup bearer or a baker or your king. And which is why their offense against Pharaoh was so serious. And the Egyptians took dreams as divine messages. they and professional dream interpreters soothsayers and all that, we'll learn as we read. We're standing at the court, which is why the prisoners say there's no interpretation of it. So they're saying all of Egypt's people cannot interpret the king's dream. And we see this in verse eight. The prison itself is likely a high status for offenders. And it's not for the common criminal. So there's different types of prisons. It wasn't like he was in. It's almost like you see a celebrity that goes to prison. He's in a little bit better prison than one that is like the old days of Alcatraz. So. Anyways, that's the point I want to make there. So the chapter, when we look at it from a doctrinal standpoint. chapter centers on this verse 8 and we do not interpret it. Interpretations belong to God and Joseph refuses the Egyptians framework and of the professional divination and the attributes of the revelation directly to Elohim which is of God. Hebrew idiom they call it the NASA rush. It means lifted up the head and it carries a double meaning of restoration to the office of the cupbearer, decapitation of the baker, and the same phrase often is a verdict or it's opposite of a verdict. So the chapter also establishes a pattern of the paired destinies. One is restored, right, and one is condemned, and which echoes through the scripture, two thieves beside Christ in Luke 23, remember that? One was promised paradise, right? The one on the left or right, I'm not sure. One was not. And the butler's forgetfulness in the verse 23 sets up God's faithfulness for chapter 41, which we'll get to that. In the butler's unfortunate translation, since the phrase literally means cupbearer of the king, Egyptian inscriptions include various titles for those that are serving the wine and the beer. Yeah, to Pharaoh and the captain charged Joseph with them. He gave Joseph control over administrative affairs in the prison. So he just he exudes leadership no matter where he goes and God is in favor of him and he is helping Joseph. And we see we see this. in this chapter so Sorry about that. The affairs of prison, not merely a high ranking prison, and we'll see more about that, but two in prison court officials, they had this dream and it was perplexed. Joseph immediately respond to not interpret it. Interpretations belong to God. He's basically asked the question. Do not these dreams belong to God? Isn't it God who gives us the divine revelation through the dreams? Do I think that we can get You know, revelation from God. Yes, I do. There is a supernatural I do believe in that. All right, so, darn my throat a little. So immediate response in his mind and then he shows kindness in the same term used in Abraham. So Abraham in chapter 20 verse 13, we're gonna find, he indicates a demonstration of faithfulness based on a particular relationship. In the case of Joseph had interpreted the dream of the Chief Baker in the same words used, faithful shown to Joseph. And we see this also in 39 when he was in prison and God changed his heart of the keeper of the prison. So he was even in charge of the prison as well. And when it was said that Pharaoh lifted up his head of the chief butler and lifted up the head and of the chief Baker, Joseph used key expressions that are capable of interpreting in opposite ways to describe the cup bearer. all right, so let's get right into it. Let's read chapter 40. All right, bear with me. My throat's a little scratchy. And it came to pass after these things that the bother of the King of Egypt and his baker had offended their Lord, the King of Egypt. And Pharaoh was wrath. King James would call that wrath or anger, wrath, used in, again, archaic King James language. And Pharaoh, again, was wrath and... against these two officers, against the chief of butlers and against the chief of bakers. So the two top people that he's very angry with. And he put them inward in the house of the captain of the guard into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. So get a sense, didn't send him away to like a prison. He was in the house of the king of Egypt where they were gonna be in prison. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them and he served them. And they continued a season word. So this is a part where Joseph is going to interpret the dream. Verse five, and they dreamed a dream, both of them, each man, his dream. And one night, each man, according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the King of Egypt were both found in the prison. And Joseph came in unto them in the morning and looked upon them and said, Behold, which means look, they were sad. Why were they sad? They're in prison. They go from top to dejected, right? They're at the top of the level with the king. Now they're in the prison. And he asked Pharaoh officers that were with him inward of the Lord's house, saying, Wherefore? look so sad. Why do you look so sad? Wherefore, anytime you see wherefore, you want to kind go back a few verses. All right, so they were sad and they said unto him, we had a dream, we dreamed a dream and there was no interpreter of it. Joseph said unto them, this is the key verse, do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them and I will pray you. So he's asking them, tell me about these dreams. And then we see that. And the chief father told the dream to Joseph and said to him in my dreams, behold, a vine was before me. And in the vine, there was three branches and it was as though it budded and her blossom shot forth and clusters therefore brought forth ripe grapes. And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand and I took the grapes and I pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and I gave the cup to Pharaoh's hand. Joseph said unto him this is an interpretation of the three branches are three days. So three branches three days. He's interpreting Yet within the three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head and restore thee into thy place and thou shall deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand and after the former manner When you or thou was his father so you're gonna get restored but You always I'm see a buddy get a pause Think on me when it shall be with thee, well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee unto me, and make mention to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house, the prison." So Joseph's saying, hey, I just gave you a bit of information. When you see the king and he restores you, don't tell him about me. I'm ready to come out of this place. and For indeed I was stolen out of the way of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. So we know that he was sold, we know his brother sold him, we know that the Ishmaelites... father of the Ishmaelites or Arab nations, eat them in that area right there, sold them to Potiphar in Egypt. When 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. And in the upper, in the uppermost basket, there was of all manner of the baked meats. So when he's using the term baked meats, he's really saying baked goods. So for Pharaoh, and the birds did eat them out of the baskets upon my head. And Joseph answered and said, this is an interpretation thereof, the three baskets are three days. Yet 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 thee, off thee. So we get a sense here, just that little bit there and those interpretations to him. One's gonna be lifted up, one's gonna be, you know, killed. So Joseph's words come to pass and it came to pass the third day, which Pharaoh's birthday, he made a feast and all the servants had lifted up the head of the chief butler and the chief baker among the servants. And he restored the chief butler onto his butlership again. He brings him back. He gave the cup to the into Pharaoh's hands, but he hanged the chief baker as Joseph has had already interpreted to them. Yet did not the chief bother remember Joseph, but forgot him. So essentially he's forgotten. He never really tells Pharaoh, hey, I'm in prison and I don't deserve this. I didn't, I didn't do anything. So let me just show you what. Midrash, right? What the Midrash says in terms of this specific chapter of Joseph, they would say, Joseph, or there was no J, it's always Y. So they would say, Joseph. All right, so Joseph is thrown in prison. I'm gonna give you a Midrash view. Joseph ran out and Zucala, Zolkha, who is Zolkha? According to antiquity rabbis, they said that was Potiphar's wife. That was her name, Zolkha. She trembled. So Joseph's running out, right? She grabs his, we see that the Bible talks about it. She grabs his, this is maybe one step before. do the dream too, but let me give you the reason he's thrown in. So, Zohka, well, he will tell my husband, she thought. So, we get this view from the rabbis that Joseph runs out and he's gonna tell her husband. So she hastily removes her beautiful gown or garment. When her friends returned, they noticed that she was worried and nervous. What is the matter with you, they asked. She told them quietly about what had happened. There is only one way out. Her friends advise, tell your husband that Yosef was seducing or was the seducer so that he will punish him. In that case, I will ask you a favor, Zucla says. So these are probably handmaids and her friends or whatever. Each of you go home and tell your husband Yosef attempted to seduce you. This will corroborate my tale. So they all agreed. they're masking this thing, well, the servant's gonna go home and say, or Joseph tried to seduce him, them as well. So Zuchla called all the members of her household and told them that the scoundrel, Joseph, had tried to approach her. And Potiphar returning home and met the number of noblemen who all cursed the slave of Joseph, reporting to him that Joseph had behaved indecently towards their wives. Later, Zuckla told him what Yosef had done to her. Potiphar, what does he do? He flies in a rage, which most people probably would. He says he must die. He cried out, I will have him put to death immediately. So Yosef prayed, they would say, they would use the word Hashem because they think if you use the word God, it's blasphemy. That's again, this is the pious side of the Judaism. And, and he basically prayed to God, you know, my innocence, do not allow them to execute because of this false accusations. He's asking God to help him. Do not behead him. Bleeded out of his wife. It is a pity for all the money you paid for him in prison. Him instead. So she even feel bad. She felt bad. Don't kill him. Don't kill him. And then she says, well, you paid a lot of money for him. So she's basically. trying to persuade her husband. So, just go ahead and imprison him, is what she says. And the reason she argued in favor was her secret hope that Yosef still might be persuaded in the future. So she was thinking maybe she could seduce him in the future. This is what the rabbis are saying. And Potiphar refused to listen to his wife, for this act deserves the death. So Potiphar still was fired up. Potiphar had raised a girl by the name of Ossetness and treated her like his own daughter. She quietly came to Potiphar and informed him. So there was another girl in the house, not just Joseph, but he was, he had raised this young girl, Oness, Osseness, and she came to inform him. And she says, I swear to you, the truth is just the opposite. Basically what your wife is telling you. Zuckala is just the opposite. heard myself, the Zuckala's attempts to seduce him day after day, and he refused to listen. And Potiphar was undecided, therefore summoned the Egyptian priests and consulted with them to decide the matter. So when the priests came, they listened to both versions of the events. Then they ordered, bring us the garment that Joseph left in her hands and we will examine it. And they said, if it's torn in the front, We will know that the seducer and she tore it, trying to free herself. But if it's torn in the back, he must have fled and ran after him, tearing it. So when they examined the garment, they found it to be torn back. The truth lies with Yosef's version of the reset. So basically, Bodifer announced to Yosef, although I know you're innocent, I must put you in prison. The whole town is talking about this story and I must say faith, both mine and my wife. So even Potiphar is going to tell Joseph or Joseph that he believes him. but he didn't have a choice. So let's read what they say about the baker and the chief baker. Potiphar threw Joseph into jail, but every night Joseph would, or Joseph would dismiss for a number of hours to return to Potiphar's house because he wished Joseph to continue supervising his house. Even though he was in prison, he let him out to help him. Even now, Potiphar's wife did not give her, give her attempts to seduce him. She said to him, you see that I was able to have you put in jail. I shall find, I shall even find accusations to level against you." So she's still plotting. And God executes judgment for the oppressed, says Joseph. I will cut off your source of livelihood, she threatened. And God feeds the starving, says Joseph. If you will not fulfill my wish, I will have you bound in iron chains, she menaced. She menaced. And God frees prisoners, answered Joseph. I will bend your height, she threatened. Asham raises up those who are bent, says Joseph to her. So he's coming back with what God will do in this case. And then she says, I will bore out your eyes, she says. And God opened the eyes of the blind, said Joseph. I shall sell you to slave and strange company, she proclaimed ominously. And then God guards. The strangers replied Joseph, so he had nothing but his his rebuttal was talking about how God provides in all these things. And he was undaunted by what she had to say. So since she could not bear the fact that he would not even give her a single glance, she commanded that he be punished by having iron frame fixed around his beard, cutting him whenever he lowered his head. But Joseph nevertheless took did not look on her face. So even after all these threats and she's still going after him, he doesn't flinch essentially in his faith. And while Joseph was in prison, God's Shikina, which is his glory, was with him. That's what they would say in the Jewish culture, the Shikina or Shkina, which is, you know, God's glory or sign and favor was with him there too. So God's with him also. He succeeded in all his undertakings. He found favor in the eyes of the prison officer who appointed Joseph as a supervisor. So Joseph in prison for 10 years as an atoned for having spoken what they say would be lasan hara. against his 10 brothers. after 10 years, God caused the occurrence of the incidents which would direct the gossip of the torn away from the Zitzit, which is their little four corners, little thing to show. in remembrance of, and I think that's Four Corners talking about the poor and helping, leaving food and stuff like that in the fields and stuff for less fortunate. Joseph to a new subject at the same time bringing Joseph rise to greatness. So he's rising regardless. So both the Pharaoh's chief butler and his chief baker were found guilty of the crime. A fly had been discovered in the King's cup prepared by the royal. and a stone in the Pharaoh's roll and it had baked by the chief father. So why did the baker die? The rabbis here say there was a stone found in the bread. Why did the cupbearer die? Because there was a fruit fly probably in there. This is again, I'm giving you an interpretation. This is just color into the passages that we just read. And I'm gonna talk a little bit more about it. here in a minute. And both were in prison for offending the chief or the Egyptian king's majesty. They were to be tortured for 12 months and finally executed. Since they're important officials, Joseph was appointed to serve them in jail. So he provided for them. One morning when Joseph entered the prison, after having performed his nightly chores in Potiphar's house, he found both the butler and the baker perturbed. Why do you look so sad today? Says Joseph. We had we both had a dream last night and there is no one to explain their meaning to us. They answered each one consisted of two parts. First, he had a dream, his own dream and followed the dream. The expert explanation of the other's dream. So Joseph thought he would bring he would be able to explain their dreams, but did not pride himself on the ability to interpret. dreams, stating humbly, it is God who gives man insight necessarily to interpret the dreams. due to the attribution attributing all greatness and ability to God, Joseph merited to the high position and later attained. So he's continually growing in his positioning. And the chief butler related to Joseph his dream, which contained not only a prophecy for his own future, but simultaneously foretold the future of Joseph's people. And then it says, although the bother was not aware of it, I dreamed he related to Joseph that I saw three branches on the vine. They blossomed immediately ripe into grapes and Pharaoh's cup was in my hand. I took the grapes, squeezed them in the king's cup and placed them in the cup of Pharaoh. And then the Ruah, Hokedes, which is the Holy Spirit. Rested upon Joseph, so. where God's gonna help him interpret this. So they definitely believe in the Holy Spirit. All right, so he understood the message in his dream, and he, you have told me good news. He explained, the vine is the Jewish people who will be exiled in Egypt. Three branches grow forth from them, Moshe's, Aaron, and Miriam. So the three people that he's talking about is Moshe's, Aaron, and his sister, Mariam. They will bud and blossom. i.e. they'll assist the Jews in Egypt. So they're going to help out as well and will finally redeem them. Since you told me the good news, I shall tell you the good news too. So in three days, on the occasion of Pharaoh's birthday, you will be freed from the prison and reinstated to your former position as a chief butler. Again, this is a narrative from the sages, from the rabbis, from the antiquity of these folks. And Joseph is right, exclaimed the baker. At the end of my dream, I also envisage the same interpretation of the butler's dream. Now, let me tell you about my dream. I dreamed that I was carried three baskets of bread on my head and one above the other in the three baskets were sorts of pastries and birds nibbled from them from the top baskets and even from the lowest. This dream contained gloomy prophecy. Joseph announced to him it signifies that Beny Israel, the son of Israel, will undergo three exiles and will finally subject to the fourth, an exile of Edom, which is to be more bitter than the previous three. So in reference to you, the dream foretells the three days of time. on the occasion of Pharaoh's birthday, you will be hung and the birds will eat your flesh. It is just as Joseph says, the Butler cried out, I visualize the same interpretation in my dream. So he's already collaborating in that sense. When Joseph interpreted the Butler's dream, he requested a favor from her. When you're reinstated position in the royal court, remember we just read this. He asked, please mention Me to Pharaoh and request that he liberate me from the gen from the dungeon I'm innocent I was captured in the land of the Hebrews and I too have Not done nothing wrong to deserve this imprisonment I certainly remember you I will certainly remember you says the bother three days later Joseph predicted came true since Hashim or God fulfilled the Zitzi pronouncements on occasion of the Pharaoh's birthday, all the prisoners in the country were judged. And the jury decided the bother that the fly in the king's cup was an accident, which should not be blamed. Their conclusion was the Baker with the stone was left in the dough must be the willingness of transgression or sin. And the king honored and punished by his death. So he kills him. Consequently, the Baker was hung and the bother restored. to his former position or station. When the chief father was once again in the palace, he thought today I will mention Joseph to the Pharaoh. He tied a knot in his hand. to make sure that he would remember to ask Pharaoh to free Joseph. But God sent an angel to untie the knot. So God's still dealing with Joseph. How could I have forgotten, wondered the butler at night? Tomorrow I will surely tell Joseph, about Joseph, and he made a note of it. This time the angel erased the note. No matter how many reminders the chief butler thought of, all were for naught and failed him when it came to mentioning Joseph to the Pharaoh. Why should this have been so? This is a question. God said it is your Bitcoin. Spidacon trust in me Joseph that you rely on a arrogant Egyptian to bring you out about your release from prison. So God is teaching him that you asked this Egyptian to help you get out of prison without not asking God himself. That's what he's teaching him. So it is a wrong place of your faith in a government official. Who are for Forgetful, disinterested in helping you. The chief butler will forget you, but I will remember you when the time arrives, you will be set free. So again, that is the butler story. So let's walk through this a little bit. So we see Joseph become stronger through serving and observing the things in need. He needs to care and be kind. So. These were just some highlights. became stronger through sensing the spiritual need of others. He learned to trust God more and more. And then we see Joseph became stronger through humility. He learned to ask for help. He revealed his humility. Joseph requested help and Joseph explained his situation. So you could see the dichotomy here. The Jews see it as a lesson that Joseph should be asking God for help to get out of prison. And we're seeing here from this view that Joseph is being humble and he is asking to get out of there. And that it's almost a good thing. So. Joseph becomes stronger and he learns to be courageous and to tell the truth. Joseph becomes stronger through disappointment. He learns to forgive and wait patiently on God. we do pick up, and it came to pass on the third day which Pharaoh's birthday came to a feast of all servants and he lifted up his head of the chief baker, chief butler and said, the chief baker and his servants and he restored the chief. So Joseph, became stronger because through his disappointments. So he didn't get released from this cup bearer going in there and basically telling Farah, you know, hey, get this guy out of there. So the chief butler was restored, but we also see the chief baker, he was hung and Joseph was forgotten by the chief butler. So again, we see he's being forgotten. The learning from The sages would be is don't rely on people or governments, rely on God. That's a precept. And it ties into the story. So we see the concern in care, few verses. The thought here, no matter how bad the circumstances are, God wants us to learn from them. He wants us to care for others and be kind to them, even though we're suffering. hurting. We are to be concerned for others even while we're suffering and walking through the trials of life that we're in. You know, the other thought I would bring this to is the one thing above all that God wants us to learn to what? Trust Him. that goes with both viewpoints, Judea and Christian view. And when the trials and Severe suffering strike us. We should turn to God and trust Him. This is the very thing He wants. He wants to help and strengthen us, to enable us to go through this life that we're in, asking for God. He wants us to bring Him into our circumstances and use them for good. He wants to learn the bad things that happen to us and learn to trust Him, matter, or trust Him more and more. and depend on him more and more. So these are the expectations. So from a humility standpoint, it is absolutely necessary in life to be humble, okay? God doesn't like to prowl. No person will ever be used by God unless he has a true spirit of humility. This tells us something about trials and bad circumstances that come our way. We are to use them to learn humility. So when you're in a trial, we're gonna learn from a humble standpoint, what are you teaching me God? We talked about it yesterday's video. We are just as subject to make mistakes, failures and sin. We're gonna make these things, forgetting things, disease, sickness, accidents, death, all these things that we see, pride, haughtiness, cockiness. Not a single one of these or one of us is better than anyone else. That's a truism in me, in my opinion. Doesn't matter who you are. You've heard the old saying that he puts his pants on just like anybody else, right? So there is no favoritism with God. We know that also. Then he goes on to say, We are to let the humble us, let it humble us, is what we should be doing. not defeat a humiliation, we're only one person among the world of persons who face the times when we need help from God of one another. So when we're in a position, we need to be humble. Proverbs 16, 19, better is it to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoils of the pride. That's true statement there. All right, so a couple thoughts. So from the boldness, we must never learn to let our circumstances let us down. Circumstances give us a great opportunity of courageousness. We can learn a lot through these things. When you go through a tough time, a lot of times you're gonna learn something about yourself, or God's gonna try to show you something. And the important thing is... you're gonna face circumstances. And we need to hold our heads high and we need to be courageous and courage. We need to have boldness, right? So when we face these things that require us to share bad news, a death or serious illness, such times we must be courageous and truthful. I think one of the things that I've learned as a chaplain is when you have bad news, you just bring it out and say it. You don't hem and hog, go around stall and all this else. You just fly out and them. And just get it over with, all right? So we must focus on God and God will glorify us. So think how often the closest to us will hurt us when we are disappointed, forgiveness, maybe even patience. We don't have it. Just think how... our closest people are hurt by that because of what we do and we cause pain and we don't realize it. You always hear the statement that those that are closest to you, you'd hurt. And this is what we're talking about here. And you hurt your loved ones and lash out on them. We need to reassess the way we do that. It's hard if you have an A-type personality and use a blur. You really have to pray for God to give you that. the patience of not lashing out. So we learned that often they mistreat and bring suffering into our lives. Two strong lessons can be learned from this Joseph story. One, we must learn to be forgiving of our friends and our loved ones. That mistreat us. You gotta be forgiven. You gotta give, I saw it the other day. A guy in court, his daughter was killed by this guy and he came in and he spoke to the judge in an open forum at the court. And he looked at the guy and he said, look, I forgive you. My wife forgives you. but we expect the fullest extent of the law to be given to you at the maximum level. But we forgive you. What was he doing? He was letting go of that bitterness. He was letting go of that anger. He was not allowing it to destroy him. And I thought that was powerful. I saw that just in a little clip. we have to definitely learn to forgive. We should get out of any situation if possible. We're not to indulge or give a license to evil and suffering, abuse and such. I'm not gonna talk more about that, but we must learn to wait on God, not people, not our friends or our loved ones. You hear me say it all the time. You put your faith, hope and trust into God, put him first in your life, then your wife, then your kids, and then your family. aspect in the churches in that as well. Point I'm making here is God is always first folks. No matter what, God is always first and should be first in your life. And we have to wait. We have to wait on the Lord, be of good courage. He shall strengthen thine heart or your heart and wait, I say on the Lord. That's Psalms 27 for. Couldn't have said it any better. Chaplain Dean Alley, I had a moment and I thought I would jump on here. I hope this chapter 40 in Genesis is a blessing. God bless, take care, bye.