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In the book of Genesis, there
is a story about one of the sons of Israel named Joseph. He was sold by
his brothers who were jealous of him, and taken to Egypt where he was sold
again to Potiphar, who was an officer of the Pharaoh. Even so, Joseph
found Grace in God's sight and God took care of him.Joseph was falsely
accused of some wrongdoing and was then thrown into prison where the
king's (Pharaoh's) prisoners were held.
Joseph has the Lord on his
side though, and everywhere he goes, things prosper because he is
blessed. The prison keeper had no worries after putting Joseph in charge
of all the prisoners there.
One day the Pharaoh was
offended by his butler and his baker. He was sorely angry at them and
ordered that they be imprisoned where Joseph was being held in jail.
There was a night when both the butler and the baker each had strange
dreams. When Joseph saw them the next morning they both looked sad so he
asked them what was wrong. They told him that they both had dreams, but
there was nobody to interpret them. Joseph said, Don't interpretations
belong to God? Tell me your dreams.
The butler began, In my dream
there was a vine with three branches. And it budded and blossomed and
grew clusters of ripe grapes. And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, so I took
the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and put the cup in his
hand.
God gave Joseph the gift of
interpreting dreams and he explained to the butler, The three branches are
three days, and within three days Pharaoh will pardon you and give you
your job back. Then you'll serve him just as you did before.
Then Joseph added, Please
remember me with kindness when you are freed and mention me to Pharaoh so
I can get out of here too. I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews
and I haven't done anything here either to deserve being put into prison.
When the baker heard that the
interpretation of the butler's dream turned out so well, he told Joseph
his dream, saying, In my dream I had three white baskets on my head and in
the top basket there was all kinds of pastries for Pharaoh, and the birds
ate them out of the basket.
The news wasn't so wonderful
for the baker. Joseph said, The three baskets are three days, and within
three days Pharaoh will cut off your head and hang you on a tree and the
birds will eat your flesh off of you. The baker must have had the wrong
kind of daily bread ... 😉
Three days later, it was
Pharaoh's birthday and he made a feast for all his servants. He gave the
butler his job back, but he hung the baker, just as Joseph had interpreted
... However, the butler forgot all about mentioning Joseph to the Pharaoh.
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Spirit of Truth
