May the mumbling commence!
Joseph shows knowledge of and compassion for his fellow
prisoners. He seeks to aid them with his
God-given talents. Would we do the
same!?! Read from Peterson’s The Message:
As time
went on, it happened that the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt crossed their master,
the king of Egypt.
Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the head cupbearer and the
head baker, and put
them in custody under the captain of the guard; it
was the same jail
where Joseph was held. The captain of
the guard assigned Joseph to see to their needs.
After
they had been in custody for a while, the king’s cupbearer and baker,
while being held in
jail, both had a
dream on the same night, each dream having
its own meaning. When Joseph
arrived in the morning,
he noticed
that they were feeling
low.
So he asked them,
the two officials of Pharaoh who had been thrown into jail with
him, “What’s wrong? Why the long faces?”
They
said, “We dreamed dreams and there’s no one to
interpret them.”
Joseph
said, “Don’t interpretations come from God? Tell me the dreams.”
First
the cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: “In my dream there
was a vine in front of me with three branches on
it: It budded, blossomed, and the
clusters ripened into grapes. I was holding Pharaoh’s
cup; I took the grapes, squeezed them into
Pharaoh’s cup, and gave the cup to Pharaoh.” (Genesis 40:1-11)
Now read the same passage from the NIV translation:
Some time later, the cupbearer and
the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry
with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them
in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in
the same prison
where Joseph was confined. The captain of
the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended
them.
After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men – the cupbearer and the
baker of the king of Egypt, who
were being held in prison – had a dream the
same night, and each
dream had a meaning
of its own.
When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they
were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh's officials who were in custody
with him in his
master's house, "Why are your faces so sad today?"
"We both had dreams," they
answered, "but there
is no one to interpret them."
Then Joseph said to them, "Do not
interpretations belong to God? Tell
me your dreams."
So the chief cupbearer told
Joseph his dream. He said to him, "In my dream I saw
a vine in front of me, and on the vine were three
branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh's cup was in
my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed
them into Pharaoh's cup and put the cup in his hand." (Genesis 40:1-11)
In today’s passage, I think I will take issue with only
one small change. Do interpretation of
dreams “come from God” (Peterson) or do they “belong to God” (NIV)? Most of the translations go with “belong to”.
Is there a significant difference between the
two… especially with the following statement “tell me your dreams”? Prepositions are tricky critters in
translation, so I don’t want to read too much into it. But it’s something to think about. I lean toward the more common translation of “belong
to”.
I am a bus driver.
After having the same people ride the bus numerous times, I get to know
them enough that I can tell if they’re having a good day or a bad day. Apparently, after a short time of care under
Joseph, the cupbearer and the baker were known by Joseph. Joseph knew they were feeling down. May we all be so sensitive to our fellow
journeyers!
And Joseph took time to listen. May we give the gift of our undivided
attention and time to those we love. It
is a rare gift! And let’s allow God to
work through us.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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