A Word Between the Living and the Dead

Joseph was already called a “dreamer” (37:19), and the interpretation of dreams will continue to be a theme for his story. He even foreshadows others, like Daniel, whom God will enable to do the same. We know from the stories of both Pharaoh and the kings of the east, that dreams were seen as a form of divine revelation and the interpretation of dreams were viewed as an art and not simply as a form of divination that required no skill. This was even more the case in Egypt, as Hughes comments: “the ancient Egyptians puts great stock in dreams because they believed that sleep put them in contact with another world.”1

Now modern people think they are very different in this; but the only difference is that we have thrown away hierarchy. We still talk constantly about dreams, but now every man and woman is their own priest and diviner. So if you think that the meaning of your dreams is the takeaway from this passage, well, I have an interpretation for you. The story of Genesis 40 is not about you, or me; and, as we will see, it is not really even finally about Joseph.

• His calling was to die with the guilty.

• His power on earth was God’s power in heaven.

• His word divided the destiny of souls.

Doctrine. Those favored by God are given a Word that divides the living from the dead.

His calling was to die with the guilty.

The first detail to catch is that the two men described here were in fact guilty. It says of them both that they ‘committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt’ (v. 1). They were equally guilty. We are not to speculate here that perhaps the one who winds up being pardoned had committed a lesser offense by comparison. The story hints at no such thing. Since they had sinned against a king, the principle stands—that the greatness of offense rises to dignity of the one offended. If it is a king, the slightest grievance will put one the greatest danger. But if the One offended is the King of all kings, then the offense is infinite because the He who commands is infinitely glorious. So the Bible teaches that “the soul that sins shall die” (Ezk. 18:4). All are equally guilty in the offense that matters most.

Beyond that, Joseph had not graduated to something more than a prisoner.2 Yes, he had God’s favor, but it says, ‘in the prison where Joseph was confined’ (v. 3). Joseph was numbered among the guilty. And so Jesus “was numbered with the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12), literally taken to be condemned between two criminals (cf. Lk. 22:33).

So if Jesus would save us, He must become as one of us. Paul tells us “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin” (Rom. 8:3)—that last part especially, AND FOR SIN, means that He descended “into the lower regions” (Eph. 4:9), not just into the prison of our condition, but into the chains of our guilt. He took on our identity, so that we could take on His. He put Himself into the ultimate criminal investigation lineup, not only between two crosses with two genuinely guilty on them, but in the place where you and I should have been. If Joseph had done no wrong in the particular case, he was at least a sinner. But he was a type, in which his calling was to appear as one dying with the guilty.

His power on earth was God’s power in heaven.

This focus on the interpretation of dreams will come back in the next chapter. But for now, notice two sides to the coin: ‘Joseph said to them, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me’ (v. 8). Joseph is not contradicting himself, as if saying, Only God can interpret dreams infallibly, but come over here and let me give it a whirl! An incident in the Gospels helps us here. You may recall when some people brought in their friend on a stretcher—a man who was paralyzed—and what does Jesus say to those Jewish leaders who scorned Him? Their criticism was: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mk. 2:7)

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home” (Mk. 2:10-11).

Just so, Joseph, the type of Christ, had no power on earth to see into the heavenlies, but by God’s power he could be made to see. Whatsoever Joseph’s words bound on earth, would have been bound in heaven; and whatsoever Joseph’s words loosed on earth, would have been loosed in heaven. The power of Joseph’s words here would be purely and simply (as the Reformed say) DECLARATIVE—saying what is TRUE

“For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak” (Jn. 12:49).

And his interpretive words were MINISTERIAL—that is, aimed entirely at serving Christ as Master, and serving the needs of the person.

Joseph’s desire to meet their need was a godly desire—PLEASE TELL THEM TO ME. They didn’t just want to see. They were not just curious. There was nothing “neat” here, but their very lives were on the line. They knew they needed a ruling from a higher court than even Pharaoh’s court. His quick-thinking reply, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God?’ also function as a defeater to their so-called gods.

His word divides the destiny of souls.

Here the “word” in view is the interpretation of the dream, but it is like the reading of the ultimate King’s decree—more ultimate than Pharaoh, even if they did not understand that. We are told, ‘When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, ‘I also had a dream’ (v. 16). Now, for all we know, the cupbearer was more innocent than the baker. Perhaps he was sorry and the baker not sorry. But the fact is that we are not told anything like any of that. Here then is a picture of the word of decree choosing one and not the other, as surely as we saw with Jacob and Esau,

“The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” (Prov. 16:4)

It is also striking that Joseph does not hesitate to give the bad news. Perhaps he was uneasy, but the text does not allow us to consider that either. It matter of factly moves to,

“This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you” (vv. 18-19).

Now there is one obvious difference between the bad news that Joseph delivered here, as opposed to the bad news of judgment that all Christians are to deliver. Whereas Joseph was given the decree all in one block, so that the matter was closed, the norm is that God’s decree of certain judgment to come is to be known as a warning. He does not give us the identity of the elect and reprobate.

Pay attention to the certainty of this. Those two prisoners certainly did. Even if Joseph was doubted by them, the stakes were so high for both that there could be no mocking or even questioning. And just as certain is the Word of God that issues forth into life or death today, into everlasting blessing or everlasting judgment.

To the one,

I am the LORD. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not relent; according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord GOD (Ezk. 24:14).

And to the other,

“in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word” (Ti. 1:2-3).

The Word of life to those who believe and death to those who disbelieve the word is as certain as this picture of Joseph’s certain word.

Finally, notice the reversals of the type. Joseph needed the help of the guilty. With Jesus it was reversed: the guilty asked for His help. Joseph asked the guilty to remember him when he comes into his kingdom (v. 14). With Jesus, it was the thief who asked him to remember him when he comes into his kingdom. The guilty cupbearer ascends to the right hand of power (v. 20-21), and ‘On the third day’ (v. 20) no less. With Jesus it was reversed.

Practical Use of the Doctrine

Use 1. Correction. Joseph did finally plead his case: ‘For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit’ (v. 15). As Belcher observes about this plea, “His faithful service in prison would have supported his claims of innocence. He was also hoping that one good turn would lead to another.”3 We often look to the reasonableness or people, and sometimes their pity, for help. Sometimes God uses that. But sometimes He doesn’t. And we can never look to anyone but God ultimately.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you (1 Pet. 5:6-7).

Use 2. Exhortation. The vast majority of us will never be complaining about God’s will for our lives in prison. We have much more freedom of motion. Yet here is Joseph again, where, ‘The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them’ (v. 4). One application from the last passage, but which goes just as well here, is the Bible’s wisdom for young men lamenting our culture and our economy’s dwindling opportunities. But here’s the main thing we all need to know about opportunities. They all come from the Lord.

“[G]ive thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18).

The best time to be alive is the exact time that God has put you here. The best people to know are the people God puts in your life. The best abilities and wisdom to apply are those God gives. And the best path to walk in next is the one right in front of you. And here’s another very practical reason for that—You don’t have a choice! You don’t get another reality but the one you’re in! The only prison walls around you right now that matter is your own covetousness.

Use 3. Exhortation. I said at the beginning that, in spite of this aspect of dreams, this isn’t about us. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t put us in this place, with a word, in another sense. What was the Big Idea? Those favored by God are given a Word that divides the living from the dead. So what does this require of us but to speak that Word that divides the destiny of the living and the dead; the righteous and the unrighteous. The Christian is called to be like Aaron after Korah’s rebellion, who was told,

Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them … And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped (Num. 16:46, 48).

So every Christian is made a priest (1 Pet. 2:8), not to make new sacrifices for themselves and others, but to hold up like that censer that had already burned on the altar—and so to hold up Christ crucified—that the dead would come to life and the living would begin to be separated from the dead. We have this not in obscure dreams, but in the clear word.

Use 4. Consolation. Life without Christ is like a dream, and not a good one. It is a trance of self-deception in need of awakening. The interpretation of this dream is not hard; it is the awakening that is. But we are called, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Eph. 5:14). The thing is impossible because the one who sleeps this sleep is dead.

But the expression used here in this narrative in an ancient prison is that on the third day, the King who is above ground will—and it is said of both prisoners—“lift up your head” (vv. 13, 19), one to be “restored” and the other to be hanged on a tree, that is, the place of the curse (Gal. 3:13). For the Christian, the Bible tells us that God is “the lifter of my head” (Ps. 3:3; cf. Ps. 27:6). And so it will be on that Day when all are awakened. On the Last Day, the King of kings will call into the tombs, He tells us in John 5, and both prisoners will comes out, either to the resurrection of life or to the resurrection of judgment (cf. Jn. 5:29).

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1. Hughes, Genesis, 469.

2. Kidner hints at the possibility that ‘the house of the captain of the guard’ (v. 3) signals that this is the same “Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard” (39:1), so this further explains Joseph’s entrusted position — Genesis, 204.

3. Belcher, Genesis, 232-33.