Genesis 40:14 Commentary and Bible Study

Nevertheless, for Joseph it suddenly all seems to become clear. Evidently, he is reflecting on how his dream long ago can be fulfilled through the ups and downs of his life. He had been stolen out of the land of the Hebrews – for his brothers had in effect stolen him from his father – and he had been falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife. He makes this appeal to the butler, and through him to Pharoah. He has been providentially put in touch with someone who knows Pharoah, and, going over the head of Potiphar, he will appeal to Pharoah to get him out of prison. He tells the butler how he has twice been wronged, and he hopes that these wrongs will now come to an end and be corrected. He thinks he sees God plan. But he is wrong. Joseph makes only one mistake. He thinks this is God’s way of deliverance for him immediately, but it will take more than this. The fulfilment of the butler’s dream was truly going to be a cog in the means of his freedom, but not immediately. He is going to be further tested, further prepared, further humbled and sanctified, before he can be exalted.Joseph asked the butler to remember him to Pharaoh when he was released. That's not a sin, but it's the one little chink you get in Joseph's life. He had all this trust in the Lord, and here he made a simple earthly provision, ‘Remember me to Pharaoh, tell him about me.’ It was the will of God that his one quite reasonable human reliance would be frustrated and would prove unreliable. It's all part of the training of Joseph. We may have had that in our training: people who we had a reasonable expectation of some help from, who let us down completely. Maybe it was of the Lord as it was with Joseph. It was not wrong for him to ask for help in right circumstances, but he was going to have to learn to trust the Lord entirely and to be driven entirely to prayer.