The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 508

butlers and bakers, or cupbNi.rers and Court connected 1vith these dreams, that b11th of purveyors, the chiefs in both departments their recipients were simila.rly affected by being invested with high honour, and re- them, though there was much in the butler's garded with much tmst (Herod., iii. 34; dream to inspire hope rather than dejection. Xenoph., 'Cyrop.,' i. 3, 8). And Joseph ea.id unto them, Do not inter- Ver. 3.-And he put them in ward (or in 1;1retations belong to God '!--literally, Ai·e not custody) in the house of the captain cf the interpi·etations to Elohimf i. e. the Supreme guard,-i. e. Potiphar(vide eh. xxxvii. 36)- Bein~(rf. eh. xii. 16; Dan. ii. 11, 28, 47). into the prison,-literally, house of enclosure The J<;gyptiaus believed on lwf!pw1rwv µIv (vide eh. xxrix. 20)-the place where Joseph ovo,vi ,rpoachrai ~ roxv11 l'avr11<1}, rwv U was bound. The word il01$, from iPI$, 8twv µ,n/i,ripo,a, (Herod., ii. 83). Tell me to make fast by binding, seems to corroborate them, I pray you. Joseph's request implies the Psalmist's assertion (Ps. cv. 18) that that the consciousness of his Divine calling to Joseph haJ. been laid in iron and his feet be a prophet had begun to da.wn upon him, hurt with fetters ; but this could only have and that he was now spea.king from an in- been temporarily (vide vers. 4, 6). ward conviction, doubtless produced within Ver. 4.-And the captain of the guard his mind by Elohim, that he could unfold charged Joseph with them (literally, set the true significance of the dreams. Joseph with them, i. e. as a companion or Vers. 9-11.-And the chief butler told servant; to wait upon them, since they were his dream to Joseph, and ea.id to him, In my high officers of State, not to keep watch over dream, behold, a vine was before me-liter- them as criminals), and he served them (i. e. ally, in m.y dream (sc. I was), and behold acted as their attendant): and they con- a vine(gephen, from the unused root gaphan, tinued a season in ward (literally, and they to be bent, a twig, hence a plant which has were days, i. e. an indefinite period, in twigs, especially a vine; cf. Judges ix. 13; pi-ison). Isa, vii. 43 ; xxiv. 7) before me. The in. Ver. 5. -And they dreamed a dream both troduction of the vine into the narrative, of them (on dreams et. 1h. xx. 3), each wl1ich has been pronounced (Bohlen) a.n im- man his dream in one night (this was the portant factor in proof of its recent composi~ first remarkable circumstance connected with tion, since, according to Herodotus (ii. 77), these dreams-they both happened the same the vine was not cultivated in Egypt, and, night), each man according to the interpret- according to Plutarch (' De Is. et Osir. ,' 6), it ation of his dream (i. e. each dream cor- was not till after Psammctichus, i. e. about responded exactly, as the event proved, to the time of Josiah, that the Egyptians began the interpretation put on it by Joseph, to drink wine, has now by more accurate "l<"hich was a second remark.able circumstance, study been ascertained to be in exact accord- inasmuch as it showed the dreams to be ance, not only with Biblical sta.tements no vah'Ue hallucinations of the mind, but (Numb. xx. 6 ; Ps. lxxviii. 47 ; cv. 33), but Divinely-sent foreshadowings of the future likewise with the testimony of Herodotus, fortunes of the dreamers), the butler and the who affirms (ii. 37) that wine (olvoc aµ1r,X1- baker of the king of Egypt, which were voc) was n privilege of the priestly order, nnd bound in the prison. with the representations on the monuments Vers. 6, 7.-And Joseph ea.me in unto of vines and grapes, and of the entire process them in the morning (a proof that Joseph of wine-making (vide Hiivernick's 'In- at this time enjoyed comparative freedom troduction,' § 21 ; Wilkinson's 'Ancient from corporeal restraint in the prison), and Egyptians,' i. 379, et seqq. 430, 431, ed. looked npon them, (lnd, behold, they were 1878; Hengstenberg, 'Egypt,' p. 13; R~w- sad. The word Cl'!;l~T from ~t, to be angry, linson, • Hist. Illus.,' p. 49; 'fhornleySm1th, originally signifying irate, wrathful, r,rapay- 'Joeeph and his Times,' p. 68). ~din the ,,_.,,o, (LXX.), is obviously intended rather vine were three bra.nches :-sarigim, ten- to convey the idea of dejection, tristea (Vul- drils of a vine, from sarag, to intertwine (vcr. gate). And he asked Pha.raoh'e officers that 12; Joel i. 7)--and it was as though it bud- were with him in the ward of his lord's ded, and her blossoms shot forth ;-liter- house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly ally, as it budded (Murphy); or, ns though to-day '!--literally, knowi711J what (P~'l~ =- blossoming (Rosenmtiller, Keil, Kalisch) ; \111; il9 = ri µafJwv) are yowr f= evil, o~ it shot forth its blossom (Keil); or, its blos- soms shot forth (Rosenmiiller, Knlisch, l,ad (1rpoo-w,ra a,cvfJpw1rd, LXX. ; tristio1· Murphy)-e.nd the clusters thereof brought iolito, Vulgate), to-day f forth ripe grapes :-more correctly, its stems Ver. 8.-And they said unto him, We caused to ripen, or mRtured, clusters, the have dreamed a drea.m, and there is no in- terpreter of it-literally, a dream have we ',:;,t;i~ being the stalk of e. cluster, as dis• drf3;1,m,t, and interpreti711J -it there i, none. tinguished from the tl 1:;qp, or clusters them- 1'hiB must be noted as a third peculiarity selves (GesenilL~, 'Lex.,' p."86), though inter• OS, XL. 1-23.] '!'HE BOOK OF GENESIS. 456