The Cupbearer and the Baker By: Tony menDez
In Egypt, the pharaoh had imprisoned his cupbearer and his baker for they insulted him. Joseph was assigned to attend these two in jail and care for them. Their first night in jail they both had dreams and they had meanings. The next morning Joseph asked why they looked sad, the cupbearer and the baker told Joseph about their dreams and asked for an interpretation.
The cupbearer told Joseph that in his dream he squeezed the wine from grapes on three branches and filled a cup with wine in which he gave to the Pharoah. The baker told Joseph of his dream in which he was carrying three baskets of bread in which birds were picking at. Joseph told the cupbearer his dream meant he would be forgiven, but to the baker he would be killed and his head impaled on a pole while being eaten by birds. Joseph asked the cupbearer to remember him when he would be spared and be told about to the Pharoah so that he may be out of the prison and rewarded. Three days later, the baker was killed, and the cupbearer spared but the cupbearer forgot Joseph.
Exegetical Insights
- Who? Cupbearer, baker, Joseph, and the Pharoah
- Where? Dry land of Egypt
- What? The cupbearer and the baker commit crimes and they have dreams which are interpreted by Joseph who introduces different fates for the two.
What does this teach sophomores today?
It teaches sophomores today that although we commit sins like the cupbearer and the baker, we should not forget God like they forgot Joseph. Joseph spent two more years in prison but God was with him, that shows us that no matter what happens to us God will always be with us.
In this story, the baker is killed while the cupbearer is spared. Is there a connection to Cain and Abel where Cain the offerer of wheat is also punished? Does God have something about bread?