Genesis 40:1-23 (Joseph Tells the Future)

So while in jail, Joseph was put in charge of two guys that offended the Pharaoh. These were the cupbearer and the baker.

After they'd been there a while, they both had these weird dreams on the same night.

The next morning, Joseph noticed they were down in the dumps about something, and asked them about it. They both told them that they'd had dreams, but 'there is no one to interpret them.' So they thought the dreams meant something, and were wanting for psychic healing. Or something.

So Joseph told them, I'll give it a go. I'm sure my god will tell me what the dreams mean. Whether or not it would help the two prisoners was certainly up to debate.

The cupbearer's dream was as follows: he saw a vine with three branches, and they blossomed and became grapes, so the cupbearer squeezed the grapes into Pharaoh's cup and then put the cup in Pharaoh's hand. Hm. A grape juice dream. What would Freud say?

Joseph, not knowing about Freud, told the man that the dream meant good fortune. Within three days the Pharaoh would give him back his job. Joseph made sure to tell the cupbearer that when that all worked out, to remember him to the Pharaoh so he could get out of jail.

The baker told Joseph that his dream had him bearing three baskets of baked goods, and that the top basket was full of good things for the Pharaoh, but that birds were eating all of it. Hm. Sounds like Hitchcock.

Well, Joseph immediately saw that this dream had bad portents. He told the baker, sorry, but I think in three days you're going to be impaled. Or hanged in a tree. The interpretation of the dream (and the scripture) isn't clear. But death. That's clear.

And in three days, guess what? Yep, the interpretations of the dreams came true. Except that we aren't sure whether the baker was impaled or hanged. Either way, he was put to death, though, so I guess that's a 'hit' on the psychic scale.

The author wants us to know that the cupbearer did not remember Joseph to the Pharaoh.