V. 21. The Lord is not weary of abiding with his people through the whole course of their affliction. V. 22, 23. God's presence with his servants in prison, makes them honored in the eyes of their keepers, who are secure in favoring and trusting them.

CHAPTER X L.

What prominent individuals came to be Joseph's fellow-prisoners, and to what was it owing v. 1-3.

After these things;' Heb. ' after these words.'-' Butler;' i. e. cup-bearer; as the word is translated, Neh. 1. 11, For I was the king's cup-bearer.' The Gr. renders it chief wine-pourer,' implying him who had charge of the rest, which, as appears from v. 2, is the true meaning.-' Baker,' Gr. 'chief bread-maker,' Into the prison; Heb. ' into the tower-house.' To whose special custody were they committed, and what circumstance occurred to each of them that rendered them sad? v. 4-6. 'Charged Joseph with them; Heb. made Joseph to visit them.' This, as before remarked, is a phrase equivalent to investing one with authority. Served them; Heb. ministered them,' or acted the minister towards them ;' i. e. superintended them; for how could he be said properly to serve those over whom he presided? The use of the term minister' here elucidates what we have said on Gen. 39. 4.- Continued a season;' Heb. ' were days in custody ;' i. e. a year, as the word days often signifies. See note on Gen. 1. 5- According to the interpretation;' i. e. answering to the event. The expression implies that the dreams were not vain, empty, and unmeaning, as dreams usually are, but each of them highly significant, and capable of a sound interpretation, which

Joseph gave.-Sad;' Gr, troubled.' The original implies both mental vexation and irritation, and a sombre, lowering countenance. It occurs elsewhere four times, and is rendered, Dan. 1. 10, worse liking;' i. e. that is worse looking; Prov. 10. 3, fretting;' 2 Chron. 16. 19, wroth.' Supernatural dreams seem usually to have left an impression upon the minds of their recipients amounting to a violent agitation. Thus Dan. 2. 1, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.' So also the dream of Pilate's wife, Mat. 27. 19.

How did Joseph's kind solicitude in respect to his companions evince itself, what did they say, and how did he reply? v. 7, 8.

'Wherefore look ye sadly?' Heb. wherefore are your faces evil?' Gr. Skuthropa,' from Skuthros,' grim, and ops' countenance;' i. e. sad, gloomy, morose, desponding. The same word occurs in a similar sense in the N. T., Mat. 6. 16, When ye fast be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance,' (Gr. skuthropoi,') Luke 24. 17, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk and are sad?' (Gr. skuthropoi.') And as 'evil' signifies sad, so on the other hand good' is sometimes used in the sense of cheerful or merry. Thus, Est. 1. 10, On the seventh day when the heart of the king was merry with wine;' Heb. 'good with wine.' Is. 65. 14, Behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart; Heb. ' for goodness of heart.' There is no interpreter.' Being shut up here in prison we are debarred the opportunity of resorting to interpreters.' Such interpreters among the ancients were called Oneirocritikoi,' from two words signifying to judge of dreams. A whole treatise on this subject written by Achmet a Persian has escaped the ravages of time, and is still to be read in the Greek language. Do not interpretations belong to God?' Gr. 'is not the manifestation

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of it by God?' Chal. surely from the face of God is the interpretation of a dream.' By this Joseph would call off his companions from reposing confidence in the lying pretensions of false prophets, diviners, and soothsayers, and lead them to refer themselves to the teaching of the true God and his prophets.

What was the dream of the chief butler? v. 9-11.

Three branches.' By this term is undoubtedly meant three little shoots just perceptible and budding on the bark of the stalk. It was from these that the clusters grew. The design is to intimate the rapidity of the growth. The phraseology in the original is in like manner exceedingly brief, broken, and abrupt.- Blossoms shot forth. The wonder of the dream was, that the vine came so soon to maturity; that a process which usually requires the space of several months was apparently completed in as many moments; he had scarcely time to contemplate its germinating buds before he beheld the perfect flower, and this with equal suddenness gave way to the ripened clusters.

How did Joseph interpret his dream? v. 12, 13.

The three branches;' Heb. 'the threefoldness of the shoots' or 'germs.'-Are three days;' i. e. signify three days; a very important sense of the substantive verb are, is, affording a clue to the real import of numerous passages like the following; Rev. 1. 20, 'The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are (i. e. signify) the seven churches;' Rev. 17. 9, 10, The seven heads are (signify) seven mountains, and there (or, they) are seven kings; i. e. kingdoms; by which is implied that the 'heads' and the mountains' were equivalent symbols, both signifying 'kingdoms.' Luke 22. 19, 'This is my body;' i. e. signifies my body; an interpretation subversive of the doctrine of transubstantiation. So v. 20, This cup is (signifies) the

New Testament in my blood.' Gen. 28. 22, And this stone shall be (shall signify) God's house.'"Within three days.' This is explained v. 20, to mean on the third day. Thus, John 2. 19, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it again;' i. e. on the third day. Comp. Luke 24. 7.- Lift up thine head.' This implies more than the mere fact of releasing from bondage. It is equivalent to promoting, preferring, raising to honor, or in this case restoring to a former office. Thus, Ps. 3. 3, 'But thou Lord art a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter up

of my head.' Jer. 52. 31,Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison.' This, from v. 32, seems to be eqvivalent to 'setting his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon.' The phrase to lift up the head' is used also in the sense of reckoning, enumerating, or taking the sum as in a census. Thus, Ex. 30. 12, 'When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel;' Heb.when thou liftest up the head.' Understood

thus, the import of the present passage is this; 'In the review or survey of the officers of the court, thou shalt be enumerated and have a place as formerly ;' Gr. Pharaoh shall remember thy principality.'

What request did Joseph connect with this interpretation, and what reason did he assign for it? v. 14, 15.

'Think on me;' Heb. ' remember me with thee;' 'Do not forget me in the enjoyment of the sweets of recovered liberty.'-Make mention of me unto Pharaoh ;' Heb. 'remember me to Pharaoh.'-- Bring me out ;'i. e. cause me to be brought out. See note on Gen. 41. 13. -Indeed I was stolen ;' Heb. ' stealing I was stolen.' This is spoken not so much of the Ishmaelites who bought Joseph and conveyed him to Egypt, as of his own brethren who were guilty of theft in selling a freeman, which in the law of Moses was punishable

by death, Ex. 21. 16, and in robbing their father of a beloved child.— Land of the Hebrews;' i. e. land of the descendants of Abraham, the Hebrew. It is by faith founded on the Divine promises, that he gives it this appellation, as the country then generally went by the name of the land of Canaan.”— Dungeon ;' Heb. pit or cistern; the same word as that applied to the pit into which Joseph was cast by his brethren. It is to be inferred from the narrative that the gift of prophecy vouchsafed to Joseph was bestowed only at particular times, for though he could foretell the deliverance of the butler from prison he was not enabled to foresee his own.

What was the dream of the chief baker? v. 16, 17.

'White baskets;' or, Heb. full of holes.' If the epithet be designed to be applied to the baskets, they were probably wicker baskets, made of white rods, reticulated like net-work, in which case they would of course be full of holes.' But a more probable opinion is that founded upon the rendering of the Gr. and the Jerus. Targ. that 'white' refers, not to the baskets, but to the color of the bread contained in them. This is confirmed by the phraseology of the original, in which 'baskets' is in the construct state, and requires the connecting particle of' after it; 'baskets of whites;' i. e. of white loaves, rolls, or cakes; Gr.' three baskets of fine bread;' Chal. three baskets full of the principal (or best) bread.'-' Bakemeats.' As the business of the baker is entirely distinct from that of the cook, and was doubtless so in Pharaoh's household, meats' here must be taken in the old English sense of meals,' as we have observed in the note on Gen. 4. 3. The literal rendering is, 'all Pharaoh's food, the work of the baker;' Gr. of all kinds which Pharaoh did eat by the work of the bread-maker;' Chal. which was made by the baker's

art.'

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