Then she would resort to enticements in order to obtain her desire. She
would promise to release him from prison, if he would but grant her
wish. But he would say, "Better it is to remain here than be with thee
and commit a trespass against God." These visits to Joseph in prison
Zuleika continued for a long time, but when, finally, she saw that all
her hopes were vain, she let him alone.[140]
As the mistress persisted in her love for Joseph, so his master, her
husband, could not separate himself from his favorite slave. Though a
prisoner, Joseph continued to minister to the needs of Potiphar, and he
received permission from the keeper of the prison to spend some of his
time in his master's house.[141] In many other ways the jailer showed
himself kindly disposed toward Joseph. Seeing the youth's zeal and
conscientiousness in executing the tasks laid upon him, and under the
spell of his enchanting beauty, he made prison life as easy as possible
for his charge. He even ordered better dishes for him than the common
prison fare, and he found it superfluous caution to keep watch over
Joseph, for he could see no wrong in him, and he observed that God was
with him, in good days and in bad. He even appointed him to be the
overseer of the prison, and as Joseph commanded, so the other prisoners
were obliged to do.[142]
For a long time the people talked of nothing but the accusation raised
against Joseph by his mistress. In order to divert the attention of the
public from him, God ordained that two high officers, the chief butler
and the chief baker, should offend their lord, the king of Egypt, and
they were put in ward in the house of the captain of the guard. Now the
people ceased their talk about Joseph, and spoke only of the scandal at
court. The charges laid at the door of the noble prisoners were that
they had attempted to do violence to the daughter of Pharaoh, and they
had conspired to poison the king himself. Besides, they had shown
themselves derelict in their service. In the wine the chief butler had
handed to the king to drink, a fly had been discovered, and the bread
set upon the royal board by the chief baker contained a little
pebble."[143] On account of all these transgressions they were
condemned to death by Pharaoh, but for the sake of Joseph it was
ordained by Divine providence that the king should first detain them in
prison before he ordered their execution. The Lord had enkindled the
wrath of the king against his servants only that the wish of Joseph for
liberty might be fulfilled, for they were the instruments of his
deliverance from prison, and though they were doomed to death, yet in
consideration of the exalted office they had held at court, the keeper
of the prison accorded them privileges, as, for instance, a man was
detailed to wait upon them, and the one appointed thereto was
Joseph.[144] 1]
The chief butler and the chief baker had been confined in prison ten
years,[145] when they dreamed a dream, both of them, but as for the
interpretation, each dreamed only that of the other one's dream.[146]
In the morning when Joseph brought them the water for washing, he found
them sad, depressed in spirits, and, in the manner of the sages, he
asked them why they looked different on that day from other days. They
said unto him, "We have dreamed a dream this night, and our two dreams
resemble each other in certain particulars, and there is none that can
interpret them." And Joseph said unto them: "God granteth understanding
to man to interpret dreams. Tell them me, I pray you."[147] It was as a
reward for ascribing greatness and credit to Him unto whom it belongeth
that Joseph later attained to his lofty position.[148]
The chief butler proceeded to tell his dream: "In my dream, behold, a
vine was before me; and in the vine were three branches; and it was as
though it budded, and its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters thereof
brought forth ripe grapes; and Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took
the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup
into Pharaoh's hand." The chief butler was not aware that his dream
contained a prophecy regarding the future of Israel, but Joseph
discerned the recondite meaning,[149] and he interpreted the dream
thus: The three branches are the three Fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, whose descendants in Egypt will be redeemed by three leaders,
Moses, Aaron, and Miriam; and the cup given into the hand of Pharaoh is
the cup of wrath that he will have to drain in the end. This
interpretation of the dream Joseph kept for himself, and he told the
chief butler nothing thereof, but out of gratitude for the glad tidings
of the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, he gave him a
favorable interpretation of his dream, and begged him to have him in
his remembrance, when it should be well with him, and liberate him from
the dungeon in which he was confined.
When the chief baker heard the interpretation of the butler's dream, he
knew that Joseph had divined its meaning correctly, for in his own he
had seen the interpretation of his friend's dream, and he proceeded to
tell Joseph what he had dreamed in the night: "I also was in my dream,
and, behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head; and in the
uppermost basket there was of all manner of bake- meats for Pharaoh;
and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head." Also this
dream conveyed a prophecy regarding the future of Israel: The three
baskets are the three kingdoms to which Israel will be made subject,
Babylon, Media, and Greece; and the uppermost basket indicates the
wicked rule of Rome, which will extend over all the nations of the
world, until the bird shall come, who is the Messiah, and annihilate
Rome. Again Joseph kept the prophecy a secret. To the chief baker he
gave only the interpretation that had reference to his person, but it
was unfavorable to him, because through his dream Joseph had been made
acquainted with the suffering Israel would have to undergo.
And all came to pass, as Joseph had said, on the third day.[150] The
day whereon he explained the meaning of their dreams to the two
distinguished prisoners, a son was born unto Pharaoh and to celebrate
the joyous event, the king arranged a feast for his princes and
servants that was to last eight days. He invited them and all the
people to his table, and he entertained them with royal splendor. The
feast had its beginning on the third day after the birth of the child,
and on that occasion the chief butler was restored in honor to his
butlership, and the chief baker was hanged,[151] for Pharaoh's
counsellors had discovered that it was not the butler's fault that the
fly had dropped into the king's wine, but the baker had been guilty of
carelessness in allowing the pebble to get into the bread.[152]
Likewise it appeared that the butler had had no part in the conspiracy
to poison the king, while the baker was revealed as one of the
plotters, and he had to expiate his crime with his life.[153]