Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
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]
PHARAOH'S DREAMS
Properly speaking, Joseph should have gone out free from his dungeon on
the same day as the butler. He had been there ten years by that time,
and had made amends for the slander he had uttered against his ten
brethren. However, he remained in prison two years longer. "Blessed is
the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord," but
Joseph had put his confidence in flesh and blood. He had prayed the
chief butler to have him in remembrance when it should be well with
him, and make mention of him unto Pharaoh, and the butler forgot his
promise, and therefore Joseph had to stay in prison two years more than
the years originally allotted to him there.[154] The butler had not
forgotten him intentionally, but it was ordained of God that his memory
should fail him. When he would say to himself, If thus and so happens,
I will remember the case of Joseph, the conditions he had imagined were
sure to be reversed, or if he made a knot as a reminder, an angel came
and undid the knot, and Joseph did not enter his mind.[155]
But "the Lord setteth an end to darkness," and Joseph's liberation was
not delayed by a single moment beyond the time decreed for it. God
said, "Thou, O butler, thou didst forget Joseph, but I did not," and He
caused Pharaoh to dream a dream that was the occasion for Joseph's
release.[156]
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