The Folly of False Hope Text: Genesis 40:16-19
Introduction: Two Men, Two Dreams, Two Destinies
We find ourselves in the middle of a dungeon drama, a place of confinement, accusation, and waiting. Joseph, a man more righteous than any in the room, is there on false charges. With him are two servants of Pharaoh, a cupbearer and a baker, both under the king's displeasure. God, in His meticulous providence, has arranged this gathering. He is never constrained by prison walls or the whims of pagan kings. In fact, He uses them as the very stage for His unfolding purposes.
Last time, we saw the cupbearer receive his dream and its interpretation. It was a dream of restoration, of life, of a return to favor. The three branches were three days, and in three days he would be lifted up and returned to his post. This was good news, a gospel for the cupbearer. But now the baker, having overheard this favorable interpretation, steps forward eagerly. He has had a dream as well, and he assumes that because the circumstances are similar, the outcome must be also. This is a common and deadly mistake. He mistakes proximity for parity. He thinks that because his dream also had the number three, and because he was also a servant of Pharaoh, that he must be destined for the same blessing. He is about to receive a rude and terrible awakening.
This passage is a stark warning against the dangers of a self-serving optimism that is untethered from the Word of God. The baker’s hope is not in God, but in the favorable interpretation given to another man. He builds his hope on a flimsy foundation of wishful thinking. We live in a world that peddles this same brand of false hope. It tells us that because God is good, everything must turn out "nice" for everyone. It preaches a gospel of positive thinking, where the sheer force of our optimism is supposed to bend reality to our will. But the God of the Bible is not a cosmic butler who exists to fulfill our desires. He is the sovereign Judge of all the earth, and His interpretations of reality, not ours, are the ones that matter. Joseph is about to serve as the mouthpiece for a divine judgment that is as severe as the cupbearer's restoration was sweet.
Here we see the minister's duty in sharp relief. Joseph does not soften the blow. He does not trim the sails of God’s message to accommodate the baker’s feelings. He speaks the truth, the whole truth, because interpretations belong to God. And God is a God of both salvation and judgment. The same sun that melts the wax, hardens the clay. The same word that brings life to one, brings death to another. This is the uncomfortable reality that our soft generation despises, but it is the truth nonetheless.
The Text
And the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, so he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head; and in the top basket there were some of all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head off of you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off of you.”
(Genesis 40:16-19 LSB)
Presumptuous Hope (v. 16-17)
We begin with the baker's eagerness, which is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding.
"And the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, so he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head; and in the top basket there were some of all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”" (Genesis 40:16-17)
The baker's motivation is clearly stated: "he saw that he had interpreted favorably." His hope is not based on any promise from God, but on the good fortune of his fellow prisoner. This is the essence of worldly optimism. It looks at external circumstances and draws conclusions based on what it wants to be true. He sees the cupbearer's good news and thinks, "I'll have some of that." He is like those who come to Christ for the benefits, for the blessings they see others receiving, without any real sense of their own standing before God.
He eagerly recounts his dream. It has parallels to the cupbearer's. There are three baskets, just as there were three branches. The number three is the link he latches onto. The baskets contain baked goods for Pharaoh, indicating his service to the king, just as the cupbearer served the king. He is building a case for his own restoration based on superficial similarities. He is engaging in a form of sympathetic magic, thinking that a similar story will guarantee a similar ending.
But there is a crucial and ominous difference in his dream, one that his self-serving hope blinds him to. In the cupbearer's dream, the cupbearer successfully takes the grapes and presents the cup to Pharaoh's hand. The service is completed. But in the baker's dream, the service is intercepted. The birds of the air come and eat the food from the basket on his head. The offering never reaches the king. This is a picture of failure, of judgment, of being found wanting. The baker is exposed, his service rejected, and he is defenseless against the plunderers. He carries the symbols of his trade on his head, but he cannot protect them. He is utterly vulnerable, and yet he cannot see it. His desire for a good outcome has completely clouded his reason.
Unalterable Judgment (v. 18-19)
Joseph, receiving the interpretation from God, does not flinch. He delivers the message with the same faithfulness with which he delivered the good news to the cupbearer.
"Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head off of you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off of you.”" (Genesis 40:18-19 LSB)
Joseph begins by confirming the baker's hopeful assumption: "the three baskets are three days." For a fleeting moment, the baker must have felt a surge of relief. The parallel holds! But then the hammer falls. The cupbearer's dream was about Pharaoh "lifting up his head" in restoration. The baker's fate involves the same phrase, but with a horrifying twist. Pharaoh will "lift up your head off of you."
This is the nature of God's Word. It is a sharp, two-edged sword. The same vocabulary can be used for salvation and for damnation. The same fire that purifies gold incinerates chaff. The same name, Jesus, is a cornerstone for believers and a stone of stumbling for the rebellious. The baker wanted the cupbearer's blessing, but he will receive a curse that is its perfect, symmetrical opposite.
The judgment is specific and brutal: Pharaoh will "hang you on a tree." In the Old Testament, to be hanged on a tree was a sign of being under God's curse (Deuteronomy 21:23). It was a public display of shame and utter rejection. The baker is not just executed; he is made a public spectacle of Pharaoh's wrath. This points forward to the ultimate curse-bearer, Jesus Christ, who was "hanged on a tree" to bear the curse for our sin (Galatians 3:13). The baker bears the curse for his own offense; Christ, the innocent one, bore it for ours.
And the dream's final, grim detail is interpreted. The birds that ate the bread from his basket will now eat his very flesh. The judgment is total. The very creatures that symbolized the failure of his service now participate in the desecration of his body. There is a terrible, poetic justice here. He could not protect the bread meant for Pharaoh, and now he cannot protect his own body from being consumed. This is a picture of utter ruin, of being given over completely to destruction.
Conclusion: The Tale of Two Heads
This story is a microcosm of the gospel's two-fold message. To all who are in the prison of sin, God offers a choice, represented by these two men. There is a way of restoration and a way of judgment, and both are determined by the King.
The cupbearer represents the one who is justified by grace. His head is lifted up in pardon and restoration. He is brought back into the presence of the king, not because of his own merit, but by the king's sovereign decision. This is the gospel promise. Through faith in Christ, our head is lifted up. We are forgiven, restored to fellowship, and given a place of service in the King's court.
The baker represents the one who relies on a false hope. He presumes upon God's favor. He sees the blessings of others and assumes they are his by right. He ignores the clear signs of his own failure and vulnerability. He stands before the king with an intercepted offering, a failed service. And the judgment is that his head is lifted from him. He is cut off, cursed, and given over to destruction. This is the fate of all who stand before God on their own merits, with their own faulty works, trusting in a vague optimism instead of the blood of Christ.
Joseph is the faithful minister of this twofold word. He does not invent the message, nor does he alter it to make it more palatable. He simply declares what God has revealed. He speaks of life to the one and death to the other. This is our task as well. We are not called to be motivational speakers who assure everyone that it will all turn out fine. We are called to be heralds of the King, declaring His terms of both pardon and judgment.
Do not be the baker. Do not look at the grace God has shown to others and presume it is yours automatically. Look to your own dream, your own life. Is your service reaching the King? Or is it being intercepted by the birds of sin, pride, and worldliness? Is your hope in your similarity to other Christians, or is it in the finished work of the one who was hung on a tree in your place? The King is going to render a verdict. He will either lift up your head in grace, or He will lift it from you in judgment. There is no third option.