Wednesday 12 December 2012

The Cupbearer and the Baker

I have now been in prison for quite some time. 4 days ago, I came to two of the prisoners, who had been put in prison by the Pharaoh. The first was a cupbearer and the second was a baker. They were looking dejected, because they had each had a dream the past night and wanted to know what it meant, so I offered to help them.

The chief cupbearer said, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.”

I told him what the dream meant: Three days from then he would be restored to his position as chief cupbearer. In return for interpreting his dream, I asked him to remember me when he was freed, so that I could get out of prison too.

Then the chief baker told me what his dream was: "On my head were three baskets of bread. In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

He was expecting good news after hearing what I had told the cupbearer, but he was disappointed. My interpretation of his dream was that in 3 days, he would be killed and his body impaled on a pole. The birds would eat at his flesh. 

So, three days later, the Pharaoh gave a feast, as it was his birthday. Everything happened just as I had said. But sadly, the cupbearer forgot about me, and I am still a prisoner. 



Accused

After being sold to the Ishmaelites, I was taken to Egypt where I was bought by one of Pharaoh's officials, Potiphar, the captain of the guard. But I know God is still with me in everything I do, and because of this I have found favour in the eyes of my master. Potiphar has put me in charge of his entire household and everything in it. All the work has give me a strong build, and some of the women in the household find me handsome.


One day Potiphar's wife came to me and tried to convince me to go to bed with her. Of course, I refused. With me in charge, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has kept nothing from me except her, because she is his wife. So how could I do such a wicked thing and sin against him and God?. But she continued to ask me each day.

A few days ago, I had gone inside to do my work and there were no servants inside. When I was walking down a hallway, she cornered me and grabbed me by the cloak. I couldn't get out of her grip so I shrugged off my cloak and ran off, forgetting that I'd left the cloak with her. Out of anger at me for going against her,  she screamed to get the attention of everyone, and accused me of trying to force her into bed with me. She told them I had run off when she screamed, forgetting my cloak, and they believed her.

When my master heard the story, he was furious and refused to listen to me. He had me put in prison, the same prison containing the king's prisoners, which is where I am now.






Tuesday 11 December 2012

Betrayed

The trouble all started a few days ago when my father sent me to go check on my brothers, who were grazing the flocks near Shechem, and to bring word back to him. So I set off from the Valley of Hebron. When I was wandering around I met a man and asked him for help in finding my brothers. He told me he had heard them saying they were headed to Dothan, so I went there and that was where I found them.

When I reached them, I was instantly attacked! They rushed at me and stripped me of the robe I had gotten from father, and then they picked me up and threw me in a nearby empty cistern. Some time later they pulled me out of the cistern. I was confused and had no idea what was happening. I saw them talking with some of the Ishmaelites, and after few minutes I was shoved toward them. Can you believe it? They actually sold me, my own brothers, for 20 shekels.

Now I am travelling with the Midianites on the way to Egypt, where I will be sold as a slave. I am scared, but I will keep praying and I will trust God to keep me from harm.



Dreams

In the past week I've had two strange dreams, and I don't know what they mean. Whatever they mean, when I told my brothers about them they got angry.

In the first dream, we were all binding sheaves of grain out in the fields, when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, and their sheaves gathered around it and bowed down. My brothers thought I was making stuff up and that I was trying to rule over them. In the second dream, I was standing outside and the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down to me.

Since my brothers were all reacting to the dreams I decided to tell father about them too. But his reaction was different. My brothers were angry at first, but afterwards they slowly forgot about it, although they kept teasing me about being a "dreamer". Father seemed more curious about it, and asked me to retell the dreams for him many times. Maybe they do actually mean something? Father thinks they may be a message from God.



A New Robe


Today I received a gift from father. It was an amazing robe that he made for me, very colourful and made of expensive fabric. It was probably worth much more than any of my brothers' robes. I think this annoyed my brothers, because father had never given any of them something like that. Afterward, they ignored me for a few days and were ruder to me than usual. I don't understand why... It's not like I asked him for it.