Why the Wait?
In the past when I’ve read the story in Gen. 40 of Joseph interpreting the butler’s dream in prison (40:14), I’ve always marveled at the butler’s selfishness. After Joseph interpreted his dream that he would be released and go back to serving Pharoah, Joseph asked the butler to remember him before Pharoah. He wanted out of prison. And then we read this in the last verse of the chapter: Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him. (Gen 40:23) Ugh. How much longer did Joseph have to languish in prison? The answer is in the first verse of the next chapter. And it came to pass at the end of two full years… (Gen. 41:1) Here’s a good question. After God gave Joseph such influence and favor to interpret the butler’s dream, why did God keep Joseph “on the shelf” in prison for two more years?
You know God. There must be a reason. I think we find the answer later in chapter 41, and it’s only significant in the context of how Joseph pictures Jesus. After this two-year wait, Joseph is finally standing in front of Pharoah interpreting his dream. The result is that Pharoah is duly impressed and sets Joseph in charge of Egypt’s food-gathering and -distributing affairs. Thus, Joseph began his official public ministry. Here’s the verse: And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. (Gen. 41:46)
Oh wait. Wasn’t Jesus 30 years old when He was officially recognized and began His public ministry for God? Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age. (Luke 3:21-23a)
Doctrinally, this fits under the category of God declaring the end from the beginning. We rehearse here one more time that Joseph is a type of Jesus as Savior of the World. By the time we get to Christ’s earthly ministry, we’ve already seen it play out in type in the Old Testament.
The other thing we see in this story is that God has timing all worked out according to the good pleasure of His will, meaning timing is never random. Joseph waited two years in prison after interpreting the butler’s dream because God was waiting for “the fulness of times” to unfold His plan like a flower.
A third thing we see is that God likes to work by numbers. Here, it was 30. If you like to follow these things, I’ll point to three and seven as God’s “signature” numbers.
Three: God is a trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit; 3 heavens; Time is past, present and future; Water manifests as water, steam and ice; Earth is land, air and sea; We are made up of body, soul and spirit; Music is melody, harmony and rhythm, etc.
Seven: God created the earth in 7 days (including a day of rest); There will be 7 years of tribulation; There are 7 Jewish feasts; Noah brought clean animals aboard the ark by 7s; There are 7 church periods through the church age, etc.
A final thing to take away from Joseph’s two-year wait to get his life going is that God is in control, and He has His reasons for His maximum glory. Joseph never knew the answer to his "why" question. Remember, life is all about Him and His sovereign will and timing and not about our comfort and happiness. We will make it triumphantly through anything we have to wait through if we start each day by saying, “Yes, Lord.”
R&J Shee