Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house.
Joseph sits in prison for a crime he never committed, and he has just told Pharaoh's cupbearer that his old job is coming back. With that good news Joseph adds a plea for himself, and commentators read it two ways: as a fair, blameless request, or as a reach for human help when God alone was his resource.
What Joseph asked for
Joseph made his plea to only one of the two prisoners, and what he asked for was narrow.
William KellyYet Joseph must have known the grave fate that would soon fall on the chief baker. So notice that he made no appeal to him to be remembered. He said only to the chief cupbearer, "Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house." There was nothing random in his words. He had no selfish wish for the royal favours that men look for. He asked only for release from the mockery of justice that fell on a righteous man through lust that was refused and through lies.
Leaning on human help
Other writers question the step. Joseph had helped this man, and now he leaned on him.
Hamilton SmithSo Joseph, in his day, finds the waiting time in prison a testing time for faith. He, too, seeks deliverance by human help. He had befriended the king's butler, so he concludes that the butler will speak to Pharaoh and get him released. "Only remember me," says Joseph, "when it is well with you..." Joseph must not only learn that the help of man is vain, but that God is his only resource. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." But to receive this "help" we must learn to "be still" and know that God is God (Ps. 46:1, 10). God has His time as well as His way to bring His purposes to pass.
Another writer weighs it gently:
J. G. BellettThis was natural. Joseph had befriended the king's butler, and such a man could befriend him in return. No one can condemn his longing for that man's sympathy on natural, human, or even moral grounds. But we may still ask whether it was quite worthy of Joseph, and whether faith would have chosen this way.
Why the answer was delayed
The cupbearer walked free and forgot him. Two more years passed. One writer explains why full deliverance is so often delayed.
The Bible TreasuryIn every trial, however dark, there are gleams of light and relief. But full deliverance is often delayed by our own anxiety to get it. God is to be the satisfaction of His servant, not the deliverance. So the deliverance is often put off until we have no prospect of it and no expectation of it.
A prayer that failed, and one that did not
The same words — "remember me" — appear again at the cross, and the outcome could not be more different.
The Christian's FriendJoseph prayed to be remembered when the chief butler was raised up again, and the butler forgot him. For that moment he put his confidence in man, and that confidence failed him. The dying criminal, on the other hand, prayed in his distress, but in faith: "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." He got an immediate answer: "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." His confidence was also in a Man. But that Man was the Messiah, David's Son and David's Lord, and so he was not put to shame... it is vain to seek to anticipate, as Joseph was tempted to do, the Lord's deliverance by any human means.
The same plea from Christ
One writer hears Christ making the same request of those He has blessed.
C. KnappJoseph tells the chief butler the good news of his release, and then says, "Only remember me, when it is well with you." And has not our Joseph said to us about the Lord's Supper, "Do this in remembrance of me"? It was one of His last requests. Shame on us, then, if we hear and believe the good news of our salvation and then forget Him, just as the chief butler forgot Joseph... Thank God, "it is well" with the believer — blessedly, gloriously well — for time and all eternity.
Joseph asked for more than a kind thought. He asked the cupbearer to name him to Pharaoh.
W. T. P. WolstonChrist has been cast out by the world, and He expects His friends will make mention of Him. I like to make mention of my best Friend.
Summary
- Remember me — the request. Joseph asked only the man who had a future. He wanted release from an unjust sentence, not royal favours.
- Remember me — the risk. Commentators differ. One finds nothing selfish or random in the plea. Others see faith leaning on human help, when God alone was Joseph's resource.
- Remember me — the silence. The cupbearer forgot, and two years passed. Deliverance often waits until we stop expecting it, because God means to be the satisfaction of His servant, not only his rescuer.
- Remember me — answered. The same prayer offered to a Man on a cross got an immediate reply, because that Man was David's Son and David's Lord.
- Remember me — reversed. The words now come from Christ to us: remember Him at His table, and make mention of Him to a world that cast Him out.