For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”
Joseph had been carried off from his home and then thrown into an Egyptian prison. Now he speaks to a fellow prisoner who is about to walk free, and two short claims carry the whole verse: he was taken by force, and no crime of his put him in that pit.
The land he was taken from
Joseph names his homeland by the people who lived there as strangers. The word itself carries that sense of a man passing through:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe root of the word is "to pass over," as when one passes over a river, or from one region to another. Abraham was told to leave his country and his relatives and go into the land of Canaan. The word Hebrew is not used until Abraham had left his country and was in the land of Canaan. When he was there he was a "sojourner," in a strange country, living in tents. Joseph, when in Egypt, said he had been stolen from "the land of the Hebrews."
One writer notes how natural that name sounds coming from Joseph, and how familiar it would be to his hearers:
William KellyGenesis 40:15 is most natural on the lips of Joseph, looking back on the land where he and his father were once together. He describes it by "the Hebrews" — a name familiar among the Gentiles.
Joseph calls the place a pit, and the word had an everyday sense: "A pit used for water, but sometimes dry and used as a prison" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
The innocence he claims
Joseph does not argue his case. He states a fact, and his fellow prisoners could judge it for themselves:
C KnappSo in Joseph in prison we see the suffering Christ. And we see two others suffering with him — Pharaoh's two officers, his chief cupbearer and his chief baker. But they do not suffer like Joseph. He suffered though he was innocent. They, in all probability, were receiving the "due reward of their deeds," like the two thieves crucified with Christ. Joseph was ruler in the dungeon, and the conscience of his fellow prisoners must have said, "This man has done nothing wrong."
Asking a man to remember him
Commentators differ on whether Joseph's appeal showed prudence or a lack of faith. One reads it as leaning on human help:
Hamilton SmithThus Joseph, in his day, finds the waiting time in prison a testing time for faith. He, too, seeks deliverance by an arm of flesh. He had befriended the king's cupbearer, so he concludes the cupbearer will step in with Pharaoh to get him out... 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.
Another reads the same request as good sense, and points past it to the One who did not forget:
William KellyWith the remarkable prudence which marks his character, he had begged not to be forgotten. But he was left in irons a little longer. The word of the LORD tested him. God would work in His own way. If the chief cupbearer forgot Joseph in his prosperity, God did not.
Why the plea seemed to fail
The cupbearer walked out and said nothing. Yet the silence served a purpose:
F. B. HoleYet the chief cupbearer forgot about Joseph once he was prosperous again. He has become a standing monument of human ingratitude. Still, as we believe, the hand of God was over even this. If the cupbearer had remembered, Joseph's release would have come through a grateful, and perhaps respectful, human arrangement. God intended to take him out, reviving the cupbearer's memory, in a far more striking way. And not only take him out but also lift him above the chief of cupbearers and bakers.
A greater Prisoner
Joseph's two claims — kidnapped, and guilty of nothing — point beyond himself:
L. M. GrantIt was true enough that there was no cause in Joseph for his being treated so, but how much more this is true of the Lord Jesus, who was totally sinless in every way, yet subjected to far worse treatment than Joseph was given.
The request itself has an echo in the Gospels:
W. T. P. WolstonHe says to the cupbearer... When it is well with you, think of me. That is like a very touching word of the Lord's. Just before He went into death, He said, "Do this in remembrance of me." The world has cast Christ out, and He expects His friends will make mention of Him. I like to make mention of my best Friend.
Summary
- Stolen. Joseph names himself a man taken from "the land of the Hebrews." His family lived there as strangers passing through.
- Innocent. He claims no crime. His fellow prisoners, who were getting what their deeds deserved, could only agree: "This man has done nothing wrong." In him we see the suffering Christ.
- Forgotten. He asked a man to remember him, and that man forgot. Commentators differ on whether the request was prudence or leaning on human help.
- Remembered. The cupbearer's memory failed, but God's did not — and the delay meant release came by God's hand, not by human favour.
- Fulfilled. Joseph asked the cupbearer to think of him. Christ, cast out by the world, asks His friends to make mention of Him.