Messianic Education Trust
		Vayeshev   (Gen 37:1 - 40:23)

B'resheet/Genesis 40:23   And the chief of the cupbearers did not remember Yosef; and he forgot him.

View whole verse and interlinear translation ...

Our text is one of the shorter verses in Torah: only four tone syllables, needing neither atnakh or zaqef katan. Yet its first and last words form a negative-positive pairing that Drazin and Wagner explain as "an idiomatic expressing meaning complete forgetfulness," as in "Remember, don't forget" (D'varim 9:7), "you shall forget ... and remember no more" (Isaiah 54:4) and "Let him drink and forget ... and remember no more" (Proverbs 31:7). Although this is emphatic, did both things happen together? The syntax suggests not; the second verb - , the Qal 3ms prefix form from the root to forget, with a 3ms object pronoun, so "and he forgot him" - has a vav-conversive, signalling the next past a: Command not found. perfectly: he did not remember, on that day; and he forgot him, afterwards.

Rabbi Who Is ...

Hirsch: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888 CE), German rabbi, author and educator; staunch opponent of the Reform movement in Germany and one of the fathers of Orthodox Judaism
gives Hirsch gives us some more detail of the meaning of that verb: ", related to , and , means forgetting through being taken up by other matters. related to , saturated, mentally to be so full of something that there is no room for anything else. The butler was not concerned to keep the memory of Yosef constantly fresh in mind, he was so full of the present that he forgot him." But could a man so recently released from prison forget so quickly and completely his fellow who had served him in prison and prophesied his release? In the Midrash, the Sages tell us that "he kept on making resolutions the whole of that day, but an angel would come and upset them; he kept on making knots, but an angel would come and untie them. Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to him: 'You have forgotten him, but I have not forgotten him'" (B'resheet Rabbah 88:7).

Quoting the Midrash, Rashi suggests that "since Yosef depended on him to remember him, he had to remain imprisoned two more years, as it says, 'Fortunate is the man who has placed his reliance upon HaShem and not turned to the arrogant ones' (Psalm 40:5). This means 'and did not rely upon Egypt', which is called the 'arrogant one' in 'For Egypt's help is worthless, pointless; so I call her "Arrogance Doing Nothing"' (Isaiah 30:7, CJB)." Working from a Masoretic note, the Who Is ...

Ba'al HaTurim: Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher (1269-1343 CE), born in Cologne, Germany; lived for 40 years in and around Toledo, Spain; died en route to Israel; his commentary to the Chumash is based upon an abridgement of the Ramban, including Rashi, Rashbam and Ibn Ezra; it includes many references to gematria and textual novelties
Baal HaTurim points out that " appears just three times in the Tanakh: (i) here; (ii) 'Joash the king did not remember the kindness' (2 Chronicles 24:22); and (iii) 'He did not remember His footstool' (Lamentations 2:1)." From this he concludes that "the chief cupbearer was ungrateful and did not remember the favour Yosef had done for him."

The classic Jewish commentators all want to chip in with their ideas of what happened. Who Is ...

Bekhor Shor: Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor; a twelfth century French tosafist, commentator and poet; he lived in Orleans and was a pupil of the Rashbam and Rabbenu Tam; wrote a commentary to the Torah and made contributions to the Talmud commentaries; followed the p'shat method of interpretation in the style of Rashi, to the extent of rationalising many miracles
Bekhor Shor is perhaps the gentlest: "The reason he did not 'remember' Yosef to Pharaoh was not that he was hateful or evil; it just slipped his mind." Sheer absent-mindedness! Don Who Is ...

Abravanel: Don Isaac Abravanel (1437-1508 CE), Statesman and biblical commentator; born in Lisbon, died in Venice; wrote commentaries on the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures
Abravanel is simply factual - "He did not think of sending Yosef anything, as he had asked; nor did he remember to mention Yosef to Pharaoh" - as is the Who Is ...

The Radak: Rabbi David Kimḥi (1160-1235 CE), rabbi, biblical commentator, philosopher and grammarian; born in Narbonne, France; best known for his commentaries on the Prophets, he also wrote a philosphical commentary on Bresheet that makes extensive use of the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel; influenced by a strong supporter of Ibn Ezra and Maimonides
Radak: "He did not recollect to help Yosef and did not mention him to Pharaoh." Who Is ...

The Rashbam: Rabbi Samuel ben Asher (1085-1174 CE), a grandson of Rashi; lived in Northern France; worked from the plain meaning of the Hebrew text even when this contradicted established rabbinic interpretaton
Rashbam, often even briefer than his grandfather, Rashi, is the longest with, "When he got out of prison, he did not think of Yosef, as Yosef had asked. He forgot him, for a long time afterwards, until the Holy One arranged miracles for Yosef so that he was forced to remember him." Quoting the words of the prophet Jeremiah, "do not mention 'the burden of the LORD' any more" (Jeremiah 23:36, NJPS), Who Is ...

Abraham Ibn Ezra: (1089-1167 CE), born in Tudela, Spain; died in the South of France after wandering all around the shores of the Mediterranean and England; a philosopher, astronomer, doctor, poet and linguist; wrote a Hebrew grammar and a commentary on the Bible
Ibn Ezra says, "He did not 'remember' him to Paraoh; he did not mention him. He literally did not even think about him."

All these reflect the role of the watchmen that the Almighty appointed to the walls of Jerusalem: "On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the L-RD in remembrance, take no rest, and give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth" (Isaiah 62:6-7, ESV). The words "put the L-rd in rememberance" refer to the official court position of remembrancer. This person was retained in Solomon's court - "Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha were secretaries; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder" (1 Kings 4:3, ESV), where in spite of the English title 'recorder', the Hebrew is , the Hif'il participle of the verb , to remember, so "the one who causes the king to remember" - as the king's memory: it was his job to remind the king about the appointments he had to keep, the promises and commitments he had made, and so on. HaShem has appointed the watchmen to continually remind Him about His promises to Jerusalem, because - unlike the cupbearer - remembering, keeping and being seen to keep His promises is very important to Him.

Hillel Millgram, in his radical re-telling of the entire Yosef cycle (B'resheet chapters 37-50), looks at the plea Yosef makes to the chief cupbearer - "think of me when all is well with you again, and do me the kindness of mentioning me to Pharaoh, so as to free me from this place. For in truth, I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews; nor have I done anything here that they should have put me in the dungeon" (B'resheet 40:14-15, NJPS) - and comments, "that he places no hope in Potiphar can be seen by his appeal to his fellow prisoner: once restored to your place you will have Pharaoh's ear. Please use your influence to help me also to see the light of day. Certainly one good turn deserves another. But Yosef's reliance on his fellow unfortunate proves naïaut;ve."¹  Nahum Sarna dryly observes that "the ingratitude of the cupbearer prefigures the later national experience of the Israelites in Egypt: 'A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Yosef' (Shemot 1:8, NJPS)."

Millgram goes on, however, to make a more telling point: "There is a further lesson that will be internalised in the long months ahead as he waits in vain for the Cupbearer's aid in escaping the pit: never to rely on the good will of others."² Gordon Wenham pushes the idea a little further: "The cupbearer completely forgot Yosef and his plea. So Yosef is left bitterly disappointed in as hopeless a situation as he was when first cast into prison. And there he stays for another two years, to all appearances forgotten by man and G-d."³ Yosef is challenged by the failure of the cupbearer to remember him: either to remember him for himself and perhaps, do something practical to help Yosef, or perhaps to mention him to Pharaoh. But why should that be so surprising - doesn't Yosef have a pretty shrewd understanding by now of the Egyptian people and system? Why should he remember a fellow-prisoner, a foreigner, or even his days in prison - everything in him wants to forget the whole affair as quickly as possible and, at the same time, do nothing that might remotely threaten it happening again, when it might not have such a happy outcome, like the chief baker!

Yosef had expectations. He reasons, correctly, that G-d is at work. Knowing that Yosef couldn't get out, hadn't He brought two high court officials to Yosef in prison? Knowing the Egyptian awe of dreams and interpreters, hadn't He given them dreams and him the interpretations to the dreams? Surely this must be his moment of release - this must be G-d's dream for Yosef? But nothing happens and Yosef sits there and has to learn the lesson of waiting for G-d to work things out in His own good way and time. Walter Brueggemann picks up the story: "The power of G-d is sure enough. But Yosef awaits a human act of solidarity ... He asks for remembering and perhaps G-d is remembering. But so far as this story goes, Yosef is forgotten."⁴ This looks like just another dead end that goes nowhere. Yosef will have to wait for another whole two years.

But what about us? In the context of the Yosef story, Brueggemann tells us that "the text brings us to an incongruity where faithful people must live. It in in that incongruity that human faithfulness must be practised. It is in that setting that the dream of G-d is tested. The dream of G-d for Yosef is not for times of obvious credibility. It is for times when the claims run against the evidence. Yosef is left with this question: Is there a remembering done by Yahweh beyond the forgetting of empire? Yosef does not know. The butler does not care."⁵ In our context today, we stand and proclaim the return of Yeshua. Two thousand years we have been waiting and nothing has happened. The world around us doesn't care or - worse - ridicules us. But G-d is remembering His promise beyond the faithlessness of modern society. Even though is seems as though there are few watchmen left on the walls of Jerusalem, G-d is still listening to them; He still wants to be reminded and He is still going to keep His promise.

Many will ask what promise - what are we waiting for? Simply a personal place in heaven? Shame on us if that is so. We are waiting for the full restoration of all things, for the bringing of everything under the rule and authority of Yeshua so that there will be peace, blessing and opportunity for everyone. We look for the end of our exile and the return of the king to set all things in order for a time of justice and righteousness. So lift up your voice and cry out today: come soon, Lord Yeshua! And in the meantime, Lord, show the signs Your kingdom on earth through us so that all the world may know that You are coming.

1. - Hillel I. Millgram, The Joseph Paradox: A Radical Reading of Genesis 37-50 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2012), page 80.

2. - Millgram, page 81.

3. - Gordon Wenham, Genesis 16-50, Word Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1994), page 384.

4. - Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, Interpretation, (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1982), page 325.

5. - Ibid.

Further Study: Psalms 25:6-7; Isaiah 44:21-23; Ephesians 2:11-12; Jude 17-21

Application: What are you doing to remind G-d about His promise to send Yeshua back to redeem His promises and establish His kingdom? How can you engage with both G-d and man today to forward that agenda and prove faithful to Yeshua?

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© Jonathan Allen, 2023

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