Genesis 41:13

And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Genesis 41:13. Me he restored unto mine office — That is, Joseph foretold his restoration to his office, and the execution of the other. Thus Jeremiah is said to pull down and destroy those nations, whose downfall and destruction he only foretold, Jeremiah 1:10.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

41:9-32 God's time for the enlargement of his people is the fittest time. If the chief butler had got Joseph to be released from prison, it is probable he would have gone back to the land of the Hebrews. Then he had neither been so blessed himself, nor such a blessing to his family, as afterwards he proved. Joseph, when introduced to Pharaoh, gives honour to God. Pharaoh had dreamed that he stood upon the bank of the river Nile, and saw the kine, both the fat ones, and the lean ones, come out of the river. Egypt has no rain, but the plenty of the year depends upon the overflowing of the river Nile. See how many ways Providence has of dispensing its gifts; yet our dependence is still the same upon the First Cause, who makes every creature what it is to us, be it rain or river. See to what changes the comforts of this life are subject. We cannot be sure that to-morrow shall be as this day, or next year as this. We must learn how to want, as well as how to abound. Mark the goodness of God in sending the seven years of plenty before those of famine, that provision might be made. The produce of the earth is sometimes more, and sometimes less; yet, take one with another, he that gathers much, has nothing over; and he that gathers little, has no lack, Ex 16:18. And see the perishing nature of our worldly enjoyments. The great harvests of the years of plenty were quite lost, and swallowed up in the years of famine; and that which seemed very much, yet did but just serve to keep the people alive. There is bread which lasts to eternal life, which it is worth while to labour for. They that make the things of this world their good things, will find little pleasure in remembering that they have received them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The chief butler now calls Joseph to mind, and mentions his gift to Pharaoh. "My sins." His offence against Pharaoh. His ingratitude in forgetting Joseph for two years does not perhaps occur to him as a sin. "A Hebrew lad." The Egyptians were evidently well acquainted with the Hebrew race, at a time when Israel had only a family. "Him he hanged." The phrase is worthy of note, as a specimen of pithy brevioquence. Him he declared that the dream foreboded that Pharaoh would hang.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9-13. then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults—This public acknowledgment of the merits of the young Hebrew would, tardy though it was, have reflected credit on the butler had it not been obviously made to ingratiate himself with his royal master. It is right to confess our faults against God, and against our fellow men when that confession is made in the spirit of godly sorrow and penitence. But this man was not much impressed with a sense of the fault he had committed against Joseph; he never thought of God, to whose goodness he was indebted for the prophetic announcement of his release, and in acknowledging his former fault against the king, he was practising the courtly art of pleasing his master.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Me he restored; either,

1. Pharaoh. But then he would have mentioned either his name or title, and not have spoken so slightly and indecently of him. Or rather,

2. Joseph, of whom he spake last, and who is here said to restore the one, and to hang the other, because he foretold those events, as Jeremiah is said to pull down and destroy those nations, Jeremiah 1:10, whose destruction he did only foretell.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was,.... The event answered to the interpretation, and showed it to be right; this is frequently hinted and repeated, to show the exactness and certainty of the interpretation given, in order to recommend Joseph to Pharaoh the more:

me he restored unto my office, and him he hanged: that is, Joseph interpreted the butler's dream to such a sense, that he should be restored to his butlership, and accordingly he was; and the baker's dream, that he should be hanged, and so he was. Aben Ezra and Jarchi interpret this of Pharaoh, that he restored the one, and hanged the other, or ordered these things to be done, which answered to Joseph's interpretation of the dreams; but the former sense seems best, for Joseph is the person immediately spoken of in the preceding clause; nor would it have been so decent for the butler, in the presence of Pharaoh, to have spoken of him without naming him, and which would have been contrary to his usage before.

Geneva Study Bible

And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. me he restored … and him he hanged] R.V. marg. I was restored … and he was hanged. Probably, the construction in the original is impersonal, i.e. “me they restored, and him they hanged.” In addressing Pharaoh, and in alluding to Pharaoh’s actions, this impersonal use of the 3rd pers. sing. is doubtless the language of etiquette.

Genesis 41:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In this dilemma the head cup-bearer thought of Joseph; and calling to mind his offence against the king (Genesis 40:1), and his ingratitude to Joseph (Genesis 40:23), he related to the king how Joseph had explained their dreams to him and the chief baker in the prison, and how entirely the interpretation had come true.