The dreams of the butler (sar hamashkim) and baker (sar haofim) seem quite similar. Each of their dreams (Genesis 39:9-11, 16-17) contains food (grapes, bread), the relinquishing of the food (grapes to Pharaoh, bread eaten by the birds) and the number three (three branches, three baskets). If they are so much alike, what prompted Yosef to offer such divergent interpretations? The butler, Yosef proclaimed, would be restored to his post, while the baker would be hanged (Genesis 39:12, 19).
Some suggest that Yosef knew the interpretation, for he was keenly aware of the political workings of Pharaoh’s kingdom. In other words, he knew the butler was worthy and the baker was not. Others suggest that it was pure ruach hakodesh, a revelation from heaven, that directed Yosef’s interpretation.
However, the commentator Benno Yaakov says the text itself indicates that despite the similarities there was a fundamental difference between the butler’s and the baker’s dream. The butler describes himself as being active – “I took the grapes, pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup into Pharaoh’s hand” (Genesis 40: 11). Here, there is a preponderance of words of action.
The baker, on the other hand, was completely passive. Three baskets were on my head, he said, and the birds were eating from the baked goods (Genesis 40:17). Here, there are no verbs descriptive of what the baker did in his dream.
Dreams reveal much about character. In fact, they often express one’s deepest subconscious feelings. The butler’s dreams showed he was a doer, a person of action. Observing this phenomenon, Yosef concluded that the butler was worthy of returning to Pharaoh’s palace. This is in contrast to the baker’s dream, where he describes himself as a man who is sitting back and doing nothing. Therefore, Yosef concluded, he was unworthy of a reprieve.
A story: an artist was selling a picture of a person with bread on his head. As the potential buyer negotiated the price, birds flew down and began to eat the food. “This piece is so good,” the artist said, “the birds believe the baked goods to be real.”
Replied the buyer: “The birds may believe the bread is real, but clearly they do not believe the person you’ve drawn is real or alive; otherwise they would have been frightened away.”
The baker is the person in our story. Being still as the birds ate bread from atop his head, the birds thought he was dead.
The message is clear. Good things invariably result from action. Doom and disaster are products of inaction.
