Genesis 40:19

Gen 40:19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.

Ver. 19. And shall hang thee on a tree, &c.] This was cold comfort to the baker: so shall the last judgment be to the ungodly; when the saints, as the butler, shall lift up their heads with joy. But what a sweet providence of God was this, that the butler should first relate his dream, and receive his interpretation, as good as he could wish! Had the baker begun, the butler would have been disheartened, and hindered, perhaps, from declaring his dream. And then, where had Joseph’s hopes been of deliverance by the butler? How could he have had that opportunity of setting forth his innocency, and requesting the butler’s favour, and good word to Pharaoh for his freedom? {a} See how all things work together for good to them that love God.

The birds shall eat thy flesh.] Those that were hanged among the Jews were taken down. {Deu 21:23} Not so among the Gentiles. A sore judgment of God threatened, in a special manner, against those that despise parents {b} {Pro 30:17} and fulfilled in Absalom. Abslon Marte furens, pensilis arbore obit. Gretser, the Jesuit, to show his wit, calls that tree, a cross; and makes it a manifest figure of the cross of Christ. Sed o mirum et delirum figurativae crueis fabrum! Our Lord indeed died upon the cross, and that with a curse. But that Absalom should, in that behalf, be a type of him, is a new Jesuitical invention. Some say, that in honour of Christ crucified, Constantine the Great abolished that kind of death throughout the empire.

{a} Piscator.

{b} Effossos oculos voret atro gutture corvus. - Catull., De Cruce., lib. i. cap. 6.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 19. Lift up thy head from off thee] Thus we find that beheading, hanging, and gibbeting, were modes of punishment among the ancient Egyptians; but the criminal was beheaded before he was hanged, and then either hanged on hooks, or by the hands. See La 5:12.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. Pharaoh shall lift up thy head from off thee. This phrase (in the original) is ambiguous without some addition; and may be taken in a good or a bad sense; just as we say, “With regard to any one,” or “With respect to him;” here the expression is added “from thee.” Yet there seems to be an allusion of this kind, as if Joseph had said, “Pharaoh will lift up thy head, that he may take it off.” Now, when Moses relates, that what Joseph had predicted happened to both of them, he proves by this sign that Joseph was a true prophet of God, as it is written in Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 28:9.) For that the prophets sometimes threatened punishments, which God abstained from inflicting, was done for this reason, because to such prophecies a condition was annexed. But when the Lord speaks positively by his servants, it is necessary that whatever he predicts should be confirmed by the result. Therefore, Moses expressly commends in Joseph, his confidence in the heavenly oracle. With regard to what Moses records, that Pharaoh celebrated his birthday by a great feast, we know that this custom has always been in use, not only among kings, but also among plebeian men. Nor is the custom to be condemned, if only men would keep the right end in view; namely, that of giving thanks unto God by whom they were created and brought up, and whom they have found, in innumerable ways, to be a beneficent Father. But such is the depravity of the world, that it greatly distorts those things which formerly were honestly instituted by their fathers, into contrary corruptions. Thus, by a vicious practice, it has become common for nearly all to abandon themselves to luxury and wantonness on their birthday. In short, they keep up the memory of God, as the Author of their life, in such a manner as if it were their set purpose to forget Him.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(19) Shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee.—In Gen_40:13 the lifting up of the butler’s head meant his elevation to his former rank. Here there is the significant addition “from off thee,” implying that he would be beheaded, and his body publicly exposed to ignominy.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. lift up thy head from off thee] Joseph, by a use of the same phrase as in Gen_40:13, introduces the sudden unfavourable interpretation: “from off thee” shews that it means here “decapitation,” not (see note on Gen_40:13) “he will release thee from imprisonment, in order to be executed.” For the word-play, which uses the same word in two senses, cf. Gen_27:39.

hang thee on a tree] The decapitated corpse of the malefactor would be impaled, and allowed to hang exposed to public view, and to become the prey of wild animals and obscene birds. This picture was terrible to the Egyptian mind, which attached great value to preservation of the body as the ultimate medium of the soul’s (= ḳa) existence. For “hanging,” see Jos_10:26; 2Sa_4:12; 2Sa_21:9-10.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head from off thee,.... Order thee to be beheaded; so the Targum of Jonathan and Ben Melech interpret it,"Pharaoh shall remove thy head from thy body with a sword:"

and shall hang thee on a tree; his body after his head was severed from it, this should be hung upon a gallows or gibbet, and there continue:

and the birds shall eat the flesh from off thee; as they usually do when bodies are thus hung up, see Sa2 21:9; this was signified by the birds eating the bakemeats out of the uppermost basket when upon his head, as it seemed to him in his dream.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

From thee, by decapitation. This was customary, when a person’s body was to be hung on the cross or gibbet. (Deuteronomy xxi. 22; Josue x. 26; Lamentations v. 12; 1 Kings xxxi. 10.) --- Birds. So Horace says, pasces in cruce corvos.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

From off thee. This clause is industriously added here to the former phrase, to show that it was now meant in another sense. He shall indeed lift up thy head, as well as the chief butler’s, but in another manner, not for time, but

from thee, or so as to take away thy head or thy life (which eminently consists and appears in the head) from thee.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. Lift up thy head from off thee — A peculiar play on words; but the addition, from off thee, gives the sense as distinguished from that in Gen_40:13. The victim was first beheaded, and afterwards hung, or impaled.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.