Genesis 40:9-13

"And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; and in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and its blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: and Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days; within yet three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head, and restore thee unto thine office: and thou shalt give Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler."

It has been widely supposed, that since the ancient Pharaohs drank only "wine," then some kind of an anachronism was here committed by the author of Genesis, but as Dummelow pointed out:

"Among the inscriptions on the temple of Edfu is one in which the king is seen with a cup in his hand, and underneath are the words, "They press grapes into the water, and the king drinks."[11]

"Pharaoh will lift up thy head ..." Again we are face to face with an example of God's use of the same words or expressions with multiple, or even opposite meanings, as in the case of "seed" in the promise of Abraham, which we have repeatedly cited. This expression to the butler meant his restoration to his former office, and for the baker (Genesis 40:19), it meant he would be executed, probably by hanging. There are many such examples of this usage of one term with multiple meanings in the Bible. As Kline expressed it: "Joseph used a key expression with opposite meanings to describe the cupbearer's restoration, and secondly, to describe the decapitation (or hanging) of the baker."[12]

Some have supposed that, with the example before us, the interpretation of dreams may be attempted now; but, it is still true that "interpretations belong to God." Despite some implications of the dream seeming to be rather obvious, the key element is absolutely inscrutable. The three branches ... the three baskets - these could have signified three weeks, three years, three months, or nearly anything else. As a matter of fact, they represented three days.