Genesis 40:18-19 - Exposition

And Joseph answered and said , This is the interpretation thereof (the exposition was supplied by God, and, however willing or anxious Joseph might be to soften its meaning to his auditor, he could not deviate a hair's-breadth from what he knew to be the mind of God): The three baskets are three days: yet within three days —literally, in three days more (ut supra, Genesis 40:13 )— shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee ( i.e. deprive thee of life, the phrase containing a resemblance to that employed in Genesis 40:13 , and finding its explanation in the words that follow), and shall hang thee on a tree— i.e. after decapitation (cf. Deuteronomy 21:22 , Deuteronomy 21:23 ; Joshua 10:26 ; 2 Samuel 4:12 ), which was probably the mode of execution at that time practiced in Egypt (Michaelis, Clarke, Keil, Murphy, Alford, Inglis, Bush), though some regard the clause as a description of the way in which the baker's life was to be taken from him, viz; either by crucifixion (Onkelos, Rosenmüller, Ainsworth) or by hanging (Willst, Patrick, T . Lewis), and others view it as simply pointing to capital punishment, without indicating the instrument or method (Piscator, Lapide, Mercerus, 'Speaker's Commentary'). And the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. "The terror of approaching death would be aggravated to the poor man by the prospect of the indignity with which his body was to be treated" (Lawson).