Genesis 40:23

 Genesis 40:23

Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.

a. NASB 1995: Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.  [New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.]

b. NKJV: Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.  [Scripture quotations marked "NKJV" are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

c. Classic Amplified: But [even after all that] the chief butler gave no thought to Joseph, but forgot [all about] him.  [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: Yet the Chamberlain of the Cupbearers did not remember Joseph, but he forgot him.  [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ltd.]

e. ESV: Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.  [Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

f. Unless otherwise stated, all Greek and Hebrew definitions are from Blue Letter Bible

1. “Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.”

a. [Yet] did [Strong: 2142 zâkar, zaw-kar'; a primitive root; also as denominative from H2145 properly, to mark (so as to be recognized), i.e. to remember; by implication, to mention; to be male:—× burn (incense), × earnestly, be male, (make) mention (of), be mindful, recount, record(-er), remember, make to be remembered, bring (call, come, keep, put) to (in) remembrance, × still, think on, × well.]

b. not [Strong: 3808 lôʼ, lo; or לוֹא lôwʼ; or לֹה lôh; (Deuteronomy 3:11), a primitive particle; + not (the simple or abstract negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles:—× before, + or else, ere, + except, ig(-norant), much, less, nay, neither, never, no((-ne), -r, (-thing)), (× as though...,(can-), for) not (out of), of nought, otherwise, out of, + surely, + as truly as, + of a truth, + verily, for want, + whether, without.]

c. [the] chief [Strong: 8269 sar, sar; from H8323; a head person (of any rank or class):—captain (that had rule), chief (captain), general, governor, keeper, lord,(-task-)master, prince(-ipal), ruler, steward.]

d. butler [Strong: 4945 mashqeh, mash-keh'; from H8248; properly, causing to drink, i.e. a butler; by implication (intransitively), drink (itself); figuratively, a well-watered region:—butler(-ship), cupbearer, drink(-ing), fat pasture, watered.]

e. remember [Strong: 2142 zâkar, zaw-kar'; a primitive root; also as denominative from H2145 properly, to mark (so as to be recognized), i.e. to remember; by implication, to mention; to be male:—× burn (incense), × earnestly, be male, (make) mention (of), be mindful, recount, record(-er), remember, make to be remembered, bring (call, come, keep, put) to (in) remembrance, × still, think on, × well.]

f. [Strong: 853 'eth ayth apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of entity; properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely):--(as such unrepresented in English).]

g. Joseph [Strong: 3130 Yôwçêph, yo-safe'; future of H3254; let him add (or perhaps simply active participle adding); Joseph, the name of seven Israelites:—Joseph.]

h. [but] forgat [him [Strong: 7911 shâkach, shaw-kakh'; or שָׁכֵחַ shâkêach; a primitive root; to mislay, i.e. to be oblivious of, from want of memory or attention:—× at all, (cause to) forget.]

1). This is an example of the word of wisdom, one of the gifts of the Spirit in operation. Kenneth E. Hagin writes in “Concerning Spiritual Gifts”: “The difference between the two gifts, the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom is that the revelation which the word of knowledge brings is always present tense or something which happened in the past. The word of wisdom always speaks of the future.”

2). Because of a time marker in Genesis 41:1 we know that the dreams of the butler and the baker and Joseph giving them the interpretations, took place two years before Pharoah dreamed his dreams. Since Joseph was promoted to second in command in Egypt shortly after Joseph gave Pharoah the interpretation of his dream, Joseph was 28 at this time.

a). Genesis 41:1 And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.

3). Don Costello: When Joseph was sold into slavery he was 17 (Genesis 37:1-36). 13 years go by before Pharaoh promoted him to second in command of Egypt, when he was 30 (Genesis 41:46). The time in prison because of the false claim of attempted rape of Potiphar’s wife was some where over two years; because the time between Joseph giving the  interpretations of the dreams of the butler and baker was two years previous to Pharoah having his dreams. Because there is no other information given I’m guessing that Joseph was a slave in Potiphar’s house for about ten or eleven years.