Genesis 40:6

And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Genesis 40:6. They were sad — It was not the prison that made them sad; they were pretty well used to that, but the dream; God has more ways than one to sadden the spirits of those that are to be made sad. Those sinners that are hardy enough under outward trouble, yet God can find a way to trouble them, and take off their wheels, by wounding their spirits, and laying a load upon them.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

40:1-19 It was not so much the prison that made the butler and baker sad, as their dreams. God has more ways than one to sadden the spirits. Joseph had compassion towards them. Let us be concerned for the sadness of our brethren's countenances. It is often a relief to those that are in trouble to be noticed. Also learn to look into the causes of our own sorrow. Is there a good reason? Is there not comfort sufficient to balance it, whatever it is? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Joseph was careful to ascribe the glory to God. The chief butler's dream foretold his advancement. The chief baker's dream his death. It was not Joseph's fault that he brought the baker no better tidings. And thus ministers are but interpreters; they cannot make the thing otherwise than it is: if they deal faithfully, and their message prove unpleasing, it is not their fault. Joseph does not reflect upon his brethren that sold him; nor does he reflect on the wrong done him by his mistress and his master, but mildly states his own innocence. When we are called on to clear ourselves, we should carefully avoid, as much as may be, speaking ill of others. Let us be content to prove ourselves innocent, and not upbraid others with their guilt.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These prisoners dream, "each according to the interpretation of his dream," the imagery of which was suited to indicate his future state. They were sad - anxious to know the meaning of these impressive dreams. "Why are your forces bad today?" Joseph keeps up his character of frank composure. "Do not interpretations belong to God?" In his past history he had learned that dreams themselves come from God. And when he adds, "Tell them now to me," he intimates that God would enable him to interpret their dreams. Here again he uses the general name of God, which was common to him with the pagan.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5-8. they dreamed a dream—Joseph, influenced by the spirit of true religion, could feel for others (Ec 4:1; Ro 12:15; Php 2:4). Observing them one day extremely depressed, he inquired the cause of their melancholy; and being informed it was owing to a dream they had respectively dreamed during the previous night, after piously directing them to God (Da 2:30; Isa 26:10), he volunteered to aid them, through the divine help, in discovering the import of their vision. The influence of Providence must be seen in the remarkable fact of both officers dreaming such dreams in one night. He moves the spirits of men.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Perplexed and terrified both, because they perceived the dream was extraordinary and sent from God; compare Genesis 41:8 Daniel 2:1 Matthew 27:19; and because they understood not the meaning of it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Joseph came in unto them in the morning,.... For though Joseph and they were in the same prison, yet not in the same ward. Aben Ezra thinks that Joseph lodged in the dungeon in the night, Genesis 40:15; and was let out in the morning to wait on these prisoners; but the great interest he had in the keeper of the prison, and the favour shown him by the captain of the guard, in putting such prisoners under his care, will easily make one conclude, that Joseph now had a better lodging than that; though it had been his case, he was now provided with a better apartment in the prison; and when he arose in the morning, like a careful and faithful servant, he came to the ward where the prisoners under his care were, to see that they were safe, and what they wanted:

and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad; they looked sorrowful, dejected, and uneasy.

Geneva Study Bible

And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. sad] Gloomy and depressed, the word rendered “worse liking” in Daniel 1:10. There was a general belief in dreams, as a means of conveying supernatural information. In the case of these two officers, their anxiety as to their fate added to the desire to learn the meaning of the strange dreams which had so deeply impressed them. The coincidence in time and the general resemblance between the two dreams could not be accidental.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 6, 7. - And Joseph came in unto them in the morning (a proof that Joseph at this time enjoyed comparative freedom from corporeal restraint in the prison), and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad. The word זֹעֲפִים from זָעַפ, to be angry, originally signifying irate, wrathful, τεταραγμένοι (LXX.), is obviously intended rather to convey the idea of dejection, tristes (Vulgate). And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were With him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly today? - literally, knowing what (־ מַדּוּעַ מָה יָדוּעַ - τί μαθών) are your faces evil, or bad (πρόσωπα σκυθρωπὰ, LXX.; tristier solito, Vulgate), today? Genesis 40:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

After some time ("days," Genesis 40:4, as in Genesis 4:3), and on the same night, these two prisoners had each a peculiar dream, "each one according to the interpretation of his dream;" i.e., each one had a dream corresponding to the interpretation which specially applied to him. On account of these dreams, which seemed to them to have some bearing upon their fate, and, as the issue proved, were really true omens of it, Joseph found them the next morning looking anxious, and asked them the reason of the trouble which was depicted upon their countenances.