(9) The chief cupbearer then spoke up and said to Pharaoh, “I must make mention today of my offenses. (10) Once Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and placed me in custody in the house of the chief steward, together with the chief baker. (11) We had dreams the same night, he and I, each of us a dream with a meaning of its own. (12) A young Hebrew lad was there with us, a servant of the chief steward; and when we told him our dreams, he interpreted them for us, telling each of the meaning of his dream.
Based on the chief cupbearer telling Pharaoh that the person (Joseph) that can interpret dreams isn't fitting seems strange. So we ask the following question. The chief cupbearer clearly wants to find favor in the eyes of Pharaoh.. so why would he tell him that the person that can interpret his dreams isn't fitting in the first place? The opposite should have been the case! The cupbearer should have been praising Joseph painting him in a light as being wise and intelligent, and thus the cupbearer would certainly find favor in the eyes of the Pharaoh.
As we see later, Pharaoh says -
(39) So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is none so discerning and wise as you.
Let us assess and understand, what extra wisdom did Pharaoh see in Joseph simply because Joseph was able to interpret his dream?
Isn't the following taught by the sages of Israel?
״כׇּל הַחֲלוֹמוֹת הוֹלְכִים אַחַר הַפֶּה״.
All dreams follow the mouth of the interpreter.
As it says in the Torah -
If the above is true, that dreams come true based on how they are interpreted, perhaps some wisdom was required on Josephs end, but isn't it an exaggeration for Pharaoh to say to Joseph "There is none so discerning and wise as you."? Because even though the interpretation ended up coming true, technically it should be viewed simply as dreams come true based on how they are interpreted, and wasn't due to any extra wisdom on Josephs end!?
So it seems to answer our questions let us state - it is known that the bottom line intentions of Joseph in this whole storyline was to publicize and make great the Blessed G-D throughout this world. As it's said over by the Holy Rabbi of Ruzin, may he be remembered for eternal life, on his explanation of the following verse -
(ט) מַהֲרוּ֮ וַעֲל֣וּ אֶל־אָבִי֒ וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֣ם אֵלָ֗יו כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ בִּנְךָ֣ יוֹסֵ֔ף שָׂמַ֧נִי אֱלֹהִ֛ים לְאָד֖וֹן לְכׇל־מִצְרָ֑יִם רְדָ֥ה אֵלַ֖י אַֽל־תַּעֲמֹֽד׃
(9) “Now, hurry back to my father and say to him: Thus says your son Joseph, ‘God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me without delay.
"All of the forefathers sat in the land of Canaan, and made known to all there that there was a G-D of the Heavens and Earth, however this reality was not known in Egypt. This is why Joseph gave the following instructions from the above verse to send message to his father, specifically using the words 'כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙' (Thus says your son), however the word here for thus, כֹּ֤ה, is a nickname for the Holy Divine Presence (as is taught in the Holy Zohar 152:b). As it was Josephs intentions to let him know that the Holy Divine Presence announces and makes it known that 'God has made me lord of all Egypt', which we see to mean that Joseph the righteous spread the concept of G-D and instilled in the minds of the Egyptians that HaShem Blessed be His Name is the master of all, and certainly this was wonderful news for Jacob!"
We also see Joseph say to Pharaoh right away when he was called to interpret the dreams -
As from the beginning of his dialogue with Pharaoh, even prior to hearing the dream, Jospeh stresses before Pharaoh that there is a Holy on Blessed be He fills the whole world with his glory, and all realities are simply divine providence personally from the Blessed One.
Joseph did the same thing as well while he sat in prison. Behold, the nature of prisoners is that each prisoner tells to his friend what his crime was and the reason for his sentencing, and each gives each other hope and words of encouragement.
[Authors note - During the time of the war (WWII) when we were imprisoned together as Jews under the NAZIS (may their name be for a curse) in the cities of Ungvár, Kloyzenberg, and Budapest, we would each give each other strength to not give up hope until we were worthy to be freed into the world with the help of G-D]
And it would be obvious that Joseph the righteous told over to the other prisoners the reason for his punishment that ended up having him wind up in prison, which essentially was caused because he did not want to sin against G-D (by sleeping with the wife of Potiphar), as we see Joseph telling the wife of Potiphar -
(9) He wields no more authority in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except yourself, since you are his wife. How then could I do this most wicked thing, and sin before God?”
And its understood regarding Egyptians that they are a nation compared to a donkey -
הָכָא לָעָם עָלֶיהָ וּכְתִיב הָתָם שְׁבוּ לָכֶם פֹּה עִם הַחֲמוֹר עַם הַדּוֹמֶה לַחֲמוֹר
“To the people [la’am] upon it,” and it is written there: “Abide you here with [im] the donkey” (Genesis 22:5). This verse in Genesis is traditionally interpreted to mean: A people [am] that is similar to a donkey.
That is was a matter of laughter for the prisoners that Joseph sacrificed his life just to glorify the name of Heaven, as he had a position of greatness as the head of the household of a minister of Egypt, and Joseph gave that all up and found himself in prison!! When the Egyptians heard this story, they considered Joseph a fool!
However after this happened, when they saw that he was able to interpret dreams, it was made known to them that Joseph truly is wise, and only because of his fear of sin he gave up his greatness.
Behold it says in the verse -
all who practice it gain sound understanding.
Praise of Him is everlasting.
We learn from this verse that the fear of G-D is the opening and beginning of arriving at wisdom, and based on the fear of Heaven that a man contains, will be how wise he becomes. If so, Joseph the righteous who was on a very exalted level of fear of HaShem to such a degree that he risked his life and brought suffering upon himself just not to sin, certainly his wisdom must have then also been extremely great (which should be obvious based on this formula from King David).
And this is what the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, "A young Hebrew lad", and as Rashi explains he was calling Joseph a fool.. which really means that he was telling Pharaoh the following. "According to our ways and how our brains work, this boy would be considered a fool, simply because how can a person pass up on greatness like Joseph had as the head of the house of a minister, simply for one commandment of their G-D! But then afterward we saw that in truth he wasn't a fool, because he interpreted our dreams, and as he interpreted, reality unfolded accordingly, and in that case, when he passed up on his greatness, it was because of his fear of G-D" And from this Pharaoh understood right away they were describing a very great man indeed. And this is what Pharaoh said to Joseph - "Since God has made all this known to you, there is none so discerning and wise as you" As if to say that you have the power to interpret dreams to come to be true, which would be obvious then that you aren't a fool, and when you passed up the position of greatness of running the house of a minister, and that you didn't want to sin, is all because of the fear of Heaven thats within you, and because of all of this, there is none as wise and understanding as you, because of all the fear within you, it manifests itself in wisdom, based on the above formula that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of G-D"