9 Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day:

10 Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard’s house, both me and the chief baker:

11 And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.

12 And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret.

13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.

At last the chief butler remembers poor Joseph in prison. Joseph might have wished that he remembered sooner, but if he had, then Joseph might have been exonerated and sent back home two years prior, meaning he wouldn’t have been present to interpret Pharaoh’s dream and save countless lives. In the end, it was all for the best, God had worked things so that Joseph could be where he needed to be, and when he needed to be there.

Also, I think it noteworthy that the butler does not remember Joseph until after all the other wise men have tried and failed to interpret the dream. What an excellent way to prove to Pharaoh that this problem is beyond ordinary man, and anyone who can solve it must be doing so thanks to a higher power. His belief that Joseph is connected to God is critical to his decision to elevate the young man to a ruler.

In the end, the chief butler finally makes it known that two years ago the Pharaoh once walked a foretold path, fulfilling a prophecy that he didn’t even know about. Here was a man who had already known the Pharaoh’s mind once, so perhaps he could know it again.