John Calvin Commentary Genesis 40:23

"Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him." — Genesis 40:23 (ASV)

Yet did not the chief butler remember. This was the most severe trial of Joseph’s patience, as we have before intimated. For he had obtained an advocate who, without trouble, was able to extricate him from prison. Especially since the opportunity to do so had been granted to him by God, he felt a certain assurance of deliverance and earnestly waited for it every hour.

But when he had remained in suspense until the end of the second year, not only did this hope vanish, but greater despair than ever rested upon his mind.

Therefore, we are all taught through his example that nothing is more improper than to prescribe the time in which God will help us. He purposely, for a long period, keeps His own people in anxious suspense so that, through this very experience, they may truly know what it is to trust in Him.

Besides, in this manner He designed openly to claim for Himself the glory of Joseph’s liberation. For if liberty had been granted to him through the entreaty of the butler, it would have been generally believed that this benefit was from man and not from God.

Moreover, when Moses says that the butler was forgetful of Joseph, it should be understood that he did not dare to make any mention of him, lest he be subjected to reproach or become troublesome to the king himself. For it is common for courtiers to perfidiously betray the innocent and deliver them to be slain, rather than offend those of whom they themselves are afraid.

CHAPTER 41.