Genesi 40:1 Commento: Rashi, Chizkuni, Kli Yakar & Sforno

אחר הדברים האלה AFTER THESE THINGS — Because this malignant woman made the righteous man (Joseph) a familiar topic of conversation with every one so that he was spoken about discreditably the Holy One, blessed be He, brought about the offences of these men in order that people should turn their attention to them and not to him (Genesis Rabbah 88:1), and also in order that relief should come to the righteous man by their agency (Genesis Rabbah 88:3).

חטאו משקה מלך מצרים, “the cup bearer and the baker of the King of Egypt committed a transgression. The former had mixed water in the king’s cup, the latter had mixed some stones in the dough of the King’s bread. According to Rashi, the former was guilty of allowing a fly to settle on the brim of the king’s cup פיילי פושרין, but פושרין seems to be a copyist error, since in the Arukh it is said that one calls a cup in the Greek language פוטירי, and this is the correct form (Compare Bereshit Rabba 88,1 where this subject is discussed)

The cupbearer and baker of the king of Egypt sinned. Initially, they were called [simply] cupbearer and baker but afterwards it states Pharaoh became angry with his two courtiers, with the chief cupbearer and chief baker. Some say this reflects the common practice where every chief official has subordinates serving under them who serve the king regularly, while the chiefs themselves would serve only occasionally at grand feasts as a matter of honor. This sin was not committed by the chiefs but rather by their subordinates — the cupbearer and baker. Nevertheless, the main anger was directed at the chiefs for appointing such common people who were not careful with the king’s honor. And regarding the dream, where it mentions [simply] the cupbearer and baker without the title “chief,” this is because it only needed to indicate the nature of the dream, each according to their occupation — one concerning drinks and one concerning baking.

חטאו HAD SINNED — in the case of the one, a fly was found in the goblet of aromatic wine, in the case of the other, a pebble was found in the loaves he baked (Genesis Rabbah 88:2).