What is the significance of Yosef's interpretation of the butler and the baker's dreams? We can understand the importance of the interpretation of the butler's dream, because he remembers Yosef, and it is thanks to his mention that Yosef is brought before the Egyptian king. The contribution of the butler's dream to the development of the plot, then, is obvious. His dream plays a role in the providential plan to get Yosef out of prison.
But the baker, too, dreams an unusual dream. His dream is likewise interpreted most accurately by Yosef – however, it seems redundant. The baker's dream and its interpretation play no part in the flow of the events surrounding Yosef, such that if he had not dreamed at all, it would have made no difference to the story. Since it is clear that Yosef's trials and tribulations in Egypt are directed by Divine Providence, we must seek the role of the baker's dream in the overall development of the story of Yosef.
What, then, is the significance of the baker's dream?
Through an examination of the narrative we can learn that it is not a matter of the number of dreams that Yosef interprets correctly, but rather of the fine distinction that he detects between one dream and another, between "Pharaoh will lift up your head" and "Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you."
