[Prayer]
Today’s message is from Genesis chapter 41, the entire chapter. It’s 57 verses long. We’ll take turns reading it as we did with last weeks passage. Remember as we read that we are reading the word of God. God reveals his heart and mind through his word—what he wants us to know about him—what we need to know about him—and what we need to know about ourselves, too. “The heart is more deceitful than anything else and desperately sick—who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:3) We need the word of God to even understand ourselves. As always, I exhort you to read your Bibles every day.
You remember that Joseph’s brothers had hated him and had sold him as a slave to some Ishmaelites who were in a caravan that happened to be passing by the place where they were tending their flocks on the way to Egypt. The Ishmaelites then sold Joseph in Egypt to a man named Potiphar the captain of, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt’s guard. The Lord blessed everything that Joseph did and Joseph gained Potiphar’s complete trust. Potiphar put Joseph in charge of his entire household and all of his property. Joseph had a high position of trust in Potiphar’s household. But when Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph, Potiphar put him in prison. But even in prison, the Lord blessed all that Joseph did and the prison warden put Joseph in charge of al the other prisoners.
In prison, Joseph had the opportunity to interpret the dreams of two of the prisoners, Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and his chief baker. God gave Joseph the interpretation of the dreams. In three days, the chief cupbearer was to be released from prison and restored to his position as cupbearer, but the chief baker was to be hanged.
When Joseph gave the interpretation to the chief cupbearer, he asked the chief cupbearer to remember him to Pharaoh when he was released from prison and restored to his position, and to try to get him out of prison. In three days the chief cupbearer was released and restored to his position and the chief baked was hanged just as Joseph had interpreted the dreams, but the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph to Pharaoh. He forgot him. Joseph stayed in prison.
Through all this, although Joseph was distressed, he trusted the Lord and did his best to serve in the places the Lord had put him. If you trust God and trust that he is good, you will know that he can and does bring about good out of bad circumstances. Joseph was patient and waited for the Lord.
Now let’s read today’s passage, Genesis chapter 41, the entire chapter. I’ll start and we can each read a section:
[Read Genesis 41]
You remember that years earlier, Joseph had had the dreams that seemed obviously to be saying that all of Joseph’s brothers would bow down to him. (In fact, those dreams were a big part of the reason that Joseph’s brothers had sold him into slavery. The brothers were already jealous of him and when the dreams were added it was just too much for them.)
Then, later, Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and chief baker also had dreams, and God gave Joseph the interpretation of those dreams. And now, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt has also had dreams. Verse 1 of today’s passage says, “Two years later Pharaoh had a dream.” So, it was now two years since the time that Joseph had interpreted the dreams of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he was still in prison
Pharaoh had dreamed that he had seen seven healthy-looking, well-fed cows come up out of the Nile and begin to graze. Then seven thin and sickly cows came up after them and ate the well-fed healthy cows. Then Pharaoh had a second dream the same night. A stalk of grain with seven healthy heads spouted up. After that, seven thin, scorched heads of grain spouted up and swallowed up the healthy heads.
Verse 8 says that when Pharaoh woke up, he was troubled by the dreams and called all the magicians and wise men to see if they could interpret the dreams. None of them could.
Now there are a couple of things you can notice about this. One is that they apparently took it for granted that people could and did have prophetic dreams and that some people had the special ability or wisdom to interpret the symbolism in those dreams. The other is that Pharaoh was particularly troubled by his dreams. I presume that Pharaoh had lots of dreams just as we do and don’t think much about, but this one troubled him. For one thing, even as weird as some of the dreams we have are, they are still usually about things we see in real life. We usually don’t see cows eating other cows and we especially don’t see heads of grain eating other heads of grain, at least I don’t. But, when God reveals something to us, regardless of the means, dreams or otherwise, a lot of the times he puts it in our hearts that “this is important. Pay attention to it!” I think he did that with Pharaoh.
Now all the time Pharaoh was telling his dream to the magicians and the wise men, the chief cupbearer was presumably standing there and listening. It was his job to wait on Pharaoh (the King James calls him ‘the chief butler’), so he would have been right there. While he was listening, he was finally remembering Joseph: “Today I remember my faults.”
He realized that he had done wrong in forgetting to speak to Pharaoh about Joseph. We do things like that, too. If you are in distress and are suddenly and unexpectedly freed from that distress, it’s easy to forget about everything and everyone else. It’s because we are so self-centered.
And, by the way, who was it that brought about the chief cupbearer’s release? It was Pharaoh who had him released, but it was certainly God who brought it about. He used Joseph to interpret the chief cupbearer’s dream, but he was the one who made it happen. So, when you are blessed, give glory to God. And regardless of your present circumstances, you are blessed with salvation and eternal life when you believe in Jesus. So give glory to God in all circumstances.
God also used the event in the prison to let the chief cupbearer know that Joseph, at least in the way it appeared to the chief cupbearer, had the ability to interpret dreams. And God was working all these things together to move Joseph from his family of shepherds to the household of the captain of Pharaoh’s guard through the prison and into Pharaoh’s palace where Joseph could bring his family to Egypt. And finally, God was working all these things together to establish his nation of Israel and to send his son Jesus to pay for our sins with his life so that we might not be condemned, but have eternal life through faith in him. Amen!
After the chief cupbearer had told his story, Pharaoh immediately had Joseph brought from prison. He told Joseph that he had heard that he had the ability to interpret dreams. Joseph told Pharaoh that he couldn’t interpret dreams, but that God would give Pharaoh a favorable answer. (Verses 14-16) (The King James, which is a more literal translation, says God would give Pharaoh an answer of peace. Pharaoh was troubled. God would give him an answer of peace.) Pharaoh told Joseph that he had heard that he had the ability to interpret dreams. Joseph did not take credit for any ability that he had, but said it was God who would give the answer. Whenever you are able to help or bless anyone, acknowledge that it is God who gives you that ability.
Pharaoh told the dreams to Joseph and Joseph gave the interpretation: The seven healthy cows and the seven healthy heads of grain each represented seven years of great abundance. The seven thin, sickly cows and the seven scorched heads of grain that swallowed up the seven healthy cows and the seven healthy heads of grain were seven years of famine that would follow the seven years of great abundance. Joseph said that the famine would devastate the land—the abundance would not even be remembered because the famine would be so severe. Joseph put very much of emphasis on the severity of the famine. He also said that the reason Pharaoh had had two dreams that each had that same interpretation was that God had determined to bring these things about for sure and that he would do it very soon. (Verses 17-32) (Most of the time it seems that we need some sense of urgency about a situation before we will start to anything about it, don’t we?)
Joseph also recommended that Pharaoh appoint a ‘wise and discerning man’ to manage things so that some of the abundance would be stored away as a reserve for the time of famine. (Verses 33-36)
Now look at verse 37. Verse 37 says that the proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. One of the commentaries suggested that Pharaoh’s servants were all thinking that one of them would be the ‘wise and discerning man’ whom Pharaoh would appoint to manage the land of Egypt during the time of abundance. However, Pharaoh said, “Can we find anyone like this (Joseph), a man who has the spirit of God in him?” Joseph was the man that Pharaoh appointed. Let me read the rest of the passage—verses 39 through 45:
39So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as intelligent and wise as you. 40You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” 41Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “See, I am placing you over all the land of Egypt.” 42Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, clothed him with fine linen garments, and placed a gold chain around his neck. 43He had Joseph ride in his second chariot, and servants called out before him, “Abrek!” So he placed him over all the land of Egypt. 44Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your permission no one will be able to raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” 45Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah and gave him a wife, Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt. (Genesis 41:39-45)
This seems absolutely incredible! Pharaoh did not just appoint Joseph to manage the storing away of the grain for the time of famine (like a cabinet position in the U. S. government). He gave Joseph complete authority over all of Egypt: “You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands.” Pharaoh gave Joseph his signet ring. That was his seal. Using it was like signing Pharaoh’s name. Whatever order Joseph wrote and sealed with Pharaoh’s signet ring would carry the authority of Pharaoh. Nobody would be able to say, “Let’s see what Pharaoh says first.” Also, he was giving up the ring himself and entrusting it and it’s authority to Joseph. (And I might point out that this is a lot like giving up our own lives and entrusting them to Jesus.)
The gold chain that Pharaoh placed around Joseph’s neck was also a sign of authority. Also, Pharaoh had Joseph ride around in a chariot after him dressed in fine linen garments with the gold chain around his neck. The servants called out, “Abreck,” as they went along. (Most of the translations translate that as bow down.) Pharaoh wanted to make sure that everyone knew that Joseph had authority over the land of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah, which, according to the commentaries means ‘revealer of secret things’.
Pharaoh also provided a wife for Joseph, Asenath, the daughter of Potifera, the priest of On. According to my J. Vernon McGee commentary, Asenath means dedicated to Neith, who was an Egyptian goddess. This is a pagan king in a pagan land who is giving this young man from a family of shepherds the authority of the land of Egypt.
Now I think this is amazing. Put yourself in pharaoh’s place. You have a dream. You think it has some supernatural significance or meaning. No one can tell you what it means. Then someone says, I know of someone in prison who can interpret dreams. This person, a foreigner, a prisoner whom you’ve never met or seen before, tells you what your dream means and you believe him! Not only that, you trust him and turn everything over to him for him to take care of! Do you think God’s hand was in this? God’s hand was certainly in it! And it’s God’s supernatural power, the power of his Holy Spirit, that enables us to entrust ourselves to Jesus. It was not Pharaoh’s wisdom or discernment that enabled him to trust Joseph. And it’s not our wisdom or discernment that enables us to trust Jesus. It’s God’s grace and mercy and power!
Now let’s look at the rest of chapter 41—verses 46 through 57. Joseph was 30 years old when he entered Pharaoh’s service. He was 17 when he had had the dreams about his family all bowing down to him and when he was sold into slavery. He had been in Egypt 13 years. He had had management practice in Potiphar’s house for, presumably, a number of those 13 years and had done a very good job of it (but the Bible says that he did well because God was with him). (And we know that if we do well, it is because God is with us. So, give glory to God in everything!)
During the years of abundance, Joseph stored up so much grain that he gave up keeping track of it. God was providing for the time of famine. When the famine came, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food, but he told them to go to Joseph and do whatever Joseph told them to do. Pharaoh had entrusted everything to Joseph and now he was telling the people to go to Joseph and to trust him. Joseph sold them grain.
Verses 50, 51 and 52 tell us that Joseph had two sons with his wife Asenath which he named Manasseh and Ephraim. Manasseh means God has made me forget all my hardship in my father’s house. Ephraim means God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. I thought it was interesting that Joseph first thought of the trouble he had with his own family before he had thought of his slavery and imprisonment in Egypt.
More next week: We’ll see the beginning of the way the Lord worked all this out to bring Joseph’s family to Egypt and to bring about reconciliation with his brothers.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Amen
[Prayer].