During this fall at the church where I serve, we have
been spending our time together looking at a section of the very first letter
that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Genesis. Last week, we
looked as Joseph invested in the Pharaoh’s cupbearer by serving and attending
to his needs while in prison and explaining a dream that left the cupbearer in
a wretched and disturbed state, only to be forgotten. We discovered the timeless
truth that our investment in others does not always
result in a return on our investment.
This week, I would like for us to spend our time together
by picking up where we left off last week. As we jump back into this section of
the very first letter that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the book of
Genesis, we are going to discover another timeless truth that can powerfully
impact our perspective and our relationship with God. So let’s discover this
timeless truth together, beginning in Genesis 41:1:
Now it
happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile. And lo, from the
Nile there came up seven cows, sleek and fat; and they grazed in the marsh
grass. Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and
gaunt, and they stood by the other cows
on the bank of the Nile. The ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven sleek and fat
cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.
Moses brings us back into this section of the book of
Genesis by explaining that two years after Joseph had invested into the life of
the Pharaoh’s cupbearer by serving and attending to his needs while in prison
and explaining a dream, Joseph remained a forgotten man in prison. Instead of
returning the favor that Joseph had done for him, the cupbearer returned to his
position and forgot about the person who helped him return to his position. And
after a period of two years, as Joseph languished in prison as a seemingly
forgotten man, Moses tells us that Pharaoh had a dream that woke him from a
sound night’s sleep.
Now to fully understand this dream and its impact on
Pharaoh, I want us to take a minute to imagine what this dream really looked
like. So I want you to imagine seven large and fat cows that look like the cows
on the Chick-Fil-A commercials grazing on grass next to a river. Now picture
seven Arizona cows, you know cows that are just skin and bones like we have
around here. And in your dream these seven Arizona skin and bones cows become
carnivorous and kill and eat the fat Chick-Fil-A cows.
Now can you picture that in your mind? That’s not a
dream, that’s a nightmare. After being awakened by this nightmare, Moses
records what happens next in verse 5:
He fell
asleep and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven ears of grain came up on a
single stalk, plump and good. Then behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the
east wind, sprouted up after them. The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump
and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.
After fighting off the effects of the first nightmare and
falling back to sleep, Pharaoh is awakened by a second nightmare. To picture
what Pharaoh experienced in his dream, think of it this way. Imagine seven
juicy ears of corn that would be dripping with butter being gulped down by
seven ears of corn that had been left outside on your driveway on a windy
summer day in the middle of July here in Bullhead City Arizona. Again, can you
picture that in your mind? The dream again disturbed Pharaoh out of a restful
night sleep. Moses then reveals how the effects of these nightmares lingered in
Pharaoh’s mind in verse 8:
Now in the
morning his spirit was troubled, so he sent and called for all the magicians of
Egypt, and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no
one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.
Now when Moses says that
Pharaoh’s spirit was troubled, he is revealing for us the reality that these
nightmares left Pharaoh unsettled and disturbed. And after losing a night of
sleep as a result of these nightmares that he did not understand and that left
him disturbed, Pharaoh called for all the magicians and wise men of the nation.
The magicians were religious priests who specialized in the interpretation and
explanation of dreams.
As we discovered last week, in
the culture of the day, dreams were viewed as a gift from the gods that
unlocked what the future held for men.
However, neither the religious leaders nor thinkers of the day could
explain what these dreams meant to Pharaoh. So Pharaoh was left disturbed and
angry as a result of a lack of explanation of what these nightmares meant for
Pharaoh and his future.
And it is in this context, as
Joseph languishes in prison as a seemingly forgotten man, that we see the man
who had returned to his position but had forgotten about the person who helped
him return to his position, suddenly remember a favor that had been asked of
him some two years earlier.
Tomorrow, we will see what
happens next…
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