This week, we are looking at a story from the life of
Joseph that is recorded for us in a section of the very first letter that is
recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Genesis. Tuesday, we looked on
as Pharaoh, after losing a night of sleep as a result of two nightmares that he
did not understand and that left him disturbed, 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 in Genesis 41:9:
Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh,
saying, "I would make mention today of my own offenses. "Pharaoh was furious with his servants, and
he put me in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, both me and the chief baker. "We
had a dream on the same night, he and I; each of us dreamed according to the
interpretation of his own dream.
"Now a Hebrew youth was with
us there, a servant of the captain of the bodyguard, and we related them to him, and he interpreted our
dreams for us. To each one he interpreted according to his own dream. "And just as he
interpreted for us, so it happened; he restored me in my office, but he hanged
him."
In other words, the cupbearer says to the most powerful
person on the planet at this time in history “Uh Pharaoh, remember when I violated
your trust and allegiance and you placed me and the baker in the maximum
security prison. Well, while I was in prison there was this Jewish guy that was
the servant of the head of the secret service who had been accused of trying to
rape the head of the secret services wife. Well, when we were in jail we had
these dreams and he was able to explain them to us and the thing is that he was
right. He explained that you would forgive me and give me my job back and you
did. And he explained that you were going to pass judgment and impale the baker
and you did. So maybe he could help?” We see Pharaoh’s response to what he
heard in verse 14:
Then
Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the
dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to
Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have had a dream, but no one can
interpret it; and I have heard it said about you, that when you hear a dream
you can interpret it." Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, "It is
not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer."
Pharaoh responded to the information by sending his
officials to run and get Joseph from prison in order to bring him into his
presence. However, because the Egyptians prided themselves in being a clean
shaven people, Joseph needed to lose the beard, take a shower, and get on some
clean clothes in order to appear before Pharaoh. After a shower and a shave,
Joseph is brought before Pharaoh, who gets straight to the point. Pharaoh
basically says to Joseph “I had a nightmare that no one can explain to me, but
I have heard about you. The word is that you can explain dreams, so can you?”
Now, at this point Joseph has an opportunity to shine.
Joseph has an opportunity to get back at the cupbearer who had forgotten about
him. Joseph has an opportunity to plead his innocence before the man who could
set him free.
But that is not what Joseph does. Joseph does not say
“that’s right, I can interpret dreams.” Instead Joseph says the exact opposite.
Joseph explains “it’s not me who explains the dreams, it’s God who is the One
who works through me to explain the dreams. And I am confident that God will
answer Pharaoh completely in a way that will result in peace and prosperity for
you”.
You see, instead of absorbing the glory that Pharaoh
wanted to give him, Joseph deflected that glory to God. Instead of focusing on
his circumstances, Joseph here is focusing on the Lord’s presence and activity
in the midst of those circumstances. After hearing Joseph’s positive answer,
Moses records for us Pharaoh’s response in verse 17:
So Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, "In my
dream, behold, I was standing on the bank of the Nile; and behold, seven cows,
fat and sleek came up out of the Nile, and they grazed in the marsh grass.
"Lo, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and gaunt,
such as I had never seen for ugliness in all the land of Egypt; and the lean
and ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows. "Yet when they had devoured
them, it could not be detected that they had devoured them, for they were just
as ugly as before. Then I awoke. "I saw also in my dream, and behold,
seven ears, full and good, came up on a single stalk; and lo, seven ears,
withered, thin, and scorched by
the east wind, sprouted up after them; and the thin ears swallowed the seven
good ears. Then I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could
explain it to me."
As Pharaoh shared his dreams with Joseph, we are given
some additional details of the dreams and a glimpse into the fear that these
dreams brought to Pharaoh. You see, Pharaoh had never seen Arizona cows before.
After all, Egypt was the bread basket of the Middle East, so cows were always
healthy looking. And these Arizona looking cows scared Pharaoh. After all, they
ate the healthy cows and still looked like they were starving to death. And
Pharaoh had never seen sickly corn that had been dehydrated by a scorching
desert wind.
And, if none of his religious leaders or thinkers could
declare what these dreams meant to him; and if he as Pharaoh, who was viewed as
a god, could not explain or understand what these dreams meant, what did that
mean for the nation of Egypt and for himself as their leader? How could Pharaoh
lead his people if he could not understand this dream? You see Pharaoh was
afraid and uncertain. However, while Pharaoh was uncertain, Joseph was certain,
as we see in verse 25:
Now Joseph
said to Pharaoh, "Pharaoh's dreams are one and the same; God has told to Pharaoh what He is about to do.
"The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven
years; the dreams are one and the same.
"The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and
the seven thin ears scorched by the east wind will be seven years of famine.
"It is as I have spoken to Pharaoh: God has shown to Pharaoh what He is
about to do. "Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming in all the
land of Egypt; and after them seven years of famine will come, and all the
abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will ravage the
land. "So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that
subsequent famine; for it will be very
severe. "Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that the matter is
determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about.
Here we see the Lord use Joseph
to reveal what the future held for Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt. Joseph
explains to Pharaoh that after seven years of amazing prosperity, there will be
seven years of famine that will be so severe that everyone would forget how
great the previous seven years were. In addition, Joseph reveals to Pharaoh
that the reason for the two dreams was so that Pharaoh would clearly understand
that these events were certain to occur and would be occurring soon. Nothing
was going to prevent what God was about to do.
However, instead of stopping
there, Joseph is not done talking. Tomorrow we will see what Joseph has to say
to the most powerful person on the planet…
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