Joe Turner

September 8, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Genesis 41

Weekly Memory Verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Daily Reminder, pray for the "Forty days of purpose" that is coming up on September 25th at 9pm each evening.  I am looking forward to the weekly meetings at Starbucks with many of you, be sure to email me and let me know if you plan to participate.  I haven't decided if I should re-focus the study during that time to focus on the "Forty days" material, or to treat it as a side study, continuing our daily Bible study.  Let me know what you want on this.

Genesis 41:1-57 (NASB95)
¹ Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile. ² And lo, from the Nile there came up seven cows, sleek and fat; and they grazed in the marsh grass. ³ 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. ⁴ The ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke. ⁵ He fell asleep and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven ears of grain came up on a single stalk, plump and good. ⁶ Then behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them. ⁷ The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. 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. ⁹ Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I would make mention today of my own offenses. ¹⁰ “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. ¹¹ “We had a dream on the same night, he and I; each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. ¹² “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. ¹³ “And just as he interpreted for us, so it happened; he restored me in my office, but he hanged him.” 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. ¹⁵ 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.” ¹⁶ Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” ¹⁷ So Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, “In my dream, behold, I was standing on the bank of the Nile; ¹⁸ and behold, seven cows, fat and sleek came up out of the Nile, and they grazed in the marsh grass. ¹⁹ “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; ²⁰ and the lean and ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows. ²¹ “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. ²² “I saw also in my dream, and behold, seven ears, full and good, came up on a single stalk; ²³ and lo, seven ears, withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them; ²⁴ 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.” 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. ²⁶ “The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one and the same. ²⁷ “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. ²⁸ “It is as I have spoken to Pharaoh: God has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do. ²⁹ “Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt; ³⁰ 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. ³¹ “So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe. ³² “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. ³³ “Now let Pharaoh look for a man discerning and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴ “Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of the land, and let him exact a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance. ³⁵ “Then let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh’s authority, and let them guard it. ³⁶ “Let the food become as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish during the famine.” ³⁷ Now the proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants. ³⁸ Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?” ³⁹ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. ⁴⁰ “You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.” ⁴¹ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” ⁴² Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. ⁴³ He had him ride in his second chariot; and they proclaimed before him, “Bow the knee!” And he set him over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵ Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as his wife. And Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt. ⁴⁶ Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷ During the seven years of plenty the land brought forth abundantly. ⁴⁸ So he gathered all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt and placed the food in the cities; he placed in every city the food from its own surrounding fields. ⁴⁹ Thus Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure. ⁵⁰ Now before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. ⁵¹ Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” ⁵² He named the second Ephraim, “For,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” ⁵³ When the seven years of plenty which had been in the land of Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴ and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said, then there was famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵ So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do.” ⁵⁶ When the famine was spread over all the face of the earth, then Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷ The people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.^[1]

First of all I would like to point out an interesting trend in Joseph's life.  Consider the twos, Joseph had two dreams, then the baker and the cup bearer had two dreams, followed by two years of imprisonment, Pharaoh had two dreams, and then the chapter ends with Joseph having two sons.  I don't know that it is significant, but it is interesting.  God worked in twos in Joseph's life up to this point.

Deuteronomy 19:15 (NASB95)
¹⁵ “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.

1 Corinthians 9:19-24 (NASB95)
¹⁹ For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. ²⁰ To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; ²¹ to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. ²² To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. ²³ I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. ²⁴ Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

Leviticus 14:8-9 (NASB95)
⁸ “The one to be cleansed shall then wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe in water and be clean. Now afterward, he may enter the camp, but he shall stay outside his tent for seven days. ⁹ “It will be on the seventh day that he shall shave off all his hair: he shall shave his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair. He shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water and be clean. ^[2]

Consider also that when Joseph was called out of prison, he shaved and changed his clothes.  To us that is not significant since we all shave.  The Hebrews did not shave, and even today they wear full beards.  Joseph was prepared for a meeting with the Pharaoh, and prepared to look like an Egyptian.  It reminds me of the verse that Paul wrote saying that he would be like all men to reach some for Christ.  On the other hand, this could also have been talking about shaving off all of his hair, this may have been necessary to remove lice and the stench of prison.  This was not unusual in the Old Testament times, it was expected before a leper was returned to the camp of Israel.

Erik disagreed with me on the cupbearer forgetting for his own self preservation.  He is correct in taking that stand.  Yet in this chapter, the cupbearer remembers that Joseph had interpreted the dream when it is advantageous to his position.  By remembering that Joseph had correctly interpreted his dream, he was able to use his misfortune to move himself up one position in Pharaoh’s sight.  Now he provided a service by pointing Pharaoh to Joseph that none of his wise men were able to accomplish.  His memory became better when he had something to gain from it.  We don't know what favor the he solicited by remembering Joseph, but you can be sure it was significant.

Regarding the dreams, I found it interesting that Pharaoh embellished the dreams upon the second telling.  This is probably not important except for our understanding.  The dreams and the interpretation of the dreams is pretty self explanatory. 

Moving on to the interpretation of the dreams.  First notice that Joseph gave the glory to God for the interpretation, and pointedly made sure that Pharaoh did not misunderstand who interpreted the dreams.  Second, Joseph had a humble spirit about him, he did not seek personal gain from the interpretations. 

Third, look at the boldness that Joseph demonstrated while he interpreted the dreams.  He was a prisoner, brought up from the dungeon, and polished up to go before Pharaoh, wasn't he overstepping his bounds by giving Pharaoh such unsolicited advice?  Pharaoh did not ask for an application of the dreams, all he asked for was an interpretation.  God moved through Joseph and inspired him to take a very bold approach in speaking with Pharaoh.  Those in the court must have cringed when Joseph spoke to Pharaoh as if he was an equal.  Joseph spoke to Pharaoh as if he was an ambassador from another land giving the King advice.

Pharaoh honored Joseph's honesty, and recognized the wisdom that God had placed in him.  Joseph told Pharaoh to store 20 percent of the land's produce, (two's again), and to place a guard on it.  That is interesting in itself.  The people were left with 80 percent of the take on the land, less the expenses for planting and harvesting.  Don't you think that the story leaked out that Pharaoh was building the barns for the reason of storing up for the seven lean years?  A story like that had to get out, especially when Pharaoh brought a slave Hebrew prisoner out of the dungeons to rule second in command over the entire kingdom. 

In the following story we will find out that the people of the nation had to purchase their grain from Pharaoh, and by default lost all of their land in the process, turning from being independent citizens to wards of the state. God had given the Egyptians inside scoop on what He was about to do, and it was up to each person to determine how he was going to use the wealth during the years of plenty.  Basic economics will probably argue the other end of the spectrum though, with the abundance of grain, the value of it was probably very low in comparison to lean times.  I wonder if the people of Egypt thought that Pharaoh had gone insane by building huge barns and putting a Hebrew in charge of the nation.  At any rate, they did not heed the warning that Pharaoh was sending out.  Joseph stored the grain of the land to the point that they could not measure it any longer. 

I wonder what happened to the 80 percent that was left over, was the wealth wasted by the people?  We in America are living in a time of prosperity, perhaps we should consider the times.  Most people in today's society are living from paycheck to paycheck with bills and expenses taking more of the income than they have coming in.  In most cases our out-go exceeds our income, perhaps that was happening in Egypt.  The funny part about this is that we are making more money than ever before.  I'm not saying that we have seven years of famine coming, only that perhaps we should reconsider our financial obligations and put some away for a rainy day.  Human nature is to live the good life, living at a level where our lifestyles reflect our income.   Things haven't changed that much from the Old Testament times till now.

I am going to close here, I skimmed over a few sections of this chapter, and will leave it up to you to fill in the blanks.  If you wish to add to the study, be sure to write in.

Questions for thought:

Why did Pharaoh call Joseph out of Prison?

How can we apply this story to our lives?

Father, as we consider Your word today, enable us to understand and apply Your word to our lives.  Give us the willingness to follow You against the odds that are against us.

In Him,

Joe Turner.