LESSON 22
Genesis for Today: Chapters 40-41
by Herb Drake

Copyright (c) 1998, 2020, Herb Drake.

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Joseph the Dream Interpreter

We are not told of the circumstances that consigned them to prison, but the butler and baker were important members of the Pharaoh's court. The butler is sometimes translated "cupbearer"; He is the oen who has the one responsible for the quality and safety of the liquid refreshments that he sets on a king's table. Somehow they offended the Pharaoh and wound up where Joseph met them. (Coincidences are "miracles in which God wishes to remain anonymous.)

The two had disturbing dreams that came to Joseph's attention because he was sensitive to the effect the dreams had on them and offered to help them. This trait is a valuable one, especially among those who enter a vocation that ministers to others.

These dreams and their meaning are remarkably parallel to those of Daniel. The fact that Joseph interprets the dreams shows that he has not given up on dreams, and especially those of his own that he remembered from Jacob's household. When Joseph listens to each dream and offers his intepretation, it is important that he credits God in both cases:

• The Butler's Dream. "Lift up your head." "Lift up" (nasa) sets up a play on words. The Butler will be restored.
• The Baker's Dream. The word nasa appears again, but this time the lifting of the head means execution. Of course we don't know the method of execution, as it is not relevant to the story.

Althouth the baker is freed, Joseph remains in prison. While the baker had pledged to put a good word for Joseph into the Pharoah's ear when he returns to court, but he has either forgotten it or has some other reason for suppressing it.

Dreams in the ancient world were regarded as having come from God. Today we tend to say that no dream can come from God, but it is probable that some of today's dreams do. The interpretation of biblical dreams is always attributed to God, and the same principle should be used in any attempt to re-interpret contemporary dreams. Dream interpretation can, of course, be very dangerous.

Pharaoh's Dreams

Two years after the butler's restoration, Pharaoh has two dreams that greatly disturb him. He understands that they come as a divine warning--why else would they have concerned him so much? He exhausts all of his normal resources of interpretation; they all fall short. This situation triggers the butler's memory about Joseph's interpretive talents, and Joseph is sent for. (Note the similarity with Daniel!)

Joseph's Rise to Power

When summoned to the Pharaoh's court, Joseph sees opportunity and does what he can to present a sober, wise, and business-like impression. He shaves his beard (Egyptologists have noted the absence of beards among Egyptian royalty) and puts on an acceptable garment.

As he interprets the dreams, he is careful to credit God, and not himself. He assures Pharaoh that there will be seven good years and seven years of famine, that this will start immediately, and that the dreams are guaranteed because of the fact that Pharaoh had two differing dreams with the identical message.

Without a pause, Joseph immediately recommends a course of action that will save Egypt from the famine coming in seven years. He recommends that Pharaoh appoint someone to manage grain production and storage, stressing the attributes needed by such a person, and making those attributes identical to his own. Pharaoh gets the hint, especially noting that Joseph is a man of the same God that interpreted the dreams. Joseph is appointed as Egypt's visier, second only in power to the Pharaoh himself. He is given an Egyptian wife, the daughter of an Egyptian priest (one of Joseph's only enumerated sins, the other being his divining cup mentioned later.) Might this marriage be a threat to the promise?

In the event, the fourteen years played out exactly as the dreams foretold, and the storehouses of grain accumulated in the first seven years saved not only Egypt, but other nations as well.

The appointment of Joseph to visier is particularly responsible for food supply, and that invites contrast with his time in Potiphar's house where he was responsible for everything but food. Joseph is given all the tokens of the office: a ring, a new name ("The God Speaks and He Lives"), a necklace, and a chariot. He is also given a garment, which we can call the "garment of authority."

It has been suggested that the hamster was running very fast in Joseph's head as he interpreted Pharaoh's dream. In addition to his own improved circumstances, he probably remembered his own dream that would place him over his brothers and father. That Joseph was confident, facile in speech, and ready with wise counsel had the expected results.

Some have tried to date this episode, but it is lost in history. The nature of the events seem to line up with the Hyksos period, estimated to have run from 1720 to 1570 BC. Modern historians tend to look upon this period with some favor, as the Hyksos brought some good things into Egyptian culture. The Egyptians, however, regarded them as barbaric, and it is likely that efforts to rid Egypt of the memory of the Hyksos is the reason that we find no extra-biblical trace of Joseph.

Genesis 38-39 | Genesis 42-43