Gen. 41:15-3215And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. 16And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. 17And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river: 18And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favored; and they fed in a meadow: 19And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favored and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness: 20And the lean and the ill favored kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: 21And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favored, as at the beginning. So I awoke. 22And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good: 23And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them: 24And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me. 25And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath showed Pharaoh what he is about to do. 26The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. 27And the seven thin and ill favored kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine. 28This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he showeth unto Pharaoh. 29Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: 30And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; 31And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous. 32And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. (Genesis 41:15‑32)
Joseph, brought out of prison to Pharaoh’s palace, stood on the brink of a destiny he could never have visualized. Often must his thoughts have reverted to his boyhood dreams and the promise then implied that his brethren one day would own him in an exalted place; but surely he never foresaw this place of glory in Egypt, the greatest kingdom then on earth. But God had at all times been ordering events so that this would soon be Joseph’s portion. He could use the hatred of Joseph’s brethren to start him on that long journey to Egypt, the treachery of a wicked woman to place him in prison, the dreams of a butler, and now the disturbed night of the heathen monarch himself — all to bring about His purposes. Joseph naturally may have been perplexed by each trying experience, but as he was brought to stand before Pharaoh, perhaps he saw that if he had not had the humiliation of the prison he would never have been in the palace.
“And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have... heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me; God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” vv. 15,16. With perfect poise and confidence in God, Joseph, the Hebrew slave, taken from the dungeon, stands calmly before the ruler of the land, aware that he is there in God’s stead and assured that God will give him an answer for the perplexed monarch. How could he declare that God would give “an answer of peace,” had he not been already in the current of God’s thoughts? In this he is a faint foreshadowing of One who was yet to come — the true Joseph: “For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand.” John 3:34,3534For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. 35The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. (John 3:34‑35).
Pharaoh then recounted his dreams to Joseph in more energetic terms than originally, saying: “I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.” Like the blessed One whom he foreshadowed, Joseph took no glory to himself, but replied: “What God is about to do He showeth unto Pharaoh. Behold there come seven years of great plenty... And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land... And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.” vv. 28-32.
Joseph interpreted the dreams of the king with a quiet simplicity and decision which so approved itself to Pharaoh’s conscience that he too had not the least doubt that God was in the matter. Though a stranger to the people of the land and a victim of their callousness, he was no stranger to the God whose counsels for the world he was now proclaiming. He rose above the scruples and shame of one just emerging from prison. Confidence in God took away the fear of slight and drew out his heart in good will to the king and his people.
ML 05/14/1967