Two long years slowly went by, and Joseph still in the prison, was now thirty years old. He must have been away from home 13 years.
One night Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the great river of Egypt, the Nile, and as he looked, there came up out of the river seven fine fat cows, and they fed in a meadow. Then seven other cows, thin and bony and starved-looking, came up out of the river after the fat cows, and stood beside them on the river bank. Pretty soon the thin cows had eaten up the seven fat ones, but they were just as thin and bony as before.
Pharaoh had another dream after this one, and in it he saw seven splendid ears of wheat that grew on one stalk, and after them seven thin, dried up ears grew, and they ate up the first seven ears.
When Pharaoh awoke, he was troubled about his dreams, and so he sent for all the magicians, and all the wise men of Egypt, to tell him what the dreams meant, but none of them could say. But now the chief butler remembered Joseph, and told Pharaoh how the prisoner gave both the chief baker and himself the true meaning of their dreams when they were in prison. Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they brought him in a hurry out of the prison, but he took time to shave himself and change his clothes for better ones, before he went in where Pharaoh waited for him. We can be sure that Joseph was praying to God that he should not have to go back to the prison again, as he went to Pharaoh’s palace. No doubt he was praying too for the right answers to give the king when he should meet him and hear the full story of his dreams.
Pharaoh said to the young prisoner, 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.” Joseph quietly answered the great king. “It is not in me; God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” So with this beginning, Pharaoh told Joseph about his dreams, and at the end he said. “And I told this unto the Magicians, but there was none that could declare it to me.” As Joseph was listening to the king’s words, God was putting into his mind what the dreams meant, and when Pharaoh finished speaking Joseph began to tell what he had learned. There were seven good years with big crops coming. and then seven bad years when there would be hardly anything growing, and people and cattle would be starving, Joseph said, and he told Pharaoh that the right thing to do was to appoint a careful and wise man to be over all the country, with men under him to do what he should tell them; then to gather all the grain that should be raised in the coming seven years of plenty in the fifth part of Egypt, and store it away for the seven year of famine.
In this also, Joseph is a picture of the Lord Jesus. He is the One who alone is able to reveal secrets, and solve all our difficulties. The word is “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Heb. 4:1313Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:13).
If any of our dear readers are in trouble about his or her sins, He alone can meet our difficulty. He has said, “Come unto Mc.” So the one thing for us to do is to go to Him, and He will save us. He loved us and died for us, He has been in judgment for us, and has borne what we deserved.
All who put their trust in Him shall be saved from the wrath to come.
Pharaoh and his servants talked together about what Joseph had said, and they felt that what they had heard about the dreams was right, and that Joseph’s plan to have one man over all the country to take charge of the food, and to store away what was not really needed, was just what ought to be done. Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such an one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?” Perhaps the people of Pharaoh’s court didn’t quite like it, but Pharaoh’s mind was decided; Joseph should be the next person to himself over all the country. He took his ring off his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand, dressed him in fine clothes, and put a gold chain about his neck. Then Pharaoh made him to ride in the second chariot, and servants shouted as Joseph went out, “Bow the knee!” Without Joseph, no one could lift hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh called Joseph a new name which meant “The man to whom secrets are known,” and he gave him a wife, Asenath, the daughter of a priest. Joseph went all over Egypt, and during the seven good years, when the wheat and everything else grew so well, he had great storehouses packed full of food for the seven bad years. Two boys were born to Joseph and Asenath—Manasseh and Ephraim.
Soon the seven years of plenty were ended, and the seven years of famine began. The people began to beg for food, and not only the Egyptians, but from all countries they came after grain, because they had heard that there was plenty in Egypt, and all of them were sent to Joseph.
How God had looked after the poor boy who was stolen from his home! First a slave, and then in prison for a good many years, and now next the powerful king of the rich country of Egypt, and all the world coming to him for food!
As Joseph was exalted to a place of great honor after having been in prison and judgment, so our blessed Lord is exalted to the highest place in glory, and soon He shall have everything put under Him, both in heaven and earth.