When I exegete a book, I tend to get very bogged down in the details and so, I decided to develop a series of a few short lessons on various chapters of the Bible, where I attempt to simply deal with the primary points of each verse without getting too detail-oriented. Each lesson is 4–5 pages long and designed to be read at one sitting. Although it is always nice to have a Bible open when studying this, I have included the actual Scripture within the text.

I began this study with a general introduction, followed by introductory lessons to studying the Bible, followed by some introductory lessons to the book of Genesis. These 21 lessons precede the lessons lined to below.

We are studying Judah and how much he had been affected by the culture in which he lived. He was a brutal man with very little empathy. He married a Canaanite woman and he fathered three children, two of whom died the sin unto death—suggesting that neither child was brought up well.

Some people perceive the world only as it applies and interacts with them. Good is defined as what is good for that person; and bad is whatever is harmful to that person. So, what is good one day might be bad the next, depending upon how that affects the individual. Some pass this on to their children, where the child begins thinking of himself as the center of the universe, and the parent never disabuses the child of that notion.

This is an important study because the line of the Messiah will go through Judah. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are all Hebrews; but that particular line will be narrowed even further to lead us to Jesus Christ.

He had given his first son in marriage to Tamar, and that son died the sin unto death. He gave his 2^nd son to her and he also died the sin unto death. The problem was not Tamar; the problem was the actions of Judah’s sons. Judah promised that he would give his 3^rd son to her, but he did not, apparently worried that Tamar was the problem.

We studied this and understood it to be a levirate marriage, which both continued the name of the son who prematurely died, also protected and provided for the wife of the man who has died. Because Israel was a patriarchal society, many things are viewed from the point of view of the male, which things can be misunderstood today.

At first, Judah had promised to give his 3^rd son to Tamar, but the son was not yet old enough at that time to become her husband/kinsman redeemer. Judah sends Tamar packing to her father’s house, telling her to wait until his 3^rd son became of age. As we have studied, Judah had no intention of letting this son marry Tamar.

Time passes, and it became clear that his 3^rd son was old enough, but not given to Tamar. Therefore, Tamar put off her widow’s clothing and dressed like a prostitute, wearing a veil to cover her face. She waited for Judah at a city where he would travel through to get to his sheep, and he stopped, saw her veiled face, and propositioned her, supposing Tamar to be a prostitute (which is the look she was going for). They decided on a price for her services, and they had sex and she was impregnated by him. Since he did not have a young goat to give her, he gave her some personal items, to be exchanged for a goat at a later date (so Judah thought). As we will see, Tamar wanted those personal items.

Time passes. Judah, by means of his friend Hirah, cannot locate the prostitute (not realizing that it is Tamar) but, around that time, he also finds out that Tamar is pregnant. He brings his case before whatever legal council existed at that time, and recommends that she be executed (burned) for her outrageous behavior. She immediately proves that he was the man who impregnated her. This pretty much takes the wind out of Judah’s sails. Furthermore, all of this is very public, so this time, Judah cannot just send Tamar back to her father anymore. He cannot ignore that her pregnancy was caused by him. He is now responsible for her and for her children (she will give birth to twins).

Now, she is pregnant by Judah and she will give birth to twin sons, one of whom would continue the line of Judah that would lead to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Genesis 38:27 And it happened, in the time of her travail, behold, twins were in her womb.

The time of travail refers to her giving birth. Tamar has twins in her womb by Judah.

Genesis 38:28 And when she travailed, it happened that one put out a hand. And the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This one came out first.

The firstborn was always an important consideration in the ancient world, even when dealing with twins. Therefore, steps were taken in order to identify which child this is, until the children could be more easily distinguished. The first child who put his hand out had a string tied around it. But then he withdrew his hand and the other son came out first instead.

I have no idea whether this is possible or not. I have read some commentators who claim this is a miracle. This is outside my own field of expertise to say one way or the other. If I were to guess, I would think that something like this is possible apart from a miracle.

Genesis 38:29 And it happened as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “How have you broken a break for yourself?” And his name was called Pharez.

Interestingly enough, the child who was thought to be the firstborn, actually took back his hand, and the other child, Pharez, was born first instead.

The son who comes out first is named Perets (פֶּרֶץ) [pronounced PEH-rets], which means, a bursting forth, a breach, a break, a rupture [in a wall], gap; an outburst; which is transliterated Perez, Pharez. Strong’s #6557 BDB #829. He broke out of the womb first, even though it appeared at first that his younger brother, Zarah, would be born first.

Genesis 38:30 And afterwards his brother came out, on whose hand was the scarlet thread. And his name was called Zarah.

The second son born, who was thought to be the firstborn, still had the scarlet thread on his wrist. He is named Zarah (which may be equivalent to Zerah).

The second son, who, for a short while, appeared that he would emerge first, is named Zerach (זֶרַח) [pronounced ZEH-rahkh], which means dawning; shining; rising; sunrise; scattering; transliterated Zerah, Zarah. Strong’s #2226 BDB #280.

Gen. 38:27–30 When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, "This one came out first." But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, "What a breach you have made for yourself!" Therefore his name was called Perez. Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.

This seems like an odd postscript to this unusual narrative (and without having it explained, the whole narrative seems pretty odd). This is what is going on. Onan tried to protect his double-portion inheritance by not impregnating his wife, Tamar. By not giving Tamar a child to be raised in Er’s name, Onan was the one to receive the benefits of being the firstborn. He has fought—somewhat like that baby in the womb who stuck out his hand—to come out ahead. However, he died the sin unto death, and the infant who stuck out his hand, as if to try to grab the benefits of being firstborn, would not be the firstborn.

We understand, by virtue of the Scripture and hindsight, that the two sons of Judah did not die because of Tamar, but because they were evil and God killed them (the sin unto death). However, Judah believed that Tamar was the problem (Gen. 38:11), so he did not allow his 3^rd son, Shelah, to marry her.

Ironically, Judah has relations with Tamar, not knowing that she is his daughter-in-law, and the result is two healthy boys; but then Judah does not have relations with her again (although, it seems reasonable to assume that he finds her to be attractive). No doubt, he was trying to preserve his own life. No doubt, she no longer viewed him with any respect, as he tried to have her executed. It does not appear that their relationship was viewed as incestuous.

Judah tried to preserve his son Shelah by not giving him to Tamar; so she outsmarted him. You might say, she was like Perez, fighting to come out of the womb first. And Judah, who had given in to sexual temptation in the past, fell prey to it one more time with Tamar; and then stopped having sex altogether out of fear (when it would have been legitimate and safe for him to continue having relations with Tamar, but he did not—if he knew some doctrine, then he could have correctly understood this).

Furthermore, if Tamar understood Bible doctrine and forgiveness, than she may have been able to make their relationship work as husband and wife.

Just as Tamar found a way to be taken in to the Judah household and to be given a child; so Perez, who is in the line of Jesus, found a way to break out of the womb first.

Interestingly enough, the sons that Tamar bears bypass the Canaanite wife of Judah’s. Judah’s Canaanite wife contributes nothing genetically to Tamar and Judah’s twin sons. However, by the actions taken by both Judah and Tamar, it is clear that the culture and morality of the Canaanites had infected the sons of Jacob. This is why God will move them all to Egypt.

There are 4 women named in the line of Jesus: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Mary. In every case, the woman is unique in history. It is very rare for a woman to be named in any ancient genealogy, let alone the genealogy of the Messiah.

This all goes back to the Revealed God promising redemption through the Seed of the Woman in Gen. 3:15.

We have been studying Judah and his daughter-in-law, Tamar in Gen. 38. The big picture question about this chapter was, why is this chapter in the Joseph narrative and, more importantly, why is this chapter found in the Word of God? I hope that our study has answered these questions.

We have just studied one of the most unusual narratives in all of Scripture. Judah, who would become the ruling tribe (concerning which he was totally unaware), seems to have separated from his family, and we can certainly understand that. He was instrumental in selling his half-brother, Joseph, into slavery; and he was complicit in the lie that Joseph had been killed by some wild animal. This would have broken the heart of their father, Jacob, who loved Joseph more than his other sons. After all of this took place, Judah appears to have put some distance between himself and his brothers.

Gen. 38:1 It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. (ESV)

He probably could not bear to look his father in the eye; and he probably could not interact normally with his own brothers, as they were all involved in this lie about Joseph. His father’s heart was broken; his brothers had to keep up this big lie, and Judah probably could not take it any more.

Judah began to hang out with an Adullamite named Hirah, and Judah’s decisions in life were less than stellar. First mistake, he marries a Canaanite woman. This appears to be such a wrong move that God the Holy Spirit does not even include her name in Scripture. Furthermore, 2 of their 3 sons will die the sin unto death and their mother appears to die early in life as well.

No doubt Judah told himself a number of things to justify his own behavior with his father and half-brother. “If my father would have simply treated us as equals, all of this would not have happened.” People tell themselves a great many things to justify their lives. But now, it is Judah who is married, and he fathers 3 sons, and, apparently, he does not do a very good job as a father himself. Judah may have come from a messed up family, but he messed up his own family even more.

Was his marriage to a Canaanite a mistake? That appears to be the case, because Judah arranges a marriage for his first son, Er; and Er marries Tamar. All of this occurs at a very young age because, as we had studied, we are dealing with a very limited time frame here. No doubt, Judah spent more time evaluating and choosing Tamar than he did his own wife.

His son Er dies—again, at a very young age—and it is customary for Tamar to remain a part of the family, even though she does not have any children by Er. The tradition is, Er’s younger brother, Onan, will marry Tamar and their first son will be considered to be Er’s son.

Even though Onan married Tamar, he was careful not to have children by her. In my opinion, this was all about inheritance. If Onan has a son by Tamar, he will continue Er’s line, and, presumably, receive Er’s share of the inheritance (a double portion for the firstborn), thus cutting deeply into Onan’s share of the inheritance (who, if he has no children, supplants Er as the firstborn). God removes Onan from this life as well.

Tamar is still Judah’s responsibility, but he shirks this responsibility. As the older brother of Joseph, Joseph was Judah’s responsibility, and he shirked that responsibility as well. Joseph promises his 3^rd son to Tamar, and he sends her back to her father. Judah had not intended to give his 3^rd son to her, but to let her live her life out as a childless widow.

In the ancient world, a woman married into a family. She became a part of that family. This approach to marriage and family is found throughout much of the world today, and as recently as the 1950's in the United States. As a part of this new family, the patriarch of that family is responsible for this young woman. Tamar became Judah’s responsibility, not her father’s. But Judah sends her packing back to her father, with no intention of giving his 3^rd son to her. That is Judah’s plan; but it is not God’s plan. In God’s plan, Tamar is still Judah’s responsibility, and the line of the humanity of Jesus is going to go through Judah and Tamar. Now, Judah does not know this, nor does Tamar.

A couple of years pass and Shelah, Judah’s 3^rd son, is old enough to be given to Tamar, but Judah won’t do it, fearing that Tamar is some kind of black widow and that Shelah will die if he marries her. Judah is unable to recognize that his sons are dead because they lived their lives in opposition to God, possibly as a result, to some extent, of their training.

About the time that Shelah is old enough to be given to Tamar, Judah’s wife dies. Judah mourns, but not for a great deal of time, and he goes back to his business.

No doubt, there were people in Judah’ household, servants probably, who understood that Tamar is a part of his family now, and that he ought to be responsible for her. When Tamar contacted them and asked them to provide her with information about any future movements of Judah, she found a sympathetic ear who was more than willing to help her out. When Judah was going for an out-of-town trip, Tamar was told right away, and she apparently had a plan in place already (she is probably not that different from Rebekah, Jacob’s mother).

Judah, when traveling through a very small town, comes across a prostitute and he propositions her. Because she is wearing a veil, Judah does not realize that this is Tamar, his daughter-in-law. They have relations and, because he does not have the proper, agreed-upon payment with him, Judah gives Tamar some personal items. This was Tamar’s actual intention, to get these personal items.

3 or 4 months later, Tamar is known to be pregnant, and Judah calls for her to be executed (by burning). It is cold-hearted, but Judah tells himself, “She is guilty; she must pay the price!”

The most natural question put to Tamar, as she is being taken out of her home to be burned is, “Who is the father?” She says, “I have some of his personal items right here. Judah can identify to whom they belong.” And she sends these personal items (his staff, seal and cord) via messenger to Judah to be identified. Judah admits that these are his things, and thus, it becomes known that she is pregnant by Judah.

Judah is the patriarch of his very small and dwindling family, and raising up a child by Tamar to Er is his responsibility (not directly). He is to find a kinsman-redeemer for Tamar, and she would rejoin his family (he should have never forced her out). Now, Judah himself has impregnated Tamar, so she and her sons (she had twins) are his responsibility—he cannot put that on anyone else. We know that he assumed this responsibility, because they will go with him into Egypt (Gen. 46:12).

In a very unusual postscript, we find out that Judah no longer had relations with Tamar, even though he apparently provides for her and her sons from thereon out.

It was difficult to ignore the O’Henry quality of this narrative. Judah, a man who too often gave in to his baser urges, is given another responsibility by God. He failed in his responsibility to Joseph; so he is now given Tamar. He nearly fails with her. However, the very man who married a Canaanite and sought the company of a prostitute, now provides for a woman whom he chooses not to enjoy conjugal relations with. By today’s standards, we do not appreciate how much Judah was obsessed with sex; and yet, by his own choosing, lived out much of his life without it.

We hypothesized that, Judah is concerned that he might die if he had relations with Tamar; and that Tamar was none to pleased that Judah was so willing to have her executed. However, Judah would have been publically shamed to take care of Tamar and their children.

Tamar, who is trying to find her way back into a proper relationship with Judah’s family, by her scheming, revealed Judah’s nature, which is less than pleasant. He was willing to see her executed. Now, these two remain united by their sons, for the rest of their days; but not by love and mutual respect.

Judah and Tamar: A postscript.

Tamar will only be named in Scripture three more times, but her sons and her presence continue to be found in several passages.

Gen. 46 names most of the 70 people descended from Jacob who would move into the land of Egypt. Genesis 46:5–8 Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They also took their livestock and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters. Now these are the names of the descendants of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. All his offspring he brought with him into Egypt. Genesis 46:12 describes those of Judah’s family who went into the land of Egypt with him: The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan); and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. (All ESV) Their respective wives are not named. Tamar is not named.

Tamar and her two sons will go with Judah into Egypt, indicating that Judah has taken responsibility for Tamar and these sons. Although Tamar is not named in Gen. 46 (nor are the other wives of Jacob’s sons), there is no reason to exclude her.

Gen. 46:12 is the last time the line of the Messiah is followed out in the book of Genesis. The book of Ruth will pick up with this line and take us all the way to King David (Ruth 4:18–22).

This particular portion of the Messianic line will lead us to another important marriage between another widow and her kinsman redeemer, where Boaz will marry Ruth, a Moabite. Their relationship is almost the polar opposite of the relationship between Judah and Tamar.

Ruth 4:9–10 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, "You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day."

Boaz has purchased (redeemed) Ruth from her mother-in-law Naomi. Ruth’s Israelite husband, Mahlon, had died before giving her children. Boaz has unselfishly perpetuated Mahlon’s name forever (although in Scripture, we understand the line to go through Boaz and Ruth).

Ruth 4:11–12 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman." (ESV)

Notice that Tamar is mentioned in the same breath with sisters Rachel and Leah, the two wives of Jacob, from whom came the Jewish race (with the help of their personal servants). These women call upon Ruth to enjoy the same fruits of motherhood as did Rachel, Leah and Tamar; and the line of Jesus Christ would go through Leah, Tamar and Ruth.

The nature of Tamar’s relationship to Judah is not alluded to.

In the genealogies of 1Chronicles, the two sons are named:

1Chron. 2:3–5 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah; these three Bath-shua the Canaanite bore to him. Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death. His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all. The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.

Bath-shua is not the name of Judah’s Canaanite wife; that is a transliteration rather than a translation. What it means is, daughter of Shua, which is exactly how she is described in Genesis.

The line of the humanity of Jesus would go through Pharez (Perez). Perez will have a son Hezron and Hezron’s 3^rd son is Ram, and the line of David comes through Ram (Ruth 4:13–22 1Chron. 2:1–12). Or see 1Chron. 2 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

Perez is also named in Num. 26:20–21 1Chron. 27:3 Neh. 11:4, 6 Luke 3:33.

When the entire Jewish line of Jesus is given, Tamar will be named for the final time:

Matt. 1:1–3 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,... (ESV)

At this point in the book of Genesis, we return to Joseph, who is in Egypt, in slavery. We have seen Joseph’s brothers place him into a pit; and then Midianite traders took him out of the pit (it is possible that his brothers took him out of the pit), and sold him to some Ishmaelite traders, who then sold him to Potiphar, and officer of the Pharaoh of Egypt (we have also dealt with the alleged contradiction of this passage as well). That was Gen. 37. In Gen. 38, we spent time primarily with Judah, an older half-brother of Joseph, and we examined his very peculiar genealogical line, which leads us to King David and eventually to Jesus. With Gen. 39, we return to Egypt and will spend the rest of Genesis (for the most part) studying Joseph’s life in Egypt.

It is because of the incidents in Gen. 38 (and elsewhere) that requires the Hebrews to move away from the Land of Promise and away from the corrupting influence of the Canaanites. You will recall that Lot lived among great corruption, and it certainly distorted the thinking of his wife and two daughters. The actions of Judah, Levi and Simeon suggest that they had all become corrupted in their thinking. At some point, God will have the sons of Israel destroy most of the Canaanites, because of their great degeneracy.

You will note that the narratives that we have studied have centered upon Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. This is because Reuben should have been the chosen line, but he never fully embraced his position as the leader of his younger brothers. The other 3 brothers would have been next in line, and it appears, from what we have studied so far, that none of them have the proper leadership skills. When the younger brothers wanted to sell Joseph into slavery, rather than put his foot down and tell them that was not going to happen, Reuben placated the brothers, intending to rescue Joseph later.

Levi and Simeon killed a number of innocent males, seeking revenge for the rape of their sister, Diana. And we just studied Judah who, was such a lousy father, that two of his sons died the sin unto death; and he failed in his responsibility to his daughter-in-law. Because of his own immoral behavior, Judah actually had relations with his daughter-in-law, and became her levirate husband (after almost having her executed).

Of the sons of Jacob, when it comes to the line of promise, the 4 eldest sons seem to have eliminated themselves by their own actions (unless, of course, one of them redeems himself); and the only person who seems to have any character at all is now acting as a slave in Egypt.

Psalm 105 Graphic; from Children's Bible School lessons; accessed March 15, 2016 (the graphic is a summary of stanza 6, not a recitation of it).

Psalm 105:16–23 gives us an overview of the next 11 chapters of Genesis.

When He [God] summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread,

He had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron;

until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.

The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free;

he made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions,

to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom.

Then Israel came to Egypt; Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. (Psalm 105:16–23; ESV; capitalized)

God’s plan called for the sons of Jacob to be moved to Egypt, away from the degeneracy of the Canaanites, which degeneracy was affecting his Jacob’s sons. They were beginning to accept the morality of the Canaanites. Judah, as we have seen, even married a Canaanite woman, and raised two sons who died the sin unto death as a result.

Application: You can be affected by your environment; you can absorb and take societal norms as your own, and believe that they are true and correct. I write this in 2016, and a huge number of millennials believe strongly that there is nothing wrong or immoral about homosexual actions; and that gay marriage ought to be viewed just like a normal marriage. Furthermore, many of them support laws allowing trans-gendered types to sue private businesses if they have the wrong bathroom policy. There has been a concerted effort in television programming and in our schools to convey these pro-deviant messages (more so with homosexuals than with transgendered-types) and several generations have now been corrupted with this false morality. These generations believe very strongly that, if you do not accept homosexuality as normal and the gay agenda as the 21^st century civil rights issue, that you are a bigot and a homophobe; and in their minds, you are no different than a racist lynch mob of the 1920's and 30's. The self-righteousness of these confused people can be so strong that they will refuse to associate with people who think differently than they do and express it (which is not a great loss).

Application: Another example of a confused morality recently assimilated by the millennials: Smoking is terrible, it is a bad habit; but there is little wrong with smoking marijuana. There seem to be very few judgments placed upon those who use harder drugs as well.

It is fascinating that, in much of what occurs in Gen. 37–38, God’s name is barely mentioned, and then just to judge and execute the sons of Judah. In Gen. 39, it will become clear the Joseph is favored by God. Further near the end of Genesis, Joseph acknowledges God’s overarching will in his life, despite the evil intentions of his brothers.

Gen. 39 picks right up where Gen. 37 left off. Gen. 38 briefly followed Judah and his line; but we go back to the same time frame and actions of Gen. 37. Appropriate transition language is added in order to indicate a change of place. There is no reason to think that we have different traditional narratives woven together hundreds of years later (although, if Joseph is the author of these final chapters, then he would have himself woven together narratives which he experienced with the narratives that he heard from his brothers or father).

Interestingly enough, Joseph does not follow out some incident in the lives of each of his 11 brothers/half-brothers. He only diverges to tell a story about Judah, because Judah will do something quite remarkable later on (which will help to explain why the line of Christ will come through Judah).

Joseph overhears his brothers and their discussions while he is in a pit (until they move further away from him). He may have filled in some details in this narrative after speaking to his brothers later (Reuben will be guilt-ridden over this event). I am assuming that the events beginning with Gen. 37:1 were recorded by Joseph. He appears to have integrated his own memories with those of his father and other brothers (Gen. 38 being a chief example of that).

Joseph will face numerous ups and downs in his life—two times, he might have reasonably assumed that his life was all over (when he was first put into slavery; and later, when he will be put into jail). Yet, God always was working everything for the good of Joseph and so that God could preserve and bless his entire family.

Admittedly, this is not too different from the approach of Joseph Smith or of Mohammed. They happened to be very charismatic figures and they developed their authority hand-in-hand with their scriptures, so that the end result was very self-serving. However, this approach is not at all the model for the Old Testament canon, which was completed at the same time the Israel was destroyed as an independent nation and then reconstituted under the authority of other nations. This is also not the model for the New Testament, which is clearly centered on the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is never said to write anything down (apart from a disputed passage where he writes something in the dirt). The disciples, who had some authority after the Lord died and was risen, went to the Old Testament for their authority—and they wrote the various books of the New Testament, already having their authority established. And, interestingly enough, based upon Biblical and extra-Biblical sources, the disciples, for the most part, were not charismatic leaders (possibly with the exception of Peter).

Back to Genesis:

Now, let’s start Gen. 39. We will leave Canaan and the odd occurrences with the family of Jacob, and return to Egypt, where Joseph has been placed into slavery, purchased by Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s:

Genesis 39:1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt. And Potiphar, a eunuch of Pharaoh, the chief of the executioners, an Egyptian man, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.

Potiphar is call a çârîyç (סָרִיס) [pronounced saw-REECE], which means, official, minister of the court; prince; eunuch. Given the narrative, we can probably omit eunuch in our passage. Strong’s #5631 BDB #710. I used the MKJV here, but the ESV, VW and WEB read officer; the TLV reads official; the ISV and LEB read court official.

Is it possible that Potiphar was an actual eunuch? It is possible; and perhaps some more information about the hierarchy in Egypt would help us in this regard. I don’t know that this aspect is important to the context of the narrative. At most, it would give some justification (in the minds of some people) to his wife for pursuing Joseph; but it would still be adultery. Furthermore, Potiphar’s actions are what they are, which is what will place Joseph into prison. Potiphar’s actions are related to his position as an official of Pharaoh’s.

Genesis 39:2 And Jehovah was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. And he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

God is mentioned on occasion in this narrative, but not in regards to doing some amazing miracle. God’s hand is clearly involved, and yet God allows everyone the function of their volition.

Gen. 39 is in stark contrast with Gen. 38. God’s hand is in both chapters (as it is found in all chapters of Scripture), but Joseph’s life is clearly in conformity with the will of God; whereas, Judah’s was not. Yet, God’s hand is found in the lives of both men. God’s will will be done, whether we try to stand in the way of it or go along with it (which is one of the great lessons of Gen. 27).

We are dealing with slavery in this passage, and an unjust form of slavery at that—but we cannot let our own history dictate to us how to feel about slavery.

Slavery could be an awful existence, but this was not always the case. All slaves had to be paid a living wage (which is a big political issue to some today). If slaves died, then the slave owner’s investment was gone. That was just bad business sense. Therefore, the slaves needed to have a place to stay and food to eat, which is, in essence, a living wage. Generally speaking, all slaves in the ancient world were paid a living wage. They got a place to stay and food to eat. This is better than working for minimum wage in today’s American society, if you are willing to trade freedom for security (which is often the big trade-off in the world today).

The promise of many governments today is, give us more power and more money, and we will fix all of the problems in your lives. During one of the elections of Barack Obama, one of the selling points was expressed by an interactive webpage known as The Life of Julia. Every few years, Julia’s life would have a need, and government would quickly step in the meet that need. This was a wonderful example of an exchange of freedom for slavery (although, of course, that sort of language was not used on that webpage) . The ultimate in this approach is socialism, where the government owns and/or controls everything—and, ostensibly, provides everything.

Socialism is a form of slavery; and ironically enough, those who feel that they must talk about the damaging affects of slavery on America today most often support politicians who will lead us into political slavery ( = socialism), where most of our earnings are confiscated so that the government can use these funds to “make our lives better”.

Throughout history, most slaves could marry and have children (the Hebrews will become slaves to the Egyptians in Ex. 1–2 and they will enjoy a population explosion). They could even live independently from their masters, as did the Jewish slaves in Egypt (they lived in Goshen, which was apparently Jewish slave suburb).

Obviously, they did not have idyllic lives. That is not the point; but the position of a slave was not necessarily the worst thing in the world. Your life as a slave depended a great deal upon your master and how your master feels about you.

On the other hand, I am not saying that slavery is the greatest institution in the world and that we ought to return to it (although I would not be against some form of voluntary slavery rather than bankruptcy). Joseph had great personal ability, he worked hard, and God was with him. As a result, he began as an Egyptian slave, but he will rise to the 2^nd highest post in the kingdom of Egypt. Under the right master, there was no level to which a slave could not attain.

Furthermore, many people began as slaves, and yet some of them reached very high positions of authority. The owner or their overseer was able to recognize potential and was able to exploit their talents (I mean this in a the most positive way possible). Obviously, if you were able to find a slave who could keep the other slaves in line, that was a good thing. That meant less headaches for the master. The whole purpose of slavery is to free up the master from his responsibilities.

Joseph revealed that he was intelligent, that he worked hard, that he could take direction, and that he was able to work with all kinds of people. A master did not want to waste this talent, particularly when what a slave was able to do could greatly benefit the master.

The Bible accepted slavery as an institution that was not going away. Slavery still exists today throughout the world, although it is outlawed in many countries. The Bible simply set up guidelines to protect slaves from cruel and abusive treatment. The Bible does not tout slavery as some great institution. In the New Testament, a Christian slave-owner was to take consideration of his Christian slaves to the point of freeing them, if possible (this was a request made by Paul to Philemon, not a command).

You may recall that Abraham’s most trusted servant (= slave) had control over Abraham’s wealth. Abraham sent him east to find a wife for Isaac, and gave him a great deal of wealth to take with him. If the life of this slave was so terrible, why didn’t he get to Haran and then keep going east, since he had all of that wealth? He was certainly an intelligent man who, with all the wealth that he was carrying, could have had a very good start in life as a free man. He obeyed his master Abraham instead and he returned to Abraham, just as he had promised to do.

It is a fascinating thing that, today in American society, those who repudiate our historic slavery with the greatest vehemence, are often those who support a more intrusive and controlling government. They reject the tyranny of slavery on the one hand, and yet, want to place themselves under an increasing more powerful government, which is simply, another kind of slavery. The more money that a government takes from individuals, the more the people become enslaved to that government.

In Joseph’s case, God was with him; and God has a plan for Joseph, which would save the lives of his family, as well as reunite them. There was no reason for Joseph to reject the plan of God, even though God’s plan included a long period of time during which Joseph was a slave and then another period of time when he was unjustly placed in prison.

In Gen. 37, Joseph’s own half-brothers place him into slavery, which included Reuben’s half-hearted attempt to preserve Joseph’s life and freedom. In Gen. 38, we observe great dysfunction of the family of Judah (one of Joseph’s half-brothers). In chapters previous to those, we have seen snippets of the lives of Simeon and Levi. In Gen. 39, we begin to study Joseph’s life as a slave in Egypt. Through one of these men will come the line of the Messiah, and we learn in Genesis why that line goes through the 4^th brother, Judah.

Genesis 39:1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt. And Potiphar, a eunuch of Pharaoh, the chief of the executioners, an Egyptian man, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.

The Ishmaelites, possibly acting as agents for Potiphar, took possession of one Joseph and delivered him to Potiphar as a young and healthy slave.

Genesis 39:2 And Jehovah was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. And he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

Joseph enjoyed the relative comforts of working primarily in the home of Potiphar, who was high up in the Egyptian hierarchy. Because of his own character and intelligence, and because God is with him, Joseph will rise up to a highest position in his household.

Genesis 39:3 And his master saw that Jehovah was with him, and that Jehovah made all he did to prosper in his hand.

Now this is an interesting statement. Joseph’s master observed that God was with Joseph. Many people in many areas of the world believed in the Revealed God. This verse indicates that and more. Joseph’s master observed that Joseph was smart and competent and that God was with him.

This tells us that many in Egypt in this era believed in the Revealed God (God has always revealed Himself to mankind in all historical eras ). This man also had the discernment to observe Joseph and to recognize that God was with him, and that Joseph prospered because of his association with God. As we have studied on previous occasions, because Joseph prospered, his master and his master’s house prospered as well.

A national entity is smart to recognize and appreciate the Christians who live within it. Both China and Russia stopped killing massive number of Christians and Jews (or putting them into reeducation or labor camps) and have begun to allowing them some limited religious freedom. As a result, both Russian and China have become much more prosperous as nations.

Similarly, if a country supports nation Israel or treats the Jews fairly within its borders, they will receive divine blessing. In fact, it is actually okay for a national leader to favor the sons of Abraham simply so that his nation receives blessing. Furthermore, a nation which recognizes the importance of Scripture and makes it a part of their educational curriculum (even just as literature or as history), will be blessed.

On a national level, if a nation (1) allows for the religious freedom of Christians; (2) allows or even encourages the study of the Bible; and (3) is welcoming to Jews and is allied with nation Israel, then that nation will enjoy great blessing. The further that we move away from these things, the worse our nation will become. No national program of social justice or wealth redistribution can reverse the negative affects of a nation being hostile to Christians or to Jews. No matter how a government micro-manages the economy, it cannot overcome the cursing of God; similarly, they cannot frustrate the blessing of God.

Genesis 39:4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him. And he made him overseer over his house, and he put into his hand all he had.

Abraham had a servant who was in charge of all that Abraham had. Such a position was a great position of authority; and a slave that reached that pinnacle of success recognized it. Joseph also arose to a high position at a relatively young age in the Potiphar household.

The sin nature being what it is, no doubt some slaves tried to steal from their masters; however, a weak character like this would have been discovered very early on. A slave who is honored with a high position is usually a man whose character (and potential) has been observed over a lengthy period of time and recognized and rewarded.

For some individuals, slavery, in the end, could be a great blessing. People who were dirt poor, people who had suffered great setbacks in life, people who were unjustly made slaves, and people whose country had been defeated in war—slavery actually provided for them a way to dig themselves out of the deep hole that they were in.

God is able to even take the form of slavery called man-stealing in the KJV (which is outlawed by the Mosaic Law) and use it to bless mankind. Millions upon millions of African Americans live today in the United States, the greatest nation on earth, because of slavery. Their brothers in Africa would trade places with them in a second, because most people in the world recognize how blessed the United States of America is (interestingly enough, there are many Americans who live in the United States and do not realize this).

The master who does not recognize the potential in his slaves will have a less successful household or business than the master who recognizes intelligence and character in his slaves. The same thing is true of businesses today. Those at the top of a business or those who own a business must always have their eye open for industriousness, intelligence, diligence, potential and character. Good employees make for a successful company.

Genesis 39:5 And it happened from the time he had made him overseer in his house, and over all he had, that Jehovah blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of Jehovah was upon all that he had, in the house and in the field.

Paraphrasing and expanding upon the thoughts of Dr. Robert Dean, Jr.: Joseph’s life is clearly a continuation of the Abrahamic covenant, which speaks of the land, the seed, and God’s blessing. Joseph is the great grandson of Abraham (the seed) and God is going to bless all of Egypt and all of the Mediterranean world through Joseph (the blessing of God by association). And Joseph will be returned to the Land of Promise, as he will not allow his bones to be buried in Egypt but he will require them to be taken to Canaan and buried there. All of this is the outworking of the Abrahamic covenant.

This is the overflowing blessing that the Bible often speaks of. God pours out blessing upon Joseph, and this blessing overflows to all those with whom Joseph associates—particularly to the house of his master. This experience of blessing by association is found throughout the Bible. We studied this back in Lesson #112, which is Genesis 13 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

Application: There are some companies where the janitor is a growing believer in Jesus Christ; and that company is blessed because the man scrubbing their toilets and mopping their floors apprehends the grace of God.

Application: It is very common for families, businesses, schools, cities, counties and even states to enjoy great blessing due to one or more growing believers within that institution or place. You can follow world history, and some of the great countries and empires have a number of believers and growing believers within them. The British empire brought both law and order and the gospel to all corners of the earth (law and order is essentially the laws of divine establishment). In previous lessons, I have shown maps of tiny Britain and the massive amount of land that they controlled at their peak. The United States does that same thing today, but without assimilating other countries into a massive empire (however, our world standing may change, as we are sending out fewer and fewer missionaries and our government has become less and less respectful of American missionaries). With great power comes great responsibility, and when we abdicate our responsibility, God will reduce our great power (which appears to be taking place before our very eyes).

Application: Even if we elect a president who can make great deals, if the spiritual factor of our nation decreases, then our nation will decline. Economically, the United States has been flatlining for nearly two decades, despite the rising stock market. During those two decades, our national debt has exploded, but without having anything to show for it. What was the problem? We have had decreased evangelization and a decrease of the number of believers who are growing. Whereas our nation used to encourage Christian missionaries (for instance, General MacArthur in Japan in the late 1940's), the official national policy under George Bush, continued by Barack Obama, was to discourage the spread of the gospel into Muslim nations where the United States has a presence. President Bush, who should have known better, believed the key to a better world was more democracies and that, if he could plant two democracies in the Middle East, he could change the trajectory of that region. Had he included the gospel of Jesus Christ in his approach, these campaigns would have enjoyed greater success. So, despite the initial successes of the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, we know that those countries would be doomed to fail because we did not accompany our military power with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Had the gospel gained a foothold in those countries, they would have been on a different trajectory today (you may recall when the entire middle east began to blow up under the so-called Arab Spring, Iraq and Afghanistan, for a time, were two countries which did not). The stability factor could have been the gospel and spiritual growth; but, due to official policy, it was not. This was the result of a great miscalculation on the part of President Bush, followed by the bumbling of the next president, who seemed to think that, he could end a war by withdrawing troops.

Back to Joseph:

Genesis 39:6a And he [Potiphar] left all that he had in Joseph's hand. And he did not know anything that he had, except the bread which he ate.

At some point, the master realized that he did not need to worry about anything; that Joseph was capable of overseeing everything, and taking care of everything. If Joseph is doing as good a job as the master could, then there is no reason for the master to do that work. The master’s only care in any given day is, what will he have for his meals.

Genesis 39:6b And Joseph was beautiful in form and beautiful in appearance.

The MKJV reads beautiful; the ESV reads handsome in form and appearance. I understand that we ought not to put too great an emphasis upon external appearance (the Bible specifically speaks to that), but the Bible does tell us, on occasion, when various men or women are very attractive in appearance.

Joseph’s attractiveness is essential to the narrative; and Joseph appears to be one of the most adept ancient writers of narrative.

Genesis 39:7 And after these things it happened that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph. And she said, “Lie with me.”

Unfortunately, because Joseph was both so competent and intelligent and attractive, the master’s wife noticed him, and desired him. Although Joseph is clearly an attractive man, his competence and leadership ability no doubt influenced the wife of Potiphar. Most women appreciate a man who is able to take charge and to show leadership potential. This is even true of men who have no particular desire to lead anything. A man’s confidence and leadership qualities are often very attractive to women—as much as their physical appearance (if most men had to rely on their physical appearance alone to attract a woman, we would never find a mate).

This is the only thing which suggests that perhaps Potiphar was a eunuch; because his wife is chasing after Joseph. But, bear in mind, Joseph is a very handsome, strong, and competent young man. Most women would have been attracted to him, no matter what their husbands are like (and, again, we have no idea if Potiphar is a eunuch or not). What a woman did about her attraction to Joseph depended more upon the character of the woman (Potiphar’s wife will turn out to have little character).

Genesis 39:8 But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, my master does not know what is in the house with me, and he has given all that he has into my hand.

Potiphar does not know what goes on inside his own house, apart from Joseph. He has entrusted Joseph with that kind of responsibility. Joseph took that responsibility very seriously (and, no doubt, he could possibly be executed for committing adultery).

Joseph has great character and does not give in to the temptation of this woman. His master has given him great responsibility, and Joseph respects his master.

Notice how Joseph no longer appears to be upset that he was thrown into slavery by his brothers. It was not the best existence, but he has made the best of it; and God is with him. So it does not matter where you are in life, doing whatever kind of job you do—if God is with you, then you enjoy your life and you do an honest and honorable job.

Application: There will be times that you are forced to change jobs or you do not receive that promotion that you think that you deserve, or that you end up having to take a lesser job or lower position. All of that is irrelevant to your attitude toward your job, your boss and your work. You always do your work as unto the Lord. Whether you have the position that you believe that you deserve, or whether you are doing work that you would rather not do, you still work honestly, with integrity; putting in a full day’s work (or more). Your superiors ought to recognize from the beginning your hard work and dedication. And, if they don’t, then that will be their loss.

No doubt that, Joseph’s attitude is one of the reasons that he advanced in his position as he did.

One would expect that Joseph enjoyed good working conditions as well as acceptable food and shelter, even as a slave. This does not mean that all slaves were treated well; it simply means that, Joseph, because he acted with great integrity, enjoyed great reward.

Application: This should not be rocket science: if you do a good job wherever you work, then you will be rewarded for it. If you do a lousy job wherever you work, you will either be stagnant in your position or you will suffer demotion.

At this point in Joseph’s life, he is a slave to Potiphar, a chief officer under Pharaoh, and had become Potiphar’s head servant. Over the next few chapters, Joseph will be put into jail and then he will be restored and given a position of authority under the Pharaoh. Knowing this, you may wonder, why does God give Joseph this interim position? If Joseph is going to have this great position of authority, why does God mess him around first, place him in Potiphar’s home and then later allow him to be thrown into prison? Let me suggest several things which are accomplished: (1) Joseph learns the Egyptian language and Egyptian customs, making himself suitable to serve under Pharaoh; (2) Joseph learns the proper protocol as a slave; (3) Joseph would have some exposure to Egyptian royalty in this position; and (4) Joseph himself is tested. God knows what is coming next in the life of Joseph. God knows the skills and mental attitude that Joseph needs to learn in order to take on the great responsibility that God has for him. In his future position, Joseph must be able to make good decisions and be beyond reproach. Although we will not read about any recorded examples, it seems very likely that Joseph, a non-Egyptian who will later be in charge of the stored grain during a famine, will face great scrutiny by Egyptians, who would no doubt want to find reason to complain about a non-Egyptian in charge of the granaries. With such a position, Joseph must be above reproach. Therefore, God trains him for this position. Based upon Joseph’s decisions, men, women and children will live or die. With power and authority also comes great responsibility.

Application: Do not resent the training that God gives you (which comes in the form of teaching in church or discipline in life). Every believer in the Church Age has a spiritual gift and a function in the plan of God. God prepares us to use that gift.

Sometimes, the believer is tested, hopefully with a good result. As a former teacher, I subjected my students to a great many tests. What I wanted as a teacher was to see them do well, to have a class where the grades were all strong—that was certainly my preference. This is God’s preference. When He places us in circumstances where we are tested, He is not testing us in hopes that we fail and get knocked down a couple of notches. When God tests us, His desire is that we succeed. Therefore, we can be assured that God gives us the training necessary in life to succeed in His plan.

The purpose of knowing the Word of God is so that we can begin to think like God thinks, and, therefore, succeed when we are tested.

Joseph will not only do well with this challenge, but he will immediately face great injustice after passing this test with Potiphar’s wife.

Genesis 39:9 There is none greater in this house than I. Neither has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

As a slave, Joseph has risen to the highest position of his master’s household. Potiphar recognized Joseph’s competence, and gave him a position commensurate with his abilities. I can guarantee you that, if Joseph began working for Potiphar and had a negative attitude from the start, that he would not have done as well. Joseph was where he was as a result of injustice—his brothers allowed him to be taken as a slave. For many people, this would mark the end of their lives—they would no longer have any hope.

Potiphar has placed great trust in Joseph and has given him great responsibilities. Joseph recognizes that an illicit relationship would betray his master and it would be a sin against God. Obviously, Potiphar’s wife would be kept back from Joseph; and taking her would show great evil on Joseph’s part. Furthermore, this would be a sin against God, Who has placed Joseph where he is. All sin is against God.

The fact that this is a sin against God leaves the woman unfazed.

Genesis 39:10 And it happened as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not listen to her to lie with her, or to be with her.

This suggests that the woman tried several different approaches in speaking to Joseph. Perhaps one day she was coy and another she was aggressive. She was trying to find the way to get to Joseph.

Based upon the passage before us, my guess is, Potiphar’s wife was seductive but without being too overt. She was subtle, giving out clues to Joseph, which were unmistakable.

This woman was persistent; she continued to pursue him. Joseph continued to refuse her.

Very often, there were apparently other slaves about; and other workmen.

Genesis 39:11 And it happened about this time that he came into the house to do his work. And none of the men of the house were inside.

Perhaps the woman planned this out; perhaps she saw to it that there would be no one else in the house beside Joseph and herself. Perhaps she recognized this as her great opportunity.

At this point, she could say and do anything; there were no witnesses. There was no reason for her to be coy and subtle anymore.

Genesis 39:12 And she caught him by his robe, saying, “Lie with me.” And he left his robe in her hand and fled, and got out.

She grabbed his robe. Joseph appears to be reading the New Testament passage that reads, “Flee fornication.”

Few things are as destructive as adultery. This is why it is found among the Ten Commandments. Our society is built upon marriage and family (it is not built upon diversity or equal incomes; it is not even built upon free enterprise). Adultery can often destroy the family unit—very few things are more destructive to the marriage than adultery. The more disrupted the marriage bond is, the more disrupted a society becomes.

We have done hundreds if not thousands of studies. We know that children from single mothers are inferior in all respects to those raised by two parents; we know that children from divorced couples are often damaged by the divorce. There is no other bond like marriage and family in society—in all societies.

All of these other things which find their way into popular culture (like it takes a village to raise a child; or families headed by homosexual couples; or preschool and public school) are far inferior to the training that a child receives from two natural two parents.

Genesis 39:13 And it happened when she saw that he had left his robe in her hand, and had fled,...

At this point, the master’s wife realizes that Joseph will not have sex with her, and she decides to plot revenge against him. They had the perfect opportunity—there were no witnesses, they had the house to themselves—and Joseph did a runner. She is embarrassed and humiliated.

Genesis 39:14 ...she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to sport with us. He came in to me, to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice.

The woman claims that Joseph is the one who made passes toward her, and she lies about what happened.

Many would find it hard to believe that Joseph rejected her advances. But, it is clear that she is a spiteful, angry woman. Despite how tempting sexual relations can be, with a woman like this, they are a snare and a trap. The Bible has many warnings against such a woman.

If a woman lacks the character to remain faithful to her husband, then that suggests a great many defects in her soul.

There is something else which is quite interesting in this verse. Joseph is called a Hebrew. This is only the second time that this descriptor is used in the book of Genesis (Abraham is called a Hebrew back in Gen. 14:13). This would lead me to the possible theory that Hebrew is originally an Egyptian term (or a term used princeapply by the Egyptians which they picked up elsewhere); and it originally referred to foreigners (but not specifically to the people of Abraham because the Egyptians would not have had a word to designate such a small family of 70+ people). At some point in time, in Egypt, this word became more closely associated with the people of Abraham (see Exodus 1–2), to a point where the Jews adopted this term themselves (Ex. 3:18 5:3 Deut. 15:12 Jonah 1:9). If my theory is correct, then the reference to Abraham as a Hebrew back in Gen. 14:13 would have been a gloss (meaning that someone added the word Hebrew hundreds of years later). Glosses never change the meaning of a passage; they simply provide updated information for the reader (for instance, a gloss may note that a city has a new name ).

Interestingly enough, the word Hebrew in the New Testament is used almost exclusively to refer to the language of the Jews (John 19:13, 17, 20 Rev. 9:11 16:16); the exceptions being 2Cor. 11:22 Philip. 3:5.

Genesis 39:15 And it happened when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his robe with me, and fled, and got out.”

She held onto Joseph’s robe as proof of his moves against her. We know her total lack of character by this action. Surely she understood that her lies would put Joseph into prison or worse.

Genesis 39:16 And she laid up his robe beside her until his lord came home.

We do not know where her husband was—most likely attending to his responsibilities in the kingdom—but we do know that he entrusted the administration of his house to Joseph. His wife holds on to Joseph’s robe.

Genesis 39:17 And she spoke to him according to these words, saying, “The Hebrew servant which you have brought to us came in to me to sport with me.

Since she was unable to seduce her Hebrew slave, she decided to take revenge upon him. He was no longer of any use to her. Perhaps she might have better luck with another slave. So, she will have her husband get rid of this one and bring another one in. Therefore, she lies about him and about what happened.

Even though it is possible that this woman worried that Joseph might tell on her, I don’t think that was her major concern. In any case, she tells on Joseph first.

We discussed earlier whether or not Potiphar was a eunuch (based upon some translations). Although that is a possibility, that is not necessarily the case. Nor does this justify the actions of this woman.

Genesis 39:18 And it happened as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his robe with me and ran out.”

Her story has problems. All she has is Joseph’s robe. What exactly was he wearing when he ran out of their home? Did this not look peculiar to others? Most importantly, if Joseph was able to overpower her, then why was he unable to get his robe back?

However, the testimony of a woman is often powerful enough to sway others. Furthermore, she is the master’s wife and it is her word against that of a slave.

Perhaps this is the passage William Congreve was thinking of when he wrote Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Luckily for Joseph, the crime of attempted rape in Egypt was apparently not punishable by death (which is all a part of God's plan and His omniscience).

Joseph has faced many unjust events in his life, as we all do. Part of our lives are determined by how we respond to injustice. Do we spend days and weeks and months fighting injustice against us? Or, are we able to accept it in our lives and move on, without bitterness? Injustice is certainly a very real part of every person’s life. You will be accused of something that you have done which you did not do; you will be demoted or fired because of something someone said that was not true; someone will be promoted over you for completely superficial reasons (such as, the color of their/your skin). You will be pulled over by the police when you have done nothing wrong. Or, you will be given grief out of proportion to what it is you have done. How you react, what you do, all of this reveals your character. Most of the time when you are on the receiving end of injustice, you accept it, and you move forward with your life. If you are particularly bothered by it, then you double up in your intake of Bible doctrine. What you do not do is spend your life being bitter, thinking about whatever revenge that you might take against those who have wronged you.

Joseph had become a slave for Potiphar, a man of high rank in the Egyptian government. His wife took a liking to Joseph and pursued him. When she caught him alone in their house, she propositioned him, but Joseph ran out of there, leaving his robe behind (which she had grabbed). The woman then accused him of rape, first to the other servants around the outside of the house and then to her husband.

Genesis 39:19 And it happened when his master heard the words of his wife which she spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did this to me,” his wrath was kindled.

Potiphar believed his wife. He assumed that Joseph tried to take advantage of her, and he was quite angry about it. We may reasonably assume that his wife was quite attractive for that day and time; that she would be desired by others supports her lies.

Under Mosaic Law, an adulterer would be executed. However, apparently under Egyptian law, they are simply put into prison. It is likely that Joseph is accused of attempted rape, which would not have carried as stiff of a sentence as rape would.

Genesis 39:20 And Joseph's master took him and put him in the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound. And he was there in the prison.

Joseph’s master was quite upset over what he thought had transpired, and put Joseph into prison. However, this is exactly where God wanted Joseph. Despite the injustice and the lying involved, this is where God wants Joseph. At some point, Joseph will recognize that.

Notice that this is called the place where the king’s prisoners were kept. Those close to the king who had transgressed him in any way would be placed into this particular prison. Based upon this narrative, this is where anyone would go who had transgressed against a high-ranking official in Egypt.

Bear in mind that, no matter what changes occur in your life, God is there, helping to guide the events of your life (in accordance with your volition and actions). We may suffer injustice and we may end up in places where we don’t think we ought to be, due to injustice, but the key is, it is all about God’s will and God’s plan. If you are a growing believer and if you remain in fellowship, then what transpires in your life is God’s directive will. Which one of us has not thought, this is wrong! I am being mistreated! I am being cheated! Joseph was wronged, and yet, he is still in the geographical will of God. He is exactly where God wants him to be.

Genesis 39:21 But Jehovah was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor [ = grace] in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

God is with us, in all circumstances. Just because Joseph was no longer the highest ranking person in his master’s home, this does not mean that God somehow deserted him. God is with Joseph in all circumstances. Furthermore, where God places Joseph indicates great purpose.

It is important to recognize that God does not miraculously bust open the prison, and let Joseph walk through doors held aloft by angels. In fact, the only signs performed by Joseph will be words that he says.

Furthermore, Joseph had reached the highest position that he could reach in Potiphar’s household. God wanted Joseph to occupy and even higher position in Egypt—second-in-command.

The key will be, Joseph will remain oriented to God’s grace and God’s plan; and he will not allow bitterness a place to spring up in his soul. He does not ruminate on being made an Egyptian slave by his heartless brothers; he does not fill himself with rancor toward Potiphar or towards his wife; he does not burn with anger and revenge motivation (unlike Esau, who, when Jacob had usurped Isaac’s end-of-life blessing, seethed with bitterness which likely remained in his soul for years).

We learn from Joseph’s life, and from his lack of bitterness, despite his being treated unfairly, first being placed into slavery and then being placed into an Egyptian prison.

Dr. Robert Dean, Jr.: We often get thrown these curves in life. Things come out completely different from the way we hoped for, the way we intended, and we go from the pit to the prison, and the Lord was with Joseph even in prison. The Lord is still guiding and directing; He is still in control. Joseph possibly even thought that things are out of control. "But the LORD was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison." The emphasis there is on grace. Then in verse 23, ".the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper." This is the behind-the-scenes work of God in the life of the believer to bring about that which is intended in the plan of God. So the doctrine of the providence of God runs behind all of these chapters, everything in the story of Joseph.

We actually do not know the inner workings of Joseph’s soul when he was initially enslaved or initially placed into prison. However, it is clear that, after the dust settled, he adapted to the new circumstance and trusted God. He did not dwell upon bitterness or revenge. At some point in the process, probably very early on, Joseph recognized that, this is what my life is and God is still with me. As a result, Joseph exploited his circumstances (I mean that in a good way).

In life, we can focus our attention on ourselves, on our things, on our circumstances and/or upon other people. Or, we can focus on God and His plan (which we do through Bible doctrine). Our primary focus in life must be upon God and His plan. This is what Joseph did, consistently. He did not look upon his place in jail as being the end of his life. He did not burn with anger against Potiphar or against his wife. He did not spend his time thinking about how good life was working for Potiphar, but now his life sucks because he is in prison. The simple fact is, Joseph is in prison and God is with him. He cannot simply break out of prison; he cannot go after Potiphar and/or his wife to get revenge; he cannot magically restore his old life. See, if Joseph focuses upon the wrong things, then his life will go nowhere. Instead, he considers where he is, and he makes himself invaluable to the prison warden (called the keeper of the prison by the MKJV). As a prisoner, he made the prison work. Joseph took the place where he was and he functioned in grace having faith in God.

Genesis 39:22 And the keeper of the prison gave all the prisoners in the prison into Joseph's hand. And whatever they did there, he was the doer of it.

It did not take long before the warden of the prison recognized just how competent that Joseph was, and gave him great responsibilities within the prison. Joseph’s life was limited quite a bit, but he had authority and the highest rank within the prison. Essentially, he was in charge of the prison; and the warden took the credit for the prison running so efficiently and on such an even keel.

For a second time, God has given Joseph a position of authority, which has come to him as a result of very unfair circumstances. God is training Joseph for his future as Prime Minister of Egypt, where he will be given a great deal of authority and responsibility. By the simple wave of his hand, families would live or die. Joseph has to learn to think about his decisions and to not act impulsively or with prejudice, or to be motivated by revenge or by frustration.

Joseph needs to abide by God’s timing. There are times when He needs to allow God’s plan to play out. He makes the best of his situation. God makes His purpose clear and Joseph focuses his attention upon God and God’s purpose in his life. He does not look back; he does not think about revenge; he does not dwell on how he has been mistreated.

Genesis 39:23 The keeper of the prison did not look to anything under his hand, because Jehovah was with him; and whatever he did, Jehovah made it to prosper.

The MKJV sometimes uses phrases which are difficult to understand (even though it is a good translation).

Gen. 39:23 The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the LORD was with him. And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed. (ESV)

Like Potiphar, the warden recognizes that God was with Joseph, suggesting that (1) he himself believed in the Revealed God and (2) he knew that Joseph could be trusted. How wonderful it is to be associated with someone who does not have a hidden agenda; with someone who does not have a soul filled with anger a bitterness. Now nice it is to be associated with someone who is not spending his life trying to justify himself, and to identify the injustices which he has suffered in his life.

Application: There are few things more important in a friendship than a friend who can be trusted. This is one of the most important things for the employer. There are few things greater than an employee who can be trusted.

Unlike our prisons today, the prisoners themselves in Egyptian prisons were often employed to keep order and to do various tasks within the prison. Increased benefits and security came hand-in-hand with increased responsibilities (which is true in life). We know of at least one case where this occurs.

Joseph made whatever was under his responsibility to work out. Like in the Potiphar household, Joseph showed himself to be intelligent, competent and trustworthy, free from guile and free from hidden agendas.

Joseph could have acted out in anger. He went from a wonderful position in Potiphar’s household into prison, and Joseph could have responded with great bitterness. However, he did not. He could not allow himself to hold a grudge or to allow bitter feelings to fester. Heb. 12:15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. (ESV)

Think about this. Let’s just say that Joseph was faced with a decision: (1) go along with the adulterous notions of Potiphar’s wife and continue in his position of great authority; or (2) Reject the wife’s advances and get thrown into prison for doing the right thing. If I knew how these two approaches could play out, I guarantee that I would struggle with this decision. Joseph did not. He simply did the right thing. At first, doing the right thing seemed to backfire on him and work against him; but we will find out that, doing the right thing was exactly what Joseph should have done. Doing the right thing led to the best possible results, even though, at first, it did not seem like it would.

Joseph’s narrative spoke to the Jews in slavery to Egypt. He was, in a sense, representative of the Jewish people. He was in slavery in Egypt; the Jewish people were in slavery to the people in Egypt. God has a greater plan for Joseph; God has a greater plan for the people of Israel. God’s will will triumph over slavery in the life of Joseph; God’s will will triumph over slavery in the lives of the people of Israel. Joseph would also spend a time in Egypt, but he would want his bones buried in Canaan, because he wanted to rise up in the resurrection in the land given the Jewish people by God. God’s plan for Joseph was greater than the life that he spent in Egypt; God’s plan for the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was greater than their time spent in Egypt.

This speaks to believers as well. We are born in the slave market of sin. We are slaves to our sin nature. Despite our weaknesses, God is able to find a way out; God is able to make His will prevail in our lives. The first step is salvation, then, when we fall out of fellowship, we get back in through the naming of our sins. And to give us momentum and direction, we learn the Word of God through a well-qualified pastor-teacher.

God’s will marches forward, even when no one appears to understand the plan of God (the example of Joseph and Tamar in Gen. 38); and obviously when one man understands the plan of God and operates within His plan (Joseph in Gen. 39 and following).

We began Gen. 39 with Joseph becoming the servant of Potiphar, who was an officer of Pharaoh’s; and Joseph rose to the highest ranking in that house, overseeing and handling everything that needed to be done in Potiphar’s house. However, Potiphar’s wife took a liking to Joseph and she pursued him to have an affair with her. When he continued to refuse her, she finally accused him of attempted rape. This got Joseph thrown into the king’s prison, called in Scripture, the Sohar House or the house of the round.

Even in the king’s prison, Joseph prospered and advanced.

Gen. 39:21–23 But Jehovah was with Joseph and extended mercy to him, and He gave him favor [= grace] in the eyes of the warden of the prison house. And the warden of the prison house entrusted into Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison house; whatever they did there, it was his doing. The warden of the prison house did not oversee anything that was under his hand, because Jehovah was with him; and whatever he did, Jehovah made it prosper. (VW)

With this lesson, we begin Gen. 40. There appears to have been a conspiracy in the Pharaoh’s government and there were two men suspected of plotting against the Pharaoh. They will be placed into jail while the Pharaoh investigates them. Meanwhile, these men will find themselves in Joseph’s prison, as Joseph is placed in the prison where the king’s prisoners are held.

Furthermore, the chief warden has put Joseph in charge of the prisoners, as he could tell that Joseph was competent and trustworthy.

These two men will have very troubling dreams, both on the same night, but dreams very similar in their nature. Joseph will interpret these dreams accurately, thus predicting their immediate futures, even before Pharaoh knows what their immediate futures will be.

We begin this chapter with Joseph in jail. However, he has a high position in jail with great responsibilities.

Genesis 40:1 And after these things it happened that the cupbearer of the king of Egypt, and his baker, had offended their lord the king of Egypt.

The MKJV has the word offended above, which is the Hebrew word châţâʾ (חָטָא) [pronounced khaw-TAW], which means, to sin, to miss, to miss the mark, to violate the law, to err; to do wrong, to commit a transgression. Strong’s #2398 BDB #306.

We do not know at this point in the narrative exactly what happened, but it appears that the king of Egypt has uncovered a plot of some sort, perhaps a plot which potentially threatened to overthrow him. He was unsure about who was to blame, so he took the two men closest to him and put them into prison. The king of Egypt may have known enough, at this point, to recognize that one or both of these men were plotting against him (I am inserting some logical details into the text).

Recall that Joseph is just not thrown into any jail; he is placed into a jail where the king’s prisoners are kept (Gen. 39:20). Joseph had reached a rank of great responsibility while in that jail. This is God’s planning and His timing. God had to first put Joseph in a specific jail (which required that someone of some rank had to put him into jail); and then Joseph had to rise up in the ranks to where he was running the prison; and then he was given two prisoners, one of whom would put Joseph before the Pharaoh of Egypt.

As an aside, we probably see more of God’s design and plan in the life of Joseph, than with even his father or grandfather; and yet, Joseph appears to have no direct contact with God. Furthermore, this is nothing by way of signs or miracles. However, each step of Joseph’s life appears to have been carefully determined, with a grand end in mind. This is not determinism; because everyone acts according to their free will throughout.

Genesis 40:2 And Pharaoh was angry against two of his eunuchs [or, officials], against the chief of the cupbearers and against the chief of the bakers.

Recall that the word translated eunuchs can also mean officer or official. I have used the MKJV throughout (unless otherwise indicated), and, although it updates the KJV, it does have its faults.

The Pharaoh has apparently determined that what happened came down to two of his top officials. Palace intrigue is not uncommon in this era.

When a person has power, there are also those around him who want his power; therefore, nearly every king had to worry about plots to overthrow him. That is as much of a threat to a king, as attacks from without. When a plot is uncovered, then the king has to determine who is guilty, how deep the plot is, and how to deal with them. Obviously, the intention is to make an example of the revolutionaries but without destroying too many people who are loyal (a king may never know the entire range of any plot against him).

Here, the circumstance is not that unusual. This plot has come down to two close associates of the king, and so, he throws them both in jail, with the intention of investigating the matter more thoroughly. Apparently, Pharaoh believes one or both of them to be guilty.

Interestingly enough, Pharaoh does not simply execute both of them as an example to all; but he is concerned with their guilt or innocence. I am making this assumption based upon one of these men being executed and the other one being restored. It is equally possible that the king was never certain if these men were guilty, but he executed one of them, and that may have been enough to thwart future rebellions (I opt for the option that the king investigated the plot and killed the correct man, simply based upon his later association with Joseph—he appears to be an honorable man).

Now, throughout, I assume that one of these men is innocent and one is guilty, and who is freed and who is executed reflects their guilt or innocence being accurately ascertained. However, that is not the only possibility for the details that we are not given.

Genesis 40:3 And he put them under guard in the house of the chief of the executioners, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.

The word bound is actually the Qal passive participle of ʾâçar (אָסַר) [pronounced aw-SAWHR], which means, bound, tied [up, together, to]; imprisoned, confined, captive, captivity; restrained. Strong’s #631 BDB #63. So Joseph is confined but he is not necessarily tied up. The Voice of the Wilderness Bible translates this:

Gen. 40:3 And he put them into custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison house, the place where Joseph was confined. (VW)

God puts all of the relevant characters in the same place to accomplish His purpose. There are no accidents in the plan of God. As stated before, God is able to carry out His purposes, despite the sins and failings of man. God is able to take injustice and use it within His plan.

Throughout these chapters, we have men and women behaving in a variety of ways, with Joseph generally exhibiting integrity. God is able to take all of their behaviors together and move His plan ahead. From one vantage point, it appears as if God is moving chess pieces around a board (God’s sovereignty) but, from the view of the people, their free will is quite intact, and they are acting based upon their human volition (some adhering to the plan of God but most are not).

It is always fascinating that, in Scripture, there is often little difference between men who have face-to-face interaction with God, and those where God works behind the scenes. You may recall that God appeared to Jacob on many occasions, and Jacob is not considered a spiritual giant by any means. Jacob saw things that would blow our minds if we saw them. Many of us would think that we have hallucinated. He saw some amazing things and was taken care of by God in some amazing ways. Yet, Jacob never appears to reach any level of spiritual maturity. Throughout our association with him, he seems embittered, angry, and saddened by all that has befallen him. Yet, he has seen things that we ourselves will never see.

Joseph, on the other hand, may make a mistake here and there, but his faith in God and his ability to make the right decision is quite remarkable. Furthermore, he recognizes God’s hand in everything; he knows that God is working behind the scenes on his behalf. What Joseph does not know is, just how much God plans to accomplish through him.

Application: In the Church Age, every single one of us has a spiritual gift (or 2 or 3); and no matter how your circumstances appear to confine you in every way, God is able to work within those circumstances and to be of great blessing to many through your life. You may be known to others; you may be obscure. You may understand your gifts completely; you may not. I would think that, the more Bible doctrine that you know, the better chance there is that you understand and utilize your spiritual gift.

I do not know anything about Billy Graham’s younger years; I just know that God used him powerfully to evangelize much of the United States in the 1940's through the 1960's. Like all of us, Graham began as a child, and who knows the powerful influences in his life as a child? Who knows who prayed for him? Who knows who gave Graham the gospel or helped to guide him away from a teaching ministry to an evangelistic ministry? Certainly, some of these things are known, but God worked all of this out, to best guide and prepare Billy Graham for a ministry in the United States which was one of the great spiritual restorations which has occurred in our history. These eras in our history are known as Great Awakenings, the first occurring between 1730–1760, which literally changed the shape and direction of United States history. The second great spiritual awakening occurred in the United States between 1800–1870 (when our spiritual life began to clearly wain). Because our school textbooks have moved far to the left, they leave out the 3^rd great spiritual awakening, which would have occurred between the mid-1940's to the early 1970's. These crusades continue even until today, but without the great response that they once received. I recall some of Graham’s crusades being shown on network television, live, during prime time. We are not surprised today to see some political event occur on network television during prime time (like a debate or a presidential address), but if we saw an evangelist speaking on network television during prime time today, no doubt, many would be shocked.

As an aside, some may fault, in some way, Graham’s son, Franklin Graham, for not carrying on the same evangelistic ministry of his father. Franklin Graham has a different set of spiritual gifts and a different purpose on this earth and for a different time. He is an evangelist, but he is involved in other things as well (such as, gift boxes which are sent all over the world, as an evangelical outreach as a demonstration of God’s love). The many times I have seen Franklin Graham on television, he has been a powerful voice for truth. His ministry within the United States is very different from his father’s, in part, because the people of the United States today would not respond to the gospel en masse as they did in the 1950's. God has a precise ministry for Franklin Graham just as He had for his father, Billy Graham.

Our own ministry might seem to be small; it may seem to be negligible, but God does not see our lives in that way. Every part of the body of Christ has a purpose. The eyes cannot denigrate the function of the hands. The number of people who are affected by the exercise of our spiritual gift might not be apparent to us, and that is immaterial. God has a place and a ministry for each of us (which does not mean that everyone reading this will be an evangelist, a pastor or a missionary). What God has for us is every bit as important as the ministry of any other believer.

Back to our text. God places Joseph in the correct jail at the correct time for a very specific purpose. He will encounter there in jail two men that, anywhere else, would not see him as an equal whose counsel is to be sought and valued. However, here, in jail, where either or both of these men could be executed at any time, Joseph is clearly their equal and he will become their confidant as well.

God places all 3 men in the same place at the same time, where, amazingly enough, it is Joseph who actually has the authority over them in the prison. All of this required precise timing. (1) Joseph is thrown into prison; (2) Joseph rises up in the ranks of the prisoners to become the highest authority within the prison; and then (3) these two officials of Pharaoh are thrown into the Sohar House. These things all have to occur in just this order, according to God’s perfect timing. And, very importantly, everyone’s free will functions normally throughout, even though God has a perfect plan which is constantly in motion.

Genesis 40:1 And after these things it happened that the cupbearer of the king of Egypt, and his baker, had offended their lord the king of Egypt. (MKJV; which I have used throughout almost this entire study).

Gen. 40:2–3 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. (ESV)

You will notice that, just as God does not come to Joseph in the form of the burning bush to talk with him, nor does the text read, And God worked it out so that his two chief officers were placed into jail with Joseph. But, that is, in fact, what God did, and Joseph, later on, will testify to that reality.

There are times in human history when God’s intervention is miraculous and spectacular; but most of the time in human history, God’s intervention in history is subtle and without fanfare. We are studying one of the longest, cohesive narratives in the Old Testament, and there will be no miracles; there will be no mystical appearances of God.

Although there are times during which God’s miraculous power is clearly made manifest (such as, when Israel is established as a nation; or when Jesus reveals Himself as the Son of God); there are very, very long periods of time in human history where very little by way of spectacular occurrences actually occurs.

Since God created our world and the universe, and has set all of the physical laws into motion, He is able to overrule those laws (or act within those laws) to perform a sign or a miracle. However, this does not mean that God spends every single day performing millions of miracles. When there are a series of spectacular miracles, they occur for specific reasons to a specific audience at a specific time. What we do not find is, a series of miracles on each and every page of the Bible.

People who think that we need to pray for a miracle; or that no one will believe without seeing miracles—do not understand the power of the Word of God or the plan of God. They do not understand miracles.

Furthermore, there are many believers in the Bible who have never seen God, some form of God, or have heard the voice of God or have witnessed a miracle of God. Joseph and David and Solomon are 3 who come quickly to mind. God spoke to them through intermediaries or not at all. We do not have God speaking to Joseph, periodically, saying, “Buck up, Joseph. Things seem difficult, but I am in charge, so don’t worry about a thing.” Joseph will reveal an awareness of all this. As believers, we all go through difficult circumstances, and life throws us curves; but God does not contact us directly or through a prophet or speak to us audibly, telling us that everything is okay.

God does not assume some visage and speak to believers in the Church Age, encouraging and guiding them. God does not come to us in our dreams and tell us what we need to do the next day. No one in the Church Age has a breastplate which will light up in order to guide them about in life. What we have is the Word of God; and God’s Word is so brilliant that, if it is in our soul, then we are going to know what to do. It is God’s Word which orients us to life and to God’s plan.

I have been a believer for over 40 years, and I have been quite imperfect throughout every single one of those 40 years. However, there have only been a few instances where I struggled with God’s will. Most of the time, I took my circumstances, mixed in the Bible doctrine that I knew, and then was able to determine what should be done (now, that does not mean I always did the right thing; but most of the time, I knew what the right thing to do was). At no time did I see some miraculous apparition pointing to the right rather than to the left, and guiding me on which way to turn. There are very few decisions over which I agonized, wondering if I should have done this rather than that.

This is Joseph’s life, and this is why it is so important that you, as a believer in the Church Age, to pay attention to his life and what is happening in it. Apart from the fact that he understands God’s meaning in specific dreams, everything else which occurs appears, on the surface, to be fairly commonplace and unextraordinary.

Gen. 40:1–3 Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. (ESV)

Joseph is in a specific prison, and, one day, two new inmates arrive, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, both of whom had been high up in the kingdom of Egypt, both of whom were suspected of plotting against the king. God places these men in Joseph’s path. There is nothing magical or mysterious about it. There are a series of events in Joseph’s life that leads him into this prison and there are a series of events which leads these two men into the very same prison, perhaps months or even years after Joseph is placed there.

There are no mysterious or magical incidents involved in the process; yet God’s will and purpose are clearly a part of this process. This is true of our lives, whether we are in fellowship or not, whether we advance spiritually or not. If we are in fellowship and if we are growing believers, then we are able to enjoy the ride; if not, then most of the time, we have no idea what is going on all around us, apart from random and difficult events.

Genesis 40:4 And the chief of the executioners charged Joseph with them, and he served them. And they continued for a time under guard.

God places Joseph in this place and for a reason; and these two prisoners are a part of God’s grand, complex plan.

These men were more or less under Joseph’s control, who ran the prison from the inside. The chief of the executioners had found that Joseph was a trustworthy, competent man. Knowing that he has the position and watching his actions from day-to-day, both of the new prisoners would also come to trust Joseph and even to confide in him.

God has placed Joseph in the right place at the right time. People who do not understand God might cry out, “It is unjust! He should not be in jail!” Joseph appears to understand that this is where God wants him at this point in his life. Since God wanted Joseph to be in jail, interacting with these two prisoners, the means of getting Joseph into that jail are immaterial. Of course he suffered injustice. Pharaoh’s wife continually pursued him and, when she realized that she could not have him, she accuses him of attempted rape! That is great injustice.

There was nothing nefarious, insofar as Pharaoh is concerned, going on here. Joseph was in charge of the prisoners, and he simply had two more prisoners (until the time when Pharaoh could work things out). Although we find out a little about the plot later in this chapter, it is likely that the Pharaoh suspected both of these men. Pharaoh will do some investigation and come to a conclusion about the guilt of innocence of each man, and that will coincide perfectly with the dreams that they have. All of these events intermingle with a perfect timing.

Genesis 40:5 And they dreamed a dream, both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison.

Or, a slightly better translation:

Gen. 40:5 And the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream, both of them, each man's dream in one night and each man's dream with its own interpretation. (VW)

Or:

Gen. 40:5 Then the two of them each had a dream. They both had their dreams the same night, and there were separate interpretations for each dream—the senior security advisor and the head chef to the king of Egypt, who had confined them in prison. (ISV)

God, because there was no complete canon of Scripture, sometimes spoke to man through dreams. This time, God will speak to them in such a way that they will not understand what He is saying, but a man of God will understand. You will note that both dreams will sound very similar.

Because we have the complete canon of Scripture, God is not going to speak to you or me in a dream; nor are there mediums of God out there able to read your dreams. Our dreams have limited meaning now, and possibly, for some mentally damaged individuals, they may hold some keys to their mental health. But, we cannot look to our dreams for divine revelation. We do not look to our dreams for guidance or to learn the will of God; we look to the Bible for that.

In that era, a time when there was possibly no written divine revelation apart from two-thirds of the book of Genesis and possibly the book of Job (all of which was possibly memorized and not necessarily written down), revelation from God came in a variety of forms. God speaks to these two prisoners of pharaoh not to necessarily guide them in their lives, but to glorify Himself. They will have the dreams, they will not understand their dreams, and Joseph will interpret them; but none of this is really about the prisoners; it is all about God’s will and God’s glory.

In fact, this is not even about Joseph. Joseph will make a fatal mistake—he will place his faith in man—and God will set him on the sidelines for a time.

Genesis 40:6 And Joseph came in to them in the morning, and looked upon them, and behold, they were sad.

Apparently, there were individual cells—it is not clear how many men shared a cell—and Joseph came in to where they were the next morning. Their faces indicated that both men were quite troubled or perplexed.

The word translated sad (by the MKJV) is zâʿaph (זָעַף) [pronounced zaw-ĢAHF], which means, fretting, being sad, being wroth (angry enraged), being vexed, being out of humour; appearing perplexed (troubled, sad-looking). Strong’s #2196 BDB #277. So, even though a great many translations use the word sad, I believe that fretting or being perplexed might better describe their states of mind. The ESV and VW both use the word troubled; the CEV uses the word upset.

These are two men who once held very high positions in government and now they are in jail. So, their being sad seems like a pretty normal emotion for them to have all of the time. Their dreams, which they recognize as informative, are simply beyond their grasp. They seem to understand that these dreams are significant, but do not understand their meanings.

Both men had dreams that affected them emotionally. They were both emotionally moved by their dreams. It is unclear about the interplay of God, their dreams and their emotions. My guess is, each man understood that his dream was significant and meaningful; but was unable to apprehend the meaning of it.

Genesis 40:7 And he asked Pharaoh's eunuchs [= officers] who were with him under guard in his lord's house, saying, “Why are your faces sad today?”

Again, recall that the word for eunuchs can mean, official, minister of the court; prince; eunuch. I have certainly heard stories of men being made eunuchs in order to serve this or that king; but I have no idea if this is the case here. The ESV translates this verse:

Gen. 40:7 So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, "Why are your faces downcast today?"

Interestingly enough, there are a different set of words used for v. 7 than were used in v. 6. There is a direct reference to their faces and their faces are said to be raʿ (רַע) [pronounced rahģ], which means, evil, bad, wicked; evil in appearance, deformed; misery, distress, injury; that which is displeasing [disagreeable, unhappy, unfortunate, sad]. Strong’s #7451 BDB #948. Both men look distressed or unhappy.

When faced with a life-changing event in our personal history, we often go through a state of denial, where we might think that, we will wake up the next morning and that event will be different. No doubt, at first, both men hoped to be returned to their positions of power. However, with these dreams, they seem to come to the realization that, they are in difficult circumstances and they might, as a result, be executed.

Joseph notices that these two men, in his charge, seem very melancholic—more so than normal—and he inquires why.

These very specific circumstances allow for this situation to occur, where Joseph, first a slave and then a prisoner as a result of unjust circumstances, is speaking to two men formerly of two very high offices in the land. On the social scale in Egypt, these men could not be much more different. Furthermore, Joseph is probably quite young compared to these men, and, originally, he was a foreigner.

There are very few circumstances in life where these 3 men might be thrown together with one another where the two officials might actually listen to what Joseph has to say. This is one of those few circumstances where these men might be willing to confide in Joseph and then to hear him out.

Genesis 40:8 And they said to him, “We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Now tell it to me.”

It appears that both men discussed this with each other first, and when Joseph asked them, they responded with, “We have dreamed a dream.” These dreams are very similar, and to them, it may seem as though they dreamed the same dream.

Joseph focuses their attention on God. However, in asking to be told their dreams, he suggests that he might be able to, with God’s help, interpret their dreams.

Both men clearly are concerned over their dreams. This may be in part because of the dream and the fact that they are in prison, which could result in their execution.

The man who is innocent knows that he is innocent, and the man who is guilty knows that he is guilty; but both men fear being put to death over whatever plot was uncovered, and both men realize that an execution may take place, despite their guilt or innocence. Their immediate future was a great concern to both men. They seemed to understand that these dreams possessed great meaning about their future.

At this point in the narrative, Joseph is in prison, but he is also in charge of the prison. Two new prisoners have been brought in—the chief cupbearer and the chief baker—both men are suspected of sedition.

After a time, both men had a dream on the same night, a dream which affects them deeply, and Joseph encourages the men to tell the dreams to him.

Both men agree to Joseph’s proposal, to tell him their dreams. Bear in mind, one man is innocent and the other man is not ; and they themselves know who is who (although, it is possible that the innocent man does not know for certain that the other man is guilty). The innocent man goes first.

Genesis 40:9 And the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, behold, a vine was before me.

Joseph has the confidence of both the jailer and his prisoners. Few people would be able to gain such confidence from both sides of the fence like this. This places him in a unique position. In our lives, because of will of God, we will, on occasion, find ourselves in unique positions as well, sometimes there are incidents that we are aware of, that no one else is, that God wants us to pray about; sometimes, we are interacting with some people, having a unique relationship with them. Don’t ever view the evangelist or pastor-teacher or missionary with disdain or with envy. Every person has a unique and important part to play in the plan of God with our unique relationships. Whether you enjoy any sort of notoriety in the Christian world or not is immaterial.

Joseph is one of the most important Biblical figures, and he has been a slave and now he is in jail for an indeterminable amount of time; and yet, God uses him—in fact, God uses him far more than God uses any of his brothers, who are all free men.

The chief cupbearer tells Joseph his dream.

Genesis 40:10 And in the vine were three branches. And it was as if it budded, and its blossom shot up. And the clusters of it brought forth ripe grapes.

There are 3 branches which come off this vine, and there are ripe grapes on the vine.

Genesis 40:11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand. And I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.”

The pharaoh apparently likes grape juice, and the chief cupbearer makes him some fresh grape juice (which I see as being one of the great delicacies of this life).

Genesis 40:12 And Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it. The three branches are three days.

Joseph does not appear to Mickey Mouse around. He does not throw dust into the air and speak in a low voice. He appears to immediately interpret the dream, without any dramatics or fanfare.

Ron Snider pointed out that several commentators (which I have not read yet) say that Joseph went off and prayed somewhere. There is no indication that Joseph went off and prayed anywhere (which Snider also recognizes).

What is going to come to pass occurs fairly soon after the dreams. A prophet in the Old Testament was given credence by the near fulfillment of his words. Sometimes we are made aware of these prophecies and sometimes we are not.

We think of prophecies as being long term, hundreds of years into the future. But prophets also spoke of things that would be fulfilled soon, so that those who heard the prophecy would see with their own eyes the fulfillment of same. This way, they had credibility.

We have seen just the opposite with the global warming prophets of our day. Those who have made prophecies for the short-term (like kids in Washington D.C. would never know what snow is like) have all been proven wrong. Many have found it to be better to make dire predictions of what will happen long after they are dead in order to influence public opinion. There are those in the public who fervently believe their warnings despite the fact that, what they have already warned about has never come to pass.

The difference between these prophets and Joseph is, Joseph speaks the truth.

Joseph tells his fellow inmate what will happen in 3 days. And he will be right.

Genesis 40:13 Yet within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place. And you will deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer.

The chief cupbearer would be restored to his position of trust and responsibility.

Genesis 40:14 But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.”

This is Joseph’s mistake—and he does not make many mistakes. He depends upon this man to see to his freedom. At this point, Joseph should focusing this man’s attention upon God, Who placed all of these men together, and Who gave them their dreams, and Who gave Joseph the wisdom to interpret these dreams. Joseph’s circumstances are not the issue. His relationship with God is the issue.

At this point, Joseph should not be saying, “Remember me when you are freed.” He should be saying, “The Lord God has revealed these things to me and therefore, He has revealed them to you as well.” Or he should have thanked God audibly in a prayer before the chief cupbearers. He should not have said, “Look, dude, I have been stuck in this hole unfairly, and I need you to get me out of here.” Joseph’s faith is misplaced, momentarily, and that will mean that Joseph himself will be set aside for a time to get his mind right.

Joseph’s God is not just able to interpret dreams; Joseph’s God can free Joseph anytime that He wants to. Joseph is not in jail simply over a false allegation—Joseph is in jail because that is where God has placed him.  If God wanted to, He could remove the doors of the prison and let Joseph walk right out of there.

Instead of pleading his case to God, Joseph pleads his case before the chief cupbearer. The chief cupbearer is to remember, “There is a man of God in prison.” God does not mean for him to recall, “There is a man who claims to be unjustly charged in prison.” Joseph is giving the chief cupbearer the wrong information to remember. Joseph’s eyes are momentarily off God and on himself and his own circumstances. When he ought to speak of his God’s providence (“Remember how God placed you here to hear His truth”), Joseph starts talking about himself instead.

Genesis 40:15a For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews,...

It is quite interesting that Joseph speaks of Canaan as the land of the Hebrews. The family of Abraham had become quite well-known; and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all quite wealthy. They were the Hebrews—they were the ones who crossed over. Numerically, they were very few (apart from their slaves and employees); but Joseph’s words here suggest one of two things: (1) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were known to the royalty of Egypt (not personally known, but they were known of); or (2) the land where Joseph had lived became known to Egyptians as the land of the Hebrews. There is a third option. Joseph thinks that they are well-known but they are not.

I think that, men who came out of the land of Canaan and came down to Egypt were known as Hebrews, which was somewhat of a catch-all term to begin with, but one which began, at some point, to be applied specifically to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who lived in Egypt (they will spend about 400 years in the land of Egypt).

Genesis 40:15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

Joseph tells him of his history and why he is in this dungeon. It is likely that he went into far more detail than what we read here. This is all very true, but this is not the issue.

Application: There are times when you are treated unfairly or circumstances work against you. God allows all of that for a reason. Sometimes it is testing and sometimes it is putting you in a unique position. Therefore, do not spend your life fretting over this or that bad break. Do not continually bring up Charley Brown’s name, who swindled you in a business deal. The God of Abraham oversees your life; and nothing happens to you apart from His choice (His plan). When you believe that you have been cheated or that circumstances and events conspired against you, then you need enough doctrine in your soul to recognize that this is all about God’s will for your life. God does not make mistakes; He is not confused; He did not slip up and accidently put you into bad circumstances.

Therefore, Joseph should not be talking to the chief cupbearer and telling him that all of this is a mistake, and that he is unjustly cooling his heels in prison.

It seems reasonable that the chief cupbearer would not just know individuals and their backgrounds by name and face; but he would also have a good working knowledge of the peoples and groupings near Egypt. A country had to be aware of potential threats and potential allies.

Some believe that, one of the duties of the chief cupbearer, is to, as someone approaches Pharaoh, to whisper into his ear, who this person is, what they might want, and perhaps some personal information (the name of his wife, the number of children he has, etc.). This is the most important aspect of the chief cupbearer’s job. This is so Pharaoh does not draw a blank, give Charley Brown a confused stare, and say, “And you are...?”

So, Joseph is saying, “Remember me,” to a man whose job it is to remember people. But, the chief cupbearer will forget all about Joseph.

Joseph finds himself in prison, in charge of two prisoners of Pharaoh, one who appears to be innocent and the other who appears to be guilty. They will both have dreams, and then, 3 days later, Pharaoh will deal with them.

When dealing with an innocent man and a guilty man, many times the innocent man will go first, as he is, in some fashion, pleading his case. An innocent person can hardly wait to give his side of the story. The guilty one hangs back, observes what happens, and then decides how he ought to play his cards as a result.

Joseph has given the interpretation of the chief cupbearer’s dream, and it is a good outcome. He would be restored to his old position of trust and influence. He would be out of prison within 3 days.

The chief baker has heard this interpretation, he likes it, and his dream is very similar. Therefore, he will also tell his dream to Joseph.

Genesis 40:16 When the chief baker saw the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and three baskets of white bread were on my head.

The dreams of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker sound very similar. The chief baker knows that he has done wrong. He may or may not know about the chief cupbearer (the chief baker certainly knows that the chief cupbearer is not involved in his own plot against the Pharaoh). However, the first dream received such a favorable interpretation and the dreams were so similar, that the chief baker decides to roll the dice.

Notice how he said, “I also.” This indicates that he believed his dream to be similar.

In his dream, he has three baskets of bread on his head.

Genesis 40:17 And in the top basket were all kinds of baked foods for Pharaoh. And the birds ate them out of the basket upon my head.”

There are baked goods and birds are eating them. What could be wrong with that? Who doesn’t like baked goods and who doesn’t like birds? Who doesn’t like watching birds eat?

Notice that there are similarities between the two dreams. On the surface, both dreams appear to be fairly innocuous; they both have food in them, both involve Pharaoh, there are elements of both dreams which are related to the vocation of these men, and they both have 3's in them.

For all we know, the chief baker may have been sizing up Joseph, wondering, “What’s your angle, kid?” When he hears him appeal to the chief cupbearer to be let out of prison, the chief baker may think, “That’s the angle—give a good interpretation of the dream, and if you are right, parlay that into your own freedom.” I am only speculating here. Criminals (and revolutionaries are criminals) often watch others, trying to determine their angle, just in case they might be able to use that to their own benefit.

On the other hand, the chief baker make place some stock in what Joseph tells him. We do not know what exactly these men are thinking, apart from being troubled by their dreams.

Genesis 40:18 And Joseph answered and said, “This is the interpretation of it. The three baskets are three days.

And the chief baker is thinking, “So far, so good. Maybe I am also out of here in three days.” Then Joseph delivers the bad news:

Genesis 40:19 Yet within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head from off you, and will hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat your flesh from off you.”

Obviously, this is not what the chief baker wanted to hear. He knows that he is guilty, but, no one wants to be executed. Certainly, he was hoping against hope that, he may have had a dream signifying a good end as well.

Genesis 40:20 And it happened on the third day, Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast to all his servants. And he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer, and of the chief baker, among his servants.

There are odd things and bits of information, thrown into some verses, and they often make me wonder, why is that there? Sometimes, the explanation helps to bring meaning to the passage, or supply some interesting tidbit of information that clears up, say, time and place. However, this one has me flummoxed. Pharaoh’s birthday. No idea why this is mentioned, apart from there being a celebration.

There will be an element of time in all of this; and two years will pass in between these chapters. Perhaps the birthday of the Pharaoh is an easy thing to remember; and it also allows Joseph and others to think in terms of years.

In any case, just as Joseph predicted, understanding the dreams as he did, 3 days passed.

You will note the clever play on words from a man (Joseph) who is naturally gifted in writing narrative —and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and of the chief baker. The first man would have his office restored to him, which is lifting up the head; the second had his head lifted off his body.

Genesis 40:21 And he restored the chief cupbearer back into his cupbearer office again. And he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

The chief cupbearer is returned to his position of trust and authority again. He resumes his duties, just as his dream had suggested and just as Joseph had interpreted.

Genesis 40:22 But he hanged the chief baker, even as Joseph had interpreted to them.

The chief baker is hanged, just as Joseph said would happen.

Genesis 40:23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

This is quite fascinating, because this would have been one of the primary jobs of a chief cupbearer. A leader cannot be expected to know everyone, even if they have met 2 or 3 times in the past. A ruler needs someone speaking into his ear telling him who this or that person is, and they have interacted, and maybe one or two things that are important for that ruler to know.

I have seen this on television shows, where a Senator or president is about to shake hands with Charley Brown, and a trusted aide whispers into his ear, “This is Charley Brown, he is the mayor of Centerville, Nebraska; and he has two sons and a wife.” And the Senator might then say, “Hey, Charley; how’s it going? How are the two boys? And how about those Cornhuskers this year?” This is particularly important in American politics where connections and donors have to be known and interacted with. Recognition of this sort often leads to a stronger alliance or more donation money.

It was the job of the chief cupbearer to remember these names; and yet, he did not remember Joseph’s name. What happened? Joseph, for a moment, decided to depend upon the chief cupbearer for his release; Joseph became overly concerned about his own plight; and God needed Joseph to know that, all dependence should be directed toward God. Joseph should know, God has everything in His hands; it is all under control.

Application: The United States seems to be very close to a turning point in its history; even if we do not elect a Democratic president this year, a huge percentage of our population believe that socialism is the answer to all that ails us. Not just brainwashed kids but adults as well. These same people have, for the most part, rejected the God of the Bible. This does not bode well for the next few decades of America. However, believers with doctrine have to be able to accept the authority of even a tyrannical government, one which steals from its people and corporations, and does not value freedom or our Constitution. It is not up to believers to raise up arms in revolt against an increasingly intrusive federal government, despite our moving away from the principles which made the United States the greatest nation on this earth. We have to accept life as it is, and recognize that, God loves the people of the United States, and we may be under some serious discipline to straighten us out. Just as God takes care of Joseph, God will take care of us individually.

However—note Joseph’s mistake: he depends upon man for his deliverance. In our democracy, it is a good thing for the believer to be aware of the political issues and be able to distinguish between the parties and platforms, as a part of our responsibility in life in the United States is to vote. This is a great blessing that few men in history have enjoyed. However, our deliverance is not going to depend upon some politician—it will depend wholly upon the God of the Universe.

In Gen. 39, Joseph was in prison for attempted rape (he had been falsely accused). This just happened to be the prison where the king’s prisoners were kept (Gen. 39:20), and Joseph, because he showed great integrity and competence, was put in charge of the prison and the prisoners (Gen. 39:21–23).

In Gen. 40, what appears to have taken place is a plot against the king, and there were two of the suspected plotters placed into prison with Joseph. The Bible is never completely clear on the plot itself, on the actual guilt or innocence of these two prisoners (throughout, I took the simple position that the innocent man was freed and the guilty man executed). But they both had dreams, and these dreams disturbed them. Luckily, Joseph was there among them, and they told their dreams to Joseph and he correctly interpreted them—in 3 days, one of them would be restored to his position and the other would be executed. To the man who would be freed, Joseph plead his own case, depending upon man rather than upon God for his own freedom. Joseph did not recognize that God placed him into prison, not man; and the time of his imprisonment was dependent solely upon God.

This next chapter takes place two years later. Joseph, a master of the 3^rd person, omniscient narrative, is careful to indicate the passage of time, so that we move from Gen. 40 to Gen. 41 seamlessly.

Genesis 41:1a And it happened at the end of two years of days,...

The expression two years of days is interesting. For Joseph, this time of two years went by slowly for him. Perhaps he is learning the hard way that, our trust should be in God, not in man. He has two years of days to contemplate this truth.

We move 2 years forward in time. God placed Joseph with the two government officials and God gave Joseph the ability to understand and interpret their dreams. However, Joseph decided that he would depend upon man, upon the chief cupbearer, to facilitate his freedom. So God leaves Joseph right where he is, because Joseph’s freedom depends upon God, not upon any government official. Joseph needs to understand that.

This is Joseph’s style of writing, to connect these chapters together, to let us know what is going on. In the original text, there are no chapters or even verse divisions. However, the language itself is used to express such divisions. Furthermore, much of the last portion of Genesis is chiastically organized, so chapter divisions can be recognized in that way as well.

Obviously, over a period of two years, many things happen in the Egyptian government; the Pharaoh has many things to say; and Joseph has 2 years of life in prison. However, none of these things are understood to be important to the narrative. The simplest way to understand the back story of this narrative is, Pharaoh correctly determined the guilt and innocence of his two prisoners, executing one and restoring the other. In this chapter, the Pharaoh will have 2 disturbing dreams, and, suddenly, the chief cupbearer will remember Joseph.

Two years later, Pharaoh has a dream.

Genesis 41:1 And it happened at the end of two years of days, Pharaoh dreamed. And behold, he stood by the river.

The Pharaoh has a dream, and it is quite distinct in his mind. He is standing by the river, which would be the Nile River (I am assuming; however, my guess is, there was more water and other rivers in Egypt then, more than today).

Genesis 41:2 And behold! There came up out of the river seven cows beautiful of form, and fat of flesh. And they fed in the reeds!

In the Nile River are all of these reeds, and there are 7 healthy, attractive cows (well, as attractive as cows can be) and they are coming out of the water to feed on the reeds.

I have no idea if cows in Egypt ever did anything like this. Because Egyptians would have used the water in Egypt for many reasons (including to keep oneself clean), I would think that they would have kept their cows out of the rivers. Because these cows are eating the reeds in the Nile, this would be seen as unusual, and therefore, caught Pharaoh’s attention.

I think the meaning is, this prophetic dream applies to Egypt and to the waters of Egypt.

Genesis 41:3 And behold! Seven other cows came up after them out of the river, evil in appearance, and lean of flesh! And they stood by the other cows on the river bank.

However, next, there are 7 more cows, who look pretty bad, and all of these cows are standing next to one another along the river bank. Although the descriptor used here means evil, about half of the translators suggest that the appearance of the cows is unattractive (most of them use the word ugly). This is a legitimate translation of the word.

Genesis 41:4 And the evil-appearing and lean-fleshed cows ate up the seven beautifully formed and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke. (MKJV)

At the time that I began this study of Genesis, I chose the Modern KJV, and that is what is used throughout (particularly when the translation stands unattributed). Since then, the English Standard Version came out, which is a better translation.

Genesis 41:4 And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. (ESV)

The lean, crappy-looking cows eat up the attractive, fat cows. Then Pharaoh wakes up. This dream somehow enters into his memory, despite the fact that he falls back asleep (you may have experienced a very vivid dream, but if you fall back asleep and dream again, then the first dream usually fades from memory).

Genesis 41:5 And he slept and dreamed the second time. And behold! Seven ears of grain came up on one stock, fat and good!

Pharaoh wakes up, then falls asleep, and he has another dream. The idea is, these two dreams confirm one another. This indicates that what is about to happen is real (this does not mean that, if you have two similar dreams, then they are predicting your future).

He observes 7 ears of grain (or corn) come up on one stalk, and they are healthy and good looking. In an agrarian society, even Pharaoh would be able to recognize healthy grain.

Genesis 41:6 And behold! Seven thin ears, and blasted with the east wind, sprang up after them!

Then seven thin ears come up, and they look beat back by the wind. The ears of grain or corn look thin and blighted.

Genesis 41:7 And the seven thin ears devoured the seven fat and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

The thin ears of corn (or grain) eat up the 7 fat and healthy ears. Pharaoh wakes up, realizing that this was a dream.

This final phrase suggests a great emotional involvement by Pharaoh. We have all had dreams and wake up happy or sad or mad at someone; that somehow, these dreams affect us emotionally; and where someone that we know is in the dream, we have an emotions about that person. Pharaoh wakes up, and he realizes that it was a dream; but he has a definite emotional response to it. He is clearly disturbed by these dreams.

He also wakes up remembering both dreams, possibly because of them being so similar to one another. God is speaking to Pharaoh through these dreams. Now, how does God make one set of dreams stand out, where Pharaoh must have dreams every night—I could not tell you. Some mechanics are never given in Scripture. But these two dreams strike Pharaoh as being significant and worth discussing in his court.

Genesis 41:8 And it happened in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men of it. And Pharaoh told them his dream, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh’s spirit is troubled. This is the Niphal (passive) imperfect of pâʿam (פָּעַם) [pronounced paw-ĢAHM]. The imperfect tense often refers to action which continues. Pharaoh did not wake up and say, “Wow, those were two really weird dreams,” and then goes about his day. He continued to be agitated, disturbed, troubled. Strong’s #6470 BDB #821. These dreams stayed with him and bothered him throughout the morning. He apparently could not get them out of his thinking.

There is another thing about dreams. Most of the time, if we don’t think about them, they fade from our memories. We might enjoy vivid dreams, but if we don’t continue to think about them or write them down, a few hours after we have been awake, they are mostly gone. But, not these dreams that Pharaoh dreamed. He cannot get them out of his head.

Pharaoh has many people upon whom he can call. There are the magicians. Magician is the Hebrew word char^eţôm (חַרְטֹם) [pronounced khahr-TOHM]. It means, an engraver, a writer [possessing information of the occult]; a diviner, a magician, an astrologer; mystic. Strong’s #2748 BDB #355. This set of people may have been more out there. Some (or all) of them could be charlatans.

Pharaoh also has wise men upon whom he could call. Wise men is the Hebrew word châkâm (חָכָם) [pronounced khah-KAWM], which means, wise men, those capable of knowing [judging]; intelligent men; men who are skillful [adept, proficient; subtle, crafty]. Strong’s #2450 BDB #314. Whatever the level of their wisdom, they were not able to tell Pharaoh the meaning of his dreams.

Even though Pharaoh sent for a number of experts, none of them could interpret his two dreams. It is not clear whether some of them tried, and the Pharaoh simply rejected their goofy interpretations, or if none of them was willing to even take a stab at it. In any case, the mystics and the wise men of Egypt were of no help interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams.

Two years have passed since Joseph interpreted the dreams of the Chief Cupbearer and the Chief Baker. Even though Joseph appealed to the Chief Cupbearer to remember him, he did not. Even though it was apparently the job of the Chief Cupbearer to remember names, he forgot Joseph’s.

After two years pass, Pharaoh dreams two dreams, which agitate him greatly. He first calls for the mystics and the wise men to come in, to explain his dream to him, but they are of no help to him.

Genesis 41:9 Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I remember my sin this day.

After those men are unable to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, the chief cupbearer realizes that he had forgotten all about Joseph. Joseph correctly interpreted his dream; and Joseph correctly interpreted the dream of the chief baker. It is the chief cupbearer who tells pharaoh who each person is; and yet, when he is freed, he forgets to tell pharaoh about Joseph.

What are the mechanics here? Did God blank out this man’s memory? Or did he suddenly have to shift back into his responsibilities, and, as a result, completely forget what he should know.

The Bible is silent here. People do forget things—even important things—and sometimes, your memory is taken up by the next shiny object placed before you. What we know for certain is, the chief cupbearer realizes that he should have said something to free Joseph; but now, he knows that Joseph is the correct man to interpret pharaoh’s dreams. This is, of course, in line with God’s plan, as Joseph made the mistake of putting his faith in man as opposed to putting his faith in God. Joseph needed to cool his heels in jail just a little bit longer, in order to learn where to place his trust.

The chief cupbearer continues to talk, to give the background:

Genesis 41:10 Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me under guard in the chief of the executioner's house, me and the chief baker.

The chief cupbearer’s memory all comes back to him. He remembers everything. There had been some plot or some impropriety against the pharaoh, but in such a way that the guilty party could not be clearly identified. So, pharaoh placed the chief cupbearer and the chief baker into jail while he investigated the matter more thoroughly.

Throughout, Pharaoh is spoken of in the 3^rd person, even though the chief cupbearer is speaking to Pharaoh. This is probably protocol, but it could refer to a different Pharaoh.

Genesis 41:11 And we dreamed a dream one night, he and I. We dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.

The chief cupbearer and the chief baker each had a dream while in custody—dreams which, on the surface, seemed to be quite similar. Their dreams were quite affecting, much like Pharaoh’s dream. What both men dreamed disturbed them. Somehow, they understood that their dreams were significant.

Genesis 41:12 And there was there with us a young man, a Hebrew, a slave to the chief of the executioners. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams to us. He interpreted to each man according to his dream.

Interestingly enough, the chief cupbearer never names Joseph by name, which suggests, even though he recalls the circumstances and could describe Joseph, he probably does not remember his name. In any case, the chief cupbearer describes him here, that he was a young man, a Hebrew (meaning, a foreigner), and a servant to the chief executioner, who ran the prison. Being a servant (slave) meant, Joseph was in jail for whatever crime, but actually became quite useful to the chief executioner. Therefore, he was given a great deal of responsibility within the prison, but as a prisoner.

Did this man actually forget Joseph’s name? Did the man whose job it was to remember names not only forget Joseph, but forget Joseph’s name as well? That appears to be the implication of the text.

Genesis 41:13 And it happened, as he interpreted to us, so it was. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”

Joseph interpreted the dreams of both men correctly. Exactly as Joseph said, one man was freed and the other man was hanged.

The 3^rd person here is applicable to Pharaoh; and it is not clear whether this is the way that the chief cupbearer spoke of Pharaoh (in the 3^rd person) or if he was speaking to a new pharaoh. It is possible that there was a change of leadership; but that many (or even most) of the people high up retained their position (like state or federal workers do today).

Whether or not that is the case, the Bible does not include that as a part of the narrative. In life, what is actually important is the spiritual aspect; the people who are important are those who are ambassadors for Jesus Christ (like Joseph). We are the ones who make the difference in a nation.

I write this in 2016 and it looks as though we could elect a very liberal president who will change the balance of the Supreme Court, who will act using executive orders, who will be dishonest and will lie to the people, and who will change the electorate to a point where, we will have essentially a one-party system for at least the next few decades. This changes everything about the United States and it can be quite disconcerting for those of us who love America, our founding and the U.S. Constitution. However, no matter what happens in the future, the key to the direction of the United States will be the spiritual component—always. How many people believe in Jesus Christ? How many of those understand the importance of Bible doctrine and growing to spiritual maturity? How many are moving toward spiritual maturity? As these percentages decrease, so does the prosperity and greatness and freedom of our country.

I have grown up in a time when a very large percentage of American citizens believe in God; and a large percentage of them believe in Jesus Christ. This has been quite significant for the direction of our nation. As a result, we have enjoyed great blessing, peace and prosperity (even to the point where most people accept our prosperity as normal ). However, during those years, I have noticed something else that was quite disconcerting. In many churches, there was a dedicated older population; but they were not being replaced by an equal number of children and young adults. In many of the churches that I have gone to, there are few 20-somethings and 30-somethings; and even fewer children. That is a great spiritual problem and explains the unfortunate direction in which our country seems to be heading.

If I tell you today, in 2016, that the future for the United States looks bleak (that is, we will face national discipline), I can do this based upon understanding Scripture and reading historical trends. I am not a prophet; but some things are obvious. When Israel pulled closer to God, God blessed Israel greatly. And when Israel pushed God away, things got rough for Israel.

The United States is also a client nation to God, and it is obvious that, despite many people believing in Jesus Christ, there are an increasing number of people who reject God, who do not believe in God, and who embrace humanism or secularism. With that approach to life comes consequences. This does not mean that we will become, say, Egypt or Libya or Syria overnight. This simply means that our prosperity will begin to wain. Our personal safety will decrease. The honesty of our government officials will decrease; while their greed for more money and power will increase. Cause and effect is how our universe works; and when we move away from God, then we are moving toward things which are anti-God.

The chief cupbearer, for the past couple years, has completely forgotten about Joseph. Did it just slip his mind? Was there a regime change? Was there a natural change of power (from father to son)? Whatever happened is not really important to this narrative; what is important is Joseph and God working through Joseph. And, at no time did God forget Joseph.

I admit that I find myself worked up over the 2016 election and how dramatically this could change the direction of America; but the key to the direction of America is entirely spiritual; and not political (neither candidate seems to have a strong faith in God or in the Bible). But one candidate could be very bad for America, and the other candidate—well, we just don’t really know. But the future of our country will be determined by the pivot of mature believers. Fewer believers and fewer mature believers mean we will move further and further from God and His great blessing. Our nation, the greatest in the world and the greatest nation of all time, may become common. All the ills enjoyed by Europe right now could become a part of our daily lives. Some French teachers wear a communication bracelet, so that they can contact authorities if and when they see an act of terror. Today, there are over 80 Sharia courts operating in the UK. Apologists are quick to point out that, UK courts are superior to Sharia courts; but, if a matter never goes before a normal, legal court, the decision of the Sharia court stands.

How does this all come to pass? The people embrace humanism rather than God. They worship the earth rather than Jesus Christ. They believe in evolution rather than the Word of God. As the pendulum swings away from Jesus Christ, so does prosperity and freedom disappear in that nation.

This does not mean that the United States will become North Korea tomorrow. God gives us warning discipline, and we determine in our own hearts how we will respond to it. Could our nation go from the great country in human history to an horrendous mess? Of course. Look at Great Britain. At one time, that nation ruled over a fifth of the inhabited world. They believed in Jesus Christ and, as a result, they exported both law and order and Christianity to the many places where they ruled. Today, that great nation no longer exists.

In the United States, we still have tremendous power and prosperity; but anyone who knows anything about economics realizes that we stand on a precipice.

Let’s leave that precipice and return to Joseph:

Genesis 41:14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph. And they hurried him out of the dungeon. And he shaved and changed his clothing, and came in to Pharaoh.

The verb used here is the Hiphil imperfect of rûts (רוּץ) [pronounced roots], which means, to cause to run; to hastily lead up, to cause to hasten; to bring quickly. Strong’s #7323 BDB #930. But Joseph does not appear to be in a hurry himself. Pharaoh finds out about Joseph and he says, “I want this man here standing before me immediately. I need to know the meaning of this dream right now!” And those under him run to the prison and grab Joseph and they are ready to run back to Pharaoh.

Joseph, however, is not in such a hurry. Pharaoh then calls for Joseph to come at once; but Joseph does not come immediately to the Pharaoh. He shaves and requires a change of clothing. Joseph is going to speak to Pharaoh, so he is going to make a good impression on Pharaoh. Joseph knows protocol (the Egyptians are very clean people), and he is not going to appear before the Pharaoh in dirty, grimy clothing looking like a prisoner. Joseph’s cleanliness is not just to make a good impression, but to show an understanding of proper protocol. Cleaning himself up shows respect for Pharaoh and for the cultural norms of the Egyptians.

Was Joseph expecting this? Did he plan out what he should do if Pharaoh ever called upon him? Probably not, but we really don’t know. But, Joseph, because he had been Potiphar’s slave and now in charge of Pharaoh’s prison, knew the Egyptian language and he knew the proper protocol for Egyptian royalty. So he is not going to stand in front of Pharaoh stinking and wearing dirty clothing. This was a given; it did not require a lot of thought on his part.

The chief cupbearer has remembered this young man from prison, Joseph, who interpreted his dream accurately; and now Pharaoh has two disturbing dreams which he wants to have interpreted for him. He tells Pharaoh about Joseph and Pharaoh sends for Joseph, to bring him out of the prison.

Joseph cleans himself up and stands before Pharaoh.

Joseph Interpreting Pharaohs Dream, 1894 by Reginald Arthur; from FineArtAmerica.com; accessed October 4, 2016.

Genesis 41:15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have dreamed a dream, and none can interpret it. And I have heard it about you, saying, you can understand a dream to interpret it.”

Pharaoh lays out the general proposition for Joseph. “I’ve dreamed a dream, and I hear that you are able to interpret it.” I suspect that Joseph has already been briefed by those who brought him, but he follows the proper established protocol. Pharaoh speaks and he listens.

Again, like many of the things which I speculate about, whether Joseph knows exactly why he is being called before the Pharaoh is actually immaterial. In the past two years of days, Joseph has had ample time to consider where he is and what his relationship is to God. He asked the chief cupbearer two years ago to remember him; but this time, Joseph will not plead his case before Pharaoh.

What is unsaid, but can be reasonably deduced, is, Joseph is not harboring resentment, anger and frustration from being unjustly placed in prison. He does not step before Pharaoh and say, “Listen, Pharaoh, I have been cooped up in your prison for no reason over the past 3 (or however many) years; and I did nothing wrong. What kind of a country are you running here?”

Instead, Joseph focuses on the plan of God; and time and place. He recognizes that God placed him into prison and God has taken him out of prison. People may have acted with evil intent toward Joseph, but he could not be placed anywhere apart from God’s will. As Joseph will tell his own brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Gen. 50:20; ESV)

How many people have been wronged, and then spend the next few months or years trying to correct this wrong, expending all kinds of energy, and sometimes accomplishing something, but often accomplishing nothing? For the believer, this so-called fight for justice often leads him away from his purpose and place in life. It is not our job to clean up the devil’s world.

So, Joseph goes before Pharaoh, setting aside his own injustice, knowing that God can place him anywhere. Pharaoh tells Joseph, “I have dreamed a dream, and I have heard that you are able to interpret dreams.” And Joseph immediately puts the correct emphasis upon his abilities:

Genesis 41:16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “Not I. God will answer the welfare of Pharaoh.”

the word translated welfare here is shâlôwm (שָלוֹם) or shâlôm (שָלֹם) [pronounced shaw-LOHM], which means, completeness, soundness, health and welfare, peace, prosperity, safe, secure, tranquil, undisturbed, unagitated. Strong’s #7965 BDB #1022. Although a very common word in the Hebrew, found over 200 times in the Old Testament, here, its meaning is a bit more difficult to apprehend. Both Webster and the WEB translate this an answer of peace; the ESV, a favorable answer; several render this God will answer the welfare of Pharaoh (MKJV, KJ3, Green’s literal translation ).

We can reasonably assume that God will provide the answer (through Joseph) and that answer will give peace to Pharaoh (he will understand it and it will put his mind at ease).

Genesis 41:16 Joseph answered Pharaoh, "It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer." (ESV)

I think that we might understand that God will, through Joseph, provide an answer which will complete the dream of Pharaoh and provide him with some modicum of peace. The dream has disturbed Pharaoh, and Joseph’s explanation will be calming. The explanation will make sense to Pharaoh and the content of the dreams will no longer bother him.

Joseph makes it clear that he is able to interpret the dream by the power of God and not by his own cleverness.

Two years ago, Joseph spoke to the chief cupbearer saying, “Remember me”? The emphasis should have been on God, not upon Joseph. Joseph does not make this mistake again.

Now that is established, Pharaoh tells Joseph his dreams. Although these dreams have previously been laid out in this chapter (vv. 1–7); they are repeated here in vv. 17–24.

Pharaoh repeats the content of his dreams to Joseph:

Genesis 41:17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream, behold! I stood upon the bank of the river.

Interestingly enough, we do not have the summary phrase, and Pharaoh told his dreams to Joseph; but the content of the dreams is repeated in the narrative.

Pharaoh will tell Joseph both dreams, one after the other. Behold here simply sets the scene. It is a verbal device used to pull the hearer into the picture, to try to have him see what the speaker saw. Pharaoh is standing at the bank of the Nile looking out.

The reader is reading the content of these dreams for the second time. Perhaps the idea is for these dreams to roll around in our brains for a few minutes and then they are repeated, until Joseph gives us the correct interpretation of them.

Genesis 41:18 And behold, there came up out of the river seven cows, beautiful in appearance and fat of flesh. And they fed in the reeds.

He sees 7 healthy cows come out of the river, and they feed upon the reeds. Whether this is a normal occurrence or not does not matter.

Genesis 41:19 And behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and evil of appearance [= ugly, unattractive, sickly-looking], and lean of flesh, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness.

Then he sees 7 thin cows come up, and they look bad. They are unattractive, unhealthy, and lean. These are in such poor condition that the Pharaoh has never seen such emaciated cows before.

Genesis 41:20 And the lean and the evil-appearing cows ate up the first seven fat cows.

These lean cows come up and eat the 7 fat cows (in Pharaoh’s dream).

Genesis 41:21 And when they had eaten them up, it could not be seen that they had eaten them; but they were still evil of appearance, as at the beginning. And I awoke.

Eating up the fat cows does not improve the appearance of the thin, bad-looking cows. They still look bad (the word translated evil also means bad).

Pharaoh found this dream to be disturbing; the images upset him and he woke up. But then he fell asleep again.

Genesis 41:22 And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears came up in one stock, full and good.

Then Pharaoh had a second dream. He goes right into this second dream. He sees 7 ears of corn (or wheat) come up from one stock, and they were healthy and attractive. It is a good crop of corn (or wheat).

Genesis 41:23 And behold, seven ears, withered, thin, blasted by the east wind, sprang up after them.

Then, 7 lousy-looking ears of corn came up and they looked terrible! The east wind is the wind that would have been blown from the desert, which would be a dry wind. Wind from the north, in Egypt, would be coming off the Mediterranean, and, therefore, be a more moist wind.

Genesis 41:24a And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears.

The thin ears devoured the good ears.

With that, Pharaoh leaves his dream and he tells Joseph what he did afterwards.

Genesis 41:24b And I spoke to the magicians, but there was none that could open it to me.

Magician is the Hebrew word char^eţôm (חַרְטֹם) [pronounced khahr-TOHM], which means, an engraver, a writer [possessing information of the occult]; a diviner, a magician, an astrologer, mystic. Strong’s #2748 BDB #355. These would be the people that pharaoh would go to in order to get information of a mystical nature—some would incorrectly suggest that they would provide spiritual information.

Whether Pharaoh told Joseph about speaking to wise men about his dream is not in the text. Even a dream from God cannot be understood apart from a man of God.

The same thing is true of the Bible. There are certainly narratives and doctrinal information found in the Bible which we can read and understand. However, without a teacher, who has a good academic background in the Scriptures, much of what is found in the Bible is difficult to make sense of. Even entire denominations confuse Israel and the church; or try to get their congregations to observe the Sabbath; or they confound Sunday and the Sabbath day. Many Christian cults try to get their people to relive the book of Acts. This would be like Rabbis and priests attempting to get the Israelites to relive the exodus. That was a one-time thing and there will be great signs and wonders associated with the exodus because God is establishing His people. There were great signs and wonders which accompanied the 1^st advent of our Lord; there were great signs and wonders associated with the establishment of the church, an entity much different from nation Israel. However, once these great moments in the plan of God were gone, so were the great signs and wonders.

Pharaoh has laid out his two dreams for Joseph, who stands before Pharaoh clean shaven and in clean clothing. We have heard these dreams twice in this chapter, so we will not repeat them. We will launch right into Joseph’s interpretation.

Joseph Interpreting Pharaoh's Dream by Peter Cornelius; Fresco with tempera;1816-17; from the Web Gallery of Art; accessed October 4, 2016.

Genesis 41:25 And Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.

Joseph will now explain the dreams, what they mean, and more importantly, what Pharaoh can do about them.

There are times in human history when the future looks bleak and there are times when God’s prophecies for the future point to some bad times. However, God always has a message for those who will enter into such difficulties, no matter when they occur. This is important because, at this point in American history, we could be taking the next step in a massive downward spiral of the great America that we once knew (I write this prior to the election of 2016).

Even though Pharaoh had two dreams, Joseph tells him that this is one dream—they are one in essence, singular in meaning. The fact that Pharaoh had two dreams which are one in essence confirms the meaning of the two dreams. It confirms that this will certainly come to pass. This is what God would do.

Genesis 41:26 The seven good cows are seven years. And the seven good ears are seven years. The dream is one.

The first cows and the first ears—the ones that are healthy and look good—these are 7 years. Then Joseph repeats that the dreams are one in essence or in meaning.

Joseph repeats that these dreams are one, meaning they have the same interpretation.

We all have different sorts of dreams, and sometimes, they are disturbing. This passage is not telling us that we need to seek out someone to interpret our dreams so that we can know the future. The prophetical nature of these dreams is interesting, but not the point of this narrative. What is important is, God will put his man, Joseph, into Pharaoh’s government, and that changes everything. This one man of God—formerly a slave and then a prisoner—will dramatically change human history. Millions of lives will be changed and preserved because of this one man, Joseph.

Up until this point, it may have even seemed like God had just cast him aside, but that has never been the case. God is training Joseph, focusing him on what is important.

At some point, those of us who have believed in Jesus Christ and have matured spiritually, will be able to observe and understand human history as well as current events. Whereas many think today that history is moved along by celebrities and politicians; we will find out that those people who had the greatest impact on history are, for the most part, unknown to the general population. Throughout the 1950's and 1960's, one man who had perhaps the greatest impact on the United States as a nation was Billy Graham, the evangelist. Millions of people came to Christ through his ministry; or as a result of being witnessed to by those saved by Graham’s ministry. This led to spiritual maturity in some cases, and some of the greatest prosperity that this nation has ever known. In fact, we have enjoyed greater peace and prosperity than any other nation in the history of mankind. Much of it was because of the faithful service of Billy Graham, and the response of millions of Americans to his evangelical ministry.

The most important person in Egyptian history at that time was Joseph, a slave, sold into slavery by his jealous brothers.

In the Church Age, we may find our own dreams to be interesting (rarely does anyone else), but they are not prophetical; and they do not require interpretation. They are not messages from God. This is because we already have the full and complete revelation from God and we are the first dispensation to enjoy that privilege.

Genesis 41:27 And the seven thin and evil-appearing cows that came up after them are seven years. And the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind will be seven years of famine.

Afterwards, there would be 7 bad years, represented by the unhealthy cows and the ears of corn (or wheat) that are blasted by the east wind.

The bad years will be so bad as to completely overshadow the 7 good years which had already occurred. The previous prosperity will be completely forgotten in the bad years—that is, if no preparations are made for the bad years.

Vv. 26–27 give an overview of what is to be expected. Joseph will now go into more detail.

Genesis 41:28 This is the thing which God has spoken to Pharaoh; what God is about to do, He shows to Pharaoh.

These dreams tell the future of Egypt. When a person is actually open to the truth, they recognize the truth. So Pharaoh is transfixed; he understands and he believes the words of Joseph.

God reveals this to Pharaoh through Joseph because God has a great plans for nation Egypt and for the family of Joseph, which plans will intersect in the very near future. God will see to it that Egypt is blessed and preserved, and the wise of Egypt will perceive that this is because of Joseph. Joseph is God’s man; Joseph is in the midst of Egypt; and therefore, all of Egypt will be blessed and preserved.

This could not have happened at any point in history. Egypt required a Pharaoh who believed in the Revealed God and trusted the Revealed God. In Gen. 41:16, Joseph tells Pharaoh that it is God who reveals the meaning of these dreams. Joseph tells Pharaoh that the dreams are a revelation of the Revealed God to Pharaoh in Gen. 41:25. In v. 28, Joseph says that these dreams are God telling Pharaoh what will happen in the future. By what Pharaoh says in this section of Gen. 41, it will be clear that he believes Joseph, he believes the interpretation of the dreams, and therefore, he believes the Revealed God. We do not know whether Pharaoh believed in the Revealed God prior to this time, but Joseph clearly revealed to Pharaoh God’s reality and interaction with mankind, and Pharaoh clearly believes that. So, if Pharaoh was not saved before, he is saved now. He listens to Joseph, understands, and believes.

Genesis 41:29 Behold, there are coming seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt.

There will be 7 years of plenty in Egypt. In the ancient world, years of plenty means, they will have the right amount of rain at the right time, and crops will grow abundantly. They will have more than enough food for those 7 years. They will feed themselves and their animals. The proper amount of rain will also invigorate their animals and they will grow in number as well.

Genesis 41:30 And there will arise after them seven years of famine. And all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will consume the land.

The 7 years of plenty will be then followed by 7 years of famine. The famine will be so devastating as to overshadow the years of prosperity.

If very little grain grows, then, not only can the people not make bread, but their animals have little or nothing to eat. Consequently, they cannot depend upon their animals during this time for food.

Think of the ancient world economy like this: the grain that they grow is like a person’s paycheck. As long as you get a paycheck, you have adjusted your life in order to live on that paycheck. However, let’s say, one day, those paychecks suddenly stop. Then you must depend upon your savings. What is the savings for people of the ancient world? Their animals. They are the savings accounts of all the people in an agrarian society. When we live off of savings, what do we want to be careful to do? We do not want to erode the principal; we want to live on the interest. In the ancient world, living on the interest means, you maintain the same number of animals in the same state of healthiness. Whatever number of animals you have when the paychecks stop coming in (grain stops growing), you want to maintain that number of animals for as long as you possibly can. Just as, if you run into a problem today, and your checks stop coming, then you want to reduce your savings as little as possible. You don’t want your savings to simply get you through the first or second month.

Genesis 41:31 And the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following; for it will be very grievous.

The famine (aka, an economic depression) will be so severe that no one remembers the great prosperity. This, of course, will be the case if no one prepares for the famine.

Today, just like in ancient Egypt, there are economic cycles. The stock market goes up and the stock market goes down; gold prices go up and they go down; we enjoy full employment and we have periods of time where work is hard to find. There is no politician anywhere who will be able to, by tweaking this or that policy, end economic cycles.

We even elected a president who vowed that he would end these economic cycles, and, sadly enough, many people believed him. He also claimed that he would slow the rise of the oceans, and my guess is, some people believed him there as well. It is a mistake to place our trust in man. It is even worse to place our trust in a man who suffers delusions of grandeur.

Back to Pharaoh’s dream:

Genesis 41:32 And since the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice, it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

The repetition of the dream indicates that this is a certain revelation of what is to come. Pharaoh is not going to be able to change his behavior; the people of Egypt cannot simply supplicate God, and expect anything to happen as a result. They will have 7 boom years and 7 bust years. There is nothing that they can do to change that future.

Now, Joseph makes a recommendation to Pharaoh of what he should do. Pharaoh did not ask for that, but Joseph offers it nonetheless. Many people can recognize the problems around them; but few have any idea how to solve them. We recently had a president who recognized that the United States was in a recession and that many jobs were lost; but his solution, for the federal government to spend gobs of borrowed money—that simply was not the solution.

Take a thousand people from the streets of American, and surely ten of them have some idea as to the kind of national precipice that we are on at this time. Whether one man out of that ten understands what ought to be done—well, that is highly unlikely. In Egypt, there was one man who recognized where Egypt was at this time; and there was one man who knew what to do about the future. That is Joseph. Even Pharaoh, his staff and the wise men and magicians of that day—they did not know. Pharaoh, to his credit, understood and believed Joseph.

Genesis 41:33 Now therefore let Pharaoh look for a man who is discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.

Joseph has interpreted the dream; and he has told Pharaoh that these dreams are a certain predictor of the future. Now Joseph tells Pharaoh what must be done. Sometimes, a person hears something, and he just knows it is right. Pharaoh understands and accepts the meaning of his dreams; and he also accepts Joseph’s solution for the future.

Pharaoh needs to find a man who is discrete and wise. Discreet is the Niphal participle of the Hebrew word bîyn (בִּין) [pronounced bean], which means intelligent, perceptive; prudent, skillful; well-instructed. The participle form of a verb can sometimes act as a noun or an adjective. Strong’s #995 BDB #106.

The word for wise is châkâm (חָכָם) [pronounced khah-KAWM], which means, capable of knowing [judging]; intelligent, wise; skillful, adept, proficient; subtle, crafty (it is primarily used in a positive way). Strong’s #2450 BDB #314.

Genesis 41:34 Let Pharaoh act, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years.

Joseph has an immediate solution. The wise and perceptive man is to be appointed and he will have men under him to do his bidding. This governmental agency will be in charge of setting aside the good of the first 7 years. Grains, and whatever else might be stored, is to be taken up—a 20% tax on that which can be stored up.

With the proper amount of rain, grain would grow beyond what is needed by the people, and the state would collect a fifth of that grain and store it up. The people would never miss it. In fact, they would be, during these prosperous years, building up their own savings accounts (that is, increasing their flocks and herds and some one accumulate silver as well).

Genesis 41:35 And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up grain under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.

Because there are good years, the Pharaoh needs to oversee the collection of grain during those years. This grain which is collected will be under Pharaoh’s control (hand).

This would not be brought to a centralized location, but it would remain with the cities where the grain is collected. All of this would require many men to build the storehouses and to take in the grain and then to guard the grain (particularly during the 7 difficult years).

During the years of plenty, there will be the financial wherewithal to make this happen.

Genesis 41:36 That food will be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt, so that the land does not perish through the famine.”

This grain would be set aside and kept for the 7 years of economic depression.

This ought to be the approach of city and state governments throughout the Christian world. When we have prosperous years, the government should not look to spend money as it comes in. During the good years, the government needs to set aside a rainy-day fund; and it should be appropriate to that particular government. It does not matter that this rainy day fund sits there in the bank for a decade or so; it is simply a smart thing to do.

Joseph has been called in by the Pharaoh of Egypt in order to interpret his dreams. Joseph not only told him what his dreams meant, but then told him how to deal with the future that those dreams foretold. Joseph is speaking to Pharaoh:

Gen. 41:28–32 “It is as I told Pharaoh; God has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do. There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. (ESV; capitalized)

Seven prosperous years followed by seven years of such grievous famine, as to obliterate the prosperous years.

Then Joseph gives Pharaoh some unsolicited advice:

Gen 41:33–36 “Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine." (ESV; capitalized)

Notice what Joseph does not tell Pharaoh: “When the famine comes, learn to trust God.” Pharaoh’s trust in God is Pharaoh seeing to it that grain is set aside during the years of plenty against the years of famine ahead. Joseph does not tell Pharaoh that, when these years of famine come, “You need to pray through, brother.”

However, what Joseph describes here ought to be routine six for all national and state leaders.

I write this in 2016, during a time when we in the United States are actually enjoying some of the greatest prosperity our nation has ever enjoyed. Fracking has allowed us to be energy independent and to even supply people in the rest of the world with our oil. Rather than celebrate and utilize our resources (and then save and put aside the fruits of our labor), our nation has on an unprecedented spending spree, where money is spent much faster than it is accumulated (with virtually nothing to show for all of our spending). We have developed an enormous debt during a time when we ought to be putting aside resources for the future. We are doing the exact opposite today of what we ought to be doing.

Great leaders in the United States, during this time of prosperity (although we are not prosperous in terms of employment, we are prosperous in terms of energy production) should be putting aside gold, silver, oil and whatever else there is of value, just in case difficult times come upon us. In some states, this is actually occurring. Among some individuals, this is actually occurring.

By the way, we cannot simply blame our leaders for this. Let’s say that someone suggests that we cut back on the increase of government. Significant numbers of people would rise up and complain vociferously.

On a personal level, we ought to do what Joseph recommends in this chapter. We have good years and bad; good decades and bad. Although we are not going to have a dream which tells us when these will happen, we can rest assured that we will enjoy good economic times and bad ones. What should we do? Set money aside. Build up a fund. Even if you never draw from that fund, keep setting money aside, using a variety of investment vehicles. You will never regret having emergency savings set aside. You will regret the time that you spent all your money on new furniture, a new car, a hot tub or whatever; and then the time comes, you need some emergency money, and there is nothing there to draw from.

This is not a fail-safe program and we cannot insure ourselves against all that might happen in our lives. However, this is the prudent thing to do. Doing this exhibits faith in God; because the book of Proverbs speaks of correctly handling our money. It speaks of hard work and savings; and the believer who ignores this is not believing in the truth that God has given him.

You may question, why do we need to do this? We haven’t had any dreams of lean cows and bad looking ears of corn. Economic cycles are a reality in all life; therefore, we need to be prepared for both good and bad years. You need to take advantage of the good years to build up your savings; and you should have plans of what to do when the bad years come.

The Pharaoh of Egypt has called Joseph in to interpret his dreams. Joseph has just explained what these dreams mean, and Pharaoh understands his explanation, and all of it makes perfect sense to him. Does this mean that dreams are meaningful to us today? Do dreams tell the future to us today? Does God speak to us through dreams today?

God speaks to us in the Church Age (the period of time from Pentecost until the rapture of the church) through His Word, which was completed in the 1^st century a.d. Personally, I enjoy the Old Testament very much and that is why I spend much of my time exegeting Old Testament books. However, I do this recognizing that the Old Testament does not always tell us what we ought to do. For instance, we do not observe the Sabbath day; we do not go to church carrying a lamb which is slaughtered at the front of the church; and God does not speak to us by visions or dreams; nor does He come to us in person in some manifestation (like a person or a voice from heaven or as a burning bush) and talk to us. Why not?

There is a three-fold reason. (1) We have the completed Word of God. Because the Bible is complete, we don’t need any more revelation. God is able to speak to us through His complete Word—which authority is established by many wonderful proofs—and His Word gives us guidance, comfort and mechanics. (2) If God continued to speak to us through visions and dreams, then the Bible would not be complete. We would continue to add to the Scriptures, adding to it these private revelations. However, we have the full revelation of God in His Son, Jesus Christ. We have the full revelation of our lives in the Church Age from Paul and the other Apostles. (3) God the Father has sent God the Holy Spirit to indwell all of us. The Holy Spirit acts within us according to when we are in fellowship and he works hand-in-hand with God’s Word. We are filled with the Spirit when in fellowship (without unconfessed sin in the life) and we are guided to the truth, if we actually desire the truth (this does not mean that we open up the Bible randomly, drop our finger, and there is the verse which helps us right now). If we have preconceived notions of the truth (driven by our upbringing, by society, by our culture) which we refuse to let go of, the Holy Spirit is not going to lead us into the truth—as we have already made that determination for ourselves. If we somehow think that we are able to open the Scriptures and understand much of it on our own, then we are rejecting the concept of the pastor-teacher and the local church, both of which are laid out for us in Scripture. God has put into place well-qualified pastor-teachers—this is a part of His design for the Church Age. If we reject this truth, we cannot expect to be led into other truths.

There have been, from time to time, various cults and religions which lay claim to direct revelation from God subsequent to the completion of the canon of Scripture. Mohammed is presented as a prophet of God and he founded a new religion that worships bloodshed and terror (this has been a constant in the history of Islam). We have the more peaceful and conservative Mormon religion where, for whatever reason, God made Himself known (according to them) through “reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics” (there is no such thing) which required someone wearing rose-colored glasses to read and interpret (the original manuscripts in reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics and the rose colored glasses are long gone—if they existed at all). These extra-Biblical “revelations” gave us a religion where, at first, polygamy is allowed, then it was not, but today, maybe it is. The Bible itself is pretty clear about marriage and polygamy; I am unaware of any revelation by Joseph Smith that told us even the tiniest bit of spiritual information that has been important to us since then.

My point being, any claim to new revelation after the completion of Scripture has not resulted in a near universal recognition of the authority of those revelations; nor have they resulted in sects or religions that really have a purpose greater than the revelation of Jesus Christ. How do you upstage the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is God in the flesh, Who died for our sins? What exactly in these subsequent and false revelations that take us beyond Jesus? What in these revelations has been so necessary to the lives of believers that is not already found in the completed Word of God?

Jesus Christ in the New Testament fulfills all that is found in the Old. Almost all of the types in the Old Testament are references to our Lord and His work on the cross. He is the Antitype; His work on the cross is the antitype. There are many specific prophecies about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, the first occurring as early as Gen. 3; with great specific prophecies to be found throughout, particularly in the books of Psalms and Isaiah. Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. And, God delineated the perfect law for the Jews, and Jesus kept the Mosaic Law perfectly.

All that was needed after His death on the cross was a full and proper explanation of what just happened, and then this message needed to be taken to all the peoples of the earth; and that is what the gospels, Acts and the epistles are all about. Once this was complete, and the book of Revelation added, which reveals to us the end of time. After that, there was nothing more to add.

The New Testament reveals to us that God sent His Son to die for our sins; and that our existence and our eternal salvation stand upon Him. Do you somehow think that there is any subsequent revelation that is somehow more important than this? Can you actually think of something that God forgot to tell us?

Today, if you are willing to learn how to think as God thinks—which you learn by means of a well-qualified pastor-teacher—then ascertaining God’s will is not difficult. When your human spirit is filled with divine truth, then what you should be doing in life is clear.

Back to our narrative, which takes place prior to the completion of the canon of Scripture:

Joseph has interpreted the dream of Pharaoh; Pharaoh understands and accepts the meaning of his dreams as given by Joseph; and he likes Joseph’s solution. Obviously, Pharaoh must believe the interpretation in order to accept Joseph’s solution. Pharaoh has also believed in the God of Joseph, since he accepts Joseph’s interpretation, which comes from God. Believing in the Revealed God in the Old Testament is the equivalent of believing in Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Pharaoh is saved.

Genesis 41:37 And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.

The thing refers to Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream, and his solution to the future. What Joseph explains makes sense to Pharaoh and to all those under him. The dreams are a vehicle for revelation to Pharaoh. He compares what Joseph said to what he dreamed, and it all fits together; it all makes sense.

Joseph Interprets the Dream of Pharaoh (19^th Century painting by Jean-Adrien Guignet); from Wikipedia; originally from Free Christian Imagages; accessed October 26, 2016.

A person truly in search of truth will (1) find it and (2) recognize it. Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” As an aside, not everyone who claims to be looking for truth really is (from the outset, some have already rejected the truth). A person may search out Buddhist monks for enlightenment, but, prior to this, rejected the claims of Jesus Christ.

Pharaoh recognizes that Joseph is speaking the truth. 400 years later, there will be another Pharaoh on the throne of Egypt, and Moses will speak the truth to him, but he will not recognize it as truth. That Pharaoh will witness great signs and wonders, and yet, harden his heart against the truth and against God. But Joseph’s Pharaoh is open and receptive to the truth.

Genesis 41:38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find any man like this, in whom the Spirit of God is?”

Note the thinking of Pharaoh. He wants a man in whom is the Spirit of God is. This indicates that Pharaoh believes in the Revealed God. Joseph has told him that the dreams and the interpretation of the dreams are of God (vv. 16, 25, 28, 32 ) and Pharaoh clearly believes that.

Pharaoh understands that the key for Egypt’s future is a man in whom resides the Spirit of God.

This Pharaoh seems to have a lot on the ball; and the words here appear to be a rhetorical question. He is not asking his servants to prepare a list of all the wise and intelligent men in his realm, and then they will confer on these names—remember, he already called in all of the wise men to interpret his dreams, but to no avail. Pharaoh is going to say something which is obvious to him, and this preparatory remark is to get his staff thinking as he is thinking.

This, by the way, is a great trick employed by great leaders and by excellent teachers. You guide those in your periphery to a conclusion, but you allow some or all of them to reach that conclusion before you actually say it out loud. I had a wonderful political science teacher in college and we were studying the United States Constitution and various Supreme Court decisions. He had taught one Supreme Court decision and then, not too long after, taught another Supreme Court decision which was contrary to the first one, made perhaps 20 years later. I blurted out, “But that’s exactly the opposite of what they already decided!” He knew that, of course. He was waiting for us in the classroom to recognize it without him saying it himself. This method worked quite well because, over 40 years later, I still remember coming to that revelation. That is effective teaching.

Pharaoh knows, with this statement, whom he will choose for this task. This question gets those in his presence to begin to think on this. No doubt, some of them might be thinking of people to put on a list; but others, having just heard Joseph, are thinking, “Isn’t the right man standing right in front of you?” Pharaoh’s words seem to convey that exact meaning.

What Pharaoh is saying appears to be a rhetorical question. Pharaoh is praising Joseph for in him is the Spirit of God; and Pharaoh recognizes that as necessary for a position of leadership. I believe that the Living Bible really captures this well: Joseph’s suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his assistants. As they discussed who should be appointed for the job, Pharaoh said, “Who could do it better than Joseph? For he is a man who is obviously filled with the Spirit of God.” The Message, as well as several others, also convey this very thing: This seemed like a good idea to Pharaoh and his officials. Then Pharaoh said to his officials, “Isn’t this the man we need? Are we going to find anyone else who has God’s spirit in him like this?” Or the CEV: The king and his officials liked this plan. So the king said to them, "No one could possibly handle this better than Joseph, since the Spirit of God is with him." So Pharaoh is not just saying, “This is what we need; now you all start giving me some names to consider.” He is saying, “The man we need is right here in front of us. Do you see it too?”

Regarding the Living Bible, the Message and the Contemporary English Version: I was raised in a church where the exact words of the Bible were important, as that is what we base our interpretation on; and throughout my study of the Bible, arriving at an accurate translation is fundamental to understanding the passage. However, I have found, over the years, that sometimes these less-than-literal paraphrases often convey the general notions of the text quite well. Whereas, we might not really get that this is a rhetorical question in a very literal translation, the Living Bible gives that sense, but in a different way (as an aside, my favorite paraphrases are the New Living Translation and the New Century Version—I think that everyone ought to have a reading Bible). Sometimes (not always), these paraphrases can help us to better understand what is happening in a passage of Scripture.

Ideally speaking, Pharaoh has led those in his periphery to see what is obvious to him—that Joseph is the man for this job. Pharaoh himself will say the words, but he gives the officials in his court time to catch up to where he is.

This Pharaoh is a smart leader. He recognizes the truth of Joseph’s interpretation of his dreams. He recognizes Joseph’s intelligence and competence. He also recognizes the importance of his staff understanding and agreeing with his decisions, to the point of leading them to these decisions even before he says them.

A leader cannot simply tell his subjects, “I want you to move from point A to point B.” In some circumstances, a simple order does the trick; but, in other circumstances, a simple order is not good enough. So Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find any man like this, in whom the Spirit of God is?” Most of his servants—even supposing that they are thinking independently—recognize that the man needed by Egypt is standing right in front of them: Joseph. Pharaoh speaks in such a way as to allow his staff to catch up to him. Perhaps some trusted aide blurted out, “Hey, how about this man, Joseph?”

Joseph has told Pharaoh how his dreams predict 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine, and this all makes sense to Pharaoh. He understands and accepts the interpretation by Joseph of his dreams, acknowledging that such an interpretation is from God. Then Joseph tells Pharaoh how to deal with the future, and lays out a very wise plan that will not only save Egypt, but it will save much of the population in surrounding areas.

Pharaoh wants to put Joseph in charge of the grain, to oversee the nation in its 7 years of prosperity followed by 7 years of depression, but to do this, Pharaoh must be careful about conferring such power and he has to sell his cabinet on it first. How does he do that? He allows them to come to that idea on their own.

Joseph has come up with a plan as to what ought to be done about the future of Egypt.

Genesis 41:37–38 Now the plan seemed good in the eyes of Pharaoh as well as all his servants. Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can a man like this be found, one in whom is God’s Spirit?” (Tree of Life Version)

Genesis 41:37–38 Pharaoh and all his advisors considered it an excellent plan. Pharaoh said to his advisors, 'Can there be another person who has God's spirit in him as this man does?' (The Kaplan translation)

Remember, Joseph is not an Egyptian; and putting someone in charge of such a tremendous project is conferring a great deal of power and responsibility on that one man. It is an added dimension to place this on a non-Egyptian. So, it is best that several of the men under Pharaoh come to his same conclusion on this. With these few words, his trusted advisors come to the same conclusion as Pharaoh has.

We almost never know all of the conversations and pronouncements which are made, but soon after his rhetorical question, Pharaoh says...

Genesis 41:39 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, no one is as discreet and wise as you.

Pharaoh uses two words to describe Joseph, based upon their short meeting. He calls him, bîyn (בִּין) [pronounced bean] (as a Niphal participle), which means, being intelligent, being prudent, being skillful. Strong’s #995 BDB #106. Pharaoh also calls Joseph châkâm (חָכָם) [pronounced khah-KAWM], which means, capable of knowing [judging]; intelligent, wise; skillful, adept, proficient; subtle, crafty. Strong’s #2450 BDB #314. Both of these words are found numerable times in the book of Proverbs, often together.

Let me suggest that there are two kinds of intelligence at work here. Joseph is obviously a smart and perceptive man—that is, he has a reasonably high I.Q. and he has a reasonable amount of education to go with it (even though his education may simply be what he learned working for Potiphar and from being placed in an Egyptian jail). However, Joseph also has the discernment to do the right thing; to do the wise thing. He is able to come to realistic solutions to real-life problems.

The world is filled with high I.Q. types who, when it comes to the real world, are about as dumb as a box of rocks. People who have degrees in economics, for instance. Such people often, because of their education, have the weirdest (and insanely incorrect) views of economic matters (Paul Krugman comes to mind—or anyone else who subscribes to Keynesian economic theories).

Joseph is intelligent, but he does not harbor weird, esoteric views of life. He is not wedded to a set of weird theories which override common sense. He can evaluate a set of circumstances and the best thing to do in those circumstances. This is how he thrived as a slave under Potiphar and as a prisoner in Pharaoh’s prison.

So, thus Pharaoh gives his decision, to choose Joseph. The Spirit of God is in Joseph because he could interpret the dreams when no one else was able. Pharaoh recognizes Joseph’s abilities from the beginning, as no one else in the kingdom of Egypt could have done what he just did (recall that Pharaoh first called upon the wise men of Egypt to come and interpret his dreams, and they were unable to).

This may help to explain why Joseph insisted on making a good appearance before Pharaoh. He probably had no idea what was up, apart from Pharaoh having a dream, but Joseph wanted to make the best appearance that he could. By doing this, Joseph was exercising his wisdom. He was conforming to Egyptian protocol.

Had he shown up dirty, unshaven, in filthy clothes, Pharaoh may have even accepted his interpretation of the dreams, but he would not have necessarily looked at Joseph and said, “Yeah, you’re the man I need to have in charge.” But Joseph looked like a man who could be trusted with such a great task.

Joseph did not know exactly what was coming; but he did understand Egyptian customs and the Egyptian mindset, and he conformed to that.

Application: When you go on a job interview, you should look clean, presentable, and in the best clothes for the job that you are interviewing for. In society, you must dress appropriately. Do not show up with the attitude, “What you see is what you get.” Or, “Here I am, take me or leave me.”

Joseph was there, not necessarily on a job interview; but he knew the customs of cleanliness of the Egyptians. He respected the customs of the Egyptians. Therefore, he wanted to make the right impression. He did not want Pharaoh to give him the once over and think, “What a dirty-looking guy; what’s his deal?” He looked clean and presentable to Pharaoh, and this allowed for Pharaoh an easy decision. He is showing respect for their cultural norms. The idea was, Joseph did not allow his personal appearance to become a distraction to whatever he had been called upon to do.

Pharaoh has called Joseph in from prison in order to interpret his dreams. Not only does Joseph correctly interpret the dreams, but then he provides Pharaoh with a solution to the problems that Pharaoh faces in the future. This solution requires a man to oversee the collection of a special grain tax; and the preservation of all the excess grain which is to be collected. Pharaoh determines that Joseph, standing before him, is the right man for this job.

Genesis 41:40a You will be over my house,...”

Overall, v. 40 is easy to understand—Joseph would be in charge, answerable only to Pharaoh. However, there are some things which need to be sorted out. Usually when the word house is used, it refers to a person’s house, household, or compound. However, this refers to all of Egypt. Joseph is being promoted from prison to the highest authority in the land (under Pharaoh). Pharaoh’s household is the land of Egypt. Joseph is not becoming the top slave in Pharaoh’s personal house; Joseph is becoming the #2 man in all of Egypt.

Genesis 41:40ab You will be over my house, and all my people will kiss the hand at your word...”

It is the second part of this verse which is confusing, which reads, literally: ...upon [because of, according to] your mouth, all my people will kiss [touch, have close contact with],...

Regarding this particular verse, I have probably given you way more information than you have an interest in. However, because this is such a difficult reading, I thought it better not to simply gloss over it, using a convenient translation, but to simply show you there, from time to time, there are problems in translating and interpreting the text. On the other hand, this is a book written 4000 years ago in a language which is essentially dead (modern Hebrew is similar to ancient Hebrew, but these are different languages ); so difficulty, from time to time, is to be expected.

I should point out that, most of Genesis is reasonably easy to translate and to interpret from the Hebrew. In this study of Genesis, I have rarely glossed over a difficult verse. Interestingly enough, the book of Job, from the same era, is much more difficult to translate and, particularly, to interpret.

Genesis 41:39–41

JPS (Tanakh—1985)           So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is none so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my court, and by your command shall all my people be directed; only with respect to the throne shall I be superior to you.” Pharaoh further said to Joseph, “See, I put you in charge of all the land of Egypt.”

The Voice                           Pharaoh (to Joseph) Since God has shown all of this to you, I can’t imagine anyone wiser and more discerning than you. Therefore you will be in charge of my household. All of my people will report to you and do as you say. Only I, because I sit on the throne, will be greater than you. I hereby appoint you head over all of the land of Egypt.

New King James Version   Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”

Had you read any of these translations, you would have never guessed that there was some difficulty with translating and interpreting this verse.

Joseph has been called in from prison to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh. He cleaned himself up, appeared before Pharaoh, and correctly interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams—and Pharaoh believed his interpretation. Then he presented a plan to Pharaoh of how to deal with the upcoming prosperity followed by famine. Pharaoh believes that the prudent thing to do is to put Joseph in charge of overseeing the 14-year-project (7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine).

Pharaoh is so impressed that he promotes Joseph to #2 man in Egypt and places him in charge of taxing the people their grain so that it may be set aside for the future 7 difficult years (Joseph’s plan).

Observe that both Joseph and Pharaoh are doing what is best for the people of Egypt. That is their concern and their focus.

Genesis 41:39–41 To Joseph he said, “Since God has made all this known to you, no one has your vision and wisdom. You shall be in charge of my household, and all my people will respect your every word. Only in regard to the throne shall I rank higher than you.” Pharaoh went on, “I hereby give you authority over the whole land of Egypt.” (Revised English Bible)

Pharaoh will elevate Joseph from one of the lowest places in Egypt—in prison—to second-in-command in all of Egypt.

God has a place for all of us. Just because you are a believer and just because you have doctrine, this does not mean that you will automatically go to the head of the class. God places us in the right place at the right time, which is not always the highest in rank. You might know more than anyone else in your business; you might be wiser than anyone else in your business; but God is going to put you in the right place, according to your gifts and His plan. This does not mean that you should pursue a higher ranking or that you ought not to.

For instance, as a teacher, when the department head became open, and a principal suggested that I apply for that position, I gave it some serious thought. I had seen this position done right; and I had seen it done poorly. The other person up for the job was sure to exercise her authority poorly (in the time that I was there, she was the worst department head that we ever had). In terms of background, my preparation was equal or better than anyone else on staff. However, I also recognized that my interest was connected to the students directly; and that I was not all that thrilled about working with adults. So I chose not to apply. In the long run, this worked against me (the person who applied did not like me at all); but even in retrospect, I believed that I made the right decision. I believe that the subsequent years were a matter of God moving me out of a profession, which I dearly loved, at the right time. In fact, given all the relevant circumstances, God’s timing was perfect.

Every believer with doctrine is going to have a place in this world; and we are to apply the doctrine that we know every single day. We will face injustice, we will face both good and bad bosses, we will have good circumstances in our lives and bad ones; but God is in control. With doctrine, it is all the same. We can have the maturity level to enjoy the good aspects of our lives; and we should have the maturity level to endure with contentment those things in our lives which are difficult.

As Paul writes in Philip. 4:11–13 I am not saying this because of being in need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances. I know how to get along in humble circumstances and how to live in prosperity. In every situation and in all circumstances, I have learned the secret both to be full and to be hungry, both to have plenty and to be in need. I can do everything through Christ, who gives me the strength. (AUV–NT; emphasis mine) We learn, through the application of Bible doctrine to life, to be content in all circumstances.

Genesis 41:41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See [or, Observe, Take note], I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”

Pharaoh tells Joseph, “You are now in charge.” Even though we struggled with the meaning of the previous verse, this verse is quite clear.

Remember that Joseph, despite being hurried out of prison to speak to Pharaoh, he stopped and cleaned himself up first. Had Joseph not looked his best, it is highly unlikely that Pharaoh would have considered him for this high position. Joseph did not rush to speak to Pharaoh. He did not say, “I may look like hell, but no matter; the Pharaoh will understand.”). Instead, Joseph looked like an executive; he did not look like a man just pulled out of prison.

Pharaoh will then outfit Joseph so that he looks like a man in charge.

Genesis 41:42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand. And he dressed him with fine linen robes, and put a gold chain around his neck.

The ring would be a signet ring. This would be used as the Pharaoh’s official seal, so Joseph could pass a law or set a policy, put it into writing, and then put the official seal upon it, so that all would know, this is now the law of the land.

The robes themselves, as well as the gold chain, no doubt identified Joseph as a man with great authority in the land.

All of this would have all taken some time. Pharaoh did not necessarily do all of this in the first 20 minutes of meeting Joseph, and then move on to other business. It is unlikely that he had all of this stuff hanging in the closet, just in case he ran into the right #2 man. Although this clearly follows the previous events, this may have taken place much later in the day—or even on a subsequent day. There was likely a ceremony; and this may have been done out-of-doors in front of the people of Egypt.

The Bible records all the pertinent events; but does not always give us every detail or even completely set the stage for each event which we are allowed to view. It is easy for two Bible scholars to read that same passage, and yet form a different vision of what is happening.

Why don’t we find the words, 10 days later, in a public ceremony, before a gathering of 2000 Egyptians, Pharaoh took off the ring from his hand...? Two possible reasons: (1) everything did take place right then and there on that day, and Pharaoh gave Joseph things which belonged to Pharaoh and had been used by Pharaoh; or, (2) when Joseph recorded these events, he may have simply left out many of the details. God revealed the meaning of the dreams to Pharaoh through Joseph; and God revealed how to solve the upcoming problems of Egypt.

Putting all this upon Joseph indicates that he is over all the land of Egypt.

All of Joseph’s life has taken him to this point. He went right from prison to the top of one of the most powerful nations in the world, and God wants him to exercise his great authority with wisdom and grace. God has placed Joseph in difficult places throughout his early life, so that he will be able to properly exercise his authority. Joseph’s life, to this point, has been training. Just as Joseph knew to clean himself up before Pharaoh, he would know how to conduct himself in this position of high authority.

Because of the spiritual state of the United States, we have a bevy of federal representatives who are corrupt and have completely lost track of their purpose and responsibilities. God does not want this in Joseph. Therefore, God trained and guided Joseph for years, placing him into very difficult positions, making him suffer unjust treatment. Joseph learned from these injustices and developed into a happy man who did not carry resentment or bitterness around in his soul. There are few things worse for a people than to have a leader with great authority who carries bitterness, suspicion and anger in his soul.

It is not good to have a leader in high office who spends a portion of his (or her) time determining how to harm his (or her) personal and political enemies.

The next time you are under pressure and the walls are closing in, bear in mind that God may be training you for some future set of circumstances. What you need is to learn and apply doctrine while these things are taking place.

Because of his training, Joseph will become one of the most consequential figures for the preservation of the people of Egypt and for the preservation of the families of his brothers. We already know that the family of Jacob cannot remain in the land of Canaan much longer without being corrupted. Based upon Pharaoh’s dreams, nation Egypt could have completely fallen apart. Joseph, because of his training—because of the difficulties which he experience and because of the unjust treatment to which he was subjected—will change history forever.

Genesis 41:43 And he [Pharaoh] made him [Joseph] to ride in the second chariot which he had, and they cried before him, “Bow the knee!” And he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Joseph is given this great, exalted position. However, bear in mind the purpose—Joseph is there for a dual purpose (1) glorify God and (2) serve the people of Egypt. It is possible for him to do both, without contradiction and without facing great moral dilemmas.

This is some confusion over the phrase bow the knee, which is actually an Egyptian word. It is likely an imperative and various people have translated it kneel, bow the knee, give attention, prostrate yourself, your command is our desire, grand vizier (an Egyptian title), head of the wise, and tender father. In the Hebrew the word is ʾab^erêk (אַבְרֵ) [pronounced ahb-RAKE]. It is doubtful that anyone has a clue as to how to actually pronounce this word and its meaning is also difficult to ascertain. For every Hebrew linguist who has written anything about the Hebrew language, we have a different meaning. Most of these ideas given here are probably correct or close to correct.

There are two kinds of leaders in this world: (1) those who use their authority to give orders and to look out for themselves and (2) those who understand that their responsibility is to those over whom they have authority. The Ultimate King is Jesus Christ, Who is also known as the Servant-King (on many occasions, He showed Himself to be a servant). The original concept of governing figures in the United States was very much influenced by Jesus Christ; the ideal is the citizen-legislator (or even, citizen-president), a man who steps out of his life in the real world, and gives over a few years to public service. This is not unlike the Lord of Glory who steps out of heaven and lives among us, God in the flesh. And, quite obviously, not only did He live among us, but He gave His life for ours, paying the price for our sins.

Interestingly enough, in the United States, apart from the court system, there is no traditional garb associated with those in high office. The president will wear a suit, as will his cabinet members, as will those in the Senate and House. The only ones in the United States who differentiate themselves from others by what they wear are those of the court. They generally wear black robes. I believe the idea of a lack of uniform for the most part in United States government is, they are supposed to reflect the ideal notion of a citizen-legislator.

The ideal politician in the mind of many of our founders was based upon the Lord, Who looks out for and takes care of His Own.

Our Lord is Lord over all—even the winds and the seas obey Him! Yet, He is also presented in Scripture as the suffering Servant (Isa. 53). Jesus taught this to His disciples, when James and John wanted to be set on His left and right hand in the Kingdom. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:42–45; ESV; capitalized)

My personal opinion is, Jesus Christ was originally very much the model for our government officials, who were seen to be citizen legislators. They were supposed to be there for the good of the people and to properly represent the people. We elected representatives, not rulers. How far from this concept is our government today!

In Egypt, as in nearly all nations, their leaders are rulers; and often with nearly absolute power. Joseph, however, is illustrative of the concept of the servant-king. What he does will benefit the people of Egypt, as well as many of the peoples in the surrounding areas.

Genesis 41:44 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without a word from you, no man will lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”

This is simply an indication that Joseph had great authority in Egypt. This is why God gave Joseph such extensive training. Note, Joseph has already had 2 positions of authority; and he has suffered many injustices in his life. In this narrative, these injustices are a part of the narrative; but Joseph does not dwell on them; he is not filled with mental attitude sins because of them.

So that we understand what is going on, God will move all of the Jacob’s sons (Joseph’s brothers) and their families to Egypt for a time, as the culture of the people of Canaan will continue to go downhill. For many generations, the people of Canaan will be cursed and eventually destroyed. On the other hand, for 2 or 3 generations, the people of Egypt will be greatly blessed, as God’s people will live among them. This is blessing by association.

We have noticed how Pharaoh has responded well to Joseph and to his words about the Revealed God. We may take that as representative of many of the Egyptians at that time, who then chose to believe in Joseph’s God (by his God, Joseph was able to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams). So, we have positive volition toward the True God in Egypt; and therefore, God brings great blessing to Egypt.

In Canaan, some people were willing to accept the ritual of circumcision, but as the requirement necessary to intermarry and to share the wealth of the Jews.

Even living in Egypt, God will keep the sons of Jacob separate from the Egyptians.

Joseph is no longer a slave in Egypt, but has been promoted to the second highest position in the land. He was called in from prison by Pharaoh to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, and Pharaoh recognized both Joseph’s accurate interpretation and his personal competence. Therefore, when Joseph predicted 7 years of prosperity followed by 7 years of famine, and then suggested that grain be set aside during the coming years of prosperity, Pharaoh was onboard and he put Joseph in charge of it.

In this way, Joseph was appointed to Egyptian royalty; and he was also married into Egyptian royalty.

Genesis 41:45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah. And he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On, for his wife. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

Often, marriages among the politically connected were done to solidify alliances. This was a great honor for Joseph. Did you know before that two entire tribes of Israel had “royal Egyptian blood” in them?

An Egyptian Marriage (a relief graphic); taken from weebly.com; accessed November 15, 2016.

Some suggest that Joseph’s Egyptian name means the God speaks and He lives. BDB suggests, treasury of the glorious rest. Ancient rabbis suggest that this name means, revealer of a secret. The ancient Coptic suggests that it means preserver of the age. Because this is an Egyptian name, we do not know for certain its meaning. These educated guesses are clearly apropos.

Asenath is Joseph’s wife, and one of the few wives listed by name of the 12 sons of Jacob (the other being Judah’s wife, Tamar, whom he knew but once—Gen. 38).

Asenath means belonging to Neith, who is a goddess. Her father is a priest of On; On is a city in lower Egypt, bordering the land of Goshen, and a center of sun worship. All of this suggests heathen idolatry; but it is clear that Joseph worshiped the Revealed God. It is reasonable to suppose, based upon the words of Pharaoh and his trust in Joseph and in the interpretation of his dreams, that Pharaoh believed in the Revealed God and Asenath may have also believed in Joseph’s God, simply as being the wife of Joseph.

The Obelisk of On (a photograph); From BibleArcheology: Little remains at On (called Heliopolis by the Greeks) except for this lone obelisk. A grand temple to the Egyptian god Re stood here in Joseph’s day. Bryant G. Wood. Accessed November 15, 2016.

It is fascinating that Egypt, with all of its records and its great history, is not nearly as well-preserved as Israel’s history. Egypt has always been a great nation, from human viewpoint standards. However, man’s true history has always included the manipulation or even obliteration of historical events. Historians have long distorted the events of United States history (I do not recall much from my history classes, but I do remember being taught that the founding fathers were deists and that FDR saved the United States from the Great Depression—two things which are false, yet taught in most high school history courses).

There is an online history of our presidents maintained by the White House. It is my understanding that President Obama inserted himself into many of these recollections. Similarly, when a new pharaoh came to power or a new dynasty, it is reasonable to assume that such a one was often in opposition to previous administrations, and therefore, might change or erase that history. I do not know how many times Egypt was overrun by other national powers (certainly this did not happen too often), but new rulers from outside Egypt might have done whatever was necessary to change or obliterate Egypt’s previous history. Revolutions within Egypt against foreign-born leaders would have done whatever necessary to erase any good from their history (changing history is not a new invention). As a result, we have no idea how accurate any of the preserved ancient history of Egypt is.

On the other hand, we know all about the founding of nation Israel—back to the very first Jews. We know all about the patriarchs—the good and the bad. We know that their history has not been changed, because there is so much negative information about Jacob and his sons retained in the Bible. The history of the patriarchs is not whitewashed. Jacob is a prime example of that.

Genesis 41:46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from before Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

You may recall that Joseph was 17 when we first began this section of Genesis (when he went out to see his brothers in the field). 13 years have passed; many of which were spent in prison—all of which have Joseph living a life defined by unjust treatment.

You may recall that I spoke of the time constraints on Gen. 38 (the chapter where we study Judah and his daughter-in-law, Tamar). I said that this chapter must take place within a fairly limited period of time—20 to 22 years in fact. Here is the explanation: Joseph is about 17 years old when taken into slavery (Gen. 37:2) and is 30 years old when he stands before the Pharaoh interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams (Gen. 41:46). This means that Joseph spent 13 years either as a slave or as a prisoner in Egypt (these were his 13 years of preparation by God).

Then there are 7 years of prosperity, followed by the first year of famine. So, from the time that Judah had a hand in placing Joseph into slavery, to the time when Judah and his brothers stood before Joseph asking for grain (Gen. 42), 21–22 years had elapsed. So, everything that takes place in Gen. 38 has to fall within that particular time limit. Gen. 38 begins with Judah separating from his family; and Gen. 42 will have all the sons of Jacob (save Benjamin) coming to Egypt to buy grain. These parallel tracks of historical events therefore must take place in the same time period.

Genesis 41:47 And in the seven years of plenty, the earth brought forth [grain] by [the] handfuls.

Just as Joseph had predicted, there were 7 good years in Egypt. The saying here indicates that there was great prosperity in Egypt.

I have never planted or harvested grains; but I have seen pictures of wheat and rye plants, and the portion of the plant which is used as seed is fairly small, compare to the overall plant. This description invokes the image of many handfuls of grain coming from their harvests.

Hand filled with grain (a graphic); taken from 123rf.com; accessed November 16, 2016.

Genesis 41:48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and he put food in the cities. He put the food of the field which was around every city; he put it in among it. (MKJV)

The ESV provides a better translation: During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it. (Gen 41:47–48; ESV)

Joseph did exactly as he had admonished the Pharaoh. He began to collect food; but it was kept in the city where it was collected. The granaries had to be built to hold the grain; and precautions had to be taken to protect the grain as well (security precautions are logical results of constructing the granaries, but not specifically recorded in the Bible).

These 7 years were a very active time for Egypt. Granaries had to be established in every major city and area. That would have required a lot of building. Egypt enjoyed a boom economy for these 7 years.

Genesis 41:49 And Joseph gathered grain like the sand of the sea, very much, until he quit numbering it; for it was without number.

At first, Joseph kept records of how much grain was being stored up. However, after a certain point, there was so much that they simply stopped keeping records.

It is obvious that given enough time and manpower, the grain which Joseph had stored would have been measurable. However, what we have here is a figure of speech, called an hyperbole, where we have somewhat of an exaggeration. An hyperbole is used to indicate that there was a great deal of grain which was stored according to Joseph's orders.

The CEV expressed this final verse as: In fact, there was so much grain that they stopped keeping record, because it was like counting the grains of sand along the beach. This conveys to us that there was a whole lot of grain stored up. Joseph could have continued to store it up and keep records of how much was stored up, but he had so much, that it was just useless to do so. Saying that something was in such a great quantity that it could no longer be measured is hyperbole. It simply means that there was a whole lot of grain.

In mathematics, there are groups which are countable and finite; groups that are countable and infinite; and groups which cannot be even counted. If we looked at all the whole numbers between 1 and 1 million, we could count those numbers up and come to their total number (999,998). If we spoke of the set of whole numbers (0, 1, 2, 3,...), they are countable, but infinite. However, if we spoke of all the numbers, rational and irrational between 0 and 1, then you have a set of numbers which cannot be counted and are infinite.

Joseph has stored a lot of grain. However, it is a finite amount and, if he had to, he could have recorded the exact amount. This verse simply means that he had so much that, there was no way he was going to measure it all.

Genesis 41:50 And two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine came, whom Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bore to him.

Between the ages of 30 and 37, Joseph has two sons who are born to him before the years of famine came. This could reasonably understood as his portion of great blessing during this time period.

God would bless Joseph with the double portion; his two sons would become two tribes in Israel. Usually the firstborn is the double portion and he continues more directly the line of his father. Joseph will not continue the line of promise, which will culminate in the 1^st advent of Jesus Christ; but he would enjoy the double portion, usually reserved for the firstborn.

When Joseph had been quite young, his brothers sold him into slavery and so he ended up in Egypt. Because of false charges against him by the wife of his owner, Joseph ended up in jail. However, in jail, he correctly interpreted the dreams of two incarcerated officials. However, Joseph made the mistake of depending upon one of these men, rather than depending upon God, so Joseph continued in the jail for another two years.

However, the Pharaoh of Egypt had two dreams that no one could interpret and then, one of his aids remembered about Joseph during his own imprisonment. Joseph had correctly interpreted his dream. So Joseph was fetched from prison and brought before Pharaoh. Joseph not only interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams correctly, but then he provided a clean solution for the future that those dreams predicted. There would be 7 years of prosperity in Egypt followed by 7 years of famine. Joseph knew what needed to be done; and Pharaoh placed him in charge of this project.

Joseph collected a temporary 20% tax from Egyptians—which was made up of grain that could be stored for the future famine. Joseph was in charge of collecting, storing and later distributing this grain.

It might be worthwhile pointing out that, no one forbade the people from establishing their own storage and putting aside grain for themselves. What was happening had to have been known throughout the land. This new tax could not have just come out of nowhere without any sort of explanation. So, individual Egyptian farmers could have set grain aside for themselves (and it would not be out of the question that a few of them did—but very few).

During these 7 years of prosperity, Joseph had two sons.

Genesis 41:51 And Joseph called the name of the first-born Manasseh, saying, “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house.”

M^enashsheh (מְנַשֶּה) [pronounced mehn-ahsh-SHEH] means causing to forget; transliterated Manasseh. Strong’s #4519 BDB #586. A significant portion of Joseph’s life was difficult, even though he learned that God did all of it for a reason. Perhaps he names Manasseh to set aside the heartache of what his brothers had done to him. Joseph places these memories in the past. Now, he does not forget what happened (we are reading about it right now), but he forgives his brothers and does not seek their harm.

Joseph speaks of all my toil. Toil is the word ʿâmâl (עָמָל) [pronounced ģaw-MAWL], which means, intense labor, exhausting toil, exhaustion, miserable work, work and toil so tiring, you just want to cry; misery, travail; production from labor. Strong's #5999 BDB #765. I would have really expected to find this word used at the beginning of the book of Exodus (where the Jews are enslaved), but it is not. Under Potiphar, Joseph worked regularly and he probably worked hard. It is very likely that Joseph was engaged in intensive labor when serving time in prison. Or, if not that, his placement there caused him great discomfort and misery. Having this child has made him forget that labor and forget his family who placed him into slavery. By forget, I mean, he does not think about them all the time and what they have done to him. He does not have a soul filled with bitterness against the injustice of it all.

Application: Every single one of us will face injustices throughout our lives. In the devil’s world, we cannot spend our lives opposing injustice (particularly as it has affected us). That gives us no more time in the day. Besides, for most people, correcting injustice boils down to getting revenge against those who have done you wrong.

Genesis 41:52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim, saying, “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Ephraim is the Hebrew word ʾEph^erayim (אֶפְרַיִם) [pronounced ef-RAH-yim], which means, to bear fruit, to be fruitful; double ash heap transliterated Ephraim. Strong’s #669 BDB #68. Joseph recognizes what God has done; and he knows that his life has been a result of being moved along by God’s plan. He constantly relates his place in time to God and God’s plan. We have not studied many incidents in the lives of his brothers, but based upon the history and remarks of Reuben, Judah and their father Jacob, God was certainly not at the forefront of their minds as He was with Joseph.

Egypt is called his land of affliction, as that is where he was sent to become a slave. However, this affliction will result in the saving of the family of Jacob.

In the future, Ephraim and Manasseh will become two tribes in nation Israel. This is Joseph’s double-portion, which is usually the blessing of the firstborn. These sons are born of Egyptian royalty; they are not just born in Egypt, but they are born to a woman of royal Egyptian blood.

Genesis 41:53 And the seven years of plenty that was in the land of Egypt ended.

The 7 years of prosperity in Egypt came to an end, just as Pharaoh’s dream had predicted. More than likely, this resulted from a lack of rain.

Genesis 41:54 And the seven years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said. And the famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

Just as Joseph had promised, what followed was 7 years of economic recession, which probably meant that there was a lack of rainfall throughout Egypt. Therefore, whatever work was done was all for naught, as their crops would not grow without water. It is likely that there was some produce, but very little for the most part.

However, because Joseph collected so much grain over the first 7 years, Egypt was awash in grain during the famine—they had even more than they themselves required for the years of famine. As a result, Joseph oversaw the selling of grain to both Egyptians and foreigners.

What follows is quite important for those who are concerned with politics. Joseph, the wisest man of his day, although he headed a strong government, this was not the first socialistic state policy. He did not collect all the wealth and then redistribute it to those in need. The gathering, storing and guarding of all this grain cost a tremendous amount of money. It had to be done—there was no other way to handle this situation—however, the grain was not given away freely. Joseph saw that a fair price was charged for it; a price which would allow the grain to last for seven years of famine. This required for the population to save up their money during the years of prosperity and to remain active in business throughout the famine. That is, they could not produce much in the way of food, so they had to continue to work in other areas in order to be able to afford the food. In no way did this policy encourage indolence. There is no indication here that some families lived on the dole. In fact, we will find out later that they gave their all to the state in order to continue living.

Genesis 41:55 And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”

Everyone in Egypt began to feel the pinch in the first year of the famine. It was probably a sudden change, based upon Joseph’s prediction, from a year of prosperity to suddenly a year of famine. It is not clear at what point this occurred, but likely, early in year 1 of the famine, people began to hurt. Early on in this year, they began to realize that they did not have enough grain for themselves or for their livestock.

Pharaoh had placed his confidence in Joseph; so he told the crowds to go see Joseph (by now, a familiar figure of Egypt), and he would tell them what to do. Joseph was a familiar figure to all because he had overseen this temporary tax; and he oversaw the building of grain storage in the major cities. Pharaoh placed the entire responsibility upon Joseph.

A part of what a man in authority does is, he delegates authority, and then he steps away. When you delegate authority, then you step away and you allow the person you have given responsibility to, to do his job. You do not come back and try to micro-manage him. If a person requires micro-managing, then you have chosen the wrong man for the job. A man with great authority properly wields this authority through delegation of power. The leader of a country is a figurehead and a spokesman; apart from appearing in public and making his proposals known, he generally does not do very much that is directly hands-on.

In our system of government, a hands-on approach in some areas is necessary, simply to build a coalition of agreement. But, even if a president passes some bill related to immigration (as an example), he is not the one to get out there and begin processing immigration visas nor does he send out deportation notices from the White House. The president does not start building a border wall himself on the Mexican border. These things are done by people several layers below him. He gives that authority to someone else, who might organize a group of supervisors (also in authority) and planners; and they might, at some point, hire people to actually do the work. Let’s say an immigration policy involves building a wall along the Mexican border—the president may go down there and do a photo-op; and he may even look at the plans and some of the construction—but he is not going to put on some blue jeans and start laying bricks (unless it is for a photo-op). He is not even going to go to the wall and tell them that they are doing the job wrong and then show them how to do it right. If he has an issue with what is being done, he is going to speak to people who might be two or three authority levels above the workers actually doing the work. Ideally speaking, the president will not even have to do this—if he has properly delegated authority in the first place.

The mark of a good president is, he chooses hard-working and responsible people and not just places them in positions of authority but gives them latitude in their duties. A president or his aides do not try to micro manage those under their authority (as was done in the Vietnam war by President Johnson; or more recently, under President Obama, whose underlings tried to micromanage U.S. military men in the field).

This Pharaoh of Egypt rarely receives the credit that he deserves. He recognized great wisdom and ability in Joseph and then acted accordingly without prejudice. He placed all of Egypt under the authority of a foreigner, something which would have been quite unusual (it is possible that this is a foreign government in charge of Egypt—I have heard that theory—but we do not know for certain ). Then, when Joseph's prediction comes true, Pharaoh does not take any of the credit and he continues to allow Joseph to administer the program. His population, when the latter rain does not come and all of their crops have died, are in a panic and come to Pharaoh in large and small groups asking what they can do in order to feed their families. Pharaoh refers them immediately to Joseph.

So, Pharaoh was doing exactly the right thing—he put Joseph in charge of the taxation and the granaries; and then in charge of the selling of the grain during the years of famine. And when someone who knew Pharaoh came to him and said, “Look, we are really suffering right now; we have no bread to eat and no grain for our livestock—“ and Pharaoh stops them mid-sentence, and tells them where to find Joseph.

This did not occur on simply one occasion. People and groups would come to Pharaoh throughout their recession and ask for food; and his stock answer was, “Go talk to Joseph; he’s got this handled.” Pharaoh, the man with the greatest authority, has delegated this authority to Joseph and allows Joseph to oversee all of it, from taxation and collection to the sale of the grain during the famine. He does not appear to want to look over Joseph’s shoulder to make certain that he is doing a good job.

Because of Pharaoh’s willingness to allow Joseph to have authority and to use it without being micromanaged, because the problem has a well-defined solution and because Joseph was in charge, all of this came off smoothly, even though, quite obviously, Joseph had never overseen a project like this before.

Two points: (1) All of this was accomplished without putting forward a political agenda. That is, the emergency was not used to further a particular set of political beliefs unrelated to the emergency. (2) Joseph was doing something that he had never done before. In fact, no one had ever done what Joseph was going to be required to do.

He had management skills; he had great organizational skills. However, in life, it is not abnormal to do things which you have never done before. Sometimes it is these unique responsibilities which make our lives most interesting.

The famine which Joseph warned Pharaoh was coming, had come. It affected primarily Egypt and Canaan (wherever else the famine was, we are not told).

Genesis 41:56 And the famine was over all the face of the earth. And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine was severe on the land of Egypt.

There was a period of time when there was little or no rain. It sounds as if this applied to the populated earth overall—at least to that area around the Mediterranean Sea. The word earth is more often translated land, and can be applied to Canaan or to a much wider area.

In most of the cities, Joseph built grain storage silos which had to both be secure and accessible. He had to have well-trained workers collect the grain and store it; and, when it was time to sell the grain, to guard these silos and sell the grain. Then something had to be done with the silver. They obviously could not stack up the silver along side the silos for 7 years. There had to be a secure way of periodically taking the silver from the silos to a secure site (like the Pharaoh’s palace vault—whatever that may have been).

One of the things which fascinated me is, Joseph does not simply open up the storehouses and say, “Come in and take what you need.” He sold the grain to the people—the very same people whom he taxed in the first place. As a result, there would be no waste. When something is given away free, people often go overboard, taking more than they need. When they have to pay for the same thing out of their pockets with money that they have earned and then set aside, then they are less likely to be wasteful.

So Joseph sold this grain which he had taken from the people through taxation. This kept the granaries filled, allowed the people to purchase grain as they needed it, and prevented the population from becoming a welfare state, something which in some areas of the United States, we are now paying the piper for. There are people in this country who, now if they need money, food, or a place to live, the first place they look to for these things is the government.

Although the Bible does not speak of it, the people of Egypt were either very thrifty or they must have been told to set their own money aside for the future. It would seem that, given the dream of Pharaoh, that Joseph’s plan would have been completely out in the open. That is, since he was building grain silos and collecting 20% of what the people were producing, surely some explanation was given for doing that (exactly what was said is not told to us in Scripture). The people of Egypt apparently took that into account and developed their own savings accounts as a result (however, we will later find out that their savings were only good enough for a few years). People who set money aside were those who trusted in the words of Joseph and his interpretation of the dreams of Pharaoh by the Revealed God. Those who have trusted in the words of God would have been setting money aside.

It is possible that there were different pricing levels, depending upon where you are from (Egyptians may have been favored, as they originally produced the grain). Although an interesting thought, there is nothing to inform of us of that here.

By the way, I want you to notice something else: God does not come to Joseph in a dream and tell him, “What is wrong with you? Give this grain away to the poor.” There is definitely a place for taking care of the poor and the helpless. There are those who are unable, often through no fault of their own, to take care of themselves. Churches, private organizations, and even government should have a hand in this. However, what is problematic is when government begins to do all of the thinking and planning for its citizens. “You did not plan out for your future? Then we will take care of you.” This is not what government ought to do. This is one of the many faults of social security. Too many people depend upon it for the sole source of income in old age (or as their primary source of income in old age—around 60% now ). It is much better to consider that there will be no social security when you retire, and plan accordingly.

It is not the Biblical thing to do to spend every dime that you make; and believe that, what happens in your retirement will be whatever happens, and you will just depend upon God. The way that Egypt depended upon God was by putting grain aside for a difficult time, and then drawing from that grain when their land was no longer producing grain.

God has given us a brain and the ability to make wise choices. Therefore, we invest for the future; we set aside money for the future; and when the time comes and we no longer are able to provide for ourselves, then we have that which we put aside. We defer immediate gratification for a future benefit (which is certainly a Biblical norm that can get found in Proverbs).

Given the state of our world and our nation, it is possible that we can do everything right and still lose our retirement in one way or another. Under those circumstances, you still depend upon God.

What many people believe when it comes to trusting in God is that we are like little babies who are unable to feed, clothe or clean ourselves; and so we depend upon God for all of that. A portion of our life is spent like that and God provides for us then; but God also makes it possible for us to fend for ourselves for most of our lives. This does not mean that we neglect God for the bulk of our lives; but dependence upon God does not mean we spend all day every day sitting on a park bench depending upon God to bring us a ham sandwich.

For those utopian thinkers, if you want to know what ideal government looks like, Israel under God is a good example. Many of the laws found in the Old Testament have easy application to today’s world.

The Jewish nation, which would be established 400 years hence along side a series of laws, did not simply hand out food to the indigent. As we will study, farmers were not supposed to harvest their entire fields; they were to leave portions of their field unharvested so that the poor could come through later and harvest this for themselves. Now, this was work—no doubt about it—and much preferred over our system today.

Now, you may say, “It is more complicated than that—who lives next to a grain field anymore? At present, we have huge government conglomerates which hand out various benefits, and all the people have to do is come into the office, and they are given these benefits. In many cases, they only have to show up once or twice a year in order to get some of their benefits—they come in the mail to them or they are transferred to their bank by direct deposit. Now, there has got to be something they can produce, something they can clean, something they can paint in exchange for these benefits. We need to carry over the principles of the Mosaic Law into today’s society. When someone receives benefits from society, perhaps there ought to be a way for that person to serve society?

One of my ideas was to set up local websites of tax payers and benefit recipients (makers and takers). Freeze or even begin to reduce welfare benefits, while allowing tax-free $5/hour employment between makers and takers. That is, if I need a person to sit with my mother, do shopping for her or make her some meals, I as a taxpayer can go on this site and find someone who is a benefit recipient to do these things for $5/hour. Benefit recipients can go to this site to find jobs that they can do to supplement their income (they are already receiving benefits for which they do not work). Like Amazon.com, both workers and employers would be rated by the other side. An abusive employer would have a difficult time finding employees; and an surly worker might have a difficult time finding a second job. A good employer and a hard worker would both be in demand.

Back to Joseph:

Genesis 41:57 And all the earth came into Egypt to buy, to Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

This is better translated:

Gen. 41:57 All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth. (WEB) or,

Gen. 41:57 In addition, all of the surrounding nations ^{[Lit. the world]} came to Joseph to buy grain from Egypt, because the famine had become severe throughout the world. (ISV)

People began to find out that there was grain available in Egypt; and they came from all over the world to buy this grain.

The obvious metonymy is that the physical land or earth does not come to Joseph, but the inhabitants of the land (that is, land is a metonym for the inhabitants of the land). Furthermore, this is where all the earth means the greater portion of the population; and most of this is via representation; that is, Jacob's family does not come in its entirety; a sampling of his family comes (albeit, a large sampling).

God trained Joseph for this responsibility for a decade. Joseph had to plan and do things which had never been done before. He had to enforce the collection of a tax which was probably not overly popular. He had to deal with a large number of people—both Egyptians and foreigners—on a daily basis. His honesty and integrity had to be above reproach. Joseph needed to make good staff decisions. There are so many details left out of this narrative pertaining to all that Joseph did. However, God knew exactly how Joseph needed to be prepared, and He prepared him.

In the difficult times, Joseph needed to be patient and to wait upon God. When it was time, then God would move Joseph to the next step. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery and Joseph ended up in Egypt. God did this because Joseph needed to be in Egypt. God placed Joseph in a well-to-do home and Joseph rose to the top in that home by working hard and revealing his intelligence. Joseph also learned the customs and language of the Egyptians at that time.

When Joseph was unjustly accused and thrown into prison, this was so that he could endure difficulties based upon unjust treatment; and also so that he would meet two men who had come from the cabinet of Pharaoh. Under any other circumstance, these two men would not have necessarily even spoken to Joseph; however, he was the authority inside the prison, and he was placed in charge of these two men. One of those men was released from prison and he returned to his post as the chief cupbearer of Pharaoh. And, when Pharaoh needed to have a dream interpreted, the chief cupbearer suddenly remembered Joseph, who correctly interpreted his dream and the dream of the chief baker. So, in God’s plan, there has been a purpose for all that happened to Joseph. It was not haphazard; things did not happen which caused God to say, “I had no idea that was going to happen. Let Me see if I can fix it.” God was guiding the process of Joseph’s life which took him to this point of being in charge of the emergency granaries in Egypt.

Joseph, Overseer of the Pharaoh's Granaries (a painting) by Lawrence Alma Tadema,, 1847. From weebly.com; accessed November 21, 2016.

In Gen. 42, we will bring Joseph together face to face with his brothers for the first time in 20+ years. Joseph will recognize his brothers; they will not recognize him.

In this and subsequent chapters, Joseph is going to say and do some very odd things regarding his brothers. There is a reason for all the things that Joseph does; he is not just randomly giving his brothers jazz.

With the exception of the flood narrative, there are no other parts of Genesis as carefully organized as the autobiographical writings of Joseph.

This narrative will move seamlessly from Egypt back to the Land of Promise, back to the family of Jacob. It is quite extraordinary as to how this is done. We end the previous chapter with people coming from all over the earth to buy grain from Egypt, and we then return to Jacob’s family (minus Joseph) who are facing the exact same hardships—famine in their land. They are in the first year of the drought, and they recognize that they are in trouble. The famine is so severe that, they understand that they will begin to die out as a family without the food of the earth.

I realize that few people, when they finish reading Gen. 41 and move into chapter 42 that they do not realize that this narrative is a milestone in literature. We have traveled to a new place, but without any change of circumstances. Notice the transition:

Genesis 41:56 So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

Notice that Joseph does not just open up the storehouses and tell the people, “Come on down and get whatever you need.” Even though the storehouses were filled with the grain of Egyptians at the order of Pharaoh, it was now possessed by the state and the state was justified in selling the stored grain back to the people.

Gen. 41:57 provides a marvelous segue from Egypt back to Canaan.

Genesis 41:57 Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.

The famine is severe in all the land, and all the occupants of the land came to Egypt to buy grain (notice again, it is sold; it is not given away). This logically leads us to a small family in Canaan, whose patriarch is Jacob, to use as examples of those in the land who are suffering from the famine. And so Jacob sends his sons (all but one) to buy grain in Egypt.

This is such a wonderful change of scenery in the book; and I am unaware of any narratives of this era which present such an extensive, multi-continent narrative like this. We have suddenly moved from Egypt, in the continent of Africa, to Canaan.

Genesis 42:1 And when Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look upon one another?”

However, before we begin our study of Gen. 42, let’s examine the concept of disaster in the lives of mankind.

Genesis 42:1 And when Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look upon one another?”

Interestingly enough, it is Jacob who prods his sons to go to Egypt. Reuben does not say, “I think what we ought to do is go to Egypt to buy grain.” As the eldest brother, he should be making such suggestions by this time; thinking ahead, concerning himself with the needs of the family. Although he is not the patriarch, he is the oldest of the sons. Yet, again and again, he does not assume a full-on leadership role.