March 11, 2025 • 20 mins
Joseph interprets Pharaoh's troubling dreams and reveals God's plan for seven years of abundance followed by seven years of devastating famine in Egypt. Through divine wisdom and humility, Joseph provides both the interpretation and solution that will save Egypt from destruction.
• Pharaoh experiences two disturbing dreams - one about seven fat cows being devoured by seven thin cows, and another about seven plump grain ears swallowed by seven withered ears
• After Egypt's magicians and wise men fail to interpret the dreams, the chief cupbearer finally remembers Joseph from prison
• Joseph immediately gives glory to God when brought before Pharaoh, saying "It is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer"
• The interpretation reveals God's plan: seven years of abundance followed by seven years of severe famine
• Both dreams convey the same message, with the repetition confirming God's determination to bring it about soon
• Joseph advises Pharaoh to appoint a wise administrator to collect one-fifth of produce during the plentiful years
• The stored grain will prevent Egypt from perishing during the coming famine
Join us next week as we continue in Genesis 41 and witness Joseph's rise to power in Egypt.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Grace and peace to you from God, our Father and our
Lord and Savior, jesus Christ.
Today we're in Genesis, chapter41, where Joseph interprets the
Pharaoh's dream, starting atverse 1, after two whole years,
pharaoh dreamed that he wasstanding by the Nile.
Pharaoh dreamed that he wasstanding by the Nile.
(00:23):
And behold, there came up outof the Nile seven cows,
attractive and plump, and theyfed on the reed grass.
And behold, seven other cows,ugly and thin, came up out of
the Nile after them and stood bythe other cows on the bank of
the Nile and stood by the othercows on the bank of the Nile and
(00:45):
the ugly, thin cows ate up theseven attractive, plump cows.
And Pharaoh awoke.
In these first four verses wesee Pharaoh's first dream.
Verse 1 begins After two wholeyears.
This is describing howPharaoh's dream occurred, two
(01:07):
full years after the chiefcupbearer and baker had their
dreams and were released fromprison.
And we see that Pharaoh in hisdream was standing by the Nile.
The Hebrew word, translatedNile in the ESV, means a river
or a stream, but in this contextit is properly translated Nile.
(01:31):
The overflow of the Nile, whichcame from the water of the
mountains, is where Egyptreceived its primary source of
water.
The Nile was central toEgyptian life and agriculture.
As Pharaoh is standing by theNile, he sees a group of seven
(01:53):
cows coming up out of the Nile.
Now, this first group of sevencows is beautiful in appearance,
they're well-fed, they're plump, and as they come out of the
river they begin to feed on thegrass next to the river.
And after seeing this firstgroup of beautiful plump cows,
(02:13):
the Pharaoh sees another groupof cows coming out of the Nile.
The second group, however, isugly and famished, thin.
Rather than finding grass toeat on the banks of the Nile,
these seven ugly, thin cows eatthe seven attractive and plump
cows.
And then Pharaoh wakes up fromhis sleep.
(02:38):
After this very disturbing dream, the Pharaoh is shocked into
consciousness and we see thatthere is some lapse of time
between his first dream and hissecond dream, verse 5,.
And he fell asleep.
And he dreamed a second time.
And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing
(03:04):
on one stalk.
And behold, after them sproutedseven ears thin and blighted by
the east wind.
And the thin ears swallowed upthe seven plump, full ears.
And Pharaoh awoke.
And behold, it was a dream.
Here in Pharaoh's second dream,we read that he fell asleep and
(03:27):
dreamed a second time.
Again, we're reminded thatthere was a break, where the
Pharaoh was conscious, betweenthe first and the second dream.
And Pharaoh falls asleep andhis second dream was of seven
ears of grain that were full andplump, all growing on the same
stalk.
(03:48):
But then the Pharaoh saw sevennew ears of grain that were thin
and damaged sprout on that samestalk with the seven plump ones
.
Then the thin and damaged earsof grain swallowed up the good
ears that were plump and full.
(04:08):
As I was researching this, aninteresting note on the east
wind in Egypt is that it'sparticularly destructive.
It comes through the deserts ofArabia and some of these gusts
are so intense, with heat, thatall one can do is fall to the
ground and they feel likethey're suffocating.
(04:28):
After seeing these thin anddamaged ears that were blighted
by the east wind swallow up theseven plump ears of grain, the
pharaoh again wakes up.
These two dreams were sodisturbing that they woke the
Pharaoh from his sleep and thistime, after having awakened, he
(04:50):
was relieved to realize it wasonly a dream, verse 8.
So in the morning his spiritwas troubled and he sent and he
called for all of the magiciansof Egypt and all of its wise men
.
Pharaoh told them his dreams,but there was none who could
interpret them to Pharaoh.
(05:10):
Here we see.
The first thing the Pharaohdoes in the morning is call for
the magicians and wise men.
The Pharaoh is deeply troubledby these dreams.
As we learned last week, theoccult practice or charlatan
science of interpreting dreamsis known as oniromancy, and in
(05:32):
ancient Egypt, magicians werebelieved to be able to tell the
future through dreams.
It would have been very commonfor the pharaoh to have his
dreams interpreted by magiciansusing their occultic
pseudoscience to interpret thedreams of those in the royal
court.
The fact that no one caninterpret these very disturbing
(05:57):
dreams is going to add to thePharaoh's distress.
Verse 9 Then the chief cupbearersaid to Pharaoh I remember my
offenses today, when Pharaoh wasangry with his servants and put
me and the chief baker incustody in the house of the
captain of the guard.
We dreamed on the same night,he and I each having a dream
(06:23):
with its own interpretation Ayoung Hebrew was there with us,
a servant of the captain of theguard.
When we told him, heinterpreted our dreams for us,
giving us an interpretation toeach man according to his dream
as he interpreted to us.
(06:44):
So it came about I was restoredto my office and the baker was
hanged.
In verses 9-13, we see theresponse to Pharaoh's distress
by the chief cupbearer.
After the Pharaoh had soughtout every professional in the
(07:05):
land of Egypt to interpret hisdream and there was no one that
could be found who couldinterpret it, the chief
cupbearer speaks up.
Certainly the chief cupbearerwas hoping that he could help
the Pharaoh in his desperateneed.
Everything we hear from thechief cupbearer in his statement
(07:28):
here is an attempt to findfavor in the eyes of the Pharaoh
and protect his own innocence.
From the statements of thecupbearer we can deduce that the
chief cupbearer had likelyforgotten Joseph intentionally,
as he wouldn't want to be thecatalyst of a conflict between
the Pharaoh's magicians and aHebrew who talked about
(07:51):
interpretations coming from theone true God.
And he begins by saying heremembers his offenses, which is
not an admission of forgettingJoseph, but rather how he was
previously thrown into prison bythe Pharaoh when Pharaoh was
angry with him and the baker.
(08:12):
Then he tells the Pharaoh howboth the baker and he had a
dream, and their dreams weredistinct dreams and each dream
had its own interpretation.
Then he describes a youngHebrew.
This descriptor of Joseph beinga young Hebrew is important
because Hebrews were known toworship one God and they had
(08:34):
different values than Egyptians.
Egyptians tended to look downon the values of Hebrews.
And he adds he's a servant ofthe captain of the guard.
In addition to mentioning thathe was a Hebrew, he also
mentions how Joseph was a slaveto Potiphar Potiphar, again, the
(08:55):
captain of the guard and thatmeans that this Hebrew was a
servant of a high-rankingEgyptian officer.
And finally, after manystatements of making sure he
protected himself, the chiefcupbearer says that Joseph's
interpretations came true.
He was restored to his officewhile the baker was hanged, just
(09:20):
as Joseph had predicted Verse14.
Then Pharaoh sent and calledJoseph and they quickly brought
him out of the pit and when hehad shaved himself and changed
his clothes, he came in beforePharaoh and Pharaoh said to
Joseph I have had a dream andthere's no one who can interpret
(09:44):
it.
I've heard it said of you thatwhen you hear a dream, you can
interpret it.
Joseph answered Pharaoh it isnot in me.
God will give Pharaoh afavorable answer.
In these three verses we seethat the Pharaoh had an urgency
in which he called Joseph up outof the dungeon, which again
(10:09):
shows us the distress that thesedreams had placed on the
Pharaoh's heart.
Even though the Pharaoh'sdreams could probably have been
considered a national emergencybecause of the urgency with
which it was being dealt with,the royal dress code and
Egyptian customs were stillenforced.
Joseph was asked to shavehimself and change his clothes.
(10:33):
The shaving of Joseph alsopoints to how the Egyptians
despised Hebrew culture, asHebrews commonly had beards.
And after Joseph's appearancewas considered appropriate, he
was presented to the king ofEgypt and he came in before the
(10:55):
Pharaoh.
So, after being properlygroomed according to the
Egyptian and royal protocols,joseph was presented to the
Pharaoh.
Joseph was immediately told bythe Pharaoh that he had had a
dream and that no one in all ofEgypt could interpret these
dreams.
But he had been told thatJoseph was someone who could
(11:18):
interpret dreams.
And the first words to come outof Joseph's mouth spoke how it
was not he that had the power ofinterpretation, but it was God.
Joseph said it is not in me.
God will give Pharaoh afavorable answer.
(11:39):
That phrase it is not in mecould also be translated it is
apart from me or it has nothingto do with me.
Joseph's answer and his firstwords stand in direct contrast
to the magicians who used theoccultic science to glorify
(12:00):
themselves.
The very first opportunityJoseph had in two years for
freedom he took to give glory tothe Lord, god as he was brought
before the highest authority inthe land, verse 17.
Then Pharaoh said to JosephBehold, in my dream I was
(12:22):
standing on the banks of theNile.
Seven cows, plump andattractive, came up out of the
Nile and fed in the reed grass.
Seven other cows came up afterthem, poor, very ugly and thin,
such as I had never seen in allthe land of Egypt.
And the thin ugly cows ate upthe first seven plump cows.
(12:45):
But when they had eaten them noone would have known that they
had eaten them, for they werestill as ugly as at the
beginning.
Then I awoke.
I also saw in my dream sevenears growing on one stalk, full
and good.
(13:05):
Seven ears withered, thin andblighted by the east.
Wind sprouted up after them andthe thin ears swallowed up the
seven good ears.
And I told this to themagicians, but there was no one
who could explain it to me.
In verses 17 through 24, we seethe Pharaoh recount his dream
almost word for word what weread earlier in verses 1 through
(13:29):
8, with just a little bit moredescription.
With just a little bit moredescription, this recital of the
exact dreams to Joseph showsthe great impact that they had
had on Pharaoh.
It's also significant to notethat Pharaoh's immediate
response to Joseph, claimingthat it was the Lord God that
would give the response and nothim, and his contrasting himself
(13:53):
with the magicians, was simplyto tell him the dreams.
The Pharaoh didn't even blinkat Joseph's trust in the Lord
God and his claim that theinterpretations had nothing to
do with him Verse 25,.
Then Joseph said to Pharaoh thedreams of Pharaoh are one.
(14:14):
God has revealed to Pharaohwhat he is about to do.
The seven good cows are sevenyears and the seven good ears
are seven years.
The dreams are one.
The seven lean and ugly cowsthat came up after them are
(14:34):
seven years, and the seven emptyears blighted by the east wind
are also seven years of famine.
It is as I told Pharaoh.
God has shown to Pharaoh whathe is about to do.
There will come seven years ofgreat plenty throughout all the
(14:56):
land of Egypt, but after themthere will arise seven years of
famine and all the plenty willbe forgotten in the land of
Egypt.
The famine will consume theland and the plenty will be
unknown in the land by reason ofthe famine that will follow,
for it will be very severe, andthe doubling of Pharaoh's dream
(15:22):
means that the thing is fixed byGod and God will shortly bring
it about.
In verses 25-32, we have God'sinterpretation through Joseph.
Joseph begins by tellingPharaoh that the dreams are one
and the same, and then he givesglory to God by telling Pharaoh
(15:46):
that the Lord, god, has revealedto him what he is about to do.
Joseph groups the seven goodcows and seven good ears
together at the same time andwith the same descriptor, that
they are seven good years ofplenty, and then he again
mentions the dreams are one.
(16:07):
Joseph then goes on to describeseven more years, that the
seven lean and ugly cows and theseven empty ears blighted by
the east wind are seven years offamine.
Then Joseph again gives gloryto God and he reaffirms that it
was God who has shown this tothe Pharaoh.
(16:30):
God has shown the Pharaoh whathe is about to do.
And then Joseph explains whythe cows remain thin and ugly
even after they eat the plumpand attractive cows.
It's because the years offamine will be so severe that
the years of plenty will becompletely forgotten in all.
(17:05):
The land of two separate.
Dreams by God means that theseevents are fixed by God and they
will happen soon.
Joseph confirms that theseevents cannot be changed and
gives glory to the God of theuniverse, including his power
over the land of Egypt Verse 33.
(17:29):
Now, therefore, let Pharaohselect a discerning and wise man
and set him over the land ofEgypt.
Let Pharaoh proceed to appointoverseers over the land and take
one-fifth of the produce of theland of Egypt during these
seven plentiful years years, andlet them gather all of the food
(17:58):
of these good years that arecoming and store up grain under
the authority of the Pharaoh forfood in the cities and let them
keep it.
That food shall be a reservefor the land against the seven
years of famine that are tooccur in the land of Egypt, so
that the land may not perishthrough the famine.
After Joseph has received God'srevelation and interpretation of
(18:19):
Pharaoh's dream and speaks itto Pharaoh, joseph gives Pharaoh
some advice on how to survivethis upcoming 14 years.
He does so by telling thePharaoh he should appoint a man
of quality and integrity, a manwho, through good judgment and
wisdom, can save the nation ofEgypt.
(18:40):
In addition to this man, whowould oversee all the
preparation for the next 14years, joseph advises having
other men who are overseersunder this man who can carry out
this mission.
And as Joseph gives this advice, he refers back to the dream
(19:01):
and describes using a strategyso that Egypt will take
one-fifth of the produce fromthe years of plenty and reserve
it for the years of famine, andreserve it for the years of
famine.
Joseph ends his interpretationand advice for Pharaoh with a
dire warning Joseph tells thePharaoh that this must be done
(19:23):
so that the land of Egypt doesnot perish.
We're going to end here and Ihope you join me next week for
Joseph's rise to power in Egypt.
Thank you for joining me thisweek for the first half of
Genesis, chapter 41.
God bless you this week.
Grace and peace to you from God, our Father and our
Lord and Savior, jesus Christ.
Today we're in Genesis, chapter41, where Joseph interprets the
Pharaoh's dream, starting atverse 1, after two whole years,
pharaoh dreamed that he wasstanding by the Nile.
Pharaoh dreamed that he wasstanding by the Nile.
(00:23):
And behold, there came up outof the Nile seven cows,
attractive and plump, and theyfed on the reed grass.
And behold, seven other cows,ugly and thin, came up out of
the Nile after them and stood bythe other cows on the bank of
the Nile and stood by the othercows on the bank of the Nile and
(00:45):
the ugly, thin cows ate up theseven attractive, plump cows.
And Pharaoh awoke.
In these first four verses wesee Pharaoh's first dream.
Verse 1 begins After two wholeyears.
This is describing howPharaoh's dream occurred, two
(01:07):
full years after the chiefcupbearer and baker had their
dreams and were released fromprison.
And we see that Pharaoh in hisdream was standing by the Nile.
The Hebrew word, translatedNile in the ESV, means a river
or a stream, but in this contextit is properly translated Nile.
(01:31):
The overflow of the Nile, whichcame from the water of the
mountains, is where Egyptreceived its primary source of
water.
The Nile was central toEgyptian life and agriculture.
As Pharaoh is standing by theNile, he sees a group of seven
(01:53):
cows coming up out of the Nile.
Now, this first group of sevencows is beautiful in appearance,
they're well-fed, they're plump, and as they come out of the
river they begin to feed on thegrass next to the river.
And after seeing this firstgroup of beautiful plump cows,
(02:13):
the Pharaoh sees another groupof cows coming out of the Nile.
The second group, however, isugly and famished, thin.
Rather than finding grass toeat on the banks of the Nile,
these seven ugly, thin cows eatthe seven attractive and plump
cows.
And then Pharaoh wakes up fromhis sleep.
(02:38):
After this very disturbing dream, the Pharaoh is shocked into
consciousness and we see thatthere is some lapse of time
between his first dream and hissecond dream, verse 5,.
And he fell asleep.
And he dreamed a second time.
And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing
(03:04):
on one stalk.
And behold, after them sproutedseven ears thin and blighted by
the east wind.
And the thin ears swallowed upthe seven plump, full ears.
And Pharaoh awoke.
And behold, it was a dream.
Here in Pharaoh's second dream,we read that he fell asleep and
(03:27):
dreamed a second time.
Again, we're reminded thatthere was a break, where the
Pharaoh was conscious, betweenthe first and the second dream.
And Pharaoh falls asleep andhis second dream was of seven
ears of grain that were full andplump, all growing on the same
stalk.
(03:48):
But then the Pharaoh saw sevennew ears of grain that were thin
and damaged sprout on that samestalk with the seven plump ones
.
Then the thin and damaged earsof grain swallowed up the good
ears that were plump and full.
(04:08):
As I was researching this, aninteresting note on the east
wind in Egypt is that it'sparticularly destructive.
It comes through the deserts ofArabia and some of these gusts
are so intense, with heat, thatall one can do is fall to the
ground and they feel likethey're suffocating.
(04:28):
After seeing these thin anddamaged ears that were blighted
by the east wind swallow up theseven plump ears of grain, the
pharaoh again wakes up.
These two dreams were sodisturbing that they woke the
Pharaoh from his sleep and thistime, after having awakened, he
(04:50):
was relieved to realize it wasonly a dream, verse 8.
So in the morning his spiritwas troubled and he sent and he
called for all of the magiciansof Egypt and all of its wise men
.
Pharaoh told them his dreams,but there was none who could
interpret them to Pharaoh.
(05:10):
Here we see.
The first thing the Pharaohdoes in the morning is call for
the magicians and wise men.
The Pharaoh is deeply troubledby these dreams.
As we learned last week, theoccult practice or charlatan
science of interpreting dreamsis known as oniromancy, and in
(05:32):
ancient Egypt, magicians werebelieved to be able to tell the
future through dreams.
It would have been very commonfor the pharaoh to have his
dreams interpreted by magiciansusing their occultic
pseudoscience to interpret thedreams of those in the royal
court.
The fact that no one caninterpret these very disturbing
(05:57):
dreams is going to add to thePharaoh's distress.
Verse 9 Then the chief cupbearersaid to Pharaoh I remember my
offenses today, when Pharaoh wasangry with his servants and put
me and the chief baker incustody in the house of the
captain of the guard.
We dreamed on the same night,he and I each having a dream
(06:23):
with its own interpretation Ayoung Hebrew was there with us,
a servant of the captain of theguard.
When we told him, heinterpreted our dreams for us,
giving us an interpretation toeach man according to his dream
as he interpreted to us.
(06:44):
So it came about I was restoredto my office and the baker was
hanged.
In verses 9-13, we see theresponse to Pharaoh's distress
by the chief cupbearer.
After the Pharaoh had soughtout every professional in the
(07:05):
land of Egypt to interpret hisdream and there was no one that
could be found who couldinterpret it, the chief
cupbearer speaks up.
Certainly the chief cupbearerwas hoping that he could help
the Pharaoh in his desperateneed.
Everything we hear from thechief cupbearer in his statement
(07:28):
here is an attempt to findfavor in the eyes of the Pharaoh
and protect his own innocence.
From the statements of thecupbearer we can deduce that the
chief cupbearer had likelyforgotten Joseph intentionally,
as he wouldn't want to be thecatalyst of a conflict between
the Pharaoh's magicians and aHebrew who talked about
(07:51):
interpretations coming from theone true God.
And he begins by saying heremembers his offenses, which is
not an admission of forgettingJoseph, but rather how he was
previously thrown into prison bythe Pharaoh when Pharaoh was
angry with him and the baker.
(08:12):
Then he tells the Pharaoh howboth the baker and he had a
dream, and their dreams weredistinct dreams and each dream
had its own interpretation.
Then he describes a youngHebrew.
This descriptor of Joseph beinga young Hebrew is important
because Hebrews were known toworship one God and they had
(08:34):
different values than Egyptians.
Egyptians tended to look downon the values of Hebrews.
And he adds he's a servant ofthe captain of the guard.
In addition to mentioning thathe was a Hebrew, he also
mentions how Joseph was a slaveto Potiphar Potiphar, again, the
(08:55):
captain of the guard and thatmeans that this Hebrew was a
servant of a high-rankingEgyptian officer.
And finally, after manystatements of making sure he
protected himself, the chiefcupbearer says that Joseph's
interpretations came true.
He was restored to his officewhile the baker was hanged, just
(09:20):
as Joseph had predicted Verse14.
Then Pharaoh sent and calledJoseph and they quickly brought
him out of the pit and when hehad shaved himself and changed
his clothes, he came in beforePharaoh and Pharaoh said to
Joseph I have had a dream andthere's no one who can interpret
(09:44):
it.
I've heard it said of you thatwhen you hear a dream, you can
interpret it.
Joseph answered Pharaoh it isnot in me.
God will give Pharaoh afavorable answer.
In these three verses we seethat the Pharaoh had an urgency
in which he called Joseph up outof the dungeon, which again
(10:09):
shows us the distress that thesedreams had placed on the
Pharaoh's heart.
Even though the Pharaoh'sdreams could probably have been
considered a national emergencybecause of the urgency with
which it was being dealt with,the royal dress code and
Egyptian customs were stillenforced.
Joseph was asked to shavehimself and change his clothes.
(10:33):
The shaving of Joseph alsopoints to how the Egyptians
despised Hebrew culture, asHebrews commonly had beards.
And after Joseph's appearancewas considered appropriate, he
was presented to the king ofEgypt and he came in before the
(10:55):
Pharaoh.
So, after being properlygroomed according to the
Egyptian and royal protocols,joseph was presented to the
Pharaoh.
Joseph was immediately told bythe Pharaoh that he had had a
dream and that no one in all ofEgypt could interpret these
dreams.
But he had been told thatJoseph was someone who could
(11:18):
interpret dreams.
And the first words to come outof Joseph's mouth spoke how it
was not he that had the power ofinterpretation, but it was God.
Joseph said it is not in me.
God will give Pharaoh afavorable answer.
(11:39):
That phrase it is not in mecould also be translated it is
apart from me or it has nothingto do with me.
Joseph's answer and his firstwords stand in direct contrast
to the magicians who used theoccultic science to glorify
(12:00):
themselves.
The very first opportunityJoseph had in two years for
freedom he took to give glory tothe Lord, god as he was brought
before the highest authority inthe land, verse 17.
Then Pharaoh said to JosephBehold, in my dream I was
(12:22):
standing on the banks of theNile.
Seven cows, plump andattractive, came up out of the
Nile and fed in the reed grass.
Seven other cows came up afterthem, poor, very ugly and thin,
such as I had never seen in allthe land of Egypt.
And the thin ugly cows ate upthe first seven plump cows.
(12:45):
But when they had eaten them noone would have known that they
had eaten them, for they werestill as ugly as at the
beginning.
Then I awoke.
I also saw in my dream sevenears growing on one stalk, full
and good.
(13:05):
Seven ears withered, thin andblighted by the east.
Wind sprouted up after them andthe thin ears swallowed up the
seven good ears.
And I told this to themagicians, but there was no one
who could explain it to me.
In verses 17 through 24, we seethe Pharaoh recount his dream
almost word for word what weread earlier in verses 1 through
(13:29):
8, with just a little bit moredescription.
With just a little bit moredescription, this recital of the
exact dreams to Joseph showsthe great impact that they had
had on Pharaoh.
It's also significant to notethat Pharaoh's immediate
response to Joseph, claimingthat it was the Lord God that
would give the response and nothim, and his contrasting himself
(13:53):
with the magicians, was simplyto tell him the dreams.
The Pharaoh didn't even blinkat Joseph's trust in the Lord
God and his claim that theinterpretations had nothing to
do with him Verse 25,.
Then Joseph said to Pharaoh thedreams of Pharaoh are one.
(14:14):
God has revealed to Pharaohwhat he is about to do.
The seven good cows are sevenyears and the seven good ears
are seven years.
The dreams are one.
The seven lean and ugly cowsthat came up after them are
(14:34):
seven years, and the seven emptyears blighted by the east wind
are also seven years of famine.
It is as I told Pharaoh.
God has shown to Pharaoh whathe is about to do.
There will come seven years ofgreat plenty throughout all the
(14:56):
land of Egypt, but after themthere will arise seven years of
famine and all the plenty willbe forgotten in the land of
Egypt.
The famine will consume theland and the plenty will be
unknown in the land by reason ofthe famine that will follow,
for it will be very severe, andthe doubling of Pharaoh's dream
(15:22):
means that the thing is fixed byGod and God will shortly bring
it about.
In verses 25-32, we have God'sinterpretation through Joseph.
Joseph begins by tellingPharaoh that the dreams are one
and the same, and then he givesglory to God by telling Pharaoh
(15:46):
that the Lord, god, has revealedto him what he is about to do.
Joseph groups the seven goodcows and seven good ears
together at the same time andwith the same descriptor, that
they are seven good years ofplenty, and then he again
mentions the dreams are one.
(16:07):
Joseph then goes on to describeseven more years, that the
seven lean and ugly cows and theseven empty ears blighted by
the east wind are seven years offamine.
Then Joseph again gives gloryto God and he reaffirms that it
was God who has shown this tothe Pharaoh.
(16:30):
God has shown the Pharaoh whathe is about to do.
And then Joseph explains whythe cows remain thin and ugly
even after they eat the plumpand attractive cows.
It's because the years offamine will be so severe that
the years of plenty will becompletely forgotten in all.
(17:05):
The land of two separate.
Dreams by God means that theseevents are fixed by God and they
will happen soon.
Joseph confirms that theseevents cannot be changed and
gives glory to the God of theuniverse, including his power
over the land of Egypt Verse 33.
(17:29):
Now, therefore, let Pharaohselect a discerning and wise man
and set him over the land ofEgypt.
Let Pharaoh proceed to appointoverseers over the land and take
one-fifth of the produce of theland of Egypt during these
seven plentiful years years, andlet them gather all of the food
(17:58):
of these good years that arecoming and store up grain under
the authority of the Pharaoh forfood in the cities and let them
keep it.
That food shall be a reservefor the land against the seven
years of famine that are tooccur in the land of Egypt, so
that the land may not perishthrough the famine.
After Joseph has received God'srevelation and interpretation of
(18:19):
Pharaoh's dream and speaks itto Pharaoh, joseph gives Pharaoh
some advice on how to survivethis upcoming 14 years.
He does so by telling thePharaoh he should appoint a man
of quality and integrity, a manwho, through good judgment and
wisdom, can save the nation ofEgypt.
(18:40):
In addition to this man, whowould oversee all the
preparation for the next 14years, joseph advises having
other men who are overseersunder this man who can carry out
this mission.
And as Joseph gives this advice, he refers back to the dream
(19:01):
and describes using a strategyso that Egypt will take
one-fifth of the produce fromthe years of plenty and reserve
it for the years of famine, andreserve it for the years of
famine.
Joseph ends his interpretationand advice for Pharaoh with a
dire warning Joseph tells thePharaoh that this must be done
(19:23):
so that the land of Egypt doesnot perish.
We're going to end here and Ihope you join me next week for
Joseph's rise to power in Egypt.
Thank you for joining me thisweek for the first half of
Genesis, chapter 41.
God bless you this week.
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