The Story Through the Bible Gen 41

Pharoah’s dreams

Genesis 41:1–8 ESV

After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind. And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

Okay, two years goes by since the last chapter with the baker and cup bearer, we talked about that at the end of last week. But now we’re into dream and I am really curious who’s got it translated which ways in your version. Verse 8 Who has dreams plural and who has dream singular? The Hebrew has dream in singular but the pronoun used at the end of he verse is plural. I know it sounds crazy that we’re jumping right into some weird point about grammar but it’s fascinating to me and some other people have commented about this but most translations make it smooth in English. One of the views is that Pharoah is telling the magicians it is ONE dream but they’re stumped because they see it as two different dreams that can’t be fit together with whatever way they use to interpret dreams.

Genesis 41:9–13 ESV

Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my offenses today. When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation. A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. And as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

We start a theme here from the lowly to exalted.

Genesis 41:14–16 ESV

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

Joseph might have been put in charge but he wasn’t anything more than the most exalted prisoner. He still needed to clean up to be presentable before Pharaoh. Now we get to the good parts, the wisdom of the world just can’t compare with God’s. Joseph humbly points back to God. Pharaoh then state the dream again and did you notice he continues to refer to both dreams as one singular dream in the verses we just read.

Genesis 41:25–36 ESV

Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine. 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. 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.”

Now, Joseph goes beyond what the Pharaoh asks for right? He just wanted to know what the dreams mean, Joseph tells him what God has revealed but also the solution to the issues coming up that the dream warns about. Pick a great men that can manage this well. He doesn’t suggest himself even.

Genesis 41:37–49 ESV

This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. 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. And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.

With a name change in here I had to find out what it meant. That’s a little difficult because it’s an egyptian name written in Hebrew but scholars think it means “God speaks and he lives” which does fit what’s going on here.

Genesis 41:50–57 ESV

Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.” 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. Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.

Manasseh means forgetting

Ephraim means doubly fruitful (2x increase)

We didn’t talk about it but Joseph means to add or to increase

Anyhow the dreams do come true and Joseph’s work increases the reserves and it goes out to the Egyptians saving them from death by famine it also saves the rest of the known world who comes to Egypt to buy grain. That leads straight into the story of Joseph’s family which we’ll get into but I want to jump ahead a little and wrap up the bigger picture of these years of plenty and famine.

Genesis 47:13–26 ESV

Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.” So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh’s. As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other. Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land. Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.

This strategy by the end of the time of famine has indebted all of Egypt to the Pharaoh. They sell everything including the land to stay alive. The Pharaoh keeps the control of land but then the people have back the land at a 20% gross product tax for all time. This massively consolidates power to the Pharaoh. This is one of those things that I think helps us point to which Pharaoh Joseph served. That’s likely a discussion that’s not part of the Bible study though.

Let’s wrap up looking at what happened with the people at the time and see if we can match that in a typology for Christ with Joseph.

1. The One Raised Up to Save

Joseph: Taken from the pit and prison, exalted to Pharaoh’s right hand to preserve life (Gen 41:39–44).

Christ: Raised from humiliation and death, exalted at the right hand of God to give eternal life Phil 2:8–11

Philippians 2:8–11 ESV

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Point for Today: God’s salvation comes not through human strength, but through the exalted One He appoints.

2. Bread for the World

Joseph: Opens the storehouses so “all the earth” comes to Egypt for bread (Gen 41:56–57).

Christ: Declares, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger” John 6:35

John 6:35 ESV

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Point for Today: The true famine in our world is spiritual, and Christ alone satisfies.

3. Lordship and Allegiance

Joseph: Not only provides food but gains the people’s allegiance and service (Gen 47:23–25).

Christ: The One who saves is also the One who rules; salvation and submission go together Matt 28:18–20

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Point for Today: We don’t receive Christ’s benefits while withholding our lives — His saving work and His lordship are inseparable.