Joseph and Pharaoh - Genesis 41

©October 13th, 2019 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Genesis

Most of us have heard the phrase, “The Lord works in mysterious ways.” That phrase isn’t in the Bible, but as we read some of the stories in the Bible, it becomes apparent that God’s methods often take us by surprise, because we don’t see the big picture the way He does. As such, God’s ways seem mysterious to us until the bigger picture is revealed.

The next scene in the saga of Joseph’s life is a pretty good example of God working in mysterious ways as well. After two years of waiting in prison, hoping for the cupbearer to put in a good word with Pharaoh and hopefully get released, Joseph had surely begun to give up hope that he was getting out of prison any time soon. Then suddenly, everything in Joseph’s life changed. He went from being a prisoner to the Prime Minister! He went from being the lowliest foreigner languishing in prison to being the number two man in all of Egypt. Talk about a mysterious turn of events!

Pharaoh’s Dreams

So how did this reversal happen? It started with two dreams.

Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. 2In his dream he saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass. 3Then he saw seven more cows come up behind them from the Nile, but these were scrawny and thin. These cows stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank. 4Then the scrawny, thin cows ate the seven healthy, fat cows! At this point in the dream, Pharaoh woke up.

5But he fell asleep again and had a second dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain, plump and beautiful, growing on a single stalk. 6Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were shriveled and withered by the east wind. 7And these thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads! Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was a dream. (Genesis 41:1-7, NLT)

We talked last week about the significance of dreams and how sometimes God communicates with people through them. In this case, Pharaoh believed his dream was significant, but he didn’t know what it meant. In ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh was seen as a god himself, and thus his dreams were given even greater weight than the average person. And since he basically had the same dream twice (albeit with different characters) it seemed to confirm that this dream was indeed quite significant. He didn’t know what it meant, so he asked his magicians/dream interpreters for an answer. Apparently, none of their answers satisfied him, so he was still left searching for answers. This is when the cupbearer suddenly remembered his time in prison with Joseph. I imagine him feeling so ashamed for having forgotten about Joseph until now, but seeing an opportunity to ingratiate himself to the Pharaoh, he told him about his experience with Joseph when he was in prison.

Remember, Pharaoh was the one who had put the cupbearer in prison in the first place, so the cupbearer probably wasn’t especially eager to bring up that scene from his history, as it might rekindle Pharaoh’s anger against him, but nonetheless, he told Pharaoh about Joseph, and Joseph was summoned from the prison.

Pharaoh told Joseph he had heard he could interpret dreams. Here Joseph had the opportunity to try to make himself look good before the ruler of the country, but instead he told the truth. He corrected Pharaoh and told him only God could interpret dreams. Remember, Pharaoh believed himself to be a god, so Joseph was speaking to him about the God who was more powerful than Pharaoh. Joseph saw this as an opportunity to speak the truth to power.

Joseph understood that he didn’t ultimately answer to Pharaoh. He understood that he served the Lord, who was far more powerful than this mere man masquerading as a god. So, when faced with the option of denying God and taking credit for himself, Joseph corrected Pharaoh and pointed him to the living God.

How often are we unwilling to do what Joseph did? We often try to make ourselves popular with those we think powerful. We tend to soften our stances, or try not to rock the boat when faced with a person with more power than us, whether that is our boss, a politician, an organizational leader, someone popular or influential, or someone else. We tend to shy away from speaking the truth if we think it will upset these people, because we think if we say something they disagree with, they will take it out on us.

But it’s not just with people in positions of power that we shy away from the truth. We do it with friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and others. How many times do we see opportunities to point people to God and simply let them go by? We are much more apt to keep silent than to speak up about the things of God. Most of the time, we fear speaking up because of what the other person might do. When we have the opportunity to speak up for the Lord, we ought to have the courage of Joseph. We need to remember that the God we serve is bigger and more powerful than they are, no matter what position they may hold. We must lovingly and respectfully speak the truth, regardless of who is in front of us. Joseph spoke the truth, knowing full well that doing so could land him back in prison. But doing what was right was more important to Joseph than making Pharaoh happy.

Joseph’s Interpretation

Pharaoh didn’t get mad at Joseph, but instead told him his dreams. Joseph told him the meaning of the dreams, but even as he did so he continued to keep the focus on God. He told him that the Lord was showing him what he was about to do. Joseph was not about to try to take credit for something God was doing.

The meaning of the dreams was this: God was going to bless Egypt with seven years of great abundance, but then there would be seven years of tremendous famine. Joseph then told Pharaoh that since God was giving him a glimpse into the future, he should plan accordingly. He should store up part of the grain during the years of abundance so Egypt would have food during the years of famine. He told him he should appoint someone intelligent and wise to oversee this rationing. I don’t think Joseph was angling for a job here, I think he was just giving him sound advice.

Nevertheless, Pharaoh’s response was that Joseph seemed like the right man for the job. But it’s important to note why Pharaoh believed this.

38So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?” 39Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are. 40You will be in charge of my court, and all my people will take orders from you. Only I, sitting on my throne, will have a rank higher than yours.” (Genesis 41:38-40, NLT)

Pharaoh concluded that Joseph was filled with the spirit of God! He seemed to believe that this powerful God that he did not know was working through Joseph. What a remarkable conclusion from Pharaoh! Joseph’s faithfulness demonstrated God’s power to a man who believed himself to be a god.

So, Pharaoh elevated Joseph to a lofty rank, basically imbuing him with all the power of the Pharaoh himself. In a matter of minutes, Joseph had gone from an imprisoned slave from a foreign land to the most powerful man in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself. It’s a pretty shocking reversal.

The lesson we need to see in all of this is that God is always working behind the scenes, even when we don’t see it. God’s timing is perfect, and He is orchestrating events we couldn’t even imagine. See what had to happen in order for Joseph to be here: his brothers had to sell him, he had to be put in prison, the cupbearer also had to be put in prison, God had to give the cupbearer a dream Joseph could interpret, the cupbearer had to be restored to his position, and then God had to give Pharaoh a pair of dreams that startled him so much that he was willing to listen to a prisoner’s interpretation of it.

Here’s the point: there is never a point in the story of your life where God has abandoned you. Joseph surely felt that way at many times. This whole process took 13 years! That’s 13 years where Joseph may have felt abandoned by God. But he continued to trust and serve. He knew God was in control. When you feel as though God has abandoned or forgotten about you, please remember that the story’s not over yet! God has plans to use whatever you are going through you for good. He will use even the difficult times to accomplish good things. If you doubt it, just look at Joseph.

Joseph’s Response to the Reversal

Trials often reveal a person’s character, and Joseph’s character had been impeccable throughout his many trials. But sometimes times of success are even more revealing. People often turn to the Lord when times are tough but forget all about Him when things are good. The way Joseph responds demonstrates his faith in God is the same whether things are going good or bad. Joseph understood he needed to rely on the Lord for his strength, even when he was one of the most powerful people on earth.

In addition to being given a position of high ranking within Egypt, Joseph was also given a new name and a wife. He was given an Egyptian name by Pharaoh and his wife was a daughter of the Priest of On. The priest of On was one of the most influential people in Egypt. He would have overseen many of the festivals in the town of Heliopolis, where they worshiped the sun god, Re. Needless to say, Joseph was put in a position of great power and influence.

But Joseph was also put in a position of great temptation. He had great power and wealth, and he would have been surrounded by people who worshiped many different deities. He was all alone in his worship of the Lord. It would have been easy for him to drift, or to conform himself to the culture by a series of small compromises. But it seems that Joseph didn’t do that.

Through the seven years of plenty Joseph did exactly what he told Pharaoh should happen. He kept back twenty percent of the harvests and stored them in storage centers around Egypt. By the end of the 7 years there was more grain than they could even keep track of. This shows how great the harvests must have been during these 7 years, because at 20% per year, Joseph had essentially stockpiled just under 1.5 years worth of harvests…and even that was immeasurable! Joseph continued to trust that God knew what He was doing.

During this time period Joseph had two sons. Though Joseph had been given an Egyptian name, and his wife was Egyptian, Joseph gave his sons Hebrew names! The birth of his sons drove him to worship the Lord and to trust Him even more!

His first son he named Manasseh, which sounded like the Hebrew word for causing to forget. His reasoning was that the birth of this son caused him to forget all of his troubles prior to this point. But notice who Joseph credits with this—God! Joseph calls his son Manasseh so he can remember God’s faithfulness to him. His second son he named Ephraim, which sounded like the Hebrew word for fruitful. His reasoning was that God had made him fruitful (blessed him) in the land of his grief. In these times of great joy and prosperity, Joseph never forgot that it was the Lord who was in control of all things. He chose to focus on God’s blessings rather than his hardships. Joseph’s faith continued despite constant attacks.

At the end of the seven years of plenty, the famine arrived, just as Joseph had predicted. When the people came to Pharaoh to ask what to do, he delegated to Joseph and told the people to do whatever he told them. So, Joseph began distributing the food he had stored to the people of Egypt. Because the famine extended far beyond Egypt, eventually people from other places came, seeking help from Joseph. Joseph’s wise planning (at God’s direction) was serving Egypt well. Joseph didn’t know it yet, but he was about to see how God still wasn’t finished with him yet. There was still more to the story, and he would continue to see how God’s hand had been on him throughout everything he had faced.

Applications

As we look at this section of Joseph’s story, there are several takeaways. First, we see the importance of integrity. Joseph was the same guy no matter what happened. He was honest, forthright, and a follower of God when things were going well and when they were not. Joseph could have completely forgotten about the Lord after being promoted to his elevated position, he could have become drunk with power, but he didn’t. He continued to be the same person, regardless of what situation he was in.

Our goal should be that people would say the same of us. No matter who we are with, no matter what the situation, we should strive to always be the same person—a person who is trying to honor God in all we do.

Second, we learn the value of faithfulness. Joseph’s faithfulness is probably the thing that astounds me the most about his character. He spent 13 years as a slave or in prison, despite having done nothing to deserve it. It would have been really tempting for Joseph to despair or conclude God had abandoned him. But he didn’t. He continued to trust God even when things seemed hopeless.

When tough times come and we feel like God is distant or has abandoned us, we often begin to think we have to make things happen for ourselves. So, we resort to deceit, trickery, schemes, or other things in order to try to make our situation better. That’s not what Joseph did. Joseph just continued to work hard and do what was right, believing that even this awful series of events was ultimately part of God’s plan. Joseph saw what we often don’t: that God is working behind the scenes even when we can’t see it.

You may find yourself in the middle of a tough time, either now or in the future. When it feels like you’re doing all the right things and still getting hammered for it, please remember the story of Joseph. Keep doing what’s right, trusting that God is still working, and He will reward your faithfulness. It’s just not time yet.

Third, we see that God’s timing is perfect. This is what allows us to remain faithful when we don’t understand. God is working behind the scenes even if we can’t see it. If Joseph hadn’t been in prison, he would have never met the cupbearer. If the cupbearer hadn’t been imprisoned, Joseph would have never met Pharaoh. And if the cupbearer had remembered Joseph right away, he likely would have never had the chance to interpret Pharaoh’s dream and be put in charge of the food supply of Egypt. We have the benefit of hindsight. We can see what God was doing all throughout Joseph’s story…but Joseph didn’t see any of this. It was only at the end that he could see how God was working all along.

Please remember this. The delays in your life are not because God has forgotten you, but because He is still working things out. His timing is perfect. It’s better than ours. But we won’t understand that fully until later.

Fourth, we see the importance of giving God credit. Joseph was consistent in admitting that all of the blessings in his life were from God, not from himself. He used those blessings as opportunities to praise God and to point others to Him, rather than to attract attention to himself. This is a practice we should cultivate in our own lives.

It is a good practice for us to sometimes just stop and think about the many blessings in our lives and remember that all those things come from God. We should remember that the abilities we have, the things we have, the enjoyment we have, all come from God. We should take time to thank God for those blessings often.

Which leads to the fifth lesson: In times of trial, we should focus on our blessings rather than our hardships. When Joseph’s sons were born to him, he remembered that God was the one who had given him those blessings, and he chose to focus on how they were a blessing, rather than wallowing in his pain. He could have chosen to focus on how his sons might never know their grandfather, how they wouldn’t get to know their many cousins, and how this wasn’t the life he had dreamed of. But instead, Joseph chose to let these blessings help him heal from the pain of his past. So many times, we choose to focus on the negative things in our lives rather than the positive. It’s a question of perspective. Like Joseph, we have a choice of what we want to focus on. Let’s choose wisely.

Conclusion

Joseph’s story is quite literally a rags to riches story. It is a relief to finally see some resolution for this man who seemed to just be taken advantage of over and over again. But Joseph’s story isn’t over yet, and we learn that Joseph is part of an even bigger story that God was writing. I hope you are encouraged by Joseph’s story as you look at your own life. Maybe your life isn’t the way you had envisioned it. Maybe you feel like your story is a disappointment. Let me encourage you in two things. First, change your perspective. Instead of looking at all the unexpected hardships of your life, choose to see the unexpected blessings. Look for the surprises of God’s grace you see in your life every day. And second, remember the story isn’t over yet. Joseph spent 13 years wondering what God was doing. But God was active through that whole time, even though Joseph couldn’t see it. God has a plan that’s bigger than you or me, and He will use us to accomplish that plan. We can have confidence that His plans are good and perfect, and one day we’ll be able to look back our lives and see what God was doing all along. Until then, let’s just trust Him and serve Him the best we can.