Joseph's Rise to Power

Scripture Reading/Prayer

Tonight we are going to cover a lot of ground in Scripture tonight, but we are going to begin in Chapter 40, verse 20, and then read into chapter 41 some. This is on page X of your Bibles.

English Standard Version Chapter 40

20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

English Standard Version Chapter 41

After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile,

Let’s pray: Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for the story of Joseph. We thank you that you tell us about not just the good parts of Joseph’s life, but about all of the awful things he experienced so that you can powerfully display your good purposes of your providence. I pray that as we continue our study of this story that you would show us how the Scripture was given to us for our benefit and can comfort us in the trials of our own lives. Show us how you work all things together for your glory and our good in Jesus Christ, the most important purpose in all your providence. I ask this in the name of Jesus, amen.

Recap

Last week we continued the story of Joseph in prison, but we pressed “pause” on going into the details of the story so we could focus on a very significant truth about God’s providence. Like we have said for the past several weeks, we believe that “God is powerful over all things and uses all things to accomplish his purposes”, and last week we looked at how God’s providence is an expression of his perfectly good, wise, and loving character. We talked about how when we hit rock bottom in our lives, we need to remember and remind ourselves of not just God’s providence, but of God’s character, because God’s character and his providence are perfectly connected to each other. When we ask God why he allows awful or horrible things to happen to us in our lives, we need to remember that because God is perfectly good, loving, gracious, just, merciful, and kind, we can trust that the purposes of his providence are also perfectly good, loving, gracious, just, merciful, and kind, and that because God doesn’t change, his character or his providence doesn’t change either.

Tonight, we are going to do the opposite of what we did last week and we are going to focus heavily on the story of Joseph, because this is the part of the story where all of these various threads and themes of God’s providence come together and the story changes for Joseph. Far from abandoning Joseph in slavery and in prison, God was actually setting the stage for Joseph’s rise to power, and for Joseph to not just save the nation of Egypt, but his own family as well. We are going to be going through multiple passages tonight, so keep your Bibles opened to where we just read, and as we go through this story, I want you to think about how all of this is only possible because of God’s providence - and what that means for your lives as well.

The Plot

We picked up at the very end of chapter 40, where Joseph is forgotten and abandoned in prison by Pharaoh’s cupbearer. Joseph interprets the dreams of two prisoners, the cupbearer and the baker, and both dreams come true: the baker is executed, and the cupbearer is restored to his position of power and authority. But, the cupbearer promised to remember Joseph and try to help him get out of prison, but at the end of chapter 40, we read he forgets Joseph.

Then we get to chapter 41, and we read that Joseph would be left in prison for two more years. But right away, we see that someone else is having weird dreams - this time, it’s Pharaoh. Even in the midst of Joseph’s darkest moment, God is already at work through surprising ways to prepare for Joseph’s rise to power. We will get to what these dreams were here in a second, but Pharoah has two dreams, and he wants to understand what these dreams mean. None of his magicians or wise men can explain it to them.

But you know who knows a thing or two about interpreting dreams? The cupbearer - he had a dream, and Joseph interpreted it for him. And isn’t it just the best timing that Pharaoh now needs someone to interpret his dreams? Listen to the what the cupbearer says in chapter 41:9

English Standard Version Chapter 41

9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my offenses today. 10 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, 11 we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation. 12 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. 13 And as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

Even in the cupbearer’s sin, God’s providence was still at work. The cupbearer forgot about Joseph for over two years, but just now, at the perfect time, remembers Joseph and gives him the best opportunity to get out of prison. Isn’t the providence of God amazing?

Let’s continue with the story:

English Standard Version Chapter 41

14 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. 15 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.” 16 Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” 17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile. 18 Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. 19 Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. 20 And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, 21 but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke. 22 I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good. 23 Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, 24 and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

Look at what Joseph says in verse 16: “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” Look at the change in Joseph’s character from the self-confident little brat at the beginning of the story to his answer here. Despite all the awful things he has been through, Joseph declares before Pharaoh that God, not Joseph, is the one who can interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. You’d think after all the horrible things Joseph has gone through that Joseph would be eager to do anything and everything to save his skin and make himself look good, but the first thing out of his mouth before the most powerful ruler in the land is “It is not in me; God will do this.”

Pharaoh has two dreams, but both dreams are functionally the same: seven “heathy” things come up, and then seven “unhealthy” things arise and devour the seven “healthy” things. In one dream, its cows, and the other, it’s corn. Listen to how Joseph interprets this dream:

English Standard Version Chapter 41

25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. 27 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. 28 It is as I told Pharaoh; God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 29 There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, 30 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, 31 and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. 32 And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. 33 Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. 34 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. 35 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. 36 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.”

These two dreams basically give the same message: famine is coming. Egypt is going to have seven years of abundance, and then seven years of a famine so severe it’s going to affect the whole area even beyond Egypt. In order to prevent disaster from occuring, Pharaoh needs to appoint someone to oversee all the produce of Egypt and set aside one-fifth of that produce during these seven years. When the famine begins, these reserves collected during these seven years will keep the people of Egypt alive.

Notice what Joseph doesn’t do here: Joseph doesn’t suggest himself for that job! He tells Pharaoh he needs to appoint someone to this task, but he doesn’t try to hype himself up as being the person for that job. Even though he is the one interpreting this dream after nobody else could, and even though his interpretation is so significant it covers the next 14 years of the nation’s existence, Joseph doesn’t elevate himself here. He lets God take the glory.

But Joseph’s interpretation isn’t lost on Pharaoh. Listen to how they respond:

English Standard Version Chapter 41

37 This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. 38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” 39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. 40 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.” 41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” 42 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. 43 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.

Back at the beginning of this story, Joseph is this weido kid who has these weird dreams and gets in trouble for them. Who could’ve imagined that the Lord was preparing for this moment in Joseph’s life all the way back when he was a kid? Who could’ve imagined that Joseph being sold into slavery and then thrown into prison would end with him being made ruler of Egypt and second-in-command to Pharaoh himself? Who could’ve imagined that even in the midst of Joseph’s darkest chapter, the Lord was already preparing the next scene of Joseph’s life? Isn’t the providence of God amazing?

Let’s look real quick at what happens after the seven plentiful years end:

English Standard Version Chapter 41

53 The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, 54 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. 55 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.”

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

Everything that Joseph interpreted in Pharaoh’s dream came to pass. Not only was Joseph ruler of Egypt, Joseph was now saving the world - and he was only able to do this because his brothers sold him into slavery, and Potiphar’s wife had him thrown in jail, where he waited for the cupbearer to remember him before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh had a dream. Like we have read every week in this series, “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.” God is now using all the awful things in Joseph’s life not just to save Joseph, but to save the world.

Romans 8:28 tells us “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” What is the ultimate purpose of God’s providence? What do all the stories and themes in the Old Testament lead up to? They all point to Jesus Christ, and how God would provide salvation for sinners through the life, death, and resurrection of his son. Joseph would suffer injustice and then be raised up to save Egypt from a famine; Jesus would be crucified for the sins of the world and be resurrected for the salvation of the whole world. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation, submitting to him as Lord and believing he alone can save us from our sins, we join in the story of God’s providential purposes to save the world through Jesus Christ. God’s providential purposes are still at work as the Gospel goes out into the world and saves people from every tribe and nation. Just like Joseph waited in prison for a long time, we are waiting for Jesus Christ to return and make all things new, and we can trust that God will accomplish all his purposes in his providence, even when when we don’t know the next chapter of the story.