Sermon Tone Analysis

Me

Talk about the prophecy spoken, “You will be a great leader of your people” and waiting on it to play out.

We

We’ve all likely experienced something like this in our own lives.

This feeling like we’re meant for something great, we don’t necessarily know how to put our finger on it just yet, but it feels like it’s just outside of our reach, but we know it’s there.

Maybe it’s a vision God gave us about a business idea.

Maybe it’s a dream of a particular job we’ve always had and we haven’t quite seen it play out just yet.

Maybe it’s a vision of a move of God for our family, or our congregation, or our community and we can sense it’s right around the corner but we’re not quite there yet.

God

This week we read Parasha Miketz, Genesis 41:1-44:17, in which we continue with the saga of the life of Joseph.

The Parasha begins with Pharaoh having a couple of bad dreams that sort of rocked him to the core.

He called together all of Egypts fortune-tellers, sorcerers, magicians, priests, wise men, etc. and told them his dreams.

Yet, despite how “wise” these guys were suppose to be, none of them could reveal the meaning of Pharaoh’s dream to him.

All of a sudden the cheif cupbearer, yes the same one who was imprisoned with Joseph and for whom Joseph interpreted a dream for, pops up and says, “Yo, I just realized I messed up…” And he reminds Pharaoh of his imprisonment and why.

He then recounts to Pharaoh of Joseph interpreting his and the baker’s dream and both coming true.

So Pharaoh hurries and calls for Joseph to be brought in to him.

Joseph cleans up, shaves, changes his clothes and is brought in before Pharaoh.

The dreams are recalled to Joseph and ultimately Joseph reveals the meaning and interpretation of the dreams and outlines a plan for preparing for what is coming.

Pharaoh promotes Joseph to serve as his righthand and to manage everything he has suggested to ensure the survival of the Egyptian people.

In chapter 42 we see Jacob and his other 11 sons reinserted in the narrative.

They are beginning to feel the pains of the famine that is now in full force upon Egypt and Canaan.

He hears that Egypt has grain for sell so he sends all but Benjamin with money and gifts to Egypt to to procure food for their own survival.

Well, everyone who comes to Egypt to get food has to go before Joseph, including his own brothers.

He recognizes them immediately, yet because years have gone by and Joseph’s dressed like an Egyptian, his brother’s don’t recognize him.

And as soon as he recognizes them his dreams of long ago, the same ones they all laughed at and got angry with him for, flashed back across his mind.

And immediately Joseph asks if their father and brother are still alive and well, and then begins to test his brothers to see if they’ve had any change of heart since last he saw them...

Ultimately he sends them away with food (as well as all the money and gifts they came with).

But, because he’s got them thinking he thinks they are spies because of the head games he’s playing with them, Joseph does tell them they can’t come back for anymore until they bring their youngest brother with and he also takes Simeon prisoner until they come back again with Benjamin.

And in all of this, the brothers discuss amongst themselves how all of this is happening because of how unfairly they treated Joseph, and they have no clue Joseph can understand them and is listening closely to everything they say.

They get back home, explain everything to Jacob and he finds out they returned with all the money and goods they were sent with to pay for the grain.

He gets upset and assumes that, much like with Sh’chem, they have gone out of their way to make him look bad… But, Jacob point blank says he will not allow Benjamin to go with them if they have to go back.

In chapter 43 they in fact do need to go back to get more food, but now they have to negotiate with Jacob to get him to allow them to bring Benjamin because they know they won’t get anything if they don’t.

Judah, the same brother who sold Joseph, takes responsibility for Benjamin and Judah would be his pledge.

Jacob finally gives in, reluctantly, and sends them with all the money and goods needed for food, but also everything they came back with the last time to make up for not paying before.

They are now back before Joseph with Benjamin in tow, and Joseph continues to test them to see if they have truly changed.

Part of this was having everything they brought put back in their bags and adding his personal cup to the mix just to make things fun.

Then he sends them out on their journey home, and sends his servants after them to arrest them for stealing from Joseph.

Joseph says he’s going to imprison Benjamin for stealing the cup, but then Judah steps up and says he’ll take the heat instead of Benjamin.

And this is where the cliffhanger leaves off until next week’s Parasha (Parasha Vayigash).

But today I want to focus on on specific concept we see play out in Parasha Miketz that I think is vital for our having a healthy walk with the Lord today.

And to grasp it we need to understand a principal that Joseph learned the hard way.

God’s promises always come true and faithful people wait on His timing no matter how long it takes.

So let’s dig into the Word together.

Two years has gone by since Joseph interpreted the chief cupbearer’s and the chief baker’s dreams in prison.

Their dreams came true, the baker died, and the cupbearer lived and was reestablished in his old position.

Joseph asked him make sure he remembered him when he was free, but obviously he forgot to remember… So, for two extra years Joseph was stuck in a cell…

But, the worst part about this isn’t the jail cell, it isn’t that he forgot, it isn’t even that he wished he was free.

It’s that this is a man with a future, a man of dreams and visions, a man who has a unique connection with the Ruach Elohim and is wasting away in jail.

When Joseph was younger he had his own dreams from God, he didn’t necessarily understand them yet, but he knew he was meant for bigger and better things.

But, after almost 13 years of slavery and imprisonment his hopes and dreams seemed to be more of a demented, sarcastic joke than anything that could actually come true.

But then all of the sudden Joseph’s fortunes begin to turn without him knowing anything was happening.

Pharoah was having some weird, tormenting dreams that he couldn’t quite wrap his head around.

But they definitely had him shook to the core.

He had no clue what any of this meant, but he was completely bent out of shape over them, the Torah says he was disturbed in his spirit.

So he gathered together all of his wise men, fortune-tellers, priests, and so on who he thought might be able to tell him what all of this actually means.

And what’s really interesting here is that, unlike with Daniel’s situation, these “wise men” not only couldn’t interpret the dreams, but they weren’t even willing to fake it till they made it.

It was at this point, when no one could figure out the dreams meaning that the cupbearer suddenly has a recollection of Joseph.

He’s watching all this play out and all of a sudden a light switches on, he standing there thinking, “Why does this all feel so familiar…?

Oh dang… My boy Joseph...”

Joseph is brought out before Pharaoh and Pharaoh tells him, “Look man, I had the crazy dreams, they’ve got me kind of messed up.

None of the folks I pay to interpret stuff like this are of any use at all, and I’m left to my own torment.

Your buddy over here says you can interpret the dream no problem, is this true?”

A few years early and Joseph may have been all over it… A few years early and Joseph, this man of God who has suffered so much at such a young age, is kind of broken… He’s lost hope… He was a man of dreams and visions, like his father.

He was a man who knew that something much bigger laid in his future.

But, after nearly thirteen years of his life seemingly falling apart, after two years longer than remotely necessary in jail, Joseph seems to have lost a bit of vigor, he seems to have lost his confidence and hope.

When the cupbearer and baker were haunted by their dreams in jail Joseph was energetically ready to help.

But here with Pharaoh’s dream he’s kind of hesitant…

Joseph has lost his confidence in his abilities, he’s lost his confidence in his own hopes and dreams… But, he isn’t so far gone that he won’t leave room for God to move, so he sort of half heartedly says, “God will answer...”

Pharaoh doesn’t necessarily catch all the internal, mental struggle Joseph is having.

He sort of sees Joseph as his last hope of having some peace after these dreams, so he just opens up and unloads both dreams on Joseph in rapid fire.

(Talk about seeing Joseph hearing these dreams like its a movie playing in my head—First he is broken and unconfident, then he starts to listen and starts to feel something stirring, then he feels God’s revelation of the dream and his confidence returns)

So Joseph has heard the dreams and the Ruach Elohim begins to stir in him and he unloads the meaning of the dreams with absolutely zero hesitation or doubt.

He explains the dreams and tells them seven really good years are coming, but they are going to be followed by seven really bad years.

While things are good you’re going to want to save as much as possible so that you can feed the nation when the famine of all famines hits the land.

Appoint someone who’s got a good head on their shoulders to be in charge of gathering the savings and the subsequent distribution when the time comes.

Suddenly Joseph’s life turns around.

Now, keep in mind that up to this point, Joseph hasn’t quite caught on fully to what’s going on here.

He hasn’t quite caught onto God’s big picture plans yet.

He is just thrilled to be out of jail, to get a decent night’s sleep, to be in clean clothes and have a purpose again.

Joseph has suffered so much up to this point, and now all of a sudden all his dreams are finally coming true, but because of his feeling jaded by the world for so long he doesn’t quite see that his dreams of old are becoming his reality right before his eyes.

You can even see this reality in the names Joseph gives to his sons—Manasseh which means “because God has caused me to forget all my troubles AND my father’s house” and Ephraim “because God has made me fruitful in the land of my oppression.”

It isn’t even until at least another eight years after Joseph is made ruler of Egypt that he finally understands exactly what God is doing and that he actually remembers his own dreams from long ago and sees they’re actually being fulfilled before his eyes when his brothers randomly appear before him one day for the first time in about 21 years.

Genesis 42:6–9 (TLV)

Now Joseph was the ruler over the land.

He was the provider of grain for all the people of the earth.

Then Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with faces to the ground.

When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he made himself unrecognizable to them.

Then he spoke harshly and said to them, “Where have you come from?” “From the land of Canaan,” they said, “to buy grain as food.”

Though Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them.

All of a sudden the picture begins to reveal itself in Joseph’s mind.

Now, his brother’s have no clue who this random Joe Schmoe sitting on the throne is, and they don’t really care… They’re just hungry.

And though Joseph is unrecognizable to them because he looks like an Egyptian and is speaking to them through an interpreter, Joseph recognizes them fully and immediately.

And as soon as he does, the Torah says, Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them—referring back to his dreams he shared in Genesis 37 of his future ruling over them.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not really sure how Joseph contained himself long enough to play out these tests he begins to use on them.

If it were me, I would have hopped right up and began a whole slew of immature and idiotic rants like, nanny nanny boo boo and I told you I’d rule over your sorry butts and kiss the ring and all sorts of other completely arrogant and ruthless rants.

But Joseph now realizes exactly what his dreams were about and exactly what God’s purpose for his last 21 years was all about.

I think in that immediate instant Joseph had forgiven his brothers, whether they knew it or not.

He let all the past fade away and was only worried about his family’s future.

He wanted to know for sure that their hearts had changed, he wanted to know for sure his dad and youngest brother were alive and well, and particularly that they hadn’t pulled similar crap on Benjamin.