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Full Episode
Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Yesterday ended with Joseph in prison in Egypt, forgotten by everyone but God, and probably his dad Jacob. Today we open with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, having a pair of weird dreams. They bothered him because, as we talked about yesterday, the ancient Near East cultures believed that dreams were messages from God.
So Pharaoh called for his magicians to interpret these dreams. First of all, don't think David Blaine-type magicians. Think Hollywood medium-type magicians. They were more like spiritual mediums who would interpret signs and omens. But second of all, and in general, I should point out that consulting mediums and spiritists is ill-advised. We'll see that here, but also throughout Scripture.
Pharaoh's magician mediums were useless. It was all part of God's plan to help the cupbearer remember that Joseph exists and is really good at this dream interpretation thing. After all, Joseph had delivered God's interpretation of the cupbearer's dream and the chief baker's dream a couple of years earlier.
So the cupbearer filled Pharaoh in on this, and Pharaoh had Joseph brought to him quickly, but not before a shave because those Egyptians loved a bald head. Pharaoh asks Joseph for an interpretation, and Joseph makes it clear that this is not some skill he possesses, but that it is, in fact, a gift from God.
Pharaoh shares the dreams with Joseph, who then, without missing a beat, tells him what they mean. There will be seven years of agricultural abundance in Egypt, and then there will be seven years of famine in that part of the world. And it's about to happen real soon. Then, after his dream interpretation, Joseph drops some wisdom on Pharaoh.
He basically says, because this is happening soon, you should put someone in charge of preparation. That person should store up 20% of all the harvest during the abundant years. Pharaoh asks around about who should fill this role and decides that this Hebrew guy, who is both discerning and wise, he should be the one in charge. So he puts Joseph in charge of everything in his house.
Pharaoh gives him new clothes, which honestly just makes me nervous for Joseph at this point. This doesn't usually go well for him. Pharaoh gives him a new car, basically, and a gold chain and puts a signet ring on him. This is like the signet we talked about with Judah, the one Tamar got from him, except it was a ring.
These rings were like signatures that you press into melted wax when you sign and seal a document. So it's a big deal that Joseph could sign documents for the king. By this time, Joseph was 30 years old. When he was sold into slavery by his brothers, he was 17, so he suffered for 13 years. But God has brought him to a place of abundance and power.
Pharaoh also arranged a marriage between Joseph and a woman from a prominent local family. While Joseph is busy storing up immeasurable amounts of food during the seven years of abundance, he also fathers two children with his new wife and names them Manasseh and Ephraim. We'll be seeing those names a lot in our reading. Both of their names have meanings that signify Joseph's gratitude.
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