(Genesis 41:01 - 41:45)
After the end of two years it happened that the Pharaoh had a dream. In it, he stood by a river. From the river there emerged seven plump, handsome cows who grazed in the reed grass. Seven more cows, these lean and poorly, came out of the river and stood by the river bank. The lean and poorly cows then devoured the plump, handsome ones. The Pharaoh awoke.
The Pharaoh went back to sleep and had a second dream. In this one, he saw seven ears of grain sprouting on a single stalk. They were full and well formed. Seven other ears appeared, these being blighted and blasted by the searing wind. The blighted ears then displaced the full ones. The Pharaoh awoke and realized it was only a dream.
In the morning, the Pharaoh, disturbed by his dreams, summoned all the sages and soothsayers of Egypt. When they came before him, he recounted his dreams to them, but there was none who could give him an interpretation of them.
After a time, the Pharaoh's cup-bearer spoke up and addressed the Pharaoh. "This makes me remember a time when I offended you. Pharaoh was then angry with his servants and ordered his chief baker and me put into the royal prison. One night there each of us had a dream, each with its own meaning. There was a young man there, a Hebrew, who was a slave of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he gave each of us an interpretation. What he claimed they foretold of our futures turned out to be correct -- I was restored to my position and the baker was executed."
The Pharaoh sent for Joseph. He was quickly removed from prison, shaven, given some new clothes, and presented to the Pharaoh.
The Pharaoh told him, "I have a dream that no one is able to understand. I am told that you have a talent for interpreting dreams."
“It is not I, but God who will furnish you with an answer," was Joseph's response.
And so the Pharaoh related what he had dreamed: "I found myself on the bank of a river. There came up out of the water seven plump, handsome cows who grazed in the reed grass. Then, after them seven more cows appeared. These were lean and poorly, nothing but skin and bones --the ugliest cows I've ever seen in Egypt. The lean cows ate the plump ones that had appeared first, but even after doing so they remained as lean and poorly as they were before. And so I woke up, but fell asleep and dreamed again. In the second dream, I saw seven ears of grain sprouting on a single stalk. They were full and well formed. Seven other ears appeared, these being blighted, withered, and blasted by the searing wind. The blighted ears then displaced the full ones. ... I told this to my soothsayers, but none of them could find out what it meant."
Joseph answered, "The two dreams of the Pharaoh are a single dream. Through it, God is revealing to the Pharaoh what will soon come to pass. In both dreams, the seven plump cows and the seven full ears represent seven years of plenty. The seven lean and poorly cows that come after, as well as the seven thin ears blasted by the searing wind symbolize seven years of famine that will follow."
"I have told Pharaoh what God has revealed to him and what will come to pass. Beware! Throughout the land of Egypt there will be seven years of plenty, after which there will be seven years of scarcity. During that time, the bounty of the former seven years will be depleted, and Egypt will experience a famine so severe that want and hunger will exhaust the entire land. The dream was sent to Pharaoh twice and in two forms to emphasize that the events, which will soon take place, are divinely ordained."
"Therefore, the Pharaoh should choose a man of wisdom and understanding to administer the affairs of Egypt. He should appoint officers in every region of the country and have them supervise the requisition of one-fifth of all the produce harvested during the seven years of plenty. During these good years, grain should be set aside and stored in city granaries under guard. The stockpiled foodstuffs may then be used by the people during the seven years of want, so that the country will not be devastated by the famine."
Joseph's counsel was well received by the Pharaoh and his advisors. The Pharaoh appealed to his court, "Can't we find someone like this, who understands the divine will?" He turned to address Joseph. "In so much as God has revealed to you all you have told us, can I find any man of greater wisdom and understanding than you? --- You will be my vizier and it will be by your orders that my people will be ruled. No one will be above you except the throne itself."
The Pharaoh continued, "I hereby appoint you governor of the whole country of Egypt!" And he removed a signet ring from his finger and slipped it onto Joseph's finger. He then had him arrayed in robes of finest linen and placed a gold chain around his neck. He presented him the kingdom’s second-best chariot, and when Joseph rode in it, a crier went ahead of him and proclaimed, "On your knees before the governor of all Egypt!"
The Pharaoh said to him, "I am the Pharaoh and I command that no man in Egypt may raise his hand or lift his foot without your say so." He renamed Joseph, Zaphnathpaaneah [meaning "savior of the world" in Egyptian] and gave him as his wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, chief priest from the city of On.
And so Joseph assumed the governorship of Egypt.
Notes
1. It is unclear whether the cup-bearer remembers the offense that caused him to be thrown into prison, or his offense in forgetting to speak for Joseph. The former seems the more likely.
2. There is some confirmation from ancient Egyptian sources of a seven year famine occurring when Joseph would have been in Egypt.
3. The Pharaoh at this time was likely a member of the 16th Dynasty of Hyksos kings. The Hyksos were a Semitic people from Asia, perhaps an ethnic mix of peoples, who began settling in Lower (northern) Egypt around 1800 BC. With the collapse of the Middle Kingdom in 1650, they assumed power and founded a Pharaonic dynasty in Lower Egypt, where they ruled until expelled in 1560 when Pharaoh Ahmose, from Thebes, founded the 18th Dynasty and the so-called New Kingdom. If the Pharaoh were a Hyksos and not a native Egyptian, it makes sense that he might appoint as governor (or vizier) a fellow Semite like Joseph. Few scholars find any historical basis for the story of Joseph, but since records of the Hyksos Pharaonic administrations were, for the most part, destroyed by their successors, confirmation of Joseph's existence must remain problematic. (With any legendary history, like that of King Arthur or the Iliad, it is always a challenge to determine where it intersects with literal history, what is only dramatic embellishment, what characters may be fictitious or composites. Identification is often an elusive, sometimes impossible quest.)
3. When Joseph is released from prison and before he is brought to see the Pharaoh, he is given new clothes and a shave. While on the surface, it seems obvious that a prisoner would be made presentable before being introduced at court, some commentators have made more of the reference to his being shaved. Egyptians, even, one presumes, the Hyksos, who adopted most Egyptian customs, would be clean shaven, while Asians were generally bearded. Perhaps Joseph was shaven to seem less foreign, or as a courtesy to the court. The Egyptian nobility, even the women, usually shaved their heads and wore wigs and headdresses, even false beards. Priests, to remain pure, shaved all hair from their bodies. It is possible Joseph was shaven as a priest would be, since he was to perform a priestly function -- soothsaying.
4. The Pharaoh's dream is said to have come as a warning from God, but was it expected that the Pharaoh would understand it, or was it a device to get Joseph out of jail? This is the first time Jehovah, if he was the sender of the dream, showed concern for a people other than Abraham's tribe.
5. Joseph is fitted out not only with a high position, but a wife suited to his rank, a daughter of a priest from On. On is probably Heliopolis, where Potipherah would likely be the chief priest of the sun god Ra, and, therefore, a signally important political, as well as religious figure in the kingdom. Interesting that Joseph's father-in-law is called Potipherah and his former master, Potiphar. The ring given to Joseph by the Pharaoh was a seal by which royal orders would be authorized. Chariots, not known in the Middle East during Abraham’s day, were introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos. Later Pharaohs would love being depicted driving their chariots. (They were drawn by horses that were generally too small to be ridden.)
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