Day 14, Genesis 39-41

Today went much better! It is back to the story of Joseph, without all the confusing family tree stuff. So, Joseph was taken to Egypt and bought by Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh. The Lord was with Joseph and made him successful in all he did. Because of this, he was put in charge of all his master had, and as an overseer of his house. His master trusted Joseph and had no concern with anything.

Joseph was handsome and Potiphar’s wife was attracted to him, and asked him to lie with her, but he refused.

“Behold, because of my master who has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.”

-Genesis 39:8-10

One day though when no other men were in the house, she grabbed Joseph by his garment saying, “Lie with me.” But he ran from the house, leaving his garment in her hand. So, he was running around naked? That conniving bitch used that as an opportunity to hurt Joseph, and said that he came on to her and she was the one mistreated. She said that he came to lie with her and she called out, startling him so he ran away. Then, she showed his garment to “prove” it. When her husband got home she told him the same lie, and he had Joseph thrown in prison.

“But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.”

-Genesis 39:21-23

While Joseph was in prison, two different men were in his care for offending the king of Egypt. One man was the cupbearer of the king of Egypt, and the other was the chief baker. One night, both these men had dreams, each with their own interpretations. Joseph asked them to tell the dreams to him and he would help, because interpretations belonged to God.

“So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”

-Genesis 40:9-11

Joseph told him that three branches were three days. In three days, Pharaoh will lift up his head and restore his office, and he would be the cupbearer once again. He asked him to remember him when this happened, and to mention him to the Pharaoh so he could get out of there; because he hadn’t really done anything wrong.

“When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.”

-Genesis 40:16-17

Joseph interpreted the dream and told him that the three baskets meant three days. In three days, the Pharaoh would lift up his head–from him–and hang him on a tree, and the birds would eat his flesh away.

On the third day, it was Pharaoh’s birthday and he had a feast for all his servants including the cupbearer and baker. Just as Joseph had interpreted, he restored the cupbearer to his position and hanged the chief baker. However, the cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Two years had gone by at this point when Pharaoh had a dream. He sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt to come and interpret it, but no one could. Then, the cupbearer (finally) remembered Joseph and how he had helped him. Pharaoh sent for Joseph and he came to interpret the dream telling the Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

“Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile. Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. 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. And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, 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. I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good. Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears.”

-Genesis 41:17-24

Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.” He told him that seven good cows are seven years, as are the seven good ears are seven years, since they are one. The seven lean cows are seven years, as are the seven empty ears are seven years, being one meaning also.

“There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt…And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.”

-Genesis 41:29, 32

Joseph told him to appoint a wise man to oversee the land and take one-fifth of the produce to put away for the seven years of famine. Since God had shown this to Joseph, Pharaoh placed him in charge of his house and the people. Only in regards to the throne was Pharaoh greater than him. He was given Pharaoh’s signet ring and clothed in fine garments and gold chains. He rode in the second chariot, and all bowed down to him. Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah and he gave him marriage to Asenath.

Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh. He went about the land during the seven plentiful years gathering food to store in cities around Egypt. They had collected so much grain as if it were sands, being unable to keep track of the expanse.

Before the year of famine came, Joseph had two sons. The firstborn was named Manasseh (making to forget) “for God has made him forget all the hardship of his father’s house.” The second son he called Ephraim (making fruitful) “for God has made him fruitful in the land of his affliction.”

The seven years of plenty came to an end, and seven years of famine began just as Joseph said. There was famine all over the lands, but there was bread in Egypt. People were coming from all over to Egypt for refuge, and the Pharaoh told them to deal with Joseph.

“So when the famine had spread all over the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in all the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.”

-Genesis 41:56-57

Comments

  1. Joan Shackelford says:

    Something I’ve learned when I’m mistreated is that I never need to retaliate. I just need to keep doing my job, following policy & ethics. People who have literally plotted against or lied about me did themselves in; and I have no guilt over their misfortune because everything they did not only backfired. I was advanced even more.

    1. kinseyteach says:

      Absolutely! What goes around, comes around.

Leave a Reply