Pharaoh’s Dream and Joseph

Jesus said to his disciples, I have  food to eat you know nothing about John 4:32. 

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Pharaoh’s Dream and Joseph

J. Clayton Sheridan, II

Genesis 41:1 (NKJV) Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river.

It is not certain whether these years are reckoned from the beginning of Joseph’s imprisonment, or from the events described in the preceding chapter—most likely the latter. What a long time for Joseph to experience the sickness of hope deferred! But the time of his enlargement came when he had sufficiently learned the lessons of God designed for him; and the plans of Providence were matured.

Pharaoh dreamed—“Pharaoh,” from an Egyptian word Phre, signifying the “sun,” was the official title of the kings of that country. The prince, who occupied the throne of Egypt, was Aphophis, one of the Memphite kings, whose capital was On or Heliopolis, and who is universally acknowledged to have been a patriot king. Between the arrival of Abraham and the appearance of Joseph in that country, somewhat more than two centuries had elapsed. Kings sleep and dream, as well as their subjects. And this Pharaoh had two dreams in one night so singular and so similar, so distinct and so apparently significant, so coherent and vividly impressed on his memory, that his spirit was troubled.

Pharaoh call for all the magicians of Egypt—It is not possible to define the exact distinction between “magicians” and “wise men”; but they formed different branches of a numerous body, who laid claim to supernatural skill in occult arts and sciences, in revealing mysteries, explaining portents, and, above all, interpreting dreams. Long practice had rendered them expert in devising a plausible way of getting out of every difficulty and framing an answer suitable to the occasion. But the dreams of Pharaoh baffled their united skill.

Then out of the blue the baker speaks to Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults—This public acknowledgment of the merits of the young Hebrew would, tardy though it was, have reflected credit on the butler had it not been obviously made to ingratiate himself with his royal master. It is right to confess our faults against God, and against our fellow men when that confession is made in the spirit of godly sorrow and penitence. But this man was not much impressed with a sense of the fault he had committed against Joseph; he never thought of God, to whose goodness he was indebted for the prophetic announcement of his release, and in acknowledging his former fault against the king, he was practicing the courtly art of pleasing his master.

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph—Now that God’s set time had come (Ps 105:19), no human power nor policy could detain Joseph in prison. During his protracted confinement, he might have often been distressed with perplexing doubts; but the mystery of Providence was about to be cleared up, and all his sorrows forgotten in the course of honor and public usefulness in which his services were to be employed. 1

Shaved himself—The Egyptians were the only Oriental nation that liked a smooth chin. All slaves and foreigners who were reduced to that condition, were obliged, on their arrival in that country, to conform to the cleanly habits of the natives, by shaving their beards and heads, the latter of which were covered with a close cap. Thus prepared, Joseph was conducted to the palace, where the king seemed to have been anxiously waiting his arrival.

Pharaoh said, … I have dreamed a dream—The king’s brief statement of the service required brought out the genuine piety of Joseph; disclaiming all merit, he ascribed whatever gifts he possessed to the divine source of all wisdom, and he declared his own inability to penetrate the future events; but, at the same time, he expressed his confident persuasion that God would reveal what was necessary to be known.

Pharaoh said, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river—The dreams were purely Egyptian, founded on the productions of that country and the experience of a native. The fertility of Egypt being wholly dependent on the Nile, the scene is laid on the banks of that river; and oxen being in the ancient hieroglyphics symbolical of the earth and of food, animals of that species were introduced in the first dream. 2

1 & 2 Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Commentary Logos Research System.