COME AS A CHILD LESSON 95 PHARAOH HAS A DREAM

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Years went by.  Joseph continued his imprisonment.  The cupbearer went happily about his own life, never mentioning Joseph.  One thing to note about Joseph.  He didn't get bitter.  He didn't whine about how unfair life was to him.  He didn't blame God for his bad circumstances.  As a matter of fact; he leaned on God to help him through his circumstances.  Joseph was content and thankful in every place where God put him.  He simply trusted God for better days when things were not so well.  He did not lose faith.

One night, Pharaoh had a dream.  In this dream he was standing by the Nile River.  Out of the river came up seven cows.  They were sleek and fat and they grazed among the reeds.  After those cows came seven other cows.  They were ugly and gaunt.  They came up out of the Nile and stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank.  Then the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows.  After that Pharaoh woke up.

Perhaps this dream disturbed him, but he didn’t speak of it to anyone.  He was probably pondering what it meant and wondering if it was significant.  Maybe he would have let it pass, but he had yet another dream.  In the second dream he saw seven heads of grain.  They were healthy and good to eat and were growing on a single stalk.  After that he saw seven other heads of grain.  They were sprouted and thin and scorched by the east wind.  The seven thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy heads of grain. 

Well, this time Pharaoh WAS troubled.  Two similar dreams that he knew meant something, but he wasn’t sure what they meant.  It troubled him so much that he sent for his magicians and wise men.  Each man listened carefully to Pharaoh’s dream, but not one of them had an interpretation. 

Of course, the Chief Cupbearer was standing guard over Pharaoh and watching all of this as it transpired.  Suddenly he regained his memory!  He thought of Joseph.  He said to Pharaoh:  “Today I am reminded of my shortcomings.  Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard.  Each of us had a dream the same night.  Each dream had a meaning of its own.  Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard.  We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream.  And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us.  I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.

On hearing this Pharaoh sent immediately for Joseph.  They brought him out of the dungeon, allowed him to shave and change his clothes and sent him to meet Pharaoh.  Pharaoh said to Joseph:  “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it.  But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.

Joseph, always quick to give God the Glory for what God allowed him to do said:  “I cannot do it, but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

Pharaoh just kept talking:  “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, when out of the river there came seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds.  After them, seven other cows came up – scrawny and very ugly and lean.  I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt.  The lean ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first.  But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before.  Then I woke up.

Joseph didn’t say a word and Pharaoh kept talking.  He began to tell Joseph about the second dream.

“In my dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk.  After them, seven other heads sprouted – withered and thin and scorched by the east wind.  The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads.  I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me.”

God gave Joseph the meaning of both dreams.  He said to Pharaoh:  “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same.  God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.  The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and same dream.  The seven lean, ugly cows that came afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind.  They are seven years of famine.  It is just as I said to Pharaoh.  God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.  Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them.  Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land.  The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe.  The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.   And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt.  Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.  They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food.  This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.”

Pharaoh accepted Joseph’s interpretation of the dreams, and Joseph’s advise seemed good to him.  So Pharaoh asked those who ruled under him:  “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?”  He turned to Joseph and said:  “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you.  You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders.  Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”   

God had given Joseph a good day!  

Little did anyone realize that God had given the sons of Abraham and the Family of God a way to keep from starving in the years to come.  He did it through His servant Joseph.  Because of Joseph Israel and His children would maintain life.  Because the Family of Abraham was being provided for by God; the children of Egypt benefited also.  Not one person realized exactly all that was going on.  No one saw or knew that Joseph had been put into his circumstances in order to preserve the ancestors of the coming Messiah.  They were simply thinking of their own stomachs.  Sometimes God even uses our greed and our twisted human nature for the benefit of The Kingdom of Heaven.  All anyone knew was that their own set of circumstances might bring them trouble and they must begin to prepare.  What better person to help them do this than Joseph, the one who interpreted dreams, who remembered details, who followed instructions and finished things well.

Joseph was released from prison and moved into a palace all in one day.  When God is in control, things can change quickly.  This was the moment Joseph had waited and prayed for.  God’s answer was better than any he could have visualized for himself.  Joseph went right to work managing Pharaoh’s palace.