From Dungeon to Throne: Genesis 41:1-40

When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream.

Two years. Seven hundred thirty days of waiting in darkness while the cupbearer enjoyed restored freedom and Joseph rotted in prison. Then Pharaoh dreamed.

He was standing by the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows.

Cows emerging from the Nile—Egypt's source of life. Fat cows devoured by thin ones. The image disturbed.

Then Pharaoh woke up.

He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted—thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads.

Double dreams. Fat and lean. Healthy and scorched. Something consumed by something worse.

Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream. In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.

Egypt's best—the priests, the scholars, the court magicians—and none could read the dreams. The wisdom of the world fell silent.

Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, "Today I am reminded of my shortcomings."

Finally. Two years late, but finally the cupbearer remembered.

He told Pharaoh about the Hebrew prisoner, about the dreams in prison, about the interpretations that came true exactly as spoken.

So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.

Quickly. The same Joseph who had waited two years was now rushed through preparation. Shaved in Egyptian style, dressed in clean clothes, brought before the most powerful man on earth.

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."

"I cannot do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires."

I cannot. God will. Joseph's first words to Pharaoh deflected credit to the true source.

Then Pharaoh told Joseph his dream—the cows from the Nile, the grain on the stalks, the thin devouring the fat.

Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do."

God has revealed. God is about to do. The interpretation was not puzzle-solving but prophecy.

"The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine."

Fourteen years predicted. Seven of abundance, seven of devastation.

"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."

Joseph continued, offering not just interpretation but strategy:

"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."

The plan was comprehensive: collect, store, survive. Egypt's only hope was preparation.

The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. So Pharaoh asked them, "Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?"

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "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."

In one conversation, Joseph went from prisoner to prime minister. From dungeon to throne. From forgotten to unforgettable.

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt."

The boy who dreamed of sheaves bowing down now had an empire bowing before him. The son sold for twenty shekels was now worth more than the treasury.

The pit. The prison. The palace. God's path had been longer than Joseph imagined, darker than Joseph desired. But God had been with Joseph every step—and now the dreams were becoming real.