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14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; and he shaved, changed his clothing, and came to Pharaoh. 15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.” 16 So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” 17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: “Behold, in my dream I stood on the bank of the river. 18 Suddenly seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. 19 Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt. 20 And the gaunt and ugly cows ate up the first seven, the fat cows. 21 When they had eaten them up, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were just as ugly as at the beginning. So I awoke. 22 Also I saw in my dream, and suddenly seven heads came up on one stalk, full and good. 23 Then behold, seven heads, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. 24 And the thin heads devoured the seven good heads. So I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.” ~ Genesis 41:14-24
Today, we continue our study of Genesis 41 where Joseph has been remembered by the butler who had been released from the very same prison just two years before. Although it took the butler two years to go before Pharaoh on the behalf of Joseph, his timing was perfect with the will of God. Sadly, as we saw in our last study, the Pharaoh wasted valuable time in consulting the "magicians" and the "wise men" of Egypt to interpret his dream to no avail.
Pharaoh consulted every but God. Nothing exists without a cause. Nothing changes without a cause. There wouldn’t be a debate about God if He did not exist. We can choose to ignore God but we do it to our own peril. Since God has proved His existence through His creation, our conscience and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, it certainly is worth paying attention to what He has to say. And what He has to say is found in only one place, the Bible. We do well to look to the God of the Bible for daily aid in how to live our lives.
In v.14-15 of today's passage we read, "14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; and he shaved, changed his clothing, and came to Pharaoh. 15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.'"
Upon hearing about Joseph’s abilities to interpret dreams by the butler, Pharaoh consulted him. Joseph was called and brought out of his dungeon. Once out, he was shaved, had his clothes changed, and he was brought before the Pharaoh whose name means “Great House.”
In v.16 of today's passage we read, "So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, 'It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.'"
When Joseph said, "It is not in me,” he was saying that the interpretation of his dreams would have to come from God and not from him. In essence, he would speak and it would be God who spoke through him. The word peace appears 237 times in the Old Testament. Peace means completeness, soundness, and welfare. It comes from the root word which means making amends or making whole or complete. This most valuable concept is often used in terms of making restitution.
It was the Lord Jesus who said in John 3:17-18, "17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son."
The Lord Jesus came to grant us peace as a result of finding our confidence in Him and His finished work on the cross to overcome the effects of our sin. In 2 Corinthians 5:19, we read, "God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold the world guilty of its sins. And he gave us this message of peace." There is no evidence in the scriptures that God sends man to hell. Man has chosen hell by rejecting the only ransom that will get him into heaven. Condemnation is the unforgiven person's state right now. The wrath of God is the absence of His love, and the wrath of God abides on those who have not believed and received the Lord Jesus' free gift. If we do not choose to leave condemnation, we remain in it.
Repenting from being our own savior and believing in the Lord Jesus as our Savior is the answer. This means that what the Lord Jesus did on that cross satisfied the righteous demands of God. “Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Believing means embracing something as true, it means to trust in Him. Believing is receiving. Our receiving isn’t based on another person’s faith; it’s based on our faith, and our believing is evidenced by our receiving. Receiving is the application of intimacy with God. And, when we receive the very presence of God we are equipped to see Him, to recognize Him, with our hearts. This intimacy is made possible through the abiding Holy Spirit.
In v.17-24 of today's passage we read, "17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: 'Behold, in my dream I stood on the bank of the river. 18 Suddenly seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. 19 Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt. 20 And the gaunt and ugly cows ate up the first seven, the fat cows. 21 When they had eaten them up, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were just as ugly as at the beginning. So I awoke. 22 Also I saw in my dream, and suddenly seven heads came up on one stalk, full and good. 23 Then behold, seven heads, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. 24 And the thin heads devoured the seven good heads. So I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.'"
Pharaoh’s recounting of the dream is essentially the same as what he said to his wise men and magicians, but there are a couple small differences. One was he told Joseph that the cows were so ugly that he had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. A second was after the bad cows ate up the good ones, no one would have known that they had eaten them and that they were just as ugly as at the beginning.
Although this was an unrealistic dream it symbolized real things. The cows and the stalks symbolize years of abundance and years of famine. Pharaoh used an extra term here to describe the thin heads on the stalks, he called them withered, meaning they were barren or their fruit was dry. By telling the story a little bit differently the second time, it shows that what we’re reading isn’t just a fable, but an actual account.
In the end, the message is where do we go for truth. The Lord Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Unlike all of the other "leaders" of "religions," the Lord Jesus Christ did not say, "I will show you the way." No, He said, "I am the way." To follow Him is to be defined by Him. To be defined by Him is to obey Him.
