GENESIS 41: Pharaoh’s Dreams

Genesis 41                                                      New King James Version

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

• Joseph was in prison, forgotten by Pharaoh’s butler, for two more full years. There was difficulty and discouragement in those years for Joseph, but we believe he trusted God nonetheless. Many lessons come from this.

1. Sometimes the good we do seems unrewarded.
2. Waiting is a common theme in the Christian life.
3. God often appoints us to wait much longer than we like.
4. God appoints our starts and our stops.
5. God’s hand was in this: when the time was right, the butler knew exactly where to find Joseph. If he had been released earlier, who knows?

The following verses describe Pharaoh’s strange dream.

GENESIS 41:2-7

2  Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. 

3  Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river. 

4  And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine looking and fat cows. So, Pharaoh awoke. 

5  He slept and dreamed a second time; and suddenly seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good. 

6  Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. 

7  And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So, Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream. 

GENESIS 41:8-16

8  Now it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.

9  Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: “I remember my faults this day. 

10  When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, 

11  we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. 

12  Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream. 

13  And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”

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.”

• He’s had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it: Pharaoh’s dream was actually a revelation from God. He received it, but could not understand it. It was like a person who reads the Bible, but needs help from a man or woman of God to understand.
• It is not in me: Pharaoh gave Joseph a golden opportunity to glorify himself, but Joseph refused. He did not use this as an opportunity to glorify himself before Pharaoh, but only to glorify God.
• God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace: Joseph seems much wiser and perhaps humbler than he was before. If it was true that in the past he told his brothers his previous dreams in a self-glorying way, any such self-confidence was now gone. Joseph knew that God alone had the answer.
• God’s work of character building: It was being accomplished in Joseph, even when he perhaps thought nothing was happening.

GENESIS 41:17-25

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 41:25-36

25  Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do: 

26  The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years; the dreams are one. 

27  And the seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine. 

28  This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. 

29  Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt; 

30  but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land. 

31  So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe.

32  And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

33  “Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. 

34   Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years. 

35  And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. 

36  Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land may not perish during the famine.”

Joseph’s Rise to Power

GENESIS 41:37-39

37  So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. 

38  And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?”

• This is the first mention in the Bible of the Holy Spirit coming upon a man. It is interesting to note that it was in regard to more practical things. Joseph didn’t have to preach a sermon or lead a prayer for Pharaoh to see the Spirit of God upon him. He could see it in his character, in his message, in his knowledge, in his wisdom, and in his humility. The presence and power of the Holy Spirit can be seen in very practical ways, in our character, in our humility.

39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. 

GENESIS 41:40-45

40  You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” 

41  And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”

42  Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 

43  And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he set him over all the land of Egypt. 

44  Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” 

45  And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

• Although the exact definition of Zaphenath-Paneah is uncertain, the name is Egyptian in origin. As Nebuchadnezzar did with Daniel and his friends in Babylon (Daniel 1:7), Pharaoh provided Joseph with a new name as part of his assimilation into the culture and society of Egypt. These biblical heroes prove that a king can change your name, but he can’t change your character.

• Despite having been assigned an Egyptian name, Joseph separated himself spiritually from the pagan Egyptian culture. The fact that the name Zaphenath-Paneah is mentioned only once in Scripture seems to support Joseph’s continued identification with his Hebrew heritage and his continued worship of the Lord God.

GENESIS 41:46-57

46  Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. 

47  Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly. 

48  So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. 

49  Joseph gathered very much grain, as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was immeasurable.

50  And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. 

51  Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.” 

52  And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

53  Then the seven years of plenty which were in the land of Egypt ended, 

54  and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. The famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. 

55  So, when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, do.” 

56  The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine became severe in the land of Egypt. 

57   So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all lands.

During the seven-year drought, Joseph transformed Pharaoh into an absolute ruler who owned virtually all the wealth, land, and citizens in Egypt. 

He achieved this through a four-phase economic centralization:

1. Acquiring Cash: Joseph first sold the state’s grain reserves in exchange for all the silver and money in Egypt and Canaan.
2. Taking Livestock: When the money ran out, the populace bartered all their horses, sheep, goats, and cattle for food.
3. Buying the Land: In the final years of the drought, citizens sold their private property to the Pharaoh just to avoid starvation.
4. Enslaving the Populace: Joseph purchased the people themselves, relocating them to cities across the nation and effectively making the once-free Egyptians serfs of the crown. 

Ultimately, Joseph gave the people seed to plant future crops and established a permanent 20% tax—or one-fifth—on all agricultural produce to continuously flow into Pharaoh’s treasury. The only property Joseph did not seize was the land owned by the Egyptian priests, as they received a direct, state-funded allowance                                      (Stephen M. Miller)

When all of the livestock had been traded, people willingly sold themselves into slavery to Pharaoh and sold him the ownership of their lands as well (Gen. 47:18-21). From the perspective of leadership, this must have been awful to witness. Joseph, however, allowed the people to sell their land and to enter into servitude, but he did not take advantage of them in their powerlessness.