From rags to riches Genesis 41: 1-46
Fairy tale... dreams or the way they should be
Once upon a time, a beautiful, independent, self-assured princess happened upon a frog in a pond. The frog said to the princess, "I once was a handsome prince until an evil sorceress put a spell on me. One kiss from you and I will turn back into a prince and then we can marry, move into the castle with my mom and you can prepare my meals, clean my clothes, bear my children and forever feel happy doing so." That night, while the princess dined on frog legs, she kept laughing to herself and saying, "I don’t think so."
“And it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favored kine (and we’ll just replace that word with cows if you don’t mind since that’s what the kine are called now.) and fat fleshed; and they fed in a meadow. And, behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ill favored and lean fleshed; and stood by the other cows upon the brink of the river. And the ill favored and lean fleshed cows did eat up the seven well favored and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke.
And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good. And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.
And 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 the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh. Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day: Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard’s house, both me and the chief baker: and we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret. And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.
Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, it is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
(And then in verses 17 to 24 we have the Pharaoh explaining his dream to Joseph and he just repeats what he had just said.) So, let’s go to verse 25,
“And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, the dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. And the seven thin and ill favored cows that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine. This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: what God is about to do He sheweth unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: and there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; and the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous. And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. Now therefore, let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine. And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.
And Pharaoh said unto his servants, can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art: thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.
And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. And 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.”
In the ancient world, it was widely believed that the gods revealed the mysteries of heaven and earth to the kings while they slept. And Pharaoh was not only considered by everyone to be a reincarnation of the god Ra but he actually believed it himself. But; when he had these two dreams about the cattle and the corn; he was really disturbed because he felt they meant something about the future but he had no idea what. And then it seems like he asked everyone he had on his staff to give him some idea of what these dreams were all about but nobody had a clue as to what they could of meant either. And as I told you last week, if the Pharaoh wanted something bad enough and he couldn’t get it; then heads were going to roll.
So, all these men stood around trying to figure out how they could give him some kind of an answer but at the same time they understood that if they were wrong they’d be in trouble because they also believed that the Pharaoh knew if you were lying or just trying to make something up. So, after all these wise men admitted that they didn’t have a clue as to what was going on the cupbearer who was also referred to as the butler in the last chapter, remembered Joseph from when he had been in prison two years before and how Joseph had interpreted both his dream and the one the baker had and how both of these interpretations turned out exactly as he said they would; because he was restored to his position and the baker was hung.
Did you know there are only two men in scripture who interpreted dreams? There was Joseph who we’re looking at today and Daniel who not only interpreted the dreams of the king but he gave him the interpretation when he didn’t even know what his dream was.
Besides interpreting dreams; did you know there are only four different times in history where God actually displayed His power in terms of multiple miracles? First, there were the miracles of Moses and Joshua, as God not only destroyed Egypt’s power but delivered the Jews though their forty years of wilderness wanderings and then God also used His power to bring them all into the Promised Land. And then second, we have the miracles of Elijah and Elisha and they were used to punish the wicked and call all the Jews back to God. And then third, there are the miracles which were demonstrated by Jesus and all these miracles testified who He was in terms of His deity and what He was about to do in terms of our salvation. And then the fourth stage of miracles is going to happen at the hands of the two prophets in the book of Revelation and the purpose of their miracles will be to counteract all the false miracles and claims that are made by Satan and his false prophet in the last days.
The problem we have is that we tend to think that we’re less than we should be because we’re not seeing the miraculous happen. When in fact, we weren’t even sent to do the miraculous but we were all sent to preach the gospel and if God performs the miracle of saving somebody then we ought to be excited. And listen, if God gave one of us the gift of healing anybody and everybody and we were able to empty all the sick people out the hospital and those in the nursing homes who had problems and all these people were able to go back home where they stayed until they died of old age and then; they all went to hell; what was the use of healing them? Now, don’t get me wrong. I still believe God can and does heal but I also believe that our salvation is what He’s most concerned about because His primary purpose in sending Jesus to die was to redeem sinners and then those who are redeemed are sent to go and present the gospel or the good news of salvation to the lost and dying world around them.
So, the butler told Pharaoh about Joseph and how Joseph was able to interpret dreams and then the Pharaoh told them to go get him right away. Now, listen carefully, because this shows us how desperate the Pharaoh was for an interpretation; because Joseph was in prison and he was there because he was a slave who had been accused of trying to rape Potiphar’s wife and remember that Potiphar was the head of Pharaoh’s body guards. So, no matter how you look at it; the fact that Pharaoh would even listen to Joseph was a miracle in itself.
Now, think about his sending people to get Joseph. We all know who Joseph was and how he had been faithful to God in spite of what everyone had done to him and the problem is, we tend to read this story with all this in mind. But what if the premier of our province had a problem and no one could seem to find an answer but someone said to him, “I know someone who can help. There’s a guy who’s doing life at Renous Penitentiary. Now, as far as I know he’s never had a regular job and he’s doing time for attempted rape but I heard he’s really good at answering the difficult questions of life.” Now, how many of you would think the premier would say, “Hey, that’s great idea; let’s send a car and bring him here, right away.” Well, the idea sounds absurd from our standpoint and yet, that’s exactly what happened and that makes the story all the more miraculous.
But then again, remember that Moses was a run away murderer who had been chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. David was called by God ‘a man after God’s own heart’ and yet he was told by God that he couldn’t build the temple because he was considered to be a man of bloodshed. The apostle Paul who wrote almost half of the New Testament had stood holding everybody’s coat while they all stoned Stephan to death. In other words, he was behind them but didn’t want to get his hands dirty. And two of the heads of the tribes of Israel that are listed in Revelation 6 were two of the twelve who wiped out an entire tribe for raping their sister and then stole everything they had. So, God has used the guilty before but here the big difference was; Joseph was innocent.
So, they sent for Joseph and I’m sure this particular day was just another day in jail for him and he’d probably be doing whatever it was he did to pass the time but I imagine someone ran in and said, “The Pharaoh had a dream, he can’t understand it and nobody else knows what it means either, so, he wants you to come right away and before you go there’s a whole gang of people here who are going to clean you up.” And then it says they cleaned him up and gave him a shave and fresh clothes to wear because after all, he was a prisoner and all a prisoner had to wear was what he brought with him when he was arrested or whatever he had received from poor boxes or where ever else they got clothes and we know there was no such thing as prison uniforms. So, he was cleaned up, dressed up and made as presentable as possible and then they took him to the palace.
D.L. Moody said, “It’s obvious that God has often called men to places of dignity and honor when they were both busy and honest. Moses was busy taking care of his father–in-law’s sheep, Gideon was busy working threshing wheat and Elisha was busy plowing his fields. Saul was busy looking for his father’s donkeys when Samuel anointed him king and David was busy keeping his father’s sheep when he was called to the Kingdom. Amos was busy taking care of horses in Tecoah and then the shepherds were busy feeding their sheep when they had the revelation of Jesus birth and they saw the angels in the sky. And then God called four of the apostles away from the busyness of their fishing boat and Matthew was busy collecting taxes. Listen, God never calls anyone who has nothing else to do and He never encourages anybody to be lazy no matter what they’re doing.”
So, they brought Joseph to the palace and then you’ll notice; in verse 15, there was no introduction in the conversation between him and Pharaoh but Pharaoh just got to the point. It says, “And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, it is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
Now get this, there’s no doubt that Joseph respected who he was talking to; but Joseph told him right up front that it wasn’t him who could interpret his dreams but God would give him an answer. And we have a tendency to gloss over that like it was some kind of weak testimony but listen, Pharaoh was considered to be a god by everyone around him and here Joseph was telling him there’s a God in heaven above who has all the answers to all your questions and then he went on to explain in detail what his two dreams were all about.
First, he said, the dreams are ‘one’ which is another way of saying, these two dreams are about two different things, cows and corn but they’re both related to the same issue. And then second, he said, “God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.” Or, the purpose of these dreams is to let you know what God is going to allow to happen in the future.
And then he goes through the dreams about the good cows being eaten by the ugly ones; which I find amusing because I think all cows are ugly and then he goes to the dream about the corn and how the ugly ears eat the good ears, which is also kind of funny because corn usually doesn’t eat corn. So, both these dreams are describing something strange because something really strange is about to happen. And then in verse 31 he said, “And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.” So, he said the purpose of having these two dreams which have the same message is because God wants to make sure you understand that He’s really serious about this coming famine and you’ve got to get yourself and the entire kingdom ready before it comes.
And then he went on to say that the way to get ready is to put someone in charge of food production and food storage to prepare the nation for the seven years of famine that are coming.
And in response to his interpretation Pharaoh said in verses 39-40, "Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne will I be greater than you." Do you see what happened? Pharaoh thought the easiest solution to the whole thing was to put Joseph in charge of all food production and really; everything else in the entire country. He would be second in command to Pharaoh himself.
The term they had for Joseph’s position was the grand vizier and these days we’d refer to his position as the Prime Minister whose power originally had come from the king rather than from the people.
Now, as the grand vizier which was a lifelong position in which Joseph would appoint people who would be like deputy ministers and they would come before him three times a year and give a report on how things were going across the country and then he’d be responsible to Pharaoh for everything from food production and storage; to taxes and internal security. And absolutely everyone who worked for Pharaoh reported to Joseph.
History tells us the grand viziers traveled with several security guards and the job of these men was not only to protect him from others but also to clear the way before him as he went out to inspect everything. They say the grand vizier rode in a gold chariot and lived in a mansion complete with slaves and servants. Listen, this was the position that God had prepared Joseph for through twelve long years of suffering and silence.
And, just as Potiphar had put him in charge of his household and the warden had put him in charge of the prison it says the Pharaoh took off his signet ring and put it on Joseph’s finger. And this would be like handing someone a charge card that had no limits whatsoever. And by stamping anything with this ring he expressed the authority of Pharaoh himself. And on top of this it says, Pharaoh gave him fine garments made of linen and placed a gold necklace around his neck and he was even given a royal chariot. I mean, that would be the equivalent of being handed a new tux, a Rolex watch and a Rolls Royce.
Now, think about this! Only a few hours before, Joseph was a dirty and forgotten prisoner and now he had everything that anyone could ever imagine. I mean, he went from a prisoner to a prince in less than an hour! And he was only 30 years old! This might have gone to someone else’s head but Joseph knew where he had come from and he’d be just as faithful in the palace as he had been in Potiphar’s house or even in the prison.
Someone has said that if you want to know what a person is made of; just look at him when he is on top! And Joseph’s reaction to his wealth and power showed that he was a man of faith, who was continually loyal to God. And as a demonstration of who he was; the last couple of verses tell us, Joseph was married to one woman and she had two sons. The first son was named "Manasseh" with means "God has made me forget my troubles" and we see Manasseh listed as the head of one of the twelve tribes of Israel in the book of Revelation and then his second son was called, "Ephraim" with means "God has made me fruitful."
Now, get this, I think Joseph was now in the most dangerous place he’d ever been. It was worse than the pit where he faced death itself, it was worse than living under the same roof as Potiphar’s wife and even worse than living in that hole of a prison cell. You see, now he had anything he could ever want which sounds like a great reward for faithful service and it was; but it was when he had everything that he’d be tested to see whether he’d serve God or simply enjoy himself.
Comfort and ease are a greater test than anything else we’ll ever have to deal with. You see, when I’m in pain, I cry out to God. When I’m broke and can’t pay my bills I cry out to God. If I think my wife doesn’t love me or I’m being tempted to be unfaithful or my kids head off in a direction where I know they’re going to suffer, I cry out to God. But, when I’m comfortable and everything seems to be going well, well, who really cares what’s going on around me? It’s a temptation to become complacent. It’s the attitude of who cares about anybody else; I feel alright.
It’s like the man who’s described in Luke 12:16-21. Turn there for a minute. It says, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? (Listen, this guy’s got a problem and his problem is, he’s got so much stuff he doesn’t have room to keep it all.) And he said, this will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”
Here’s a man who’s completely wrapped up in himself. It’s my crops, my barn, my goods and my soul. And he said; I’ve got everything I’m ever going to need and then some. I’ve got life insurance, I’ve got health insurance, I’ve got home and theft insurance. I’ve even got insurance on my dog. What could possibly go wrong? And that night; as he lay down to sleep on a brand new hand carved bed with soft non-allergenic pillows and a comforter that was made by Martha Stewart herself; it says, he died. How old was he? It doesn’t say, it just says he died.
And everyone who knew this man had a few questions. And the first question that everyone wants to know is; who is going to get all his stuff. I remember when somebody asked me about a wealthy man in town who died; “I wonder how much he left behind?” And I said, “All of it.”
John MacArthur said, “Managing money and possessions is a severe problem for all of us. We all have different amounts of money because God gave it to us but we all have the same problem: What do we do with it? How should we invest it? How should we spend it? We have to constantly face the fact that money provides for us a test of true spirituality.
For example, the Lord gave thirty-eight parables in the Gospels. Out of those thirty-eight, sixteen are about how we handle our money. Jesus said more about money and possessions than about heaven and hell combined. In the Gospels, one out of every ten verses deals with money or possessions; 288 verses in all. And listen to this, in the Bible there are over five hundred references to prayer and less than five hundred references to faith but there are over two thousand references to money and possessions. Listen, money is a major issue.”
And no matter how much or how little you leave behind there’s always going to be someone who thinks they deserve every nickel you’ve ever earned and then some. And by the time they close the casket and all the potato salad is gone; if you don’t have a will, the battle for what’s left begins.
Leo Tolstoy once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer who was not satisfied with his lot in life. He wanted more of everything and one day he received a novel offer. For 1000 rubles, he was told he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day. The only catch in the deal was that he had to be back at his starting point by sundown.
So, early the next morning he started walking at a fast pace. By noon he was very tired, but he kept going, covering more and more ground. Well into the afternoon he realized that his greed had taken him far from the starting point. So, he quickened his pace and as the sun began to sink low in the sky, he began to run, knowing that if he did not make it back by sundown the opportunity to become an even bigger landholder would be lost.
As the sun began to sink below the horizon he came within sight of the finish line. Gasping for breath, his heart pounding, he called upon every bit of strength left in his body and staggered across the line just before the sun disappeared. He immediately collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth and in a few minutes he was dead. Afterwards, his servants dug a grave. It was about six feet long and three feet wide. The title of Tolstoy’s story was: ‘How Much Land Does a Man Need?’
A number of years ago there was a man by the name of Ron Sider who had written a book called Rich Christians in an Age of Scarcity and some of the Christians who read it were very offended by his book. One so much that he wrote a response and called his book, “Successful Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators.” But listen very carefully, I don’t care how much you have or what you do with what you have because regardless of what anybody else says, “It’s you’re responsibility and no one else’s and one day you’ll answer to God for what you have, what you leave and where you leave it.” So, since it’s your responsibility, you need to make sure everything’s taken care of before you leave this world.
So, the first question is; who going to get all this rich man’s stuff but then the second question is more important than his stuff and it’s; where did he go? And we know that before he goes anywhere for eternity he’s going to stand before the throne of God and answers a few questions. Now, do you think God will ask: so, how far did you go in school? What kind of a job did you have? Did you ever win any awards for sports or anything like that? How much money were you able to save? Now, you know and I know that none of what seems to be so important on earth is going to matter when we stand there.
Listen, God will only ask two questions and the first one is going to be; what did you do with My Son who gave His life for you? Was He really your Lord or did you just do your own thing? And then second, He’ll ask, how did you do to serve Him? Since He told you that His goal was to spread the gospel over the entire world; how did you spend your time, your money and your energy?
And I’m afraid we think we’ve got the answer to that question because we might say, “I was at the church every time the doors were opened. I gave all my tithes and offerings and did everything I could to keep it looking the way it should.” Now, listen very carefully or you’ll misinterpret what I’m saying. The local church is important and the quality of our building is important too but the local church is just a vehicle through which we’re to reach this world and the goal is to reach the world. If all we do is listen to messages that get us exited about going to more services then we’ve missed the point altogether.
It’s important to go to be faithful to the local church but we’ve also got to be faithful to do something with the things we’ve learned. Just listening is never the goal. Doing something and I mean anything to communicate the gospel is what’s important.
Years ago my mother-in-law worked for East York Hydro in Toronto and she told me they had a couple of women who opened all the mail back when everyone sent payments in for their monthly bills. And every day, sometimes two or three times a day, these women would grumble because someone put a gospel tract in with their cheque. And she said all those tracts went straight into the garbage.
Can you imagine these two women standing before God and they’ll say, “We never heard the gospel, we didn’t know you died on Calvary for our sins and we never even met a real Christian.” And Jesus will say, “I sent you two and three messages every week and all you did was laugh and make fun.” But, someone was faithful to mail these tracts.
A couple of months ago I saw Michael Phelps on T.V. He was the Olympic swimmer who was on the news when he was photographed smoking dope. But a while back he was on a talk show and he was talking about how he’d been ignored and abused when he was a kid because he was what they called a geek in high school but now he said, every once in a while one of those guys who tormented him so much comes up to talk to him and he said they’ve forgotten about what they had done and said and they say, “Hey, Mike do you remember me?” And he just says, “No” and walks away. And that’s exactly what Jesus is going to say to the non-believers who call themselves believers at the end of this world but never do what He told them to do because He’ll say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”
And, the same thing happens at the end of the story of that rich man in Luke because he thought he had all his ducks in a row and he said; today, tomorrow and next week I’m going to do this that or the other thing and then he died. And the scripture says, “But God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
Listen money can be such a trap. George Bernard Shaw said that it is easy to find people who are ten times as rich at sixty as they were at twenty; but not many will tell you that they’re ten times as happy.
A teacher was testing the children in her Sunday school class to see if they understood the concept of getting to heaven. She asked them, "If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?" "NO!" the children answered. "If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?" Again, the answer was, "NO!" Now she was smiling. Hey, they’re getting it, she thought! "Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my husband, would that get me into Heaven?" she asked. Again, they all answered, "NO!" She was just bursting with pride for them. "Well," she continued, "then how can I get into Heaven?" A five-year-old boy shouted out, "YOU GOTTA BE DEAD." And he was right; we have to be dead to self and alive to Jesus Christ.
Close
So, as we’ve followed Joseph’s life from the pit to the palace; we’ve seen how he had been sold by his brothers into the hand of slave traders and then these slave traders sold him to Potiphar where he served faithfully until he was falsely accused of attempted rape and then he was sent to prison where he spent ten to twelve years and then he was delivered by the hand of God and Pharaoh made him the second in command of the entire nation of Egypt which was the world power of his day.
And Joseph’s life parallels our experience in that each of us who are born again are living in a world where we know we’re not welcome. And here we find ourselves slaves to sin, servants of unrighteousness and prisoners in a body that’s doomed to death and decay; but someday and we don’t know when we’re all going to get a call from heaven and it’ll either be by death or the rapture and we’ll find ourselves surrounded by all the wealth and glory of heaven itself and that will be our eternal reward.
