Joseph waited and waited. Then he waited some more for the butler’s help to set him free. “Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit,” Joseph pleaded on the day he interpreted the butler’s dream (Genesis 40:14-15; English Standard Version).
Knowing God had communicated to the butler that he would be restored to his former place of honor in a dream, Joseph believed he could tag on a request for help from one of Pharaoh’s ecstatic high officials. But the butler’s help never came! “Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him,” Moses informs us (verse 23). Once restored to his office as chief butler, the man simply forgot the dream interpreter. This undoubtedly discouraged Joseph. We can be sure he felt forgotten! Joseph still had a huge lesson to learn.
God was in charge! No man could change Joseph’s situation—only God could release Joseph from prison. God had not forgotten Joseph. In reality, the Creator of the unending universe and all that is had a huge purpose for keeping Joseph in prison until the time was right to release him. “My times are in thy hand,” King David stated (Psalm 31:15). Through experience, David learned that God set specific time periods to test, try and even punish him. God controlled the timing for many events in David’s life to suit His overall purpose. He did the same with Joseph. And He does the same in our lives.
Taught Patience
Do we have the faith to let God work out the details of our times? It is very tempting to look to some man to help us when only God can. Yet when we patiently wait on God to release us from a trial, or to bring to pass some event in our lives, the result is always glorious and fulfilling. This is a crucial lesson we all must learn.
“Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord,” Jeremiah warned (Jeremiah 17:5). We cause our own doom if we turn away from God and begin following a man or even our own carnal thoughts. God desires us to loyally rely on Him and His almighty power to deliver us from problems, tests, trials and our own personal sins. He will work out even the smallest details in our lives if we remain devoted to Him. Remember, God wants us to inherit the entire universe. To prepare for that future, we must exercise patience with the business of this earthly life. James said it well: “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:4).
The Bible does not give us the total number of years Joseph spent in prison. Yet Genesis 41:1 shows he remained there two more full years after the butler was released. This shows that God was severely testing this young man. By comparing Genesis 37:2 with 41:1 and verse 46, we know that Joseph was about 28 when he gave the interpretation of the butler’s dream. This also means that the events with the butler happened after he had been in Egypt for 11 years.
Can you imagine what it would be like to be on your own at such a young age in a strange country for 11 years? It is clear God was building a close relationship with the young man. Joseph had to learn to rely totally upon God. Although the butler failed Joseph, God did not. After two more years of testing, God’s time to release him had come (Psalm 105:19). With Joseph’s release came the revelation of God’s purpose in bringing him to Egypt. Joseph waited 11 long years for this moment and the understanding. How patient are you and I when God tries us? Surely we can be a lot more like Joseph.
To spring Joseph from prison, the great God of the universe caused Pharaoh to have two troubling dreams. These were not normal dreams. Since it was a full two years after the butler’s release, the dreams came very close to another of Pharaoh’s birthdays.
Pharaoh Calls Upon Joseph
Then the day came that Joseph’s life changed—forever! Busy with his tasks, the Hebrew slave-now-prisoner was startled to see Pharaoh’s personal servants hurriedly enter the prison. The servants, sporting furrowed brows and sweat-moistened skin, moved toward Joseph.
“Joseph,” one spoke excitedly, “Pharaoh wants to see you now!” The young man’s heart raced. He answered, “Why, what have I done?” “Clean up—change your clothes,” the servant responded. “I’ll explain as we go!”
Pharaoh’s servants brought Joseph out of the dungeon hastily (Genesis 41:14). Isn’t this how it is with God? Though we seem to wait for an eternity, God’s deliverance always seems to come suddenly. In what seemed like mere seconds, Joseph bathed, shaved, put on more formal clothes and went to stand before Pharaoh.
Pharaoh’s servant excitedly explained why Joseph had been summoned. During a fitful night’s sleep, the king had two vivid and troubling dreams. In the morning he was deeply disturbed by what he witnessed in the dreams. He called upon all the magicians and wise men of Egypt to interpret them. Not one could (verse 8). The chief butler, present at the meeting, suddenly remembered Joseph. He explained to Pharaoh that the young Hebrew servant of the prison guard had accurately interpreted his dream (verses 9-14). Pharaoh had to see this servant. Pharaoh needed some mental relief.
Joseph entered the king’s chambers in awe. The rooms were beautiful and clean; the complete antithesis from his prison. Joseph showed Pharaoh deep respect, but he readily noticed how troubled the ruler was.
The king wasted no time to get to the matter at hand. “I have dreamed a dream,” he spoke, “and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it” (verse 15).
Joseph respectfully corrected the king: “It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (verse 16). Joseph was not vain. Any youthful conceit had been replaced by faith. He took no glory or credit away from God. Joseph fully exalted the true interpreter of dreams.
Pharaoh’s Dreams
With vivid facial expressions, Pharaoh told Joseph, “Behold, in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile. Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke” (Genesis 41:17-21; esv). Pharaoh was so frightened by what he experienced in the dream—he woke up suddenly. Falling back into a troubled sleep, he had a second dream.
“I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good. Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me” (verses 22-24; esv). As he listened carefully to Pharaoh, God made the meaning clear to Joseph. He fully understood why the king was so deeply upset. A great national calamity was prophesied for Egypt. All of Egypt’s wealth in cattle and crops would suffer incredible losses during seven years of famine.
Joseph explained to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine. It is as I told Pharaoh; God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about” (verses 25-32; esv). The king was both stunned and relieved.
God revealed His secret to the king of Egypt. The famine would be very terrible and harsh. Although the message carried some very bad news, God provided a means for Pharaoh to prepare his nation for trouble. Knowing in advance was really good news. God was even testing Pharaoh here: If he believed God and prepared, Pharaoh could spare his nation. Joseph assured the king that the events in his dreams would shortly come to pass. Pharaoh would have to act on God’s revelation quickly. The seven years of plenty were about to begin.
Wise Deliverer
In deep sincerity, Joseph offered a solution to deal with the serious problem the king now faced. He said, “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” (Genesis 41:33-36). Joseph shrewdly outlined an effective plan to store food for the seven good years.
That stored food could then be sold during the lean years. In his plan, Joseph proposed that an extra food tax should be exacted during the years of plenty. Joseph surmised that because food would be so plentiful, no one would object to the tax. And he suggested that a knowledgeable individual should be hired to store it all properly.
All present with Pharaoh at the meeting agreed that Joseph’s suggestion was the answer to the coming famine. The king asked his advisers, “Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?” (verse 38). Pharaoh quickly answered his own question. He chose Joseph. Joseph would be Egypt’s wise deliverer.
Second Over Egypt
Pharaoh made a public proclamation before all his advisers: “And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath showed 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” (Genesis 41:39-40).
Jacob’s favorite son was stunned. The once Hebrew slave was now second-in-command over Egypt. In time he would become Egypt’s favorite son. Joseph’s life changed forever in a matter of moments. Yet his promotion came not from Pharaoh, but from God (Psalm 75:6-7). Ironically, Joseph became Potiphar’s boss.
Pharaoh continued, “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” (Genesis 41:41-42). Joseph’s years of bondage and poverty were now over. He was given the finest clothes and precious metals of Egypt. And he was bestowed great authority. The young Hebrew was given the king’s own signet ring. Joseph was given the honor of riding in Pharaoh’s second chariot. All Egyptians had to bow their knees when Joseph passed. What great respect was bestowed upon an outsider and a slave.
Pharaoh explained, “I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt” (verse 44). All had to get Joseph’s permission before they could do anything in Egypt. Of course, all of this was from the hand of God. The king also renamed Joseph because of his new, critically important office. He was called Zaphnath-paaneah, which literally means “revealer of secrets.” Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon states that Egyptian scholars explain the name to mean “savior of the age.”
Truly, Joseph was a revealer of secrets; he was used by God to save many during his age. We must never forget that it was Joseph’s willingness to be tried and tested that qualified him for such honor and opportunity.