Sermon on Genesis 41:1-16. Pharaoh's dreams.
From http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gsmunro/resource.htm
G.S. Munro. Panania-Milperra Anglican Church, Feb 14, 1999.

I want to begin, as Gary did last week, by saying that the story of Joseph is really not about Joseph at all. It's really the ongoing story of Joseph's father, Jacob. This whole section of Genesis, which begins at chapter 37, starts with the heading, "This is the account of Jacob." It is all about how God saved Jacob and his whole family, through one of Jacob's own sons, Joseph. And by doing that, God kept his promise, his covenant, that me made with Abraham, Jacob's grandfather, and with Isaac his father. So it's not just Joseph's story, it's the story of how God was faithful to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God promised Abraham that he would become a great nation. He promised him a land. And he promised that through his offspring all nations on earth would be blessed.

Well throughout Genesis we see how those promised were threatened. Here they were threatened by the bad behaviour of Joseph's brothers. It seemed like they had given up the faith of their fathers by their bad lifestyles, their envy, jealousy and greed, which led them to want to murder Joseph. Later we find God's promise to bless threatened by the famine which Pharaoh dreams about here in chapter 41. Jacob's family were in danger of starvation. But God had a plan. And his plan was to use Joseph to save his people.

So that's the first thing about Genesis 41. This story is part of the ongoing story of God's promises to Abraham. It's about how God is in charge of history and nothing that happens can stop him from doing good to his people and saving them. And that's a great encouragement to us too, isn't it? To know that we worship a God who cares about His people? A God we can trust.

Okay, let's take a closer look at this passage and see what we can learn about God and his purposes for us.

It begins, "When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream". Two full years. We can easily just gloss over those three words without thinking about it. But we need to ask, "two full years since what?" In last week's reading we saw how Joseph's brothers hated him, because he was his father's favourite, and because of his dreams, which they interpreted (correctly) to mean that God would exalt him above them. And I think Gary mentioned some of the events of chapters 38 to 40. His brothers sell him into slavery in Egypt and tell his father that he was taken by a wild animal. Joseph does well under his Egyptian master, but then he is framed by his master's wife, and falsely accused of sexual harassment and attempted rape. And he is thrown into prison. There he interprets two dreams, for two different men, and what he says about both comes true. But that is where Joseph has been for two full years. In prison.

Just think about it for a moment. I don't know what ancient Egyptian prisons were like. But I doubt they were any more pleasant than modern prisons. In fact they were probably a good deal worse. Joseph had no liberty, and he probably suffered mentally and physically. Even if he was not tortured, he certainly would have received little food and no comforts. Perhaps he was put to work doing hard labour.

Now, we know the end of the story. But Joseph didn't. Well, he kind of did. He remembered the dreams God gave him. But all he had to cling to was the bare promise of God. Joseph knew God's promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And he knew that he himself had a special role to play in those promises. I think he knew even then that he would be God's chosen instrument to save his people. God had given him through his dreams the clear promise that one day his brothers, and indeed even his father, would bow down before him and honour him. That had yet to happen, and so even as he languished in prison, Joseph must have known by faith that God had not finished with him yet. But it wasn't easy. How could he believe that God would exalt him to a position of honour when no one honoured him? His reputation was mud - everyone thought of him as a would-be rapist. He was a convicted criminal. He was not over anyone. Even the slave who brought him his daily rations of food and water was above him. He was amongst the lowest in the land. How could he dare to hope that things would ever be any different? And yet he did.

Let me bring it home to us. Do you think God can't release you from whatever undesirable situation you are now in? He can. And even if he doesn't, or doesn't yet, he can help you to keep on enduring anything for the sake of His promise and His kingdom. Remember what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:6. He told the Philippian Christians that he was confident that God who had begun a good work in them would carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. Paul also reminds us in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 that the Word of God is at work in us. We are God's construction zone. We're a bit like the Olympic Stadium - you can see even now that when it is finished it will be pretty impressive. But at the moment, it's only half built. Whenever you get discouraged, remember this. If you are a Christian, God is not finished with you yet. You are still under construction. Just like Joseph was. And even the bad things that happen to you are all somehow part of God's plan to make the person he wants you to be, and to fulfil the purposes he has for your life. So persevere and keep on trusting God to keep His promises.

Let's look at Pharaoh's dreams. We read, "Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, 2 when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. 3 After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. 4 And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.
5 He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. 6 After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted-thin and scorched by the east wind. 7 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream.
8 In the morning his mind was troubled…"

Dreams are really strange things aren't they? They can seem so real when we are having them, and some dreams intrude even into our waking life. Recurring dreams can be especially troubling. Sometimes even when they are not what we would call nightmares as such. Dreams don't have to have Freddie Krueger or some other kind of monster in them, to be terrifying.

It's interesting that many centuries later, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had a similar experience to Pharaoh. He had several dreams. The first one was about a big statue made of different kinds of metal, which was destroyed when a rock fell on it. And the book of Daniel tells us that it troubled him so much he couldn't sleep. Later he had another dream. And he said to his advisors, "I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in my bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me." That dream involved simply a big tree that was cut down. But there was something about both dreams that troubled the king, and like Pharaoh here, he sought out wise men who could tell him what it meant, and set his mind at ease.

We can probably all relate to this experience of Pharaoh's. I remember a recurring dream I used to have. It was simply a scene of peaceful green fields, with the raised white track of the Japanese bullet train in the background - a bit like the Monorail - and beautiful music was playing - something like the Peer Gynt suite I think. The picture zoomed in and I could see sitting under the stanchions of the train track, a milkmaid, dressed like a traditional Swiss girl - you know like on a chocolate wrapper or something - and she was milking a cow. It was all very tranquil and harmonious. Then the music would begin to slow and go what I can only describe as 'sour' - you know, like when a tape gets stuck or something. And suddenly there was this indescribable feeling of evil. That something was deadly wrong here. Something threatening and overpowering. And then I'd wake up.

It wasn't rational. I couldn't explain why that dream had that effect on me, and left me with a feeling of fear. But it did. And that seems to be what happened to Pharaoh. There was nothing particularly menacing in his dreams. They were just about cows and corn. But the dreams made him feel very very uneasy. And of course unlike the modern Western society we live in, Pharoah believed that dreams could sometimes be communication from the spirit world. They could contain important messages from the gods. And that made him even more worried.

And so we read in verse 8 "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."

Seems strange doesn't it, that no one offered an interpretation? That was also the case when Nebuchadnezzar had his dreams. No one could interpret Pharaoh's dream. Why was that? Well the short answer is we don't really know. But there are a couple of possible reasons. Maybe the dream didn't fit into the normal categories of interpretation. You see, interpreting dreams was an art form, and they used manuals which described what things in dreams are supposed to mean. People even today still write books like that, claiming to tell you how to interpret your dreams. But perhaps this dream didn't contain stuff that was in the books.

A second possibility is that they knew the correct answer but were afraid to give it because it was bad news. Think what happened to the last people to offend Pharaoh! The baker and the cupbearer. They got thrown in prison. We find out in verses 25 to 32 the meaning of the dreams - they both meant the same thing - that there would be seven years of plenty in the land of Egypt, followed by seven years of famine.

So, perhaps the wise men knew the correct interpretation but they didn't come up with a solution to the problem of the seven years of want. They thought it was bad news. So they feared for their lives if they were to become bearers of bad tidings to Pharaoh. But God gave Joseph the wisdom to be able to come up with not just the interpretation, but also a constructive solution to the problem. Look at what he says in verse 33: "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 as food. This… should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine… so that the country will not be ruined by the famine."

And Pharaoh liked Joseph's initiative so much that he made him the man that Joseph suggested he look for.

Now there is another possible reason Pharaoh's advisors couldn't come up with the interpretation of the dreams. It could be simply that God kept them from finding out the meaning of the dreams, and only revealed it to Joseph. Certainly that was His purpose in the whole thing. If Pharaoh's dream merchants had been able to come up with the right answer, they would have taken all the credit. The honour would have gone to man and his technical ability and skill and understanding. But Joseph is very different from Pharaoh's wise men. The magicians of the Egyptian court would have been trained in secret arts and learning since childhood. They were steeped in tradition and wisdom. But look at how Joseph reacts when Pharaoh asks if he can interpret the dream. Pharaoh asks, "can you do it?" and Joseph replies, "nope! … but God can!"

''I cannot do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, ''but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires." And then in the following verses, we find out what the meaning of Pharaoh's dream was. If Pharaoh's magicians had come up with the solution, the glory would have gone to them. Joseph points not to his own ability, but to God. Let me ask you, how do you react to praise from other people for the abilities God has given you? If you're a typical Australian, you probably put on that show of false modesty we've all used, and say, "well, it was nothing really," all the time thinking to ourselves, "yeah, I was pretty clever, wasn't I?" Instead, we ought, like Joseph, to give the glory to God. Yes, I may have done something amazing. I may have won some sporting trophy. I may have topped my class in some subject or other. I may have been a wonderful help to someone in their time of need. I may have led someone to faith in Christ. But it was only God and his power that enabled me to do anything. I know that through my ministry people have come to know Jesus and be built up in him. I know that I have comforted and encouraged people on occasions. And I am glad that I have been able to be a blessing to others. But if I ever do anything good, it is God at work in me, and nothing in my own nature, that has done those things. In and of myself I can do nothing. We should always give the glory to God, not to ourselves. The bible says that boasting is excluded for the Christian.

Application:

God is at work in us. Like Joseph in prison we are still under construction. 1 Peter 5:6 says, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may lift you up in due time." That is exactly what Joseph did, and he is a great example to us of godliness.

However, there is something even more significant about Joseph. He reminds us of Jesus. He saved his people. He was vilified and falsely accused, convicted as a criminal, yet God exalted him to the highest position of honour in the land of Egypt. Jesus too was falsely accused and hated, convicted and condemned. But God has exalted him to the highest position in the universe! And just like Joseph dreamed earlier about his family bowing down to him, which they did when they arrived in Egypt during the famine, so we read of Jesus, that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father. Amen.