A Daily Genesis

Genesis 41:25-32

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[B][COLOR=#ff0000]†.[/COLOR] Gen 41:25a . .Then Joseph said to Pharaoh:[/B]

Note Joseph's quick response time. He didn't even go off and pray about it and wait for an answer from God-- no: right to it. Since Genesis doesn't say that God spoke inside Joseph's head, or by an audible dictation that only his own ears could hear; then I have to assume he figured out the meanings of those dreams by intuition.

That's not an unreasonable assumption. Even in the secular world, there are people who have the Midas touch; good investments just seem to come second nature to them. And how about "gifted" musicians, painters, and sculptors? I once watched spell bound as a young man drew pencil drawings of super heroes. He made no erasures, and the heroes came out in perfect physical proportion; in any posture he chose for them; and viewed from any angle.

I asked him how he did it. He said he didn't know; they just came out. Well; Joseph's gift wasn't music, or charcoal, or pencil, or mathematics, or paints, or sculpture, or architecture, or engineering. His gift was dreams; and he was really good at it too. But if you were to ask him how he did it; he'd not answer "I don't know; they just come out". Instead; he would no doubt answer it was a gift from the gods; especially one god in particular.

[B][COLOR=#ff0000]†.[/COLOR] Gen 41:25b-32 . . Both dreams mean the same thing. God was telling you what he is about to do. The seven fat cows and the seven plump heads of grain both represent seven years of prosperity. The seven thin, ugly cows and the seven withered heads of grain represent seven years of famine. This will happen just as I have described it, for God has shown you what he is about to do.

. . .The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout the land of Egypt. But afterward there will be seven years of famine so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten and wiped out. Famine will destroy the land. This famine will be so terrible that even the memory of the good years will be erased. As for having the dream twice, it means that the matter has been decreed by God and that he will make these events happen soon.[/B]

The "twice" method was first seen in Gen 37:5-11. Peter's vision (Acts 10:9-17) was the same one three times over, while Joseph's and Pharaoh's two dreams apiece were redundant, indicating that God meant business and wasn't going to change His mind regarding this matter. You know though, with some people, no matter how many times, or in how many ways, you try to tell them something, they refuse to listen; like when a girl keeps saying NO to a boy's advances and he just keeps coming on anyway because for some strange reason the boy thinks she doesn't mean it; and he's somehow convinced that her protests aren't serious.

Everybody accepted Joseph's interpretation without question-- Pharaoh and all the magicians and wise men (Gen 41:37) --and that is pretty amazing in itself.

Suppose you were President Obama in San Diego for a one-night campaign fund raiser and a Secret Service agent assigned to protect the President said he heard that the Border Patrol had an illegal immigrant from Sinaloa in custody for rape down in San Ysidro who says he knows exactly how to balance the Federal budget, stop processed food from poisoning Americans, eradicate genetically engineered crops, solve all your problems with Iran and North Korea, and get America out of Afghanistan. Would you be interested? I don't think so; you'd have to be pretty desperate.

I believe that while Pharaoh and his corps of geniuses were listening to Joseph's interpretation, God was doing a number on their minds so that they would accept what Joseph was telling them; and by the time he finished, they were amazed that they hadn't thought of the interpretation themselves because it seemed not only quite simple, and obviously true; but also the only possible explanation.

God wasn't bringing all these things to pass for the purpose of embarrassing or of dethroning the king of Egypt (not this one anyway). As a matter of fact, Pharaoh's control over the country would be strengthened by these events. The underlying purpose of it all had to do rather with God's plans and purposes for the people of Israel. Therefore, not only did God give Pharaoh the dreams, and give Joseph the true interpretation of the dreams, but also provided an effective action plan for Egypt's survival.

People often complain that they can't respect a hell-fire God because He only uses the threat of eternal suffering as coercion to get people in line. But the Bible's talk of hell and eternal suffering isn't meant to intimidate people. No, it's just like Pharaoh's dreams: talk of hell and eternal suffering is meant as an early warning of things to come-- inevitable things.

A danger foreseen is half-avoided. - - Cheyenne proverb

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