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Sunday School

Lesson 14: Joseph Rises to Power

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Ian Pang

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Summary

This passage from Genesis 41 teaches us about God’s sovereign timing and power as displayed through Joseph’s rise from prison to second-in-command of Egypt. We are reminded that God orchestrates all circumstances — even long seasons of waiting — for His glory and the good of His people.

Key Lessons:

  1. God’s timing is perfect, even when it requires years of patient waiting with no visible evidence of His plan unfolding.
  2. Every good gift and ability comes from God, and we are called to direct all praise and credit to Him rather than to ourselves.
  3. God is sovereign over the hearts of kings and rulers, turning them wherever He wishes to accomplish His purposes.
  4. God can use difficult circumstances — slavery, false accusations, imprisonment — as essential steps in His plan for our good and His glory.

Application: We are called to respond to seasons of waiting with faithfulness and trust, to give God credit when others praise our abilities or successes, and to remember that God’s plans are far greater and more abundant than anything we can imagine.

Discussion Questions:

  1. When you are in a season of waiting on God, what practices help you remain faithful and trusting?
  2. How do you respond when people praise you for your gifts or successes — do you see these as opportunities to point others to God?
  3. Looking back on your life, can you identify times when God was working behind the scenes during what seemed like a hopeless situation?

Scripture Focus: Genesis 41 records Pharaoh’s dreams and Joseph’s God-given interpretation, showing that all wisdom and understanding come from God alone. Proverbs 21:1 reinforces that the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord. Isaiah 44:24-25 demonstrates that God makes foolish the wisdom of the world.

Outline

Introduction

Good morning. Welcome back to Sunday school. We are on lesson 14 of our 16-part series, Patriarchs of the Promise. Today’s lesson is titled Joseph Rises to Power, and this is based on Genesis 41.

Before we get into the lesson, let me give a brief recap of what we learned last week and a brief introduction of what we’re going to hear about today.

Two weeks ago in the last lesson, we saw how Joseph was blessed by God in Potiphar’s house. He was an amazing administrator by the grace of God and he was blessed as a result. But then later on in the story, we heard about how Joseph was locked up in prison after being wrongly accused by Potiphar’s wife.

Even in prison, he was an amazing administrator and was a blessing in the prison. We hear about how Joseph correctly interprets two dreams: one from the chief cup bearer of Pharaoh and also the baker. He asks the cup bearer to present a good word for him to Pharaoh to hopefully allow him to be released from prison.

But what we heard about in the story was the cup bearer forgot about Joseph. This is where we pick up in the story. In this week’s lesson, we will hear about how Joseph is released from prison as a result of God’s sovereign plan. We hear about how he prepares Egypt for the famine that was about to come.

At this point, let me pray for us. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the truth that is found in your word and how you teach us about your character, about your sovereignty, about your goodness and your grace to your people. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to grow in Christlikeness as we study your word and help us to understand it correctly. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

This is the outline of today’s lesson. First, we will look at the first half of the chapter from verses 1 to 36. We’re going to hear about Pharaoh’s dream and how Joseph interprets these dreams. Then the second half of the lesson will be spent on verses 37 to 57, where we hear how the dreams come to pass as interpreted by Joseph.

We’ll be following the inductive Bible study method as taught in this class, where we first make observations, then interpret what we observed, and then look at relevant applications to our own lives.

Now let’s look at the first part of our passage from verses 1 to 36. Please take your Bibles and turn there with me, and I’ll show the verses on the slide as we go and we just follow along.

In verse 1, we see how long Joseph has been in prison. It says here that now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile. This is two full years after the baker and the chief cup bearer left the prison. So it has been more than two years since Joseph has been imprisoned.

At this point, Pharaoh had a dream. In fact, Pharaoh had two dreams.

Pharaoh’s Two Dreams

Let’s look at the first dream. And lo, from the Nile there came up seven cows, sleek and fat. And they grazed in the marsh grass. Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and gaunt, and they stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. The ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.

This is the first dream. Then we hear about a second dream. Pharaoh awoke and fell asleep again, and he dreamt a second time. And behold, seven years of grain came up on a single stalk, plump and good. Then behold, seven years thin and scorched by the east wind sprouted up after them.

The thin years swallowed up the seven plump and full years. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

Here we hear of two dreams. In both dreams we read about seven plump things or fat things that appear. In the first dream we have seven fat cows. In the second dream we have seven fat years of grain. And in the first dream we have seven thin cows that come up after the fat cows.

“In both dreams, the thin things swallowed up the fat things.”

No One Could Interpret the Dreams

And in the second dream we hear about seven thin years of grain. In both dreams, the thin things swallowed up the fat things. As we’re going to hear about next, Pharaoh was extremely troubled by what he saw in the dream.

To Pharaoh, it wasn’t just simply a dream. Let’s read about what his reaction was. In the morning, his spirit was troubled. He sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men.

Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh was extremely troubled by what he saw. He knew that this wasn’t just something he thought of, but it was something more than that, even possibly some sort of divine revelation.

As a result, he sent for all the wise people of the land that he knew of, the magicians and the wise men, and he told them his dreams, expecting that they should be able to interpret the dreams to Pharaoh and give him the meaning behind these dreams. But as we read in the text, none of them could do so.

At this point in our story, we hear about the chief cup bearer again from the previous lesson. Here from verses 9 and 10, it says, “Then the chief cup bearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, I would make mention of my own offenses today.

“Pharaoh was extremely troubled — he knew this wasn’t just a dream but something more, possibly divine revelation.”

The Cup Bearer Remembers Joseph

Pharaoh was furious with his servants, and he put me in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, both me and the chief baker.” And then in verses 11 and 12, we had a dream on the same night. He and I, each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream.

Now a Hebrew youth was with us there, a servant of the captain of the bodyguard. And we related them to him, and he interpreted our dreams for us. To each one he interpreted according to his own dream.

In verse 13, and just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me in my office but he hanged him.

So this is referring to what happened in the prison with Joseph, the chief cup bearer, and the baker. Remember from last lesson Joseph correctly interpreted both their dreams and he predicted that the chief cup bearer will be released from prison whereas the baker will be released and hanged. And this happened exactly as Joseph predicted.

At this point, the chief cup bearer remembers Joseph even though Joseph told him to give a good word to Pharaoh when he was released from prison as predicted by Joseph. After two long years, the chief cup bearer finally remembered Joseph and presented this account to Pharaoh.

This led Pharaoh to quickly ask for Joseph and brought Joseph into his presence so that hopefully Joseph would be able to correctly interpret Pharaoh’s dream. And when asked if he could interpret dreams, what did Joseph say?

“After two long years, the chief cup bearer finally remembered Joseph.”

Joseph Points to God as the Source

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, but no one can interpret it. And I have heard it said about you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.” Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

We see that Joseph has this reputation of being able to correctly interpret dreams, and none of the wise men of Egypt could do that. But when Pharaoh gave him an opportunity to glorify himself, to point to his own abilities and innate talents to do these things, Joseph instead said that none of these abilities come from him. God himself is the one who can give Pharaoh the favorable answer, and he will.

“It is not in me — God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

This is very similar to what we heard in the previous chapter as well, where Joseph mentioned to the chief cup bearer that all interpretation belongs to God. We will talk more about this as we interpret the text.

Pharaoh had two dreams. Were the dreams distinct from each other? No. Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same. God has told Pharaoh what he’s about to do.” The next verse says, “The seven good cows are seven years and the seven good years are seven years. The dreams are one and the same.”

Even though different symbols were used in each of the dreams, they were referring to the same things that were about to happen.

The Interpretation: Seven Years of Plenty and Famine

And then Joseph goes on to talk about what the dreams meant. The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years.

The seven thin years scorched by the east wind would be seven years of famine. The seven thin cows and the seven thin years of grain refer to seven years of famine that was about to come.

“Seven years of great abundance followed by seven years of famine that will ravage the land.”

Joseph’s Wise Counsel to Pharaoh

And before the seven years of famine, there will be seven years of great abundance that are coming in all the land of Egypt. And after them, seven years of famine will come and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. And the famine will ravage the land.

The fat seven cows and the seven fat years of grain refers to seven years of great abundance that would come before the seven years of famine. As we saw in the dreams, the seven thin things consumed the seven fat things. This means that the famine that comes after the great abundance would consume all the surplus that came during the years of great abundance. It’s extreme and severe famine as indicated in this text.

So then why was the same dream repeated twice? What was the purpose of having the same dream twice when the message is exactly the same? Here in our text, we see the reason for that.

As for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that the matter is determined by God and God will quickly bring it about. It wasn’t pointless for the dream to be repeated twice. The purpose of doing that was to stress that this matter is sure, that God’s word is true, and that God can bring this about and he will bring this about very quickly.

It was a great warning to Pharaoh and the land of Egypt to make necessary preparations for what is about to come. We’ve already heard about how the famine was going to be like. This is verse 30 and 31.

After them, seven years of famine will come and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt and the famine will ravage the land. The abundance will be unknown in the land because of the subsequent famine for it will be very severe.

Just imagine that you have seven years of plenty, you have so much surplus that your people have more than enough food and the next seven years all that surplus is just completely wiped out because of how extreme and severe the famine is.

Here we see Joseph’s wisdom that was given to him by God. After he offered the interpretation, he gave advice on how to approach this upcoming famine. He says, “Now let Pharaoh look for a man discerning and wise and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of the land, and let him exact a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance.”

His advice to Pharaoh was to get someone who is discerning and wise and able to manage the resources that he has and be able to direct people as well and appoint him to take charge of the produce of the land so that in the years of abundance you can prepare for what’s going to come in the famine.

He says, “Then let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh’s authority and let them guard it. Let the food become as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt so that the land will not perish during the famine.”

“The matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about.”

This is preparing in advance, right? You have more food during the years of surplus. Store up this food so that when you run out of food in the famine, you can use the food that you’ve already stored up during the years of abundance.

This is the first half of our chapter today and we’ve made some interesting observations in the text.

Interpreting the Text: Why Did God Give Pharaoh These Dreams?

We’ve talked about Pharaoh’s dreams. We talked about how Joseph, blessed by God, was able to correctly interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. Now let’s move on to interpret what we have seen in the text.

The first question: why did God give Pharaoh these dreams? These two dreams so that Joseph would rise to power.

Does anyone have a different answer? Glenda?

I think God had a plan in giving Pharaoh those two dreams, showing him what is really going to come to pass. And it did come to pass, right? Which we’re going to hear about in the next half of the chapter.

Also, I think he was showing mercy to the people in that region by making sure they didn’t all perish.

What I find interesting about the dreams is something for all of us to realize: the power that God has over the mind. This is something that was implanted in the mind of Pharaoh.

It can lead to all kinds of questions. We understand how God works through us through his Holy Spirit, but he doesn’t need the Holy Spirit to work. Obviously, the Holy Spirit wasn’t involved here. So he’s not limited in terms of how he can work in an individual’s mind.

Proverbs 21:1 speaks to that. It says the king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord, and he directs it wherever he wishes.

Thanks for your responses. We heard about how it was meant to bring Joseph out of prison. Notice what happens in this entire storyline. In the previous lesson, we heard about how Joseph wanted the chief cup bearer to give a good word for him to Pharaoh so that hopefully he could get out of prison. But it was not in God’s sovereign plan for that to happen.

God wanted Joseph in prison till this opportune time where Pharaoh has these dreams. At this point, does the cup bearer remember Joseph? Now the Lord is able to use Joseph to correctly interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. In the next half of the chapter, this results in Joseph being the second most powerful man in Egypt because Pharaoh promoted him to this position. In this position, Joseph is able to save both Egypt and the surrounding lands, including his own family, which we’re going to hear about in the next chapter.

“God wanted Joseph in prison till this opportune time where Pharaoh has these dreams.”

God’s Sovereignty Over Pharaoh’s Heart

And as we heard about from Arthur, this is a display of God’s sovereignty over Pharaoh’s heart. As Mark mentioned, Proverbs 21:1 says the king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord, and he turns it wherever he wishes.

To the Egyptians, Pharaoh was the most powerful man of the land and possibly of all the lands. But even in this specific situation, we see that the king’s heart and the king’s will are in the sovereign hand of God, and he turns it wherever he wishes.

In this passage, Pharaoh was in complete distress and there was no one who could help him besides the Lord. This is God’s display of his power and the way that God chooses to show his authority even over the most powerful kings of the world.

Proverbs 21:1: “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.”

The Spiritual Significance of the Nile and Pharaoh

And just a little bit of context: what was the spiritual significance of the Nile for the Egyptians? The Nile was a major river in Egypt.

It had spiritual significance in that it represented the cycle of life due to its annual flooding, providing fertility to the valley. This possibly was one of the reasons why Pharaoh was very distressed with his dream, right?

Because if you remember what we read earlier, this dream—both dreams occurred on the Nile River. He saw fat cows and skinny cows, fat years of grain, skinny ears of grain, and all of this was happening at the river, which caused him great distress. This context explains why this might be so.

How did the Egyptians view Pharaoh? He was acknowledged as God, at least one of the sons of God, right?

For Pharaoh not to be able to explain the dreams that he had indicates some sort of limitation on his own abilities. If even the most powerful man in Egypt could not explain his dreams, it shows the deficiencies in the gods of Egypt and Pharaoh himself.

What we see in this story is that Pharaoh, who was supposedly a god, had to rely on a foreign god, Yahweh, to correctly interpret his dreams. This shows once again God’s power over the gods of Egypt and Pharaoh himself.

“Pharaoh, supposedly a god, had to rely on Yahweh to interpret his dreams — showing God’s power over the gods of Egypt.”

Joseph’s Humility: God Will Give the Answer

And now let’s go to look at verse 16.

In verse 16, we see that Joseph says to Pharaoh that God would give Pharaoh a favorable answer. This is the verse on the screen.

Why does Joseph say this exact phrase? Why does he say this to Pharaoh, that God would give Pharaoh a favorable answer?

Because Joseph realized answers only come from God. He knows that when he interprets the dream, it will be a right interpretation because God is going to give him the right interpretation. That’s why he’s saying God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. Interpretation comes alone from God.

Does that mean that Pharaoh would necessarily be happy about the answer that he gives?

I think Joseph wanted to remind Pharaoh who is in power. I feel like maybe Joseph himself recognized who is in power, then trying to tell Pharaoh, “I’m not the one who is going to give you the answer, but it is going to come from God. This is someone who can do things. This is the one who is in power.” It’s like reminding you, you’re not God, but we know God. I think it’s more like trying to remind who is in power and who is not.

I think that definitely him bringing out the fact that God himself is the one who would give the answer is pointing to giving God the credit for the answer that would be given. We talked about why he chose to say that this would be a favorable answer. I don’t think that Joseph necessarily thought that Pharaoh would be happy with the answer in the sense that he wouldn’t be happy that a famine would be coming, right?

But in some translations, instead of “favorable answer,” it says “answer of peace” or “shalom.” This means that the answer that God himself would give to Pharaoh would bring him peace of mind, that he would have a satisfactory answer and the correct interpretation of the dream.

This was unlike the interpretations that the other wise men and the magicians of the land of Egypt tried to give to Pharaoh. That was not satisfactory and was not in fact a correct interpretation of the dreams that Pharaoh had.

So the next question is: we heard about how Joseph could interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, right? So why could Joseph interpret his dreams whereas the royal magicians could not?

I wanted to answer the previous question, but I think I can tie the two together. For me, I see the beginnings of what bringing the gospel to the world is all about. If we remember the eunuch that was reading from Isaiah where it was describing something that was a prophecy, what did he say? I keep forgetting the one that interpreted for him. But he says, “How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?” For us, Joseph, I believe, is the beginning of a picture of how God works in an individual.

“Interpretation comes alone from God — the answer would bring Pharaoh peace of mind.”

There are so many, unfortunately from my point of view, leaders and teachers out there that don’t believe in the sovereignty of God. They don’t recognize how important it is that God has to be involved right from the beginning, from a person to convert or turn to God. It has to be God working in the person’s mind. So again, I see this as a picture of how the whole process of evangelizing works.

Yeah. Thanks, Arthur.

Why Joseph Could Interpret Where Magicians Could Not

I feel like first of all, these were not normal dreams. I feel like these dreams were coming from God. Which means someone who can explain them is someone who is seeking knowledge from God.

So I feel like in that regard, since Joseph himself knows what he can do, he is going to be supported by God. He’s seeking explanation from God, different maybe from magicians. Maybe they relied on other powers, on what they can do. So I feel like because Joseph was seeking knowledge from God, he’s the one who is right to explain those dreams.

Yeah. Thank you.

Oh, Jody, one of the character traits that I see in the men that the Lord raises up is humility. You think of the verses in the Old Testament: “Not to us, not to us, but to God be the glory.” And “Let another praise you, not your own mouth.”

And even Paul saying, “I’m the chief of sinners,” but he does say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” So they’re not talking much about themselves, their experiences. He exalts the humble. Yeah. And so that’s just one of the character traits that I see—that’s who he uses.

Yeah. And that’s not something you can kind of fake. It just is. So he’s giving God like, “I’m just a vessel here.” Yeah. And if I’m going to be his mouthpiece, you have that reverential fear of the Lord when you speak. So yeah, thank you.

Yeah, I think all the answers that you give. Yeah, I agree with them, and they all point to God being the source of these interpretations. And Joseph himself says that in the previous chapter, right? “Do not all interpretations belong to God?” And the answer to that is yes. It’s a rhetorical question, right?

So the reason why the royal magicians could not do that is because they did not know God.

“Do not all interpretations belong to God? The magicians could not interpret because they did not know God.”

And God did not reveal the true interpretation of the dreams to these people to showcase his power and his authority over Pharaoh.

Application: Waiting on God

And we read in Isaiah 44:24-25. Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb. I the Lord am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by myself, and spreading out the earth all alone, causing the omens of the boasters to fail, making fools out of diviners, causing wise men to draw back, and turning their knowledge into foolishness.

We see that this is what God does, right? He shows the foolishness of the wisdom of this world and shows that he is the true source of wisdom, the true source of knowledge and understanding. And yes, we see that God gets the glory here.

Now let’s look at some application questions to the first half of our chapter. We read about how Joseph was in prison for more than two years, right? Hoping that the chief cup bearer would speak to Pharaoh and get him out of prison. But this is not what the Lord ordained.

Sometimes it feels like we, many times in the Christian life, we are waiting on God and we think that we know better. We think that I want this to happen now in this specific way, but the Lord doesn’t allow that to happen in many cases.

So, how do you respond to when you’re waiting on God like Joseph in the prison? What are some practical things that you do or scripture that you turn to, Mike?

Isaiah 44:25: “Causing the omens of boasters to fail, making fools out of diviners, turning their knowledge into foolishness.”

Certainly, to pray to slow things down, not react in our own flesh, to realize that God is sovereign and to cool things down and just to pray to be with him, to understand his will and the things that he is doing and have comfort in that.

Pastor Dave, I think something valuable to do is actually something Mark mentioned a couple lessons ago, but actually to go back and meditate on this passage or go back and meditate on what God has done in the past. You see in the Psalms and other places in the scripture when people are distressed, what do they do?

They rehearse the history of God’s dealings with his people in the world.

Yeah. Because you can remember certain attributes of God, you can remember certain promises of God, but somehow they can feel like they don’t have any substance to your soul until you say, “Wait, how did I actually see this in action in the past?” And then you’re reminded and you say, “Wow, okay, if this is what God did in the past and this is who he is, then I can trust him in the present.”

So that’s one thing that I’ve tried to do too. Yeah.

“If this is what God did in the past and this is who He is, then I can trust Him in the present.”

Thank you, Mark. Just real quick, one of the things I noticed too about Joseph—we, I think we mentioned it in our first lesson on him. Regardless of the situation or station that he was in, he was faithful to God. Yeah, that’s consistent throughout.

And so you see him with Potiphar, he was blessed and God was with him. Same thing in prison, right? And so what I see a similarity with him and with Daniel is that their greatest value in life was not their position or their possessions, but God himself, and their joy was to be faithful to him. Yeah, that’s good.

Thanks, Jody. Just one practical thing as we’re walking through this life down here. We know everything we have is from above. Every good and perfect gift, but there’s a host of people like music teachers and people that you value.

So one of the things that I used to tell the kids to do is just thank that person and say, “I’m thankful to God that he gave you as my teacher to teach me these skills.” So you are giving them some credit in that it was God who placed you here rather than just flattering them. You want to bring the Lord into that situation to glorify him.

So you’re representing him. What was said is for any kind of success or any credit that you get, right? Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I think that’s good.

Application: Giving God the Credit

And I think with that we moved on to the second question, right? We can answer the second question too.

In the case of Joseph, it was so easy for him to just take the credit for himself, right? He’s now known as someone who can interpret dreams and his abilities are talked about in front of Pharaoh. When presented to Pharaoh, he chose instead to glorify God, to point to God instead of pointing to himself.

So when people praise us for our successes, for our character, for our gifts, for even our godliness, do we see these moments as opportunities to glorify God, to show others that these things come from God? Every good and perfect gift comes from God. Or do we see this as opportunities to glorify ourselves?

“Do we see praise as opportunities to glorify God or as opportunities to glorify ourselves?”

I think it’s just something that we should reflect on in the coming week as we go to work and interact with people. Just keep that in mind.

I think with that we move on to the second half of our passage. This is verses 37 to 57.

Just follow along with me.

Pharaoh Exalts Joseph Over Egypt

Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dreams, and Pharaoh commands Joseph and makes him a ruler of Egypt. Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this in whom is a divine spirit?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are.”

Pharaoh made Joseph a ruler over his house. He said, “You shall be over my house and according to your command all my people shall do homage. Only in this throne I will be greater than you.” Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”

Let’s look at the commendation that Pharaoh gives to Joseph. He talks about how Joseph has a divine spirit in him. Pharaoh knew that this ability was supernatural, even given by God.

In his next statement, Pharaoh says, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are.” Two things stood out to Pharaoh in Joseph: his discernment and his wisdom. As a result of that, Pharaoh wanted to make Joseph second in command in the land of Egypt.

Pharaoh then proceeds to reward Joseph even more. We read in Genesis 41:42: “Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. He had him ride in his second chariot and he proclaimed him before him. They bowed the knee and he set him over all the land of Egypt.”

“Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are.”

Joseph’s Rewards and Authority

He gave Pharaoh gave Joseph his signet ring. In those days, a signet ring is an object used to seal documents. This meant that Pharaoh gave Joseph the authority to make executive decisions in the land and to make even laws in the land. He also clothed him in fine linen, and all this happened in the span of a day.

The previous day, Joseph was still in prison with prison clothes and possibly even chains on his neck because he was a prisoner. But now Joseph has garments of fine linen given to him. Instead of chains in the prison, he’s given a gold necklace. Instead of having to walk around, he’s given the opportunity to ride in Pharaoh’s second chariot. Instead of answering to people, now he’s able to give his own commands because of the authority invested in him by Pharaoh.

“The previous day Joseph was in prison clothes with chains; now he wore fine linen with a gold necklace.”

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Though I’m Pharaoh, yet without your permission, no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as his wife. Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt.

He’s given a wife, and his wife is the daughter of someone of prominence in the land of Egypt. It wasn’t just anybody. This showed that Pharaoh had some level of trust in Joseph, even though Joseph was not an Egyptian but a foreigner.

Thirteen Years of Waiting Fulfilled

And notice how old Joseph was during this time. When he met Pharaoh, Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the lands of Egypt. He’s 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh. Does anyone remember how old Joseph was when he went into Egypt, into slavery in Egypt?

Right. So he spent 13 years in Egypt and some years in prison in Egypt. Before he went into Egypt, he had the dreams about how his brothers would bow down before him. And during all these 13 years, he did not see any of that coming to pass, right? He had to wait 13 years with no evidence that this would ever happen.

“He had to wait 13 years with no evidence — but God was working even in the waiting.”

But yet God was working even in the waiting.

The Seven Years of Plenty

And then we hear about how the seven years of plenty happened as predicted by Joseph. This is the text: During the seven years of plenty, the land brought forth abundantly.

He gathered all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt and placed the food in the cities. He placed in every city the food from its own surrounding fields.

Thus, Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.

“Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until it was beyond measure.”

Joseph’s Sons: Manasseh and Ephraim

So here we read about how much food was collected during the seven years of plenty. It was so much that it was like the sand of the sea. There’s a tremendous amount, and it was beyond measure such that they stopped measuring it and stopped caring about how much they were collecting because it was just so much.

Something interesting happened in Joseph’s personal life during the seven years of plenty. He had two sons with the wife that was given to him. Now before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.

Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, for he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and my father’s household.” He named the second son Ephraim, for he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

“God has made me forget all my trouble — God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

The Seven Years of Famine

And then what happens next is the seven years of famine, which was also predicted by Joseph according to the dream that Pharaoh had. When the seven years of plenty which had been in the land of Egypt came to an end and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said.

Then there was a famine in all the lands, but in the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. Whatever he says to you, you shall do.”

As predicted, the seven years of famine followed the seven years of plenty. It was not only Egypt that was affected by this famine, but the surrounding lands as well, as shown in our text. Egypt was the only place that had food available. When the Egyptians were complaining to Pharaoh about the lack of food, he simply told them to go to Joseph, and Joseph would know what to do.

Joseph, the great administrator in the land of Egypt at that time, was able to give them the right advice. Because he had planned for the upcoming famine, he had food available to sell to the Egyptians. We’re going to hear that in these two verses: “When the famine was spread over all the face of the earth, then Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. The people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe in all the earth.”

Here we see that Joseph had enough food to supply to the Egyptians to meet their need in this time of famine, the seven years of famine. Because of how much he collected, he was also able to supply food to the surrounding peoples who were now coming to Egypt to get the food that they needed. This is God’s amazing wisdom at work, right?

“It was only Egypt that had food available — Pharaoh told all the Egyptians: Go to Joseph.”

Because the Egyptians knew how severe the famine was going to be, and God gave Joseph the wisdom to store up the right amount of food during the time of abundance, he’s now able to have enough food to supply not only Egypt but also the surrounding nations.

Interpreting Part Two: Why Pharaoh Found the Plan Pleasing

And we’re going to read about that in the upcoming chapters about how Joseph’s own family was able to survive the famine because of how God orchestrated all these details in this story. We have made some careful observations in this second half of the passage, and now let’s proceed to interpret this text.

In verse 37, we saw how Pharaoh was commanding Joseph for his ability to interpret, and he found Joseph’s plan very pleasing. Pharaoh and his courtyard found the plan pleasing. Why was the plan so pleasing to Pharaoh? Because with the interpretation, he saw Joseph is going to save my people.

He stored up food in the city, food everywhere. He saw the prosperity of Egypt not in his own being well, but in preserving his people. That’s why he saw Joseph’s plan was pleasing.

What I want to say is how remarkable it is. I always ask God the question: why did he use the word pleasing? It was a miracle. Pharaoh believed Joseph. That was the miracle. He believed him.

“That was the miracle — Pharaoh believed Joseph.”

Because he believed him, his actions showed his belief. He gave Joseph the authority and trusted Joseph. When we think about today, it always boggles my mind. I ask God, why didn’t Joseph just leave? Why didn’t he escape? Why did he stay? Those are questions I still don’t have answers to.

The thing that I wanted to point out is that Egypt must have had amazing agricultural knowledge. Being a landscaper, you’ve got mice, you’ve got lice. You’ve got all kinds of creatures that can bring havoc to storing something away for years. It just shows how great Egypt was at the time.

The other thing that I wanted to point out is that during the time of plenty, those outside of Pharaoh’s circle or those that came to Pharaoh during the time of famine—what did they do when it was plenty? They must have consumed. No saving. The idea is that when we have a lot, we don’t put away. The idea is that in Egypt, they had so much that they could store away for the seven years of famine. It just goes about consumption. It talks about consumption.

So in verse 33, after he interprets the dream, he gives Pharaoh a description of exactly what needs to be done, right? Pharaoh is very wise because he says in verse 39, “Since God has made it known to him,” so he’s going to hire not only Joseph, but the God of Joseph.

There is clear practical wisdom in the plan that was presented by Joseph to Pharaoh. Pharaoh could see that. Also, as Danny mentioned, he acknowledged that there was some visible divine authority in the way Joseph presented this plan. It wasn’t simply from a man, but it was from God himself.

God’s Sovereignty Displayed Through Pharaoh’s Belief

And as Arthur mentioned, it’s a miracle that Pharaoh even believed Joseph, right? If not for the Lord’s hand on the heart of Pharaoh, that wouldn’t happen.

This is again a display of God’s sovereignty over Pharaoh and his heart. God can turn the heart of the king wherever he wishes. In this case, he chose to give Joseph favor from Pharaoh and allow Pharaoh to believe Joseph and execute the plan as Joseph advised.

We see a similar kind of commendation in the story of Daniel, one that we see here with Joseph.

“If not for the Lord’s hand on Pharaoh’s heart, he would not have believed Joseph — again displaying God’s sovereignty.”

This is Daniel 4:8-9. We see that Daniel, like Joseph, is said to have the spirit of the holy gods in him to be able to interpret mysteries, visions, and dreams. In both cases, we see the ruler acknowledging a supernatural power—even God’s power—in the lives of the servants of God.

I pray that we would similarly, in the way we act, in the way we speak, in the way we think, show God’s power and glory. In those situations, point to God and give God the credit when people praise us or when people talk about how good we are at certain things, in our character, in our speech.

The Meaning of Joseph’s Sons’ Names

So then we read about how Joseph has two sons during the time of plenty, and he named the firstborn Manasseh. The meaning of the name was that God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.

In Joseph’s life, he was hated by his brothers, sold into slavery, and in Egypt he was faithful. But in spite of that, he was wrongly accused and put into prison, waiting all these years for God’s plan to be displayed in his life. There was seemingly no evidence of that happening. But at this point, he rises to power and he acknowledges that God is still in control in the way he named his son.

He says, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” It doesn’t mean that he literally forgot all that he experienced in his life, but it meant that he now sees that he can look back on all the trouble and all the affliction that he’s undergone and know that the Lord has brought him through that. God receives the glory that he’s due for this entire process, both in the affliction and now when he’s exalted into the position that he’s in.

Notice that even though Joseph married an Egyptian wife, his sons’ names are Hebrew names. He did not forget where he came from. He remembered that he’s still part of God’s people and he did not become an Egyptian, even though he was exalted in the presence of Pharaoh.

Now let’s talk about the name of the second son, Ephraim. The meaning of the name is that God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. God made him fruitful in this land.

We know that Joseph is so skilled in being able to interpret dreams, yet he acknowledges that all interpretation comes from God. His ability to do so is only sourced by God himself, and he cannot do that on his own accord. May we be like Joseph in the way we carry out our work and our interactions with people too.

“He could look back on all his trouble and know the Lord brought him through — God receives the glory.”

Why God Chose to Bless Egypt

And the last question of this interpretation part is: why did God choose to bless Israel and Egypt? I think we mentioned some aspects of this in the earlier part of this lesson, but I still want to put it out there for people to discuss.

Glenda, could I go back to the question about your son’s name? Sure. We know that God raised Joseph to a high level—second in command to Pharaoh. He was married to an Egyptian woman. They changed his name to an Egyptian name and gave him a wife. But do you think that Joseph knew in naming his sons that this is not the end? That something else is going to happen? Or did he just name them because he was in the line—he was a Hebrew?

What I’m asking you is: do you think that even after rising to that high standard, after the name change and the Egyptian wife, Joseph still gave his sons Hebrew names? Do you think Joseph knew this is not the end, that something else is going to follow?

Yeah, I think he definitely knew that he was part of God’s covenant people through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he knew that God wasn’t done yet. He might not know exactly what God would be doing, but he knew that God wasn’t done.

Mike, I agree with that. Joseph, because God was with him, would be an expectant person who would know that this is not the end. The world does not end and does not hinge on Egypt, but Egypt is put forth in an important role in God’s plan.

Egypt is often a very great nation. They had achieved tremendous things. But God was going to show Pharaoh—and later Pharaoh with Moses—what he would do and show his sovereign power. Egypt, being often compared to the world just like Babylon is compared to the world, and God continually shows that he is sovereign. His plan will be prominent and persevere.

I just want to say something encouraging. Because Mike said the word “pregnant,” that made me definitely want to share this: in God’s goodness and his character, way back when we were talking about waiting—what do we do when we’re waiting on God’s promises? Looking at Joseph’s story, when it was God’s right time, he went from the bottom to exceedingly abundantly above all you could ask or think. Just like that. Just like in the blink of an eye.

And it made me think of the scriptures in Philippians where it talks about Christ and how he came down and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And then he exalted him above every name. And then there’s a scripture—I don’t remember where the verse is, I couldn’t find it, whether it’s in Proverbs or Isaiah—but it was talking about the birth pangs. When a woman is in labor, but it’s over once the baby’s out, it’s over.

That’s something about God to remember: he’s not only answering our prayers, but it’s so much more abundant and glorious and amazing than we even can imagine when his time comes.

One more thing to say about Joseph showing his expectancy once again: when he died, he obviously knew that it would not end in Egypt. He said, “Save my bones and carry them out of here.”

So clearly Egypt did not deserve the blessings that they got, right? But God chose to use Egypt to bless Egypt to showcase his own glory and for the good of his people as well. We’re going to read about that in the coming chapters where the family of Jacob is blessed because God first blessed Egypt and then used Egypt to bless Jacob’s family.

And because Pharaoh chose to exalt Joseph, we see how this ties in with the Abrahamic blessing as well. In Genesis 12, we read about how God promises Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you.” We see how this is displayed in this story where Pharaoh chose to bless Joseph. As a result, Egypt is blessed and the families of all the earth are blessed as well, where they now are able to come to Egypt to get food and survive the famine.

Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.”

All the people at the time saw that Pharaoh was the highest power of that day, and they were noted. And then it says some of the Egyptians with them because someone stood for their God, and it impacted generations. So it goes beyond every situation and how he works in that purpose.

Yeah. Thank you.

Application: Faithful Living and Hope in God

Yeah, I think we’re running out of time, but let’s look at some application questions briefly. The first question is: as we consider Joseph’s life, can we look at what happened to him and say that everyone who faithfully follows God will receive the same type of exaltation?

Clearly not. So how should what we’ve read give us hope in God? We know that God is faithful to keep his promises and that he would execute his plan in the perfect time and that he works for our good and for his glory. Right?

So even though we don’t know the exact details of what is going to happen in many cases, in very specific cases, we have hope in who God is and what he’s about. Right?

“God is faithful to keep His promises and works for our good and for His glory in the perfect time.”

So we can look back at Joseph’s story to see evidence of how God acts, and that we can put our faith and our hope in him knowing that he is good and that he works for our good and he would glorify himself in our lives.

Let me close in prayer. Father, thank you for giving us your word. Help us to understand, to digest, to apply your word in our lives so that it would transform us, conform us to the image of Christ each day. I pray, Lord, that we remember who you are and not take credit that is due to your name, Lord, and help us to point others to Christ in our daily interactions too. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you.

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