Day 14. Genesis 40-42

Genesis 40-42

Genesis 40

¹And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt.

The butler and the baker. We aren't told what the offense is, we just know that they were sent to prison. Joseph was put in charge of the two prisoners.

⁵And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.

Both had a dream. Neither could figure out what it meant.

⁹And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;

¹⁰And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:

¹¹And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

The chief butler was actually the cup bearer. He dreamed he would be giving Pharaoh a cup again. He couldn't figure out what his dream meant.

Joseph interpreted the dream.

¹²And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days:

¹³Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.

It took a professional dream interpreter to tell him that.

¹⁴But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:

¹⁵For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

Joseph says he doesn't want to be in prison for ever. Maybe you could tell the pharaoh, and I can get out of prison.

The chief baker tells Joseph his dream.

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head:

¹⁷And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.

Joseph interprets the dream.

¹⁹Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.

The cup bearer will be restored, the baker will die.

²⁰And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.

²¹And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand:

²²But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.

Pharaoh had a birthday party. In celebration, he restored one of the guys; he killed the other one.

²³Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.

Of course he forgot him.

Genesis 41

¹And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.

Pharaoh now has a dream.

²And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.

³And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.

⁴And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.

Kine are cattle. Seven fat cows came out of the river, then seven skinny cows came out and ate the fat cows.

He had another dream.

⁵And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.

⁶And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.

⁷And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.

Seven ears of good corn, were eaten by seven ears of skinny corn.

It's no wonder pharaoh needed his dream interpreted. According to Easton's Bible Dictionary defines corn as "a general term representing all the commodities we usually describe by the words corn, grain, seeds, peas, beans." The word used here is dagan. I can understand several of the items, grain, seeds, peas, beans, but the word corn in the definition means maize. In the verses it says "ears of corn". Grain doesn't have ears. Seeds don't have ears. Peas and beans don't have ears. Maize has ears.

Why would pharaoh need this dream interpreted? No one back then in the middle east ever had maize. Maize was a new world plant. Columbus was the first European to see corn (if you believe Columbus was the person who discovered the Americas). 3000 years before Columbus brought maize back to Europe, nobody in Egypt would know what it was.

Of course, it was probably wheat, or barley, but wheat and barley aren't called "ears".

⁸And 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.

Of course they couldn't, they were probably trying to figure out what "corn" was.

Suddenly, the butler (cup bearer) remembers Joseph, and tells the story of his dream and the baker's dream. Pharaoh calls for Joseph.

Pharaoh then retells the story, practically word for word in verses 18-24.

²⁵And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.

Joseph says, he doesn't interpret dreams, god does. He says both dreams are actually about the same event.

The seven good cattle and corn are seven years of plenty, followed by seven bad cattle and corn are seven years of famine.

³³Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.

³⁴Let 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.

Joseph has pharaoh set up storage facilities for the seven years of plenty. Large enough that it will hold 20% of the harvest.

³⁵And 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.

³⁶And 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.

It's odd that the famine will affect the entirety of known civilization, and only one person had a dream that it was coming.

³⁸And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?

³⁹And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:

⁴⁰Thou 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.

Pharaoh decides that Joseph will be the guy in charge. Joseph will be the second most powerful man in Egypt. Except that Joseph is in charge of the food, so he's actually the most powerful man.

⁴²And 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;

⁴³And 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.

Joseph now carried the seal of the king. He was basically the vice president, except he had actual power.

⁴⁵And 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.

Joseph was renamed Zaphnathpaaneah. Zaphnath-Paaneah may mean many things. Some take it to mean "revealer of secrets"; or "finder of mysteries". People have tried to get it to mean many things, but apparently in Egyptian, the name makes no sense. As though it got disfigured when it was being copied. That can't be true, as god has guaranteed his word to be true.

⁴⁶And 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.

Joseph was 30. That would put this in 1806 BC, If Joseph was born in 1836, if Jacob left Isaac when he was 40.

⁴⁷And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls.

⁴⁸And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.

They gathered a lot of corn.

⁵⁰And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.

Joseph's two boys were Manasseh, and Ephriam. Manasseh means "to forget". Ephriam means "double fruitfulness".

⁵⁴And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

Corn bread.

⁵⁶And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.

⁵⁷And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

Egypt was the only place with grain. In all the world.

So, Joseph was in Egypt, at the Pharaoh's for 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine, that's 14 years. I've calculated the date to be from 1806 to 1792. Which Pharaoh was it?

Amenemhet IV (Maakherure) c. 1808-1799
Sobeknofru (Sobekkare) c. 1799-1795

Sobeknofru was a woman. Surely Joseph would have mentioned that Pharaoh was a woman.

Interestingly, from this point on the 13th Dynasty of the Pharaoh's doesn't have very good dates.

Genesis 42

¹Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another?

²And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die.

Jacob sends his remaining boys down to Egypt to buy corn. He didn't send Benjamin, he didn't want anything bad to happen to Benjamin.

⁶And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

Just like the dream.

⁷And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.

He wouldn't really have to make himself strange, this was several years after he was taken away. He was 17 when he started to dream, it's now at least 20 years later.

⁸And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.

His older brothers would have been in their 20's when he was put in the pit, now they are in their low 40's.

⁹And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.

Joseph messes with his brothers a bit.

¹⁰And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.

¹¹We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.

The brothers are big and tough around Canaanites, but they humble themselves in front of Egyptians.

¹³And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.

Joseph again accuses them of being spies.

¹⁵Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.

¹⁶Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.

He was initially going to lock up all the brothers except one, instead he only locks up Simeon.

²⁵Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them.

Joseph returns their money. This is the first incidence of Punk'd.

The brothers make it back to Jacob. Why is he still called Jacob? Isn't he Israel now?He's been renamed twice.

³³And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men; leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and be gone:

³⁴And bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffick in the land.

Simeon was still in jail. The brothers made it home with food. This trip from Egypt back to Canaan didn't seem to take very long. It seems to be a relatively routine trip.

³⁶And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.

Jacob has a tendency to play favorites with his boys. First it was Joseph, now it's Benjamin. He didn't seem to express too much despair about losing Simeon.

³⁷And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.

Reuben ultimately had four sons, at this point he must only have 2.

Points to ponder:

1. Who was the Pharaoh? Who were the Pharaohs? Again, if the authors can't get the history correct, why should they get the theology correct?

2. How hard is it to figure out the dreams? Really, no one could figure them out?

3. I find it odd that the older brothers would be so protective of Benjamin. Apparently Benjamin wasn't as much of an ass as Joseph was. We see Reuben cares more about his youngest brother, than he does for his own two sons.