Continuing on with our saga of "Joseph in Egypt"....or "What a good Jewish Boy doing in the place like this?"
Genesis Chapter 39 opens with Pharaoh getting a mad on at some of the help. Seems as though his main cook burned the corn bread, and the head butler was involved with the cover up. They tried to pass off loaf bread with the meal. Guess what? They ended up in the same prison as Joseph.
Verse 7 & 8 - The two goof ups have had dreams and Joseph comes to their aid, interpreting what the night messages were all about. Seems as though there is one good dream and one not so good.
Verse 13 & 14 - Joe tells the butler that Ol' Pharaoh is going to restore him to his job. That's a pretty encouraging message when you stuck in Geza lock up. But then Joe kind of messes up. He takes things into his own hands and tells the butler..."Yo! When you get out of here, put in a good word for me with the head honcho. GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!"
Verse 19 - Now the culprit that burned the corn bread didn't fare so well. Joe gave him the interpretation of his dream. "Got an plans to buy a new hat? I believe I'd put them on hold." In other words, a separation is going to take place between head and body.
Chapter 41:1
We flash forward to the next part of our saga. Two years have passed and Joe is still stuck in the Egyptian version of Folsom Prison. But Pharaoh has had some dreams. In fact he has had a "Bovine encounter" of the closest kind.
Verse 12 - The butler who did time with Joseph suddenly recalls the ability Joe possessed to interpret dreams.
There are 14 Holsteins in the dream. Seven that look like they have been pampered and fed the finest grain and hay....and seven that look like they would not be worth the powder it would take to blow them up.
Verse 29-30 - Joseph gets the skinny on the dreams. Seven sleek cows mean that there is going to be a time of great prosperity in the land. Food supply is going to go through the roof. But these good times are going to be followed up by seven years of famine. Food will be hard to come by.
Joe gets on Pharaohs good side and the ol' ruler sees a benefit to keeping this Hebrew around. So, with the blessing of Pharaoh, Joe sets out to implement the first government program that was sanctioned by God. Now it seems to me that those knuckle heads that live and work across the Potomac would understand that seeking God directions and then implementing them would be the best way to run a country. Cause things turned out really well for Joe, Pharaoh, the nation, and the countries beyond Egypt's borders when the seven lean years rolled into town. Hmm.....food for thought.
Well, I've gone this far to let you know that God is going to use this famine to bring reconciliation to Joe, his brothers and his father. We'll see that next time in the continuing saga of Joe: Walks like an Egyptian.
God on you...
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