JOSEPH: PRINCE OF EGYPT - SEVEN

Esteemed readers, find posted here the seventh installment of my Joseph series. The previous six installments can be found in my articles on this platform. It is my prayer that those who read will find wisdom, instruction and revelation therein.

SEVEN

INTERPRETATION

On hearing the self-conscious advocacy and recommendation of his Chief Cupbearer, Pharaoh sent for Joseph with royal alacrity. Apparently, given the circumstances, the information supplied by that gentleman was supremely effective in prompting Pharaoh to act. However, the improbability of the entire enterprise should not go unremarked upon. Only God can furnish a sequence of events that would make the preeminent monarch of the ancient world even consider the prospect of meeting with and granting audience to a prisoner and foreigner, on a matter of such importance, as an option. When God is involved, even the likes of Pharaoh can run out of options. With God, even prison inmates can be admitted to the corridors of power, to confer on matters of significance and import.

So the stage was set in the palace, and the main player was sent for. One wonders what was going through the minds of palace officials at this urgent summons. The thinking of Pharaoh’s unsuccessful advisors must have been touched. Might Potiphar, Joseph’s master, given his seniority and function been aware? What tremulous thoughts might have possessed Mrs. Potiphar when she found out? What would the prison warden have made of it? What also of Joseph’s fellow prisoners? Did any of them implore him to remember them like Joseph requested of the Chief Cupbearer? The moment was pregnant with significance. This is what it looks like when God sets the stage.

Not surprisingly, when the summons reached Joseph, he needed to observe some personal hygiene in order to look the part. A quick bath, a shave and a change of clothes were required to make him presentable. It also gave him a bit of time to fervently and ecstatically thank God, compose himself, orientate and accustom his mind to the new unfolding reality and say what may amount to the most rushed prayer for divine assistance in the history of rushed prayers, one imagines. How he dealt with the nerves and anxiety that must have assailed him will be interesting to know. Then again, God was with him. The haute couture inclined and sharp dressers reading this would appreciate the challenge intrinsic in just how quickly Joseph had to dress for the biggest moment of his life. Ponder still what his sartorial options might have been in prison. It is unlikely he had the benefit of that coat that Mrs. Potiphar relieved him of. Also, his coat of many colors was a distant memory. Perhaps it is that with God, sometimes, sartorial elegance might take a back seat, temporarily.

And so, Joseph was rushed into Pharaoh’s presence. Whereas Joseph’s interpretation of the dream of the Chief Baker and Chief Cupbearer were a preparation and a dress rehearsal for what was to come, this was the main event. Pharaoh began by inquiring into Joseph’s reputation and ability to interpret dreams. Pharaoh’s inquiry was predicated on the fact that his brain trust had failed him on the matter. It was an invitation to Joseph to provide the assurance of a solution where others had failed. It was also an opportunity for Joseph to assert himself by so doing. Joseph declined the invitation and ignored the opportunity. Instead, Joseph removed himself completely from that equation by saying that he could not provide an interpretation in and of himself. However, he assured Pharaoh that God would give him an answer.

This was a man who knew human limitation and the power of God by hard experience. By carefully deflecting Pharaoh’s inquiry from himself, Joseph avoided the common mistake of making ‘his big day’ about himself. By redefining it as a matter for God’s intervention, Joseph invited God to be the primary actor and center of attraction, in the proceedings. This dichotomy between self and God is an existential and constant battle in the mind. It would seem that by this time, Joseph had resolved that conflict in favor of God. It represented yet another mark of his spiritual growth and maturity.

With that qualified assurance in place, Pharaoh told Joseph his dreams. Joseph’s answer was substantively and demonstrably more than a mere interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams. An interpretation was just one fifth of the answer that Joseph gave. God was running the show. This time God enabled Joseph to geometrically exceed the interpretation he gave the Chief Baker and the Chief Cupbearer. It was an ‘interpretation’ for the ages. First, the interpretation - Joseph explained the scope of Pharaoh’s two dreams as one dream that was repeated twice. He then located it in the proper prophetic dimension, as something God was about to do. Next, Joseph established the events the dreams portended and their specific timing. There was to be seven years of abundant harvest, followed by seven years of severe famine. Had Joseph stopped here, he would have fulfilled his brief and surpassed Pharaoh’s inept advisers. However, God had something more comprehensive in contemplation.

Second, Joseph was detailed and thorough in painting for Pharaoh a clear mental picture of the two events and more importantly their successive impact. In Pharaoh’s dreams, the fat, well-fed and well-disposed cattle were swallowed by the gaunt and scrawny cows that came after them. Likewise, the good heads of grain were swallowed and replaced by the withered and afflicted ones. Neither the gaunt cows nor the withered grain looked any better for having dined on the fat cows or good grain respectively. Joseph explained this to Pharaoh by elucidating that in spite of how bountiful and extravagant the seven years of plenty would be, the seven years of famine that will follow will be so severe as to make the Egyptians forget the abundance and plenty of the preceding seven years. The seven years of famine would be so severe as to displace and erase every trace of the time of abundance, so much so that it would seem that the years of abundance were swallowed by the years of famine.

Third, Joseph established for all time a cardinal rule of interpretation for scripture, dreams and other kinds of divine revelation. He observed that the reason why God gave Pharaoh the same dream in two forms is a strong indication of divine intent and imminence. It meant that God had firmly decided the matter and that God would do it soon. It is from Joseph’s seminal contribution in this regard that the classical principle of biblical interpretation, the ‘law of double mention’, was derived. So, in interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph identified and delineated that principle. Also implicated, but not as categorically, is another classical principle of biblical interpretation – the ‘law of first mention’, arising from the fact that Joseph was the first to have and to interpret dreams that occur in pairs.

Fourth, and more importantly, Joseph accurately assessed the policy implications arising from the equally accurate interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams and gave the king an excellent solution to the looming problem. Joseph recommended that Pharaoh appoint a man of wisdom and discernment to supervise the collection of a fifth part of each year’s harvest during the seven years of plenty, and store it in specially designated and built for purpose granaries under the authority of Pharaoh. The grain was to be kept in reserve for the seven years of famine to follow. In this way, Egypt would be spared the ravages and affliction of the years of famine. You may have heard of strategic reserves of grain, oil, foreign exchange and so on. This core national policy practiced by most countries in the world today, that very idea, has its origin in Joseph. With that profound piece of advice Joseph ended his comprehensive presentation. The fifth and final part of the answer and presentation Joseph gave Pharaoh, we shall consider presently.