Friday, 30 August 2013

Dreams and Portents²

Genesis Chapter 41

2 years pass for Joseph in prison when one night Pharaoh has a dream about cows and corn which he believes has a meaning, but all the wise men could not work out what it was.

Eventually the cup bearer gets a memory jog and Joseph pops back into mind, and he tells Pharaoh that he knows of somebody with a track record of interpreting dreams, a guy he met in prison!

Cleaned up and shaved, Joseph hears, understands and explains the dreams that Egypt would have 7 years with amazing harvests followed by seven years of drought and poor harvests.

When asked when he would be able to prove this Joseph said “About 14 years” and the Egyptian version of the Daily Mail ran an article about crazy socialist policy based on dreams –Only joking.

Joseph recommends stockpiling grain by introducing income tax during the good years to store up food and grain. At least we know who’s bright idea THAT was!

Joseph now in one day goes from prisoner to prime minister, he now has Pharaoh’s patronage and support (as well as second best robes, chariot and ring) and is de facto ruler of the land.


It is interesting that Joseph is now 30 years old, The bible is not clear but I suspect that Joseph was probably mid teens when he was sold by his brothers, and has spent half of his life as a slave and prisoner.
Think about it - it takes time as a house slave to become so trusted and time in prison to get a position of trust 


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