And Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God will do he has made known to Pharaoh.
Joseph comes straight from a dungeon to stand before Pharaoh. His first words about the two dreams are that they carry one message, from one Author.
Before Joseph explains anything, he takes himself out of the credit. He had none of the training Pharaoh's court valued.
Joseph at once admits, "It is not in me." It was no more in Joseph than in the wise men of Egypt. They may be trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. They may hold the highest posts in the king's court. Joseph, by contrast, is "a young man, a Hebrew, a slave," in a dungeon. But God is with him. So he can surpass the wisdom of the wise, stand without fear before the king, and say with full confidence, "God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace." He does not say, "God can give Pharaoh an answer," true as that would have been. Faith goes past what God can do, and states plainly what God will do.
Pharaoh had already asked the best minds in his kingdom, and got nothing. The reason was not a shortage of learning.
First God reveals what He is about to do. Even so, man cannot profit by the revelation. God speaks in a vision to Pharaoh, by writing on the wall in Belshazzar's day, and by "great plainness of speech" in our day. But now, as in the days that are past, the wise men of this world are at a total loss when they try to interpret the Word of God. So Pharaoh calls on the "magicians of Egypt and all the wise men of it," only to find "there was none to interpret" his dreams. Man's natural pride in his own mind blinds him to a simple fact: only God can interpret what comes from God.
Pharaoh had dreamed twice. Joseph gives both dreams one meaning, and one writer explains God's purpose in sending them.
Joseph interpreted the dream for Pharaoh at once, saying, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one" — that is, the second dream simply confirmed the first. God was showing Pharaoh beforehand what He was going to do in Egypt… God does things like this to wake people up. He wants them to see that their blessing does not depend on circumstances, but on the God who brings about every circumstance.
Another writer draws out what the repeat itself showed:
Joseph explains that both dreams pointed to one event: seven years of plenty, followed by as many years of famine, beyond anything known before. God brought both about for extraordinary ends, and He also made it all known to Pharaoh, which lay outside the reach of man. The doubling of the dream showed not only that it was certain, but how soon it would come. God does not deceive, and He is not mocked.
Joseph tells Pharaoh what God is about to do. Egypt's leaders had their own view of the future, and one writer sets that beside God's.
No doubt the wise men of Egypt had their theories about the future of Egypt. They shaped their policies and made their plans to fit their own ideas. The leaders of this world do the same today… they have their various theories about the future government of the world… all the theories of men leave God out of God's world… Still, God has His own plans for the future government of the world, and He has not left us in the dark about them.
Notice who God chose to speak through. The interpreter is a rejected man, forgotten in a prison.
All through this, the Lord was with him, though he was rejected and completely forgotten, like a dead man no one remembers. It is as a rejected man that he becomes the interpreter… And here he is to interpret the whole history of the world and what would become of it: its blessing and its misery, its time of comfort and its time of trial, and the provision made for it. There is counsel here as well as knowledge — wisdom about God's mind, and not only knowledge of it.
The same thought is put more simply elsewhere: Joseph is a man carrying something not his own.
There is precious spiritual gift in him. He was a vessel in God's house, carrying the mind of Christ, and ministering that mind as an oracle of God; like Daniel again, interpreting dreams, and making known even to kings, though still in his day of humiliation, what was coming upon the earth.
- God speaks first. God showed Pharaoh what He was about to do, before any of it happened.
- Man cannot read it. Egypt's wisest men all failed. Only God can interpret what comes from God.
- God uses the empty man. "It is not in me" is why Joseph could speak; the prisoner outranked the court because God was with him.
- The message is one. Two dreams, one meaning; the doubling marked both the certainty of the thing and how soon it would come.
- The result is trust. God sends plenty and famine so that people rest on Him, not on their circumstances.
The seven fine kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years the dream is one.
Pharaoh has just told a dream that no one in Egypt could explain. A prisoner gives the answer: the cows and the ears are not two riddles but one measure of time. Three small things carry the verse: the number seven, the word "are," and the claim that one dream lies behind two pictures.
Joseph treats the two dreams as one message. One writer explains what each picture stands for:
Joseph interpreted the dream for Pharaoh at once: "The dreams of Pharaoh are one." That is, the second dream simply confirmed the first. God was showing Pharaoh beforehand what He was going to do in Egypt. The seven cows meant seven years, and the seven good ears of grain meant seven years. God had chosen to reveal to an Egyptian king what He planned to do.
The cows are not years. They stand for years — a use of the word "is" found right through Scripture:
Scripture often uses "is" to mean "represents." It is so common that we need not dwell on it. For example: "the Rock was Christ"; "The seven good cows are seven years"; "The seed is the word of God"; "It is the LORD's Passover."
Joseph gave Pharaoh the meaning. But he began by denying that he had any power of his own:
The man who would one day hold power that no one before or since has ever held is for the moment stuck in a prison. He is counted among "what is low and despised in the world." Yet God chose him to "shame the strong" and "bring to nothing things that are." … Joseph at once admits, "It is not in me." It was no more in Joseph than in the wise men of Egypt. … He does not say, "God can give Pharaoh an answer," true as that would have been. His faith goes past what God can do and states what God will do.
Another writer hears the same note in Paul's confession that his competence came from God:
It is a mark of a true servant of God to say, "It is not in me."
Why send the same message twice? The repeat carried its own meaning:
Joseph explains that both dreams pointed to one event: seven years of plenty, followed by as many years of famine, beyond anything ever seen. Both were God's doing, for extraordinary ends. So was His making it all known to Pharaoh, which lay beyond what man could know. The doubling of the dream showed not only that it was certain, but how soon it would happen. God does not deceive, nor is He mocked.
Writers apply this pattern in two directions. One reads the world's present ease as its years of plenty:
Seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine that swallow them up — this is what Pharaoh's dream foretells. The world is still enjoying its years of plenty, and it barely believes the future clearly foretold for it. Yet the time of famine is surely not far off. It will show the resources of Him who will then be seen as the only one able to meet its terrible needs.
Another applies it to the preaching of God's word:
In a time of plenty, who thinks of famine? … The same is sometimes true of the ministry of the word of God. When many honoured servants of the Lord are busy ministering Christ to souls, few stop to think that scarcity may follow the plenty.
One writer names the purpose behind dealings like these:
God does such things to wake people up. He wants them to see that their blessing does not depend on circumstances, but on the God who brings about every circumstance.
- One dream. The cows and the ears say the same thing twice. The second picture confirms the first; it does not add a second event.
- One meaning. "Are" here means "stands for" — the same everyday use of the word found in "The seed is the word of God" and "the Rock was Christ."
- One source. Joseph had no ability of his own. He told Pharaoh it was not in him, and that God would answer.
- One certainty. God doubled the dream to tell Pharaoh two things: it was certain, and it was near. God does not deceive.
- One warning. Plenty is measured, and it ends — whether the lack ahead is of bread or of God's word. Blessing rests on God, not on circumstances.
And the seven lean and bad kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears, parched with the east wind, will be seven years of famine.
Pharaoh dreamed twice, and here Joseph gives both dreams one meaning: seven years of famine. Why would God announce a disaster years before it came, and what does the withering east wind add to the warning?
The lean cows and the empty ears are not two warnings but one. One writer traces how Joseph reads the two dreams as one message, and why God gave it:
Joseph interpreted the dream for Pharaoh at once. He said, "The dream of Pharaoh is one" — that is, the second dream only confirmed the first. God was showing Pharaoh beforehand what He was going to do in Egypt. The seven cows meant seven years, and the seven good ears of grain meant seven years. In the same way, the seven ugly cows and the seven parched ears of grain each meant seven years. The well fed cows and the good ears meant seven years of rich harvests through all the land of Egypt. The lean cows and the thin ears foretold seven years of famine to follow. Then, because the famine would be so severe, the good years would be forgotten, as though eaten up by the bad years with no helpful result. God does such things to wake people up. Their blessing does not depend on circumstances, but on the God who brings about every circumstance.
The east wind that ruined the ears is more than a detail. In Scripture that wind carries a settled meaning:
The east wind was distressing and destructive to plant life (Genesis 41:6, 23, 27). It was dangerous to ships at sea (Psalm 48:7; Ezekiel 27:26). It is a symbol of the withering power of God's judgements (Hosea 13:15).
Famine is one of the judgements God sends on the earth:
Famine is one of God's "four severe judgements." He has brought it on the earth in past times, and He has foretold that He will send it again as a punishment. The most severe famines in Scripture are the two that lasted seven years. One came in the time of Joseph, the other in the days of Elisha (Genesis 41:27-57; 2 Kings 8:1-2).
One writer reads Pharaoh's dream as more than ancient history. He sees the world's own future in these full years swallowed by empty ones:
Pharaoh's dream prophesies seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine that will devour them up. Even now the world is enjoying its plentiful years, and it has little belief in the future clearly foretold for it. Yet the time of famine is not far off. It will display the resources of the One who will then be seen as the only one able to meet its terrible demands. In that hard time of trial Israel will be brought back to Him whom they rejected, and the world will be brought under the throne whose provision of grace He ministers.
The famine put all Egypt into one man's hands. Another writer sees there God's method for governing the world:
This, too, is God's plan for the future government of the world. God will not govern by parliaments or cabinets, or by advisers and ministers. He will govern by "a Man discerning and wise" set over all. And all will be brought under His sway either by the day of grace or in the day of judgment — the years of plenty or the years of famine.
The same writer contrasts two ways of bowing:
The Christian delights to bow during the plentiful years of grace. The world will be forced to bow in the years of famine.
The warning has a nearer use. Plenty can end in spiritual things too:
Who thinks of famine in a time of plenty? But famine sometimes follows plenty. It was so in Egypt… So it is sometimes with the ministry of the word of God. There are times when many honoured servants of the Lord are busy ministering Christ to souls. Then few consider that scarcity may follow the plenty.
- One dream. The ugly cows and the blighted ears say one thing twice: seven years of famine. God announced it before a single crop failed.
- One wind. The east wind that scorched the ears pictures the withering power of God's judgements.
- One warning. Famine stands among the severe judgements God sends, and this one ranks with the worst in the Bible.
- One lesson. The famine would swallow the good years until they were forgotten. Blessing rests on God, not on circumstances.
- One man. Plenty and famine together brought everyone under Joseph. So God will bring all under Christ — gladly in the years of grace, or by force in the years of famine.
This is the word which I have spoken to Pharaoh what God is about to do he has let Pharaoh see.
Pharaoh has just told his two dreams to a prisoner brought straight from the dungeon, and Joseph's answer points away from himself to God. So why would God tell an Egyptian king His plans, and why could no one in Egypt read them?
Joseph says the same thing in verse 25 and again here. One writer starts from that repetition.
Having heard Pharaoh's account of his dream, Joseph gives the king a threefold message from God. First he twice repeats that "God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do" (vv. 25, 28). The wise men of Egypt no doubt had their theories about the future of Egypt. They shaped their policies and made their plans according to their own ideas. The leaders of this world do the same today. But all the theories of men leave God out of God's world. God is welcome to heaven. Man knows nothing about heaven and cares even less. But the earth is the centre of all man's affections, so man insists it must be run according to his own ideal. Still, God has His plans for the future government of the world, and He has not left us in ignorance of them.
Pharaoh had already called in the best minds in Egypt, and it made no difference.
First God reveals what He is about to do; but even so man cannot profit by the revelation. God spoke in a vision to Pharaoh. He wrote on the wall in Belshazzar's day. He speaks with great plainness of speech in our day. But now as in the past, the wise men of this world fail completely when they try to interpret the Word of God. So Pharaoh appeals to the "magicians of Egypt and all its wise men," only to find "there was none to interpret" his dreams (v. 8). Man's natural pride of intellect blinds him to the simple fact that communications from God can only be interpreted by God.
Joseph does not offer a guess about the future. He tells Pharaoh the matter is fixed. The dream came twice, and that repetition is part of the message.
Joseph explains that both dreams pointed to one event: seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine — on a scale never seen before. Both came from God, and He had extraordinary purposes in them. He also made it all known to Pharaoh, and that was beyond the reach of human knowledge. The doubling of the dream showed not only its certainty, but the speed of its fulfilment. God does not deceive, nor is He mocked.
What God shows, He also does — and He does it Himself, not by human effort.
God has a revealed plan. God has established His plan, and what God has planned and established, God will bring to pass. Men dream of bringing in a golden age by their own thoughts and their own efforts — through education, civilization, disarmament, leagues and alliances. It will all be in vain. God has made it clear: only His own direct intervention will bring in His reign of peace. As in Joseph's day, so in our day, "God will bring it to pass."
There is a purpose behind an advance warning like this.
God was showing Pharaoh beforehand what He was going to do in Egypt… God does such things to wake people up. He wants them to realize that their blessing does not depend on circumstances, but on the God who brings about every circumstance.
The revealed plan had a shape. Alongside the years, God showed Pharaoh the kind of person through whom He would work.
In keeping with God's settled plan, Pharaoh is also instructed about the way God will carry out His plans. Seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of famine, and Pharaoh is told to "look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt." Two things mark this plan. First, God ordains that only one man shall be over the land. Second, God will so order circumstances that all will be brought under the rule of this man. The circumstances and the man would combine to bring about God's purposed plan.
One writer sees the same pattern in the world today.
Pharaoh's dream foretells seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine that swallow them up. Even now the world is enjoying its years of plenty, and it barely believes the future plainly predicted for it. Yet the time of famine is not far off. It will show the resources of the One who will then be seen as the only one able to meet its terrible needs.
- Shown. The dream carried God's own message. Joseph says twice over that God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.
- Sealed. Shown means settled: the doubled dream marked both the certainty of the thing and how soon it would come.
- Sent. What God shows, God brings about Himself — not by human planning, leagues or improvement schemes.
- Sifted. Egypt's magicians could not read God's message: only God can interpret what God has said.
- Steadied. In plenty and in famine alike, blessing does not rest on circumstances. It rests on the God who arranges every circumstance.
Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout the land of Egypt.
Joseph has just told Pharaoh that his two dreams are one dream, and now he explains them: seven years of abundance are coming to Egypt. The verse raises two questions: why God announces plenty in advance, and what people do with it while they have it.
Joseph does not present the coming years as a clever reading of signs. One commentator sets that beside the way the world's leaders plan their own future.
Joseph gives the king a threefold message from God. First he twice repeats that God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. The wise men of Egypt no doubt had their theories about the future of Egypt. They shaped their policies and made their plans to fit their own ideas. It is the same today. The leaders of this world — political, religious, intellectual, capitalist, or labour — have their various theories about the future government of the world... all the theories of men leave God out of God's world.
Behind the seven years stands a plan God has already settled. One commentator follows that plan far past Egypt's grain supply.
God has a revealed plan. God has established His plan, and what God has planned and established, God will bring to pass. Men dream of bringing in a millennium by their own thoughts and their own efforts — through education, civilization, disarmament, leagues and alliances. It will all be in vain.
Joseph does not promise enough; he promises great plenty. One writer holds on to that one word and moves from Egypt's harvest to our own day.
There were seven years, not just of plenty, but of "great plenty." During those years, we read, "the earth brought forth by handfuls." It was a time of extraordinary abundance. And there never was a day like the one in which we live. Never before the present age has God sent His messengers out into all the world. They proclaim to every sinner a free and full salvation through faith in the name of His own exalted Son.
("By handfuls" comes from an older translation of Genesis 41:47. The ESV says the earth "produced abundantly.")
The plenty is counted out: seven years, and then it ends. One commentator notes how blessing itself can leave people careless about what comes next.
Often when people are richly blessed they do not think wisely about what the future may hold. They waste the large amount the Lord has given them. Then the lean years arrive without warning, and they are not ready.
The plenty covered the whole land, yet only one man went through it gathering. One commentator makes that detail the picture of Christ today.
The men of the world may completely ignore the blessings that grace brings to their door, and go on their way with no thought for the future. It seems the men of Egypt took no advantage of the years of plenty to lay up for the years of famine. We do not read that they gathered up any food. It was Joseph who went through the land and gathered up grain. And so today it is the exalted Christ who is reaping a harvest of souls during the day of grace. He is going through the world gathering His people out of the world. But when the days of grace have run their course, He will deal with the men of the world.
One writer draws a personal lesson from Joseph, and will not let it stay a lesson about grain.
Young man, prepare for the future. That is the lesson I get from Joseph. Have you provided for the future? I do not mean for the things of this life... Most men that one sees are very busy and earnest in their desire to get on in this world: I wish they were as earnest about eternal things. They are so taken up with this life that they neglect eternity completely.
- Announced. Egypt's wise men had their own theories; this plenty comes as God's own message, in a world whose plans "leave God out of God's world."
- Established. God has a settled plan, and what God has planned, He brings to pass — no human scheme can produce it.
- Great. Not plenty but great plenty — one writer sees in it the full salvation God now offers to every sinner.
- Limited. Seven years, and then they end. Plenty tempts people to waste it and to meet the lean years unready.
- Gathered. Only Joseph gathers in the record, and today the exalted Christ reaps His harvest — so the one fitting response is to prepare now, while the plenty lasts.
And there will arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will waste away the land.
Joseph has just told Pharaoh that seven years of plenty are coming, and now he turns to the famine that swallows them. Commentators read it as a warning about how fast plenty vanishes, and as a picture of the world today.
Joseph was not offering Pharaoh a possibility. One writer points out that the repeated dream was part of the message. The famine would wipe out everything the good years produced.
God was revealing what He was about to bring on the land of Egypt. First, seven years of very great plenty. Then seven years of severe shortage and famine. Both depended on the waters of the Nile. At the end of the seven years of famine, all the richness of the good years would be gone… What is more, the dream came to Pharaoh twice, so that he would see that the matter was settled and nothing could reverse it, and that God would bring it to pass soon.
The verse says the plenty will be forgotten. One writer gives the reason: good years make people careless, and whole nations do the same.
The abundance of the first seven years must have been great. Often when people are greatly blessed they do not consider wisely what the future may hold. They waste the large amount the Lord has given them. Then the lean years arrive without warning, and they are not ready. In the same way, when a nation has lived in luxury, a recession is likely to strike, and bitter complaining fills the air. Through such things God speaks loudly to men.
Joseph did not stop at announcing the famine. He also told Pharaoh what to do about it.
Joseph's counsel is very simple. During the years of plenty, store up for the future. Prepare for the future — that is the point.
One writer reads the two sets of seven years as a picture of the world now, and of the One the coming famine will reveal.
Pharaoh's dream foretells seven years of plenty, and then seven years of famine that devour them up. Even now the world is enjoying its own years of plenty, and it hardly believes the future plainly foretold for it. Yet the time of famine is surely not far off. It will display the resources of the One who will then be seen as the only One able to meet its terrible needs.
One writer applies the same pattern to the teaching of God's word. The famine he describes falls on places that once had plenty.
In a time of plenty, who thinks of famine? But famine sometimes follows plenty. It was so in Egypt. There were first seven years of plenty, and then seven years of famine; and all the plenty was forgotten when the famine consumed the land. So it is sometimes with the ministry of the word of God… Some of us can look back and see place after place where the word was once given in plenty. Those places have now become little more than a desolation, almost a famine of the Word. The children of God there are barely existing, instead of living in holy liberty, devoted to the Lord.
The famine left the people with nowhere else to turn, so they cried to Pharaoh. One writer finds the gospel in his reply.
The famine that followed was unusually severe, and it spread over the whole inhabited earth. When the people cried to Pharaoh for relief, his reply was simple: "Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do." This at once reminds us of the words the mother of our Lord spoke at His first miracle, "Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5). Does a conscience-stricken sinner cry out today for salvation? The answer in three words is, "Go to Jesus." All God's grace and bounty flows through Him.
- Announced. The famine was not a risk but a settled matter; the repeated dream told Pharaoh it would come soon.
- Forgotten. Abundance has a short memory. Squander the plenty, and nothing is left when the lean years arrive without warning.
- Prepare. Joseph's counsel was simple: store up during the good years. The warning called for action while there was still time.
- Now. The world is living in its own years of plenty and hardly believes the future foretold for it. The famine to come will reveal the only One who can meet it.
- Go. When the famine consumed everything else, one answer was left: go to Joseph. Today the answer is: go to Jesus, for all God's grace and bounty flows through Him.
And the plenty will not be known afterwards in the land by reason of that famine; for it will be very grievous.
Joseph has just told Pharaoh what the two dreams mean: seven years of abundance, then seven years of hunger. This verse adds the sharpest detail: the famine will swallow every trace of the good years. So what does a person do with plenty while he still has it?
Seven years of full harvests will not soften the seven that follow. They will vanish as if they never happened. One writer explains why God arranges history this way.
The famine would be so severe that the good years would be forgotten. It would be as if the bad years ate them up and left no benefit behind (vv. 28-31). God does things like this to wake people up. He wants them to see that their blessing does not depend on circumstances, but on the God who brings about every circumstance.
Both halves of the dream point to one event. And the fact that the dream came twice carries its own message.
Joseph explains that both dreams pointed to one event: seven years of plenty, followed by the same number of famine, like nothing ever known before. Both were God's doing, for extraordinary ends. So was His making it all known to Pharaoh, which lay beyond the reach of human knowledge. The doubling of the dream showed not only that it was certain, but that it would come quickly. God does not deceive, and He is not mocked.
The famine will wipe out all memory of abundance. So a person has to use the years of plenty with the famine in view.
Joseph's advice is very simple. During the years of plenty, store up for the future. Prepare for the future — that is the point.
The same warning reaches whole nations, not only people:
Often when people are richly blessed, they do not think wisely about what the future may hold. They waste the large amount the Lord has given them. Then the lean years arrive without warning, and they are not ready. It is the same when a nation has lived in luxury. A recession is likely to strike, and the whole air fills with bitter complaining. Through such things God speaks loudly to people.
Commentators also read the two periods as a picture of the present time. One of them points to who does the gathering during the years of plenty.
In this day of grace the world is passing through its "seven plentiful years," when the grace of God is giving out blessings by "handfuls." The people of the world may completely ignore the blessings that grace brings to their door, and go on their way with no thought for the future. It seems the men of Egypt made no use of the years of plenty to store up for the years of famine. We do not read that they gathered any food. It was Joseph who went through the land and gathered the grain. And so today it is the exalted Christ who is reaping a harvest of souls during the day of grace.
Another writer draws meaning from the number seven itself:
Seven is the number of spiritual perfection, whether of good or of evil. In these two sets of seven years we see two complete periods of time: the present, "the year of the Lord's favor," and what comes after it, "the day of vengeance of our God."
Plenty followed by famine happens with the teaching of God's word too.
In a time of plenty, who thinks of famine? But famine sometimes follows plenty. That is what happened in Egypt. First came seven years of plenty, then seven years of famine. All the plenty was forgotten when the famine ate up the land. It is sometimes the same with the ministry of God's word... some of us can look back and see place after place where this was so, and which is now little more than a wasteland, with almost a famine of the Word.
The phrase that closes the verse is the one to sit with. It was spoken as a plain forecast, and it is turned into a direct appeal:
"It shall be very grievous," said Joseph, of the famine that was coming on the land. And Christ has told us that the tribulation soon to come on this unbelieving world will be the most terrible disaster, or series of disasters, that has ever been. Would you escape it? Run to Christ. He will receive you; He will save you.
- Forgotten — The famine will be so severe that people will forget seven years of abundance, as if they never existed.
- God's doing — The dream was not chance. God announced His plan in advance, and He does not deceive.
- Awakening — God wipes out the plenty to teach that blessing rests on Him, not on good circumstances.
- Prepare — Store the plenty, do not waste it. People and nations alike meet the lean years unready.
- Now — Commentators see today as the world's years of plenty, with Christ gathering His harvest. The warning that the famine will be "very severe" is an invitation to come to Him while the storehouse is open.
And as regards the double repetition of the dream to Pharaoh, it is that the thing is established by God, and God will hasten to do it.
Joseph has just told Pharaoh what the two dreams mean, and now he explains why there were two of them at all. The repetition is not decoration: it tells Pharaoh that God has settled the matter and will act soon.
Pharaoh dreamed twice, and both dreams carried one message. Commentators read the repeat as God's way of shutting the door on any change.
Once more the dreams were prophetic. God was revealing what He was about to bring upon the land of Egypt... Moreover, the dream was doubled to Pharaoh so that he might realise that the thing was settled, beyond any hope of being revoked, and God would shortly bring it to pass.
William Kelly explains what the two dreams had in common, and what the doubling added.
Joseph explains that both dreams related to one event: seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine beyond anything known before. Both were God's doing for extraordinary ends, and so was His making it all known to Pharaoh, which was beyond the reach of man. The doubling of the dream indicated not only its certainty, but the speed of its accomplishment. God does not deceive, nor is He mocked.
Joseph tells the most powerful man in Egypt that his country's future is already fixed — and not by him. The commentators here use an older translation: where the ESV says "fixed by God," they say "established by God." Hamilton Smith sets that word against the whole history of human planning.
Not only has God a plan for the government of Egypt, but "the thing is established by God" (v. 32). People can produce a bewildering run of theories and plans, but all of them carry the fatal mark of complete instability. One generation pushes its theories and plans with immense energy. The next generation throws them all aside. But God alone can declare "the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done." He alone can say, "My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My purpose" (Isa. 46:10).
The verse does not stop at certainty; it adds timing. The same writer takes that second half as God's answer to every scheme for fixing the world by human effort.
Not only is "the thing established by God," but "God will shortly bring it to pass" (v. 32). God has a revealed plan. God has established His plan, and what God has planned and established, God will bring to pass. Men dream of bringing in a golden age shaped by their own thoughts and built by their own efforts — through education, civilisation, disarmament, leagues and alliances. It will all be in vain. God has made it perfectly clear that His golden age will only come by His own direct intervention. Has He not said through the prophet, "I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it" (Isa. 46:11)?
Joseph's explanation became a key that later readers used elsewhere. A hand once wrote on the wall of Babylon's palace. The first word appeared twice, and Daniel gave the sense God meant, not just a translation.
The words themselves mean "numbered," "weighed," and "divided." But no human cleverness could have found their divine meaning, and it is this which Daniel explains. The first word was repeated. The reason for this is no doubt found in Joseph's words to Pharaoh: "the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about" (Genesis 41:32).
Kelly applies the same principle to a miracle Jesus worked twice.
The miracle worked twice signifies, if one may apply Joseph's interpretation (Gen. 41:32), that the thing is established by God, whatever man's unbelief may be.
Pharaoh had seven years of warning. One writer draws the lesson for anyone reading now.
God has given us, not a dream, but the Bible. In it, He tells of coming judgment. Pharaoh knew he had seven years to get ready, but we do not know how long we have to get ready, and then we shall never have another chance. "The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it" (Prov. 22:3). Let us be wise like Pharaoh! "Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).
- Doubled — The second dream was not a second message. Repetition was God's way of stamping the first as fixed.
- Established — What God settles, no one can undo. The next generation throws out man's best plans; God's counsel stands.
- Shortly — Certainty comes with timing. God does not merely announce; He brings it to pass, and He does it Himself.
- Everywhere — The same rule shows up again: the repeated word on Babylon's wall, and the miracle worked twice. What God repeats, He has fixed — whatever man's unbelief.
- Now — Pharaoh had seven years of warning and used them. We have the Bible instead of a dream, and no stated deadline — so the time to get ready is now.
And now let Pharaoh look himself out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.
Joseph has just explained Pharaoh's dream of seven fat and seven lean cattle. Now, unasked, a man who left a prison cell that morning tells the most powerful king on earth what to do about it.
Joseph did not stop at explaining the dream. Speaking up took courage, and silence would have left Egypt careless:
A man just out of the shame and obscurity of a prison would normally hold back from advising a king and his courtiers on affairs of state — and on the most urgent and important matters. Joseph rose above all such scruples. Confidence in the revealed mind of God took away his fear of being brushed aside. It also drew out his heart in goodwill to the king and his people. Otherwise they might soon forget the dream and its meaning as a passing wonder. They would fall into the usual carelessness of unbelief, wasting the coming plenty and paying no attention to the scarcity to follow.
God had announced what He was about to do. Joseph's answer to that announcement was not a system but a person:
Joseph not only interpreted the dreams. He also told Pharaoh what should be done, since these things were coming. What was needed was the man of wisdom entrusted with carrying them out. Joseph was speaking on God's behalf. He showed that on the human side, faced with these acts of God, all that was needed was A MAN.
God's part in this goes further than choosing the man:
Two things mark this plan. First, God ordains that only one man shall be over the land. Second, God will so order circumstances that all come under the sway of this man. Joseph was to be set over all. The seven years of plenty, followed by the seven years of famine, would bring everyone under Joseph. The circumstances and the man would combine to bring about God's purposed plan.
Joseph describes a man he does not name, and the description fits the man speaking:
The man who could explain the dream turned out to be the discreet man who would govern Egypt through the famine. Here we have at once a picture of our Lord Jesus. He is the One raised from the dead, so that He might take His place at the head of the universe, and be even now over the house of God.
Pharaoh's conclusion moved from the dream to the man:
Pharaoh could see that the Spirit of God was in Joseph. God had revealed the meaning of the dream to him, so there was no one so discerning and wise as he. 1 Corinthians 2:15 tells us, "The spiritual person judges all things" — that is, he judges in the sense of discerning. He not only discerns spiritual things. He also discerns everyday matters more rightly than any unbeliever does. This is because God is the Creator of material things just as much as of spiritual ones.
The plan for Egypt sketches something far larger:
This, too, is God's plan for the future government of the world. Not by parliaments or cabinets, not by counsellors and ministers, will God govern, but by a Man "discerning and wise" set over all. And all will be brought under His sway either by the day of grace or in the day of judgment — the years of plenty or the years of famine. Many have already come under the sway of Christ by confessing Him as Lord, to His glory and their blessing. But the world at large has neglected God's grace and rejected the claims of Christ. It will be brought to bow in the day of judgment that follows the years of grace.
The good years are the time to act, and the principle reaches past Egypt:
The point was this: the future was to be provided for. There is a great principle there. Whatever you do not have as regards this life, make sure for eternity. Look ahead. The future is there.
Abundance itself is what makes people careless:
Often when people are greatly blessed they do not consider wisely what the future may hold. They squander the large amount the Lord has given them. Then the lean years come unexpectedly, and they are not prepared.
- One man. God's answer to a coming crisis was not machinery but a person. Everything in the plan hangs on finding him.
- One qualification. God gives the man discernment and wisdom. That wisdom handles grain as well as it handles dreams.
- One reach. Only one man rules. The years of plenty or the years of famine bring everyone under him.
- One greater. The man who described the office filled it. He pictures Christ, raised from the dead and set at the head of all things.
- One warning. Store during the plenty. Famine is coming, and abundance is the very thing that makes people forget it.
Let Pharaoh do [this] let him appoint overseers over the land, and take the fifth part of the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty,
Joseph has just told Pharaoh what the dreams mean. Now he goes further and proposes a plan: overseers across the land, and a fifth of each harvest stored during the good years.
Joseph was not asked for advice. One writer explains why he gave it anyway, and what would have happened had he stayed silent.
Joseph was not content only to interpret the dreams of the king... He saw that the case demanded the most energetic and careful measures. The light given from above had to be put to use: a long period of over-abundant plenty, then an equally long, certain and extreme scarcity to follow. So he rose above all hesitation. A man just out of the obscurity and shame of a prison would not normally advise a king and his court on affairs of state... Confidence in the revealed mind of God removed his fear that they would brush him aside. It also drew out his heart in goodwill to the king and his people. Otherwise they might soon forget the dream and its meaning as a passing sensation. Then they would fall into the usual carelessness of unbelief, wasting the coming plenty and ignoring the scarcity to follow.
Notice what Joseph puts first: not a system, but one man to lead it.
Joseph not only interpreted the dreams. He also told Pharaoh what should be done, since these things were coming. What was needed was the man of wisdom who could be trusted to carry them out. In fact, Joseph was speaking on God's behalf. He showed that on the human side, faced with these acts of God, only one thing was needed: A MAN.
The overseers of this verse work under that one man. Another writer sees God's own design behind the whole plan.
Two things mark this plan. First, God ordains that only one man shall be over the land; second, God will so order circumstances that all will be brought under the rule of this man. Joseph was to be set over all, and all would be brought under Joseph by the seven years of plenty followed by the seven years of famine. The circumstances and the man would combine to bring about God's purposed plan.
Only one part in five went into store. One writer draws out what that says about the size of the harvests, and about how people treat plenty.
He must appoint a wise, dependable man to manage the great work of gathering produce into storehouses throughout the land of Egypt. This would need many helpers. During the seven years of plenty, they would need only one-fifth of the produce of the land to be kept for the future (vv. 33-36). The abundance of the first seven years must have been great. Often when people are greatly blessed they do not consider wisely what the future may hold. They squander the large amount the Lord has given them. Then the lean years arrive without warning, and they are not ready.
Storing a fifth while the barns overflow can look like fear of the future. One writer treats it instead as respect for what God has given.
The Lord would not have us lose His gifts through waste or neglect, just because we have more than enough for the moment. God gave seven years of plenty in Egypt. The spirit of divine wisdom in Joseph devised effective measures to gather up the surplus and store it for the days of famine. Nothing was to be lost!... The lesson applies widely. To waste His gifts is to despise them, and to lose them. Economy is not contrary to true generosity but consistent with it.
One writer reads the years of plenty as a picture of the present day, and asks who is doing the gathering.
During the years of plenty Joseph uses his place of exaltation to reap a great harvest for Egypt... In this day of grace the world is passing through its "seven plenteous years." The grace of God is giving out blessings by "handfuls." The men of the world may completely ignore the blessings that grace brings to their door, and go their way with no thought for the future. It seems the men of Egypt took no advantage of the years of plenty to store for the years of famine. We do not read that they gathered up any food. It was Joseph who went throughout the land and gathered up corn. And so today it is the exalted Christ who is reaping a harvest of souls during the day of grace.
- One man. God announced what was coming. On the human side, one thing was needed: a wise man Pharaoh could trust, with overseers serving under him.
- One plan. God arranged both the man and the circumstances, so that everyone in the land came under Joseph's rule.
- One fifth. Egypt stored only a fifth — a small share, which hints at how vast the good years were, and how easily people waste blessing.
- One habit. Storing the surplus was wisdom, not meanness. God wants none of His gifts wasted, and careful economy fits well with real generosity.
- One warning. The plenty is running now. The Egyptians gathered nothing for themselves, and people still pass through years of grace with no thought for what follows.
and let them gather all the food of these coming good years, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, for food in the cities, and keep [it].
Joseph has just told Pharaoh what his dreams mean, and now he adds a plan for the seven good years. Why would a prisoner dare to advise a king, and why should years of plenty need guarding at all?
Pharaoh called Joseph in to interpret a dream, not to advise on running the country. One writer explains why he spoke anyway.
Normally a man just out of the obscurity and shame of prison would hold back from advising a king and his court on urgent affairs of state. Joseph rose above all such hesitation. He was sure that God had made His mind known, so he had no fear of being brushed aside. That same confidence drew out his heart in goodwill to the king and his people, and to the others so closely concerned. Without his advice they might soon forget the dream and its meaning, treating it as a wonder that fades in a few days. They would sink into the usual carelessness of unbelief, wasting the plenty that was coming and ignoring the shortage that would follow.
The verse puts the gathering in the good years, not the hungry ones. That lesson reaches past Egypt to any household or nation enjoying good times.
Often when people are greatly blessed they do not think wisely about what the future may hold. They waste the large amount the Lord has given them. Then the lean years come without warning, and they are not ready. In the same way, when a nation has lived in luxury, a recession is likely to strike, and the whole atmosphere fills with bitter complaining. Through such things God speaks loudly to people.
Another writer takes the same counsel and presses it further than food supplies:
The point was this: they had to provide for the future. There is a great principle there. Whatever you lack in this life, make sure of eternity. Look ahead. The future is there.
The grain does not just pile up. It goes into store "under the authority of Pharaoh." One writer asks where Egypt's real security lay during the famine. His answer leads on to where God's riches are kept today.
All Egypt was in need during those seven years of famine. Where were Pharaoh's riches, his wealth, so that he could meet all that need and still keep his throne, his majesty and his glory? In Joseph — not in the storehouses of grain, but in Joseph, with all his wisdom and ability, in Zaphnath-paaneah. All Pharaoh's riches lay in the wisdom and the great administrative ability of that young man Joseph. Now, where are all God's riches today? Not in Israel, not in the nations, not in the church, but in Christ Jesus.
"Zaphnath-paaneah" is the name Pharaoh gave Joseph in Egypt.
The verse tells others to do the gathering. One writer notes who did it in the end, and sees in that a picture of Christ at work today.
In this day of grace the world is passing through its "seven plentiful years," when the grace of God is giving blessings by "handfuls." The people of the world may completely ignore the blessings that grace brings to their door, and go on with no thought for the future. We do not read that the men of Egypt gathered any food. It was Joseph who went through the land and gathered the grain. And so today it is the exalted Christ who is reaping a harvest of souls during the day of grace. He is going through the world, gathering His people out of it.
The verse ends by telling them to keep the food. But food kept in the cities was never meant to stay locked away. One writer sees here both a picture of Christ and the one place the picture breaks down.
Joseph opened all the storehouses of Egypt (v. 56). In the same way the Lord Jesus has opened the storehouses of heaven through His great sacrifice at Calvary, to bless those who have found themselves reduced to spiritual poverty. One great contrast, however, is that the Lord Jesus gives freely, "without money and without price."
- Word — Joseph spoke up because he was sure the meaning came from God. Without that certainty the warning would have faded, and the plenty would have gone to waste.
- Gather — the storing happens in the good years. Few people look past plenty to the lean years coming, so the counsel is to look ahead and make sure of eternity.
- Keep — the grain went into store under Pharaoh's authority. Egypt's real wealth in the famine lay not in the barns but in Joseph, the man who managed them.
- Open — the store was not meant to stay shut. Joseph opened Egypt's storehouses, just as Christ has opened the storehouses of heaven to those reduced to spiritual poverty.
- Free — one great contrast remains — the Lord Jesus gives without money and without price.
And let the food be as store for the land for the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt, that the land perish not through the famine.
Joseph closes his advice to Pharaoh with the reason for the whole plan: Egypt must not starve. A verse about grain storage raises the largest questions — who gives such wisdom, who holds the reserve, and who lives through the famine.
Most people treat abundance as an invitation to spend. Joseph treated it as a chance to prepare.
The details that follow show Joseph's excellent administration. For most people, overflowing plenty leads to reckless spending and waste. But he knew Whom he had believed. He entered wisely into the duty that fell on him more than on anyone else in Egypt, and he made provision for the years of extreme want. So everyone living on that soil was to benefit enormously, from the ruler down to every subject — and so would people far beyond Egypt. The overflowing plenty set the first seal on the prophecy God had given and interpreted; the famine set the second.
Pharaoh saw more than a good reading of the dream. Joseph also handed him a plan.
Pharaoh recognised the wisdom of God not only in the interpretation but also in the counsel that Joseph gave. And who was wiser than Joseph to take Egypt's critical case in hand? He could manage its resources during the seven years of plenty, and hand out the stores during the seven years of famine that would surely follow.
The verse looks no further than Egypt. Joseph's new name shows how much further the reserve reached.
Little did aged Jacob dream how Egypt had become the life-centre for the countries around it. Little did he think that the son he mourned as dead had been raised by the hand of God to chief power in Egypt. Nor did he know that by his wisdom Joseph was the sustainer of life, not only of Egypt, but of the world around it. His name, Zaphnath-paaneah, means The food of life, or, of the living.
The account is careful about who does the work. It never credits the saved grain to the people who would later eat it.
During the years of plenty Joseph uses his place of exaltation to reap a great harvest for Egypt. He deals with the harvest of Egypt during the years of plenty; he will deal with the men of Egypt during the years of famine. Apparently the men of Egypt took no advantage of the years of plenty to lay up for the years of famine. We do not read that they gathered up any food. It was Joseph who went throughout the land and gathered up the grain. And so today it is the exalted Christ who is reaping a harvest of souls during the day of grace. He is going through the world gathering His people out of the world. But when the days of grace have run their course He will deal with the men of the world.
The verse puts a whole nation's survival in one man's hands. Commentators find in that a pattern for how God will govern.
This, too, is God's plan for the future government of the world. Not by parliaments, or cabinets, not by counsellors and ministers, will God govern, but by "a Man discreet and wise" set over all. And all will be brought under His sway either by the day of grace or in the day of judgment — the years of plenty or the years of famine.
Commentators apply the same two seasons to the world's own future.
Even now the world is enjoying its plenteous years, and it hardly believes in its plainly predicted future. Yet the time of famine is surely not far off. It will reveal the resources of the One who will then be seen as the only One able to meet its terrible needs.
Joseph's counsel was policy for a nation. One writer turns it on the reader.
Joseph was wise. He said in effect to Pharaoh, Make provision for the future. Now I do not want you to be thinking of the things of this world. I want you to be ready for eternity. I want you to be ready for that moment of unequalled importance in your history, when you have to pass out of this world.
- Reserve. The seven full years were never about the harvest itself. They were about the store kept back from it. Plenty exists to answer a famine that has not arrived.
- Wisdom. Pharaoh saw God's wisdom in the plan, not just in the reading of the dream. No one else could both save the surplus and share it out later.
- Gatherer. Egypt's people laid up nothing; Joseph gathered. The man they never chose built the store that saved them.
- Reach. The stated aim was Egypt's survival. Yet Joseph's name — "the food of life" — marks him as the sustainer of the world around Egypt too.
- Urgency. Commentators read the plenteous years as today's day of grace, and the famine as what follows. The one question left is personal: have you made provision before it comes?