This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.
A prisoner has just told the most powerful ruler on earth what his dreams mean and what he should do about them. The whole court agrees with him. God's wisdom came through a forgotten prisoner, and it won over a whole royal court.
Counsel that convinced a court
Joseph offered no proof beyond the plan itself. Its quality convinced the king, and even courtiers who might have envied him.
William KellyHis interpretation carried its own light and evidence along with it; and Pharaoh recognised the wisdom of God, not only in this, but also in the counsel that Joseph gave. And who was wiser than Joseph to take Egypt's critical case in hand? He would manage its resources during the seven years of plenty. He would hand out the stores during the seven years of famine that would surely follow. So the king felt at once, and his servants too, despite the usual jealousy of a court.
What the plan asked for
The advice that pleased Pharaoh did not call for a new policy or a larger bureaucracy. It called for a person.
F. B. HoleJoseph 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, the one to trust with carrying it out. Joseph was speaking on God's behalf. He showed that, on the human side, these acts of God called for one thing only: A MAN.
The man held in reserve
Egypt's own experts had already failed. The man whose words now satisfied the king had just come out of prison.
Hamilton SmithGod has destroyed "the wisdom of the wise" and thwarted "the discernment of the discerning." Now He falls back on the man He kept in reserve, "a man in whom the Spirit of God is." But God's man is always of little account in the eyes of the world. This man is destined to wield a power that no human being, before or since, has ever held. Yet for the moment he is wasting away in a prison, counted among what is "low and despised in the world."
Wisdom that works in ordinary matters
The plan Pharaoh approved dealt with grain and storage, not with religion. One writer links this to how a spiritual person sees things.
L. M. Grant1 Corinthians 2:15 tells us, "The spiritual person judges all things" — that is, he judges in the sense of discerning. He discerns not only spiritual things but everyday matters too, and he judges them more rightly than any unbeliever does. That is because God is the Creator of material things just as much as of spiritual things.
Lifted without lifting a finger
Joseph described the kind of man the work needed, but he never put himself forward.
William KellySo, without any effort of his own, Joseph was lifted from undeserved depths of suffering and disgrace. He became prime minister of the greatest kingdom then on earth. Who could deny that it was God's doing in His providence, though not without remarkable means in His Spirit's power working in His servant?
A pattern of how God will govern
Pharaoh accepted a plan that set one man over everything. The whole land would come under him through plenty and then famine. Writers see here a sketch of something far larger.
Hamilton SmithThis, 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 He will bring everyone under His rule, either in the day of grace or in the day of judgment — the years of plenty or the years of famine.
One greater than Joseph
This rise points past Egypt, to someone greater.
William KellyAnd how plain this is as a picture of one greater than Joseph! He suffered first from His own people, who did not receive Him. Later He suffered death on a cross from Gentiles who did not know Him. Yet through it all He was the vessel of divine wisdom, far beyond Joseph or anyone else ever born.
Summary
- The plan — Pharaoh approved more than a reading of dreams. He approved a course of action, and its wisdom convinced him at once.
- The man — The plan needed one person to carry it out. God had that man ready in a prison, counted as nothing by the world.
- The gift — Pharaoh recognised the wisdom of God in Joseph. That discernment showed itself in grain and government, not only in religion.
- The lift — Joseph never campaigned for the post. His rise from disgrace to prime minister was God's providence, working through His servant.
- The reach — God will govern the world through one discerning and wise Man set over all. Everyone comes under Him, in years of plenty or years of famine.