And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?”
Pharaoh had just heard a prisoner explain what every expert in Egypt could not. His question to his court raises the real issue: what makes one man able to handle what defeats everyone else?
The failure that came first
Pharaoh had already asked Egypt's best minds, and they had nothing to say.
Hamilton SmithGod had destroyed "the wisdom of the wise" and brought "the discernment of the discerning" to nothing. So He turns to the man He had kept in reserve, "a man in whom the Spirit of God is." But God's man always counts for little in the eyes of the world. This man was destined to hold power that no human being, before or since, has ever held. For the moment he lies forgotten in a prison, counted among "what is low and despised in the world."
So why could a prisoner do what the court could not?
Hamilton SmithThe ability was no more in Joseph than in the wise men of Egypt. They may be learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and they may hold the very highest positions in the king's court. Joseph, on the other hand, is a young Hebrew servant in a dungeon. But God was with him, so he could surpass the wisdom of the wise and stand without fear in the presence of the king.
God's answer to a crisis
Joseph's advice went further than the meaning of the dreams. It narrowed the whole crisis down to one need.
F. B. HoleJoseph did not only interpret the dreams. He also told Pharaoh what to do, because these things were about to happen. What was needed was a wise man who could be trusted to carry the plan out. Joseph was really speaking on God's behalf. He showed that on the human side, in the face of these acts of God, all that was needed was A MAN.
What Pharaoh saw
Pharaoh was used to sizing up men. What he saw in Joseph went past anything he could explain.
F. B. HoleAs a ruler of men, Pharaoh had no doubt gained some discernment, and he saw at once that Joseph was the man for this emergency. It really was the Spirit of God speaking and acting through Joseph. Pharaoh worshipped idols, so he only thought of "the spirit of the gods." Even so, he knew at once that this was more than human wisdom and more than human power to govern.
A rare word in Genesis
Genesis says little about the Spirit of God, and this verse is where the book last mentions Him.
W. T. P. WolstonIn the book of Genesis we read nothing more about the working of God's Spirit. The one exception is the question Pharaoh put to his servants. He was looking for a discerning and wise man to be a saviour in a day of coming famine: "Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?"
Wisdom that reaches into ordinary affairs
Joseph's insight did not stop at dreams. It reached into harvests, storage and famine relief.
L. M. GrantIt was clear to Pharaoh that the Spirit of God was in Joseph. God had revealed the meaning of the dream to him, so no one was as discerning and wise as he was. 1 Corinthians 2:15 tells us, "The spiritual person judges all things." Here "judges" means discerns. He discerns spiritual things, and he also judges earthly matters rightly, better than any unbeliever, because God is the Creator of material things as well as spiritual ones.
That gap has not closed with time.
Hamilton SmithHaving the Spirit of God is still what makes the vast difference between the children of God and the wise men of the world. Many have great minds, filled with all the learning this world can give. Some hold high rank in the religious world. But unless they are born again they are only natural men, without the Spirit. They cannot even see the things that belong to the kingdom of God.
The greater Joseph
Commentators see this scene pointing forward to Christ.
Bob CostenNo one could compare to Joseph. No one like him could be found. Pharaoh gave him a new name, Zaphnath-paaneah. In Egyptian it means "Saviour of the world," and in Hebrew it means "Revealer of secrets." Our Joseph, our Saviour of the world, our Revealer of secrets, is the Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the Spirit of God was in Joseph, the Holy Spirit came upon the Lord Jesus at His baptism for public service.
Summary
- Crisis — Pharaoh asked Egypt's experts first, and they failed. God's man was still forgotten in a prison.
- Man — Joseph's counsel reduced the whole national emergency to one need: a man God could use.
- Spirit — Pharaoh worshipped idols and named the wrong source, but he could not miss the power. Genesis names God's Spirit in a man only here.
- Wisdom — the Spirit gave Joseph sound judgment in grain, storage and government, not only in dreams. That difference between the spiritual and the natural man still stands.
- Glory — the man no one matched, renamed "Saviour of the world," points to Christ. The Spirit came on Him for public service.