Genesis 41:8

God's plans must be carried out in God's time, by God's instruments, and in God's way. Joseph probably hoped for release as soon as the cupbearer got his old place back in Pharaoh's household. But two full years must pass before God's time comes. Now that the right time has come, the last instrument in God's hand is ready to finish the work that raises Joseph to his high place. God had already used the king's captain, the king's jailer, and the king's cupbearer; now He will use the king himself. And it must be in God's way. It will be a dream, a vision of the night, by which He will trouble the spirit of Pharaoh and wake up the sleeping memory of Pharaoh's cupbearer (vv. 8, 9).

Scripture speaks many times of the various forms of what we now call occult science. It strongly condemns any Israelite who has anything to do with it. So it was a real danger, however much trickery went with it at times. We read of it first in Gen. 41:8, when Pharaoh called for all the magicians, chartummim, of Egypt, and the wise men, to interpret his dream. When all their resources failed, God brought His man out of the prison to explain the dream, and this became the occasion for working out God's purposes for Joseph. No doubt these men were famous for their learning, like those at the court of Babylon, where Daniel became their chief. Dan. 4:7, 9.

Pharaoh was troubled, for he must have had a vague sense that both dreams pointed to evil. The magicians and wise men of Egypt were helpless. Their evil trade depended on their being able to predict good things for the kings they served (see 1 Kings 22), and both dreams clearly pointed to some evil.

First God reveals what He is about to do; but even then man cannot profit by the revelation. God speaks in a vision to Pharaoh, by writing on the wall in Belshazzar's day, and by very plain speech in our day. Yet then and now, the wise men of this world fail completely when they try to interpret the Word of God. So Pharaoh appeals to "all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men," only to find "there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh" (v. 8). Man's pride of intellect blinds him to a simple fact: only God can interpret what God says.

No, my friends, the world can give you no real information about the ways of God, or His purposes. If you want to learn the thoughts of God, you must go to the people of God and the Word of God.

The king's trouble, the failure of the world's resources, the magicians and wise men of Egypt called in for nothing — all this touched the chief cupbearer's conscience. It brought back what he should never have forgotten. Years before, God had used the man still lying forgotten in the dungeon to give the cupbearer the true meaning of his dream and of his fellow prisoner's dream.

God has now destroyed "the wisdom of the wise" and thwarted "the discernment of the discerning." So He falls back on the man He held in reserve, "a man in whom is the Spirit of God." But God's man is always of little account in the eyes of the world. This man is destined to hold power that no mortal before or since has ever held. For now he lies in a prison, counted among what the world calls "low and despised."