Joseph in the palace

Joseph went through many difficult and hard times during his years in Egypt. He was put in prison for something he didn’t do. His friends promised to help him when they were released from prison. But they forgot about Joseph. But through it all God was with Joseph. God watched over him and he made Joseph successful. Then one day everything changed. The Pharaoh was worried. He had dreamt strange dreams, and nobody could explain to him what they meant. He sent for his wise men and magicians, but they couldn’t help him. Then the Pharaoh’s wine taster remembered his own dream and his promise to Joseph. He told Pharaoh how Joseph had explained his dream when he was in prison and how everything had happened exactly as Joseph had explained. The Pharaoh immediately sent for Joseph. Joseph was brought to the palace. They gave him new clothes and shaved him. Then they sent him to Pharaoh. “I hear you can explain dreams,” Pharaoh said. “No,” Joseph said, “I can’t do it, but God can give you the answer.” Then Pharaoh told Joseph about his dreams. In his first dream, Pharaoh had seen seven cows coming out of the Nile River. They were fat and healthy. Then seven ugly, thin cows came out of the river and ate the fat cows. But they stayed as thin as they had been in the beginning.

Pharaoh’s second dream was about heads of grain. First, he saw seven heads of grain on a single stem. The grains were full and good. Then seven other heads of grain appeared. They were weak and thin and dried up by the east wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed the good heads. “The two dreams have the same meaning,” Joseph said. “God is showing you what he is going to do. There are going to be seven wonderful years with plenty of food for everyone. Then there will be seven years of terrible hunger. Nobody will have food. Nothing will be left over from the seven good years.” Then Joseph said, “My advice is that you find a wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. He must have officials to help him, and they must collect a fifth of all the grain that’s grown in the good years. Then they must store it so that you can use it during the years of hunger to feed the people.” Pharaoh thought that this was a very good plan, so he put Joseph in charge of the land of Egypt. Joseph became the next in command after Pharaoh. Joseph travelled all over Egypt. During the good years, he collected all the extra grain the people produced and stored it in the cities. And when the bad years came, there was food in Egypt. The Lord was using Joseph to feed the people of Egypt. Genesis 39 to 41