14. Joseph and the King of Egypt

Genesis 40:1 – 41:43

Joseph was in prison in Egypt. In the prison was a man whose job had been to choose the king’s drinks for him. This man had a special dream. Joseph explained it to him: “You will be allowed out of prison and get your job back.”

And that is exactly what happened.

Two years later, the king had some strange dreams –so the drink-chooser told him about Joseph. The king fetched Joseph. “Can you tell me what my dreams mean?” he asked.

“God will give me the answer,” Joseph replied.

“I dreamed about seven fat cows and seven skinny cows,” the king said. “The skinny cows ate the fat ones! “Next I dreamed about seven healthy and seven thin ears of grain. And the thin ears swallowed the healthy ears.”

Joseph explained, “This is God’s way of showing you the future. There will be seven years when lots of food grows – then seven years when no food grows at all.”

“You will need to save lots of food for seven years,”

Joseph told the king, “so that people will have food to eat for the seven years after that.”

The king was amazed. “God has shown all this to you,” he said. “So I am putting you in charge of all of Egypt.”

Joseph had started the day in prison. Now he was ruling a country!