GENESIS
CHAPTER 41
Pharaoh dreams of the kine and the ears—Joseph interprets the dreams as seven years of plenty and seven of famine—He proposes a grain storage program—Pharaoh makes him ruler of all Egypt—Joseph marries Asenath—He gathers grain as the sand upon the seashore—Asenath bears Ephraim and Manasseh—Joseph sells grain to Egyptians and others during the famine.
1 AND it came to pass at the end of two full years, [ Two more years have gone by, the chief butler had not remembered Joseph. Do you suppose that Joseph may have been wondering when will this trial ever end, or will it. ] that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.
2 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.
3 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; [ Famished, under nourished, you could see the ribs they were that bad off. ] and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.
4 And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. [ So the seven famished cows devour the 7 fat cows. End of Dream 1. ] so Pharaoh awoke.
5 And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn [ Should be translated as grain. I don't believe that they had corn in Egypt at that time. ] came up upon one stalk, rank and good.
6 And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.
[ Wheat that appears to be barely surviving. ]
7 And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. [ So the seven barely surviving ears of grain devour the 7 plump and full ears of grain. End of Dream 1. ] And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.
8 And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; [ He felt that there was a message or a meaning to all of this. ] and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.
[ What has the Pharaoh dreamed? Object Lesson:Need a couple of wizards--
Do you think that it isn't that they couldn't provide interpretations at all, it is that they didn't produce ones that satisfied him? ]
9 ¶ Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day: [ Kind of like oh crap there was something that I should have told you some two years ago. ]
10 Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard’s house, both me and the chief baker:
11 And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.
12 And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret.
13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.
[ So the interpretation of our dreams was spot on for both me who was freed and the chief baker who was hanged. ]
14 ¶ Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, [ He was in a pretty rough state, one that was not suitable to come before the Pharaoh. ] and came in unto Pharaoh.
15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.
16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
[ Joseph remains humble and teaches Pharaoh here such that the resulting interpretation will have the Pharaoh respecting Joseph's God and not just Joseph. Do you think it would have been easy to say yea I am gifted... I help you if you help me? Joseph explains that he doesn't get the credit but it is of God Is there a lesson here for us?] God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
18 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:
19 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness:
[ So great was the bad condition of these cows that the Pharaoh had never seen cows in that bad of shape. In other words this was going to be worse that the Pharaoh had ever seen. While this is specifically speaking of food we might also apply this to a spiritual famine. A time when we doubt in the Lord more than we ever have. Maybe this is in part what President Nelson is referring to when he suggests that we all need to learn to hear him. If we are close enough to hear him then we will not be in a spititual famine. ]
21 And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favoured, as at the beginning. so I awoke.
24 And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.
25 ¶ And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: [ Yes I know that you had two different dreams but they are both the same dream, they are both meant to point to the same things. ] God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
[ So in a way this allows Joseph to be in the position of being a prophet as in Amos 3:7 Pharaoh is shown a dream and Jospeh receives the revelation and tells him that it is from God and it is what God is going to shortly do. If this dream would have come about any other way than from the Pharaoh then it would not have been takeden seriously. However; the Pharaoh had the dreams, the Pharaoh felt that they were different, the Pharaoh asked everyone he could for the interpretation and it was only Joseph who could do so. ]
27 And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine.
28 This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.
30 And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land;
31 And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous.
32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.
[ So this is a warning for you to plan for it to happen. ]
33 Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, [ Oh and not only is this going to happen but you better begin now and plan for it to happen by putting the right measures in place. In order to do that you need to assign the task to someone who you can count on to get it done. someone who is skillful and organized and will see it through. ] and set him over the land of Egypt.
34 Let Pharaoh do this, [ Now Joseph begins to break down the plan into the details of what he needs to begin to do starting now. ] and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years.
[ So take one fifth of the crop from each year and set it into the storehouses. 1/5 times 7 years is 7/5 so you will have about 1 & 1/2 years of normal production set aside. Do it consistency. In addition if you start to learn to live on 1/5 less each year than when you are in the times of trial you will be better off. "Oh little luxury don't you cry, you will become a necessity by and by". ]
35 And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, [ Bring the excess into your own storehouses in the time of plenty. ] and let them keep food in the cities.
[ Move the produce from the farm into the city now during the time of plenty, it will not be good to try to move it when the times are really bad. ]
36 And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine.
38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? [ What praise from the Pharaoh. Joseph has kept his covenants. He's submitted to these horrendous trials, and this is the end result. He is something else. He has become incredible. Joseph's something else. And a man of that power that stature, Pharaoh of Egypt, who could have commanded and did have the power over life and death. But he says, "Wow, there is just something about this guy that is different from anything I've ever seen." And then just in the next verse two, "There art none as discreet and wise as thou art." With all the Joseph went through he could have easily become bitter, he could have turned on God. You can't be bitter and have the spirit. But if he had would he have been able to work so many miracles? ]
39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art: [ Talk about creating your own job description and then the perfect resume that would follow. You the man Joseph. God has chosen you so I would be wise to do so as well. ]
40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
[ Same responsibilities that were given him by Potipher given all the keys of everything just under Potipher, then the jailor given all the keys of the jail just under the jailor, and now the Pharaoh. A trend here of the trust that others have with Joseph. ]
41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
[ At this point Joseph must be overwhelmed and dumbfounded at Pharaoh's assignment to him. To be sure Joseph saw his interpreting Pharaoh's dream as a way out of jail, but surely this is not what Joseph had in mind. Also, we must consider Pharaoh's motives here. What safer person to pick for such a high profile position? He was eminently disposable in the event things went bad as he had no connections to nobility and was a foreigner. And, he was completely cut of from any of the local political intrigue of the court. Plus he seemed to Pharaoh to be a God fearing man. ]
42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, [ His new coat of many colors. ] and put a gold chain about his neck;
43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: [ Egyptian origin meaning "to kneel." ] and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, [ Joseph rose to the rank of pharaonic visor after having been sold into Egypt by his brothers. ] I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.
45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah; [ Hebrew transliteration of a perfectly good Egyptian term. "Zaphenath", which means more or less, "the overseer" or "the person who produces" or "the preserver of life" or "food-man"; some have suggested that it means "A revealor of secrets" other suggest "God speaks and he lives". "Paneah" is the season of the flood. Paneah means "of the life" -- making his name something like "Food steward appointed to save our lives." So Joseph is the person who heads all production from the season of the flood, which is, by the way, when all food was grown, so he essentially is put over the agriculture of Northern Egypt, which is why he's then saving up for seven years. But that position as the Chief Minister of the king makes him essentially the Prime Minister. ] and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. [ We know that Joseph rose up to become the second in command in Egypt, the Vizier of Pharaoh. At the time that Joseph rose to power, the “Shepherd Kings,” the Hyksos, ruled Egypt. They came out of southern Anatolia (Turkey). They were Semites, or descendants of Shem.
These Hyksos conquered the northern kingdom of Egypt, which was in Memphis. The southern kingdom was in Luxor. When Joseph was in power, these Hyksos were the kings, and they forced the Egyptians in the north into the southern kingdoms. Heliopolis and ON (in the Bible) are the same locale. These Hyksos were distant cousins of Joseph, having descended from Shem. That's why Joseph could marry the daughter of the Priest of ON. Heliopolis or ON is where the ben-ben stone was located [seen in Fac #2], the mythological primordial mound where the Gods completed the remainder of the creation. He could marry her and still have the Priesthood continue through his posterity. so, all of you who are of the lineage of Ephraim or Manasseh according to your Patriarchal blessings are descendents of the daughter of the High Priest of ON, whose name was Aseneth.
When it says that a Pharaoh rose up that knew not Joseph, it means that the Egyptians in the south came up and conquered the Hyksos kings in the north. But the Children of Israel were still in the land of Goshen (located in the eastern delta of the Nile). The Israelites were immediately put into bondage or slavery, as well as anyone else who had ties to or sympathies to the Hyksos. Did Joseph marry outside of the covenant family or not? In the teachings of Joseph Fielding Smith, he concluded that she did not, that Potiphera, the priest of On... On, by the way, is Iwun in Egyptian. Iwun was what we know in Greek as Heliopolis, and Heliopolis is a northern suburb of Cairo today and it's where the airport is. When Joseph was ruling over Egypt in what we would call the second intermediate period or the Hyksos period, much of the northern population of Egypt, in the Eastern Delta, was Canaanite rather than Native Egyptian. Canaanites were the same people that Abraham ministered among and were bringing into his clan, and Abraham had a clan of perhaps 2,000 people, right? He could raise 900 men to go to battle in Genesis 14, so he had a big clan and you usually don't think of Abraham as A, a military warrior or as being a clan leader of a clan that's at least 2,000 people, but when you can raise 900 people to go to a battle, that means you've got a significant female population as well with that. Abraham wasn't this wandering loner. He had a big group and a lot of those were local Canaanites whom he had brought in, so the Canaanites were a people who, the Lord told Abraham, their iniquity was not full yet and so they were ripe for conversion, they were a people that could become part of the Covenant, and it was Canaanites that had migrated to Egypt in the decades before Joseph and Joseph actually going to Egypt is part of the general movement of Canaanites into the Delta, because the king himself is one of these people. The Hyksos took over the Northern Delta. The priests he's going to appoint will probably be ethnically like him, which means of Canaanite heritage, even though they live in Heliopolis, and therefore would be people who were worthy enough to receive the Covenant if they would accept it. I assume that when the king gives Joseph this woman who is the daughter of the priest of On who actually worked in the Heliopolis temple, she is a person who either has already covenanted or would covenant as a result of becoming Joseph's wife. Asenath will later give birth to two sons(Manasseh & Ephraim). Genesis 46:20 ] And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.
46 ¶ And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. [ Some simple math tells us that Joseph had spent 12 years in prison! Joseph is identified as 17 years old in 36:2 when he goes into slavery, here he is 30. so, some considerable time has passed. Also, the latter half of the verse suggest Joseph wasted no time at all in taking his new job very seriously. He immediately went about traveling Egypt to get the lay of the land. ] And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.
47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls.
[ There was way more than enough, the harvest were plentiful. ]
48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.
49 And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.
[ Does this kind of sound like the blessings given to Abraham and his posterity. ]
50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On [ "On" is later known as Heliopolis, located near present-day Cairo. Once the center of Egyptian sun-worship, the celebrated Cleopatra's Needle, now located on the Thames Embankment, was originally located in On. ] bare unto him.
51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: [ Means to forget. For Joseph "He has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house." I mean, he's forgot them. He's forgot the pain that happened there. ] For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.
[ Things are good enough for Joseph now that he has put all of the past behind him as if to say that it was all worth it to get to this point. ]
52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: [ Means fruitful or double fruit. That's the message with Joseph's life. If life sends you a negative, which life does, God brings the vertical line down and gives you the positive to make the negative positive. ] For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
[ God was with me and blessed me in the middle of my trials. ]
54 And the seven years of dearth began to come, [ They happened over time, not just a sudden change. If you were not watching you would not know just as George Q Cannon said George Q Cannon “Natural fulfillment of prophecy”
Journal of discourses 21:264
“the Lord works in the midst of this people by natural means, and that the greatest events that have been spoken of by the holy prophets will come along so naturally as the consequence of certain causes, that unless our eyes are enlightened by the Spirit of God, and the spirit of revelation rests us, we will fail to see that these are the events predicted by the holy prophets.
I refer you again to that prophecy of Isaiah and Micah, respecting the gathering together of the Israel of God from the various nations to Zion. As we read of that in the Bible, we might think when that was fulfilled it would be done with such supernatural manifestations that the people would be constrained to acknowledge it was the work of God. Yet we see it every day. Our people are gathering, and men and women who emigrate bear testimony to the friends they leave behind, in almost the exact language that the prophets said they would, and yet it is not thought very extraordinary. Why is this? Because it has come along so naturally. And so with the great events that will take place in the future; they will come along in so natural a manner, the Lord will bring them to pass in such a way that they will not be accepted by the people, except by those who can comprehend the truth, as the fulfillment of the predictions of the prophets. It requires the Spirit of God to enable men and women to understand the things of God; 1 Cor. 2:11 it requires [p. 267b] the Spirit of God to enable the people to comprehend the work of God and to perceive his movements and providences among the children of men. The man who is destitute of the Spirit of God cannot comprehend the work of God. A woman whose mind has not been enlightened by that Spirit, cannot see or comprehend any of these events that take place in fulfillment of the prophecies of the holy prophets.
You take two persons, one who has the Spirit of God, whose mind is enlightened by that Spirit—the spirit of revelation, the same spirit, that rested upon the prophets who wrote the revelations and prophecies we have—you take a man of that kind, and then take another who has none of that spirit, and put the two together, and the one man's eyes will be open to see the hand of God in all these events; he will notice his movements and his providence in everything connected with his work and they will be testimonies to him to strengthen his faith and to furnish his mind with continual reasons for giving thanks to and worshipping God; while the man, who has not the Spirit of God, will see nothing Godlike in the occurrences: nothing which he will view as supernatural (as many suppose everything which exhibits God's power to be), or nothing which he will accept as a fulfillment of prophecies; his eyes will be closed, his heart will be hardened, and to all the evidences of the divinity of these things he will be impenetrable.
To those who have mingled with the world, the reasons for this are very plain. Men do not believe in these days in the direct interposition of God in the affairs of men. If they even believe in God, they believe that he governs the universe by great natural laws. When, there-[p. 268a]fore, a great and wonderful event occurs, they seek for its origin and explanation in some natural law. They ignore the fact that God works through natural laws; but seem to think that if he were to interpose at all, it would be by manifesting his power through the suspension of natural laws, by overriding and violating them, and in such a supernatural manner that mankind would be compelled to acknowledge it was his act, as they would be utterly unable to account for it by any laws known to them, or in any other way than as being through his power. Wars, famines, pestilences, cyclones, earthquakes, and the great variety of calamities which God has said shall be poured out upon the wicked nations, are therefore looked upon by men generally in these days as the results of certain well-defined and easily explained causes. When any of these calamities visit a city or a nation they immediately commence to investigate the laws which govern them, and by the violation of which they assert they are produced; and when they discover what they allege is the cause, they triumphantly point to it, and that is sufficient proof that the Lord has nothing special to do with it; for if it were a visitation from him, it is supposed it would be so supernatural as to be inexplicable. And thus men go on, hardening their hearts and denying God's power, until they will be so completely given over to the evil one, that he will lead them captive according to his will. 2 Tim. 2:26
My reason for calling your attention to the word of the Lord I have read to you is, that I have sometimes thought that our people do not appreciate as they should do the spirit of revelation, the spirit of prophecy, the power of God, that has been poured out upon us as a people. [p. 268b] The fact seems to be overlooked that it was in the manner in which the Lord tells Oliver Cowdery that Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Lord said to Oliver: “I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground.” D&C 8:2-3 How many of the Latter-day Saints are there who understand that this is the way in which Moses led the children of Israel so miraculously? How many are there who think that if we had a man like Moses among us, the people would be led differently and with greater manifestations of power than they are? How many are there who are dissatisfied with what God is doing at present, and are looking for some one to appear in the future who shall exhibit convincing and overwhelming manifestations of power? How many are there at the present time who are neglecting the precious and inestimable gift of revelation which God has bestowed upon his people, because it does not come to them in the way to suit their preconceived notions and ideas—or who are not suited with the way the Church has been and is led, because there is not that wonderful degree of power exhibited which they imagine should be?” ] according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
55 And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do.
[ Here is the Pharaoh saying this, don't ask me - go ask Joseph. I listen to him and I do as he says and I have been blessed so you go and do the same. ]