Genesis chapter 41

After reading Genesis chapter 41:

*Two years after chapter 40, Pharoah had a dream with seven fat cows and seven skinny cows. The skinny cows ate up the fat cows. The dream woke him up. He managed to get back to sleep and had another dream with seven thin heads of grain swallowing seven fat heads of grain. Then he woke up again. He sent for all the (crackpot) magicians and (pretend) wise men in Egypt. They couldn't tell him what the dreams meant. Then the chief cupbearer remembered Joseph and told Pharoah how he had interpreted dreams in prison.

*Pharoah sent for Joseph and asked him to interpret the dreams. Joseph said God could interpret dreams, not him, but he proceeded to do so anyway. The seven fat things represented seven years of plenty, the seven lean things were seven years of famine that were to come.  God would be the one causing these events. Pharoah should prepare ahead of time for the lean years, following the plan Joseph laid out.

* Pharoah was impressed with Joseph and his relationship with God. He put Joseph in charge of the palace and made him second in command. He gave Joseph all the royal paraphernalia necessary for being in charge of all the land of Egypt: a signet ring, fine linen robes, a gold chain, and a chariot. Joseph was also given the daughter of a priest of Ra to marry. Now Pharoah was free to go fishing and if anything went wrong, it would be Joseph's fault. Joseph was 30 years old by this time.

*Joseph, however, continued to be the go- getter he always was. He made sure that an abundance of grain was stored during the years of plenty in preparation for the coming famine. Before the famine came, he fathered two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. When the famine hit and people ran out of food, Joseph distributed the grain he had stored. The famine spread to the surrounding countries and they also came to Joseph for grain.