A Pirate Christian's Guide to the Old Testament Part 2

Christ as the Governing Text for Joseph

Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Rosebro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ, and this is part two of the series that we've launched into on A Pirate Christian's Guide to Understanding the Old Testament.

If you haven't already seen installment or part one, you're gonna need to go and watch that first, and we'll put a link somewhere here. I don't know which direction to point. Anyway, yeah, so there's the link, you know, and go and watch that first before you watch this installment of A Pirate Christian's Guide to Understanding the Old Testament.

Now we're gonna be reading a large bit of the book of Genesis today, and we're gonna be looking at the story of Joseph. Joseph. Now if you've listened to modern day popular pastors and vision casting leaders preach on this text, then you know how they mangle it and make it all about you.

You see, Joseph had a God-sized dream, and you're gonna have a God-sized dream too, and so what? It's just nonsense. If they understood that the Bible is about Christ, not about them, then they'd be able to see Jesus quite clearly in the story of Joseph, and the reason for this is actually quite simple.

Joseph, out of all of the Old Testament patriarchs, his story is, I would almost argue, the closest to the story of Christ than any of the people in the Old Testament, with the exception of King David.

So we're gonna be taking a look at this story, and we have a governing text that we're gonna be looking at as we look at this, because this is where you can see the life of Christ really closely paralleled in the story of Joseph.

And our governing text, let me pull this up here, let's see, there's my desktop, the governing text we're gonna be looking at is in Philippians chapter 2. And here's what the Apostle Paul writes to Christians, to all of us, and he says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, you can even say vain conceit, but in humility count others as more significant than yourselves.

Let each one of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others, and have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant.

Now the Greek word here, let me make my Greek just a little bit bigger so it's a little easier to see, the Greek word for servant here is doulos, which is the same word used for slave, okay? So note here that Christ, although he is equal with God because he is the Son of God in human flesh, he empties himself by taking on the form of a slave.

A slave, being born in the likeness of men, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So this is going to be our governing text because in here we see that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, although he is equal with God, he empties himself, and so you can talk about Christ's, you know, his emptying of himself, being found in the form of a slave, being found in the form of a servant, and then dying on the cross.

So there's death, there's resurrection, there's exaltation, and you're gonna see in the life of Joseph this exact same trajectory, and even Joseph experiences a death and a resurrection, and we'll talk about that because when you do death and resurrection in the life of a Old Testament patriarch in the types and shadows, the person doesn't die and then rise again, but their death is a figurative death, and it's absolutely clear in the story of Joseph, and so when you look for connection points in the story of Joseph to tie back to the life of Christ, man, there are so many of them, I'm a little embarrassed in putting this teaching together because we're barely gonna scratch the surface and plumb the depth of this amazing story.

Joseph’s Dreams and the Pattern of Christ

So with that, let's head over to Genesis chapter 37, and we'll begin the story of Joseph. Now we're gonna read out a large piece of this, so grab some popcorn or, you know, or something, because I want to make sure that we get as much of Joseph's story in one setting so that you can clearly see the connections, and then I would even challenge you, go back through the story of Joseph afterwards and see if you can find more, because I'm not...this is not an exhaustive look at how the story of Joseph connects to the life of Christ.

So we'll begin at verse 2 of chapter 37 of the book of Genesis, these are the generations of Jacob. Joseph being 17 years old was pastoring the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.

Now his father is Jacob, and this is the man whose name has been changed to Yisrael, so this is a very fascinating stuff, and we've got 12 sons of Jacob here. This will become the 12 tribes of Israel, and so one of his sons is Joseph, and he was born to him in his old age, and dad's playing favorites here.

So anyway, Joseph brought a bad report of his brothers to their father. Now Yisrael, he loved Joseph more than any of his sons, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a robe of many colors, but when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

So Jacob's love for Joseph, and clearly he's the favorite, it's just a complete irritant to them, cannot stand this, so they can't even speak peacefully to him. Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

He said to them, Hear this dream that I have dreamed. Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. Behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.

And his brothers said to him, Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. And you're gonna note something here. This is a prophetic dream.

The source of this dream is none other than God himself. This is not Joseph as a young man or as a 17 year old teenager going, What do I want to be when I grow up? I know, I'm dreaming about being a firefighter.

Or you think of the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Hermie. He doesn't like to make toys, and so Hermie, he wants to be a dentist. And so he's dreaming of being a dentist. This is nonsense, okay?

That's not what this is about. This is a prophetic dream. Now let me hunt this down real quick. Psalm 105. Psalm 105. Listen to a good cross reference on this text. It says in Psalm 105, when he, this is the Lord who did this, when Yahweh summoned a famine on the land and broke all the supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

His feet were hurt with fetters, his neck was put in a collar of iron, until what had, what he had said came to pass. The word of Yahweh tested him. So Psalm 105, verse 19 makes it clear that the source of this dream is God.

And I got to point this out, that this is a type and shadow pointing us to Christ, and those who would teach you that God is going to put a God-sized dream in your heart the same way he put a God-sized dream in Joseph's heart, they're speaking nonsense and lies to you.

Because I would just point out, what was the God-sized dream that God gave to Reuben, to Judah, to Benjamin, to Issachar, to the other brothers of Joseph? What was the God-sized dream that they received?

Hmm? Yeah, there's no mention of any God-sized dream given to them. And so this, you're going to note that Joseph, having a prophetic word of God given to him in a dream, and Psalm 105, verses 18 and 19 make it very clear, or actually verse 19 makes it very clear, that the source of this dream was the Lord Yahweh himself.

You know, how come his other brothers didn't get a dream too? Huh? Yeah, and so this is not some normative pattern that we're supposed to look to and say, oh, I'm gonna have a dream just like Joseph had a dream, and just like Joseph changed the world, I'm gonna change the world.

No, Joseph's life follows the life of Christ in so many details, I mean, you have to be an utter narcissist to miss it. You know, which is the reason why we call this particular technique where people read themselves into the biblical text, we call it narcigesis, because they're narcissistically reading in.

So note, then, that it was God who gave this dream to Joseph, and you'll note that in this dream, his brothers are bowing down to him. Keep that in mind. So are you indeed to reign over us, or are you indeed to rule over us?

So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. So then he dreamed another dream, and the dream again, this comes from God, and he told it to his brothers and said, behold, I have dreamed another dream.

Behold, the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars, they were bowing down to me. But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, what is this dream that you've dreamed?

Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you? And his brothers were jealous of him, and now watch the words. But his father kept the saying in mind. Now coming back to our governing text, again, at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

And it's important to note that this statement of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2 is a cross-reference to a prophecy given regarding the Lord Yahweh himself in Isaiah chapter 45, Isaiah 45, 23. So note then, in this prophetic dream that God gives to Joseph, every knee will bow to him.

He's starting to see it, and then remember what I said, kind of important word, his father kept the saying in mind. This kind of harkens back to Luke chapter 2. You'll note that in Luke chapter 2, we have some very interesting things that are going on at the tail end of that chapter.

Jesus is dedicated, he's brought in to be circumcised at the temple, and just amazing things are happening regarding the life of Christ. And then you get the story of how Mary and Joseph, and notice the name of Jesus' earthly father is what?

Joseph. Yeah. You just can't make this stuff up, okay? So the connection points are really strong, and the typology is very thinly veiled, it's quite overt, you can kind of see these things. And so they lost Jesus in the temple, and they went searching for him, and note this here.

So they went searching for him and didn't find him. In fact, let me read this story out. Luke chapter 2, verse 41. His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And by the way, the whole Passover, yeah, that all connects to Christ, too.

That's for another installment in the future in this series. And so when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom, and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.

His parents did not know it. But supposing him to be in the group, they again went a day's journey, but they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for him.

After three days, listen, when the Bible talks about three days kind of stuff, pay attention. Oftentimes when the Bible, even in the New Testament and the Old, both Testaments, when it talks about something, and three days passed, pay close attention, because oftentimes, in fact more times than not, like 99 of the time, there's a connection point back to Christ.

The typology is going to hook back into Jesus. So after three days, they found him in the temple sitting among the teachers listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

And when his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress, but he said, why were you looking for me?

Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? And they did not understand the saying that he had spoke to them, and when he went down with them and came to Nazareth, he was submissive to them.

And watch the next statement, and his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. Yeah, so Luke 2, verse 51, the last sentence of verse 51, yeah, has this interesting echo as far as a cross-reference back to Genesis 37 11 regarding Israel, that his father kept the saying in mind.

This was an interesting thing, it kind of was an outlier. So now will come the death of Joseph, the death of Joseph. Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem?

Come, I will send you to them. And he said to them, here I am. So he said to him, now go see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word. So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

And a man found him wandering in the fields, and the man asked him, what are you seeking? I am seeking my brothers, he said. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock. And the man said, they have gone away, for I heard them say, let us go to Dothan.

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, here comes this dreamer, come let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.

Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams. But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, let us not take his life. And Reuben said to them, shed no blood, throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him, that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father.

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore, and they took him and threw him into a pit that was empty, and there was no water in it. Then they said, then they sat down to eat, and they looked up, and they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh on their way to carry it down to Egypt.

Then Judah said to his brothers, what profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.

And his brothers listened to him, and then the Midianite traders passed by. They drew Joseph up and lifted him up out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

Now, note, this is kind of fascinating. Judah is the one who concocts the scheme to betray Joseph for pieces of silver. Now, it's not the same amount that Christ was betrayed for. Christ was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver.

But yet, it's rather fascinating. Both Jesus and Joseph were betrayed for pieces of silver. In this particular case, Judah is the one leading the charge. Yeah, there's something going on there, too, because in the next chapter, we're not going to read the next chapter, the next chapter is the story of Judah and Tamar, and how the next person in the line of the Messiah was conceived through an act of prostitution.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's kind of fascinating. There's interesting stuff in the types and shadows there. But again, suffice it to say, again, this is not an exhaustive look at how Jesus and Joseph are the same.

Suffice it to say that Jesus, just like Joseph, was betrayed for pieces of silver. In this particular case, Judah is the one playing the role of Judas. The same. So when Reuben returned to the pit, saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes.

He returned to his brothers, and he said, the boy is gone, and I, where shall I go? Then they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat, dipped the robe in the blood. Yeah, now here it's a goat. Now, have you ever heard of making your robe white in the blood of the Lamb?

It's a theme in the book of Revelation. Just, you know, I'm just kind of saying that this is kind of interesting, kind of the back end of that. This is the reverse version of that. So they sent the robe of many colors, brought it to their father, and they said, this we have found.

Please identify whether it is your son's robe or not. He identified it, and he said, it is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces. Then Jacob tore his garments, put sack cloth on his loins, and mourned for his son for many days.

And all of his son, all his sons, and all of his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and he said, no, I shall go down to Sheol to my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

Meanwhile, the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard. Now note, to Israel, to Jacob, Joseph is dead. And so we can say, Joseph has died. Him going into slavery has resulted in his death, and he will be resurrected, and he will be glorified along the way.

Joseph’s Temptation, Slander, and Prison

Kind of a fascinating thing. And there's even an allusion to the cross of Christ immediately before Joseph's resurrection. We'll talk about that in a minute, too. Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.

So Joseph is a slave, Jesus was found in the form of a slave, and so the slave theme comes into play. Now, since Joseph here is just exemplifying and really clearly being a type and shadow of Christ, he's gonna stand out among the patriarchs.

It's hard to find any real fault in Joseph, and that's because his life is a type and shadow of Christ. But let's see how he handles temptation, shall we? So Yahweh was with Joseph, and he became a successful man.

He was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that Yahweh was with him, and that Yahweh caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. There's another type and shadow connection to Christ.

Look for it in the New Testament, you'll find it. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. And from the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, Yahweh blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake.

The blessing of Yahweh was in all that he had in his house and his field. So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food that he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance, and after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, lie with me.

Now you'll note that this is the first account in Scripture, I would even argue like in human history, of workplace sexual harassment. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and you'll note who's doing the harassing here. It's not a dude, it's a it's a woman.

So she cast her eye on him and, lie with me. But he refused, and he said to his master's wife, behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge.

He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And as she spoke with Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her to lie beside her or to be with her.

Now a little bit of a note, there's a little bit more we could take a look at regarding Christ. In the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, it says this regarding Jesus, since we have a great high priest who has passed to the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet is without sin.

Mm-hmm, yeah. So note, Jesus has been tempted in every way that we are, and yet is without sin. And the author of Hebrews goes on to say, then therefore let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace and help in time of need.

And so we can see then in our story, in the story of Joseph, that Joseph seems to be a lot like Jesus, tempted in so many ways like we are, and yet never yielded to the temptation, and was without sin in this regard.

And so we can see in the temptation of Potiphar's wife, that we can see a lot that we can tie back to Jesus. Jesus too faced these same temptations, and also was without sin. But Joseph is not sinless, he's just, if you would, a stand-in, a type and shadow of Christ in the beginning portion of the Old Testament.

So then the story goes on, one day when he went into the house to do his work, none of the men of the house was there in the house. She caught him by his garment, saying, lie with me. But he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got out of the house.

And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had fled out of the house, she called to the men of her household, and said to them, see, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us.

He came into me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled, and got out of my house. And then she laid up his garment by her, until his master came home.

And she told him the same story, saying, the Hebrew servant whom you have brought among us to come in to me, to laugh at me. But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me, and fled out of the house.

And as soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, and she's lying through her teeth, she's utterly slandering him. This is the way your servant treated me. His anger was kindled, and Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.

So we'll note that Joseph is a man who was slandered, and scripture talks in these kind of themes as well. Psalm 27, starting in verse 11. Teach me your way, O Lord. Lead me on a level path, because of my enemies.

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord, and in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord, be strong, let your heart take courage, and wait for the Lord. This theme of being slandered by adversaries who lie and wait for your blood, that's a major theme of scripture. Psalm 35, for without cause they hid their net for me, without cause they dig a pit for my life.

Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it, and let the net that he hid ensnare him. Let him fall into it, into his own destruction. Then my soul will rejoice in Yahweh, exulting in his salvation, and all my bones shall say, O Lord, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and the needy from him who robs him.

Malicious witnesses rise up, they ask me of things that I do not know, they repay me evil for good, my soul is bereft. And you'll know this is a messianic psalm, and this is exactly what happened to Christ when they put him on trial.

They were looking for false witnesses to rise up, and it takes two witnesses in order to establish a charge biblically, and the false witnesses couldn't even agree, but they were barking out all kinds of slanderous lies about Christ for the purpose of crucifying him.

And eventually they did find two witnesses that kind of sort of agreed, but even then the charges were false. And so you'll note that Joseph, like Jesus, is slandered, slandered greatly. And so, and this leads to quite a lot more pain and misery and suffering.

And so he goes into the pit of prison at this point because of the lies of Potiphar's wife. But Yahweh was with Joseph, showed him steadfast love, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because Yahweh was with him, and whatever he did, Yahweh made it succeed.

And you'll note, it doesn't sound like Joseph succeeding to me. I mean, it's just the suffering and the torment that he's going through just continues to get worse, and yet the Lord is having mercy on him.

And he spends 13 years in prison. Now, sometime after this, this is where it's going to get interesting. Sometime after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord, the king of Egypt.

Bread, Wine, and the Third Day

So let me ask you, cupbearers, what was put into their cups? Wine. Bakers, what did they bake? Bread. Mm-hmm. So note now, the two elements that make up the Lord's Supper, bread and wine, are present in what's coming.

Now, we're gonna note here that in order for Joseph, because he is a sinner, to get out of prison, mm-hmm, to be set free from the pit, mm-hmm, someone's gonna have to die, and someone's gonna have to die on a tree.

Can you think of anybody who is connected to bread and wine who was hung and died on a tree? Yeah, no, this is, the typology here is mind-blowing. So sometime after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord, the king of Egypt.

Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them, and they continued for some time in custody.

And one night, they both dreamed the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, each his own dream, and each dreamed with its own interpretation. When Joseph came into them, it came in, they, in the morning, they saw that they were troubled.

So we asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody with his master's house, why are your faces downcast today? And they said to him, well, we have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.

And Joseph said to them, do not interpretations belong to God, please tell them to me. So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, in my dream there was a vine before me, and on the vine there were three branches, and as soon as it budded, its blossom shot forth, and the cluster ripened into grapes, and Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.

Then Joseph said to them, this is the interpretation, the three branches are three days, and in three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand as formerly when you were his cupbearer.

Now is there any doubt as to what's in that cup, right? It's wine, right? Now only remember me, he said, please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house, for I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, I also had a dream. There were three cake baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head, and Joseph answered him, this is its interpretation, the three baskets are three days, and in three days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat the flesh.

Bread, wine, three days, one hung on a tree, and note here, in order for Joseph to get out of the pit, which is a type and shadow of Sheol, death itself, in order for him to get out of the pit, somebody had to die on a tree.

It was absolutely necessary. You see in it, Jesus makes a secondary appearance, and in a secondary type and shadow in the story of Joseph, which is a type and shadow of the life of Christ. So note, verse 20, chapter 40, on the third day, on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, he made a feast for all of his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cup bearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.

He restored the chief cup bearer to his position, he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand, but he judged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted to them, yet the chief cup bearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Don't worry, he'll remember him shortly. Now after two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass, and behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile, and the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows, and Pharaoh awoke, and he fell asleep and dreamed a second dream, and behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on the stock, and behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind, and the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears, and Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream, and in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men.

Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh. Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, I remember my offenses today. When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and had put me and the chief baker in the custody in the house of the captain of the guard, we dreamed on the same night, and he and I each having a dream with its own interpretation.

A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream, and as he interpreted to us, so it came about.

I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit, and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.

I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret. Joseph answered Pharaoh, it is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. Behold, in my dreams, I was standing on the banks of the Nile.

Pharaoh is now reading out, listing out his dream to Joseph. Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt.

And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, but when they had eaten them, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. And then I awoke, and I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good, and seven ears withered thin and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, and then the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears.

And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me. Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are one. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years.

The seven good ears are seven years. The dreams are one. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years. The seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine.

It is as I told Pharaoh. God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt.

The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. And the doubling of Pharaoh's dreams means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.