In this passage we find three themes that relate to Joseph typifying Christ: resurrection, interpretation, and ascension. We will explore these and observe other lessons of principle for the Christian life.
Verse 1: This verse is here to connect us with where we left off, and to tell us how long it was that Joseph was forgotten and left in prison (40v23). This also teaches us that God’s timing is hardly ever our timing, but it is always the right timing.
Verse 8: After Pharaoh’s night of dreaming, which was inflicted upon him by God, we read that his “spirit was troubled.” God, by way of dreams, inflicts distress upon the spirit of Pharaoh the Egyptian in order to accomplish His purposes. As John Calvin puts it, “A sting was left in Pharaoh’s heart, that he might know that he had to deal with God…” God continues to move the pieces in to place, according to His plan, by putting dreams in the mind of Egyptians, and impressing them so heavily upon their minds, as to drive them to seek understanding. God often works through means and here He works through the means of dreams, placing them in the mind of a king. As Scripture testifies, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will” (Proverbs 21v1).
It may not be dreams today, but is your spirit troubled with sin? Is your conscience burdened by spiritual things? Don’t call out for the tricks or the wisdom of the world, as Pharaoh did, but call out to Christ and seek counsel in His Word.
Verse 8: “but there was none who could interpret them.” As Pharaoh sought understanding from all the magicians and wise men of Egypt, he discovered that all the magic and wisdom of the world is but folly in understanding the things of God. But we also clearly see the hand of God at work in pointing Pharaoh toward Joseph by exhausting all other options from him. John Calvin hits on this point, “…the Lord so strikes dumb the wicked workers of deceit, that they cannot even find a specious explanation of the dreams.”
There is no one in all of his kingdom that is able to bring understanding to Pharaoh’s darkened mind, no one able to calm his troubled spirit, and no one able to reveal the mysteries of God to him. What a sad picture this is of a lost world searching for truth, understanding, and meaning everywhere but in the right place, and unable to find it. Pharaoh is desperate for truth and is unable to learn it in a world that has not the truth.
Like Pharaoh, wherever we might go to the world to find peace, understanding, or meaning, we will be left without a sufficient answer. Apart from God man can know nothing of God. Even as Christians we must understand and apply this truth to all of our lives. The knowledge of God, by way of the Scriptures, must be the foundation for all of our understanding in every area of life. Whether it is politics, economics, psychology, anthropology, or sociology, all of it is darkness if not understood through a biblical worldview.
Verse 9-13: After Pharaoh’s frantic search for interpretation that proves unfruitful, the Lord puts it on the mind of the cup bearer to remember his old prison mate Joseph. It seems hard to believe that the cup bearer could completely forget about Joseph for two whole years. It could’ve been that he never found what he thought was the right opportunity to speak up for Joseph. It could’ve been that he didn’t care for Joseph and he just used him. Or it could’ve been that he had a terrible memory, or memory loss issues. But whatever the means were, ultimately it was God, the God who has dominion over our minds, who stalled the memory of the cup bearer, and brought it back again, at just the right time, to raise Joseph up as if from the dead to accomplish His purposes.
Verse 14: Joseph is now brought up out of the pit, shaved, cleaned, changed (as is Egyptian custom), and brought before Pharaoh. This is Joseph’s “resurrection” so to speak. As if from the dead, he is raised out of the pit, and back to life.
Notice the Ephesians 2 picture of salvation that is illustrated here for us. As pharaoh calls and brings Joseph up out of the pit, so God calls and brings us up out of the pit of sin and death, bringing us to life from the grave. And as Joseph was shaved and changed before appearing before the throne of Pharaoh, so our sin is shed from us as we are washed and clothed in the righteous and pure robes of Christ. Only then are we fit to come in before God.
Verse 16: Joseph boldly and humbly directs credit for his history of dream interpretation to God. Here we are given insight into Joseph’s apparent enduring faith and hope in God throughout his two years in prison waiting in the dark.
Verse 25-28: Joseph tells Pharaoh that God has revealed to him what He is about to do and interprets the dreams to Pharaoh. Sometimes, for the sake of blessing His own people, God uses and blesses the world. This is what God does here to preserve Israel, he uses and blesses the Egyptians.
Verse 29-32: Joseph explains further the dreams’ meaning and warns of the coming famine. He does so boldly, truthfully, and plainly. As A.W. Pink puts it, “Joseph warned of a coming danger, and urged his hearers to make suitable provision to meet it. Joseph was no honied-mouthed ‘optimist’ who spake only smooth and pleasant things. He fearlessly told the truth.” It would’ve done no good for Joseph to sugar coat the coming danger. It would have been of no lasting benefit for Joseph to omit the degree of the coming years of famine. They could only adequately prepare so much as they adequately knew the truth; and Joseph spoke it.
What a lesson for our evangelism is placed for us here. If there is no adequate understanding of the danger and wrath to come, how can sinners prepare? They must know the truth, and we must tell it, no matter how it might crush them, depress them, or anger them. God has placed His people where they are for that very purpose.
Verse 33-36: Joseph proves himself useful by not only interpreting the dream, but by proposing a plan to adequately prepare for the worst famine Egypt has ever seen. Joseph shows them the way forward. He shows them the road to “salvation” so to speak.
Here Joseph, shadowing forth Christ, is a “wonderful counselor” (Isaiah 9v6). His instructions brought life and salvation.
What wonderful counsel of “salvation” Joseph brings to the Egyptians. The only way they can survive the seven years of famine is if they steward well the abundance that God gives them in the seven years of plenty. Here we learn the great wisdom that is involved with preparing ourselves for things in life and being efficient with all that God has given us and stewarding his blessings well.
But what is even more wise and necessary than planning for different events in life, is planning for eternity. There is a far greater famine and death coming for those who enter eternity without Christ. Our greatest need is to prepare for the day when we will stand before the judgment seat of God and give an account for our lives. Will we have wasted our lives, eating and drinking, and being merry, oblivious to the coming day of reckoning? Or will we have taken the wonderful counsel of Christ, doing just as he has said for us to be spared?
Verse 37-39: Pharaoh is overwhelmed by Joseph’s wisdom. Joseph models Psalm 111v10 well for us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.” Pharaoh recognizes the Spirit of God within Joseph. He seems to recognize that the Spirit of God brings true wisdom and understanding and that this is far different than the occult magicians of his day. Joseph spoke like a man not with worldly wisdom or demonic wisdom, but like a man with wisdom and authority from God. This is very similar to the way hearers in Jesus’ day acted when He spoke things with a divine authority (one example being Matthew 7v28-29).
Upon Pharaoh’s remark, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” we are shown that there is such a need for a man of God in this world. There is such a need for preachers of God in our churches. There is such a need for someone who knows the truth and will tell it!
Verse 40: Joseph is put over Pharaoh’s house. This is even higher than he was before, higher than Potiphar’s house. Thus we see a great insight from A.W. Pink, “As Joseph ruled over Pharaoh’s house with his word, so today our Lord Jesus Christ rules over the Father’s household, the household of faith, the church, by and through His Word.”
Verse 42: Joseph is given Pharaoh’s signet ring – this is his authority. This shadows forth Christ who said in Matthew 28, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Joseph is then clothed in royal garments and a gold chain is placed around his neck. Matthew Henry says, “…he that, in the morning, was dragging his fetters of iron, before night was adorned with a chain of gold.” Here we find an illustration of coming to Christ: he who feels the chains of his sin, the burden, weight, and slavery therein, can just as soon come to experience a royal garment of clothing and chains of gold, after being cleansed from sin in Christ.
Thus Joseph ascends to the throne in Egypt, second only in regard to the throne to Pharaoh. What redemption there is for Joseph here. What an ascension. From such lowly depths, to such wonderful heights. Despite everyone who had been out to get Joseph in his young life, God put it in the heart of the highest Pharaoh of the land to look on him with favor, and raise him up with him. Now that God’s set time had come, no human power nor policy could detain Joseph in prison. As Matthew Henry puts it, “There is a time set for the deliverance of God’s people; that time will come, though it seem to tarry; and, when it comes, it will appear to have been the best time, and therefore we ought to wait for it, and not think two full years too long to continue waiting…note, God’s time for the enlargement of his people will appear at last to be the fittest time.”
Verse 43: Here Joseph is brought around Egypt, all being commanded to bow the knee to him. Likewise, every soul to ever life will bow the knee to Christ (Phil. 2).
Verse 44: “Without your consent no one shall lift hand or foot.” So with Christ, no one lifts hand or foot without the consent, decree, and upholding of Christ (Col. 1v16-18).
Let us take heart that whatever injustice might be done to us, whatever suffering we find ourselves in, Christ has gone through greater, in order to redeem us and rescue us from our sin and suffering. Suffering is not foreign to the true Christian, it is common. It is what God uses to make us like Him, to teach us to trust in Him, to test our faith, and to accomplish his purposes in us and in the world. Our suffering may last more than two years. It may last a lifetime. But it won’t last an eternity. There is a great reward coming for all of our suffering, that Christ has won for us, and it will be far greater than any trial we will ever experience. Our reward of Christ and all the blessings and benefits of eternal union and communion with him will outweigh every bit of pain and distress we will experience in this life. In enduring the wrath of God and the punishment for our sin, Christ as gone through the most agonizing pain, suffering, and distress that anyone could ever possibly endure. And the glory of his resurrection and ascension as he sits clothed in glory and honor guarantees that we will be raised up with him, as we already are, to the right hand of God, where Christ is interceding for us, even now, as we travel through this life.
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