Dreams of Life and Death

While Joseph was in prison in Egypt allegedly for sexual assault against the wife of his master, two high officials of the Pharaoh's household, his wine steward and his chief baker, got into serious trouble with the Pharaoh of Egypt and he had them put into the same prison where Joseph was confined.  The captain of the guard put Joseph in charge of these two new prisoners, who were locked up in the prison with long sentences.

One night both the wine steward and the baker had dreams that troubled them.  When Joseph saw them in the morning, he noticed that they were troubled, so he asked them, "Why are you so upset today?"

They replied, "We have had dreams and no one can tell us what they mean."

Joseph said to them, "Dreams come from the gods and so does their interpretation.  Please tell me your dreams. I will see if I can tell what they mean."

First the wine steward told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, "In my dream there was a vine in front of me and on the vine there were three branches.  There were buds on the branches and as soon as it budded, its blossoms came out and the clusters ripened into grapes.  Pharaoh's cup was in my hand.  I took a bunch of grapes and squeezed the juice into Pharaoh's cup and gave the cup to Pharaoh."

Joseph told the wine steward, "Here's what the dream means: the three branches are three days—within three days Pharaoh will let you out of prison and will give you back your job as his cupbearer.  Once again you will hand Pharaoh his wine cup just as you used to do when you were his wine steward before you were put in prison.  I have interpreted your dream and given you good news.  Please don’t forget about me when you get out of here.  Do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh and help me get of this prison. For the truth is, I was stolen from my home in the land of the Hebrews and I have done nothing to justify putting me into this dungeon.”

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation of the wine steward's dream was good news, he said to Joseph, "I had a dream that there were three baskets of bread on my head.  In the top basket there were all sorts of baked foods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating the food out of the basket on my head."

Joseph told him, "Unfortunately I have bad news for you.  This is what your dream means: the three baskets are three days.  Within three days Pharaoh will hang you and the birds will eat the flesh from your body while you are hanging."  

Three days later, on his birthday, Pharaoh hosted a festival dinner for all the members of his household, his friends and his servants, and he brought the wine steward and the chief baker out of prison to join the party.  During the dinner Pharaoh announced that he had restored the wine steward to his position just as it had been before the steward had been imprisoned.  Then he issued orders that the chief baker be hanged, just as Joseph had told him would happen.

Once he got out of prison the wine steward forgot about his promise to tell Pharaoh about Joseph.

Two years passed.  Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, and in his dream he saw seven sleek and fat cows come up out of the Nile and graze in the grass beside the river.  Then seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them and stood by the fat cows on the bank of the Nile. The ugly thin cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.  He lay awake for a while contemplating the meaning of the dreams, and then he fell asleep again and had another dream. 

In his second dream seven ears of grain, plump and well-formed, were growing on one stalk. Then seven ears of corn, thin and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them. The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Pharaoh awoke frightened but then realized it was a dream.

In the morning he was very troubled by the dreams.  He sent messengers out to gather all of Egypt's magicians and wise men and bring them to him. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret the dreams for Pharaoh.

The wine steward remembered Joseph and said to Pharaoh, "I just remembered something I should have told you a long time ago.  Remember a few years ago when you were angry with me and with the chief baker and you put us into prison.  Both of us had troubling dreams while we were in the prison and a young Hebrew was there with us in prison, a servant of the captain of the guard.  We told the Hebrew our dreams and he interpreted them for us.  The dreams turned out just as he said.  I was restored to my office and the baker was hanged."

So Pharaoh sent for Joseph and he was hurriedly brought out of the dungeon. When he had shaved himself and changed his clothes from his prison garments, he came before Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I had a dream and no one can explain to me what it means. I was told that when you hear a dream you can interpret it."

Joseph answered Pharaoh, "I do not interpret dreams.  They are from the gods, but my god the Lord Yahweh will give me the interpretation of your dreams."

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "In my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile when seven fat sleek cows came out of the Nile River and fed in the reed grass. Then seven other cows came up after them, poor, very ugly, and thin. Never have I seen such ugly cows anywhere in Egypt. The thin and ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows, but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten, for they were still as ugly and thin as before. Then I awoke.  I fell asleep a second time and dreamed I saw seven ears of grain, full and good, growing on one stalk.  Seven ears of corn, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears.  I told my dreams to the magicians and wise men but none of them could explain it."

Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "Both your dreams have the same meaning.  The Lord Yahweh is telling you what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years.  The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, as are the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind. They are seven years of famine, in which the people will starve and die.”

Joseph continued: “This is what is about to happen.  There will be seven years of good crops throughout the land of Egypt, but they will be followed by seven years of famine when those good years will be forgotten and there will be terrible suffering throughout the whole area.  The two dreams with the same message mean that Lord Yahweh is serious about this and it will happen immediately.  So here is what you must do.  Select a wise and judicious man and put him in charge of all the land.  Give him the authority to act in the name of the Pharaoh.  Build storehouses in the cities.  Take 20% of the harvest each year for the next seven years and put it in the storehouses.  The grain that is stored away will be a reserve to be used during the following seven years of bad harvests and will keep the people from starving.”

Pharaoh and his advisers liked the plan.  So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since your god Yahweh has shown you all this, you are obviously smarter than my other advisors.  I am putting you in charge of the government, you will be my deputy and everyone will have to obey you and do whatever you tell them to do throughout my kingdom.   I am the only person who will be greater than you."

Pharaoh removed his signet ring with his royal seal, put it on Joseph's finger and said to him, "From now on you are in charge of all the land of Egypt. All my people must do as you command."

The pharaoh had clothing made of fine linen brought to Joseph so that he was dressed for his position of honor and power, and put a gold chain around his neck.  Pharaoh had him ride in the chariot of his second-in-command.  Servants ran in front of the chariot and told everyone to bow as he went by.  Pharaoh gave Joseph the daughter of the priest of the temple of On as his wife. 

Joseph was 30 years old when Pharaoh made him his second in command and gave him authority to do whatever was necessary to store food to prepare for the years of famine.  Joseph traveled all over the country of Egypt, getting all the surplus food into newly-built storage facilities in the cities.  He stored so much food that it was like the sand of the sea and he stopped measuring the amount of grain that was stored.

Before long the weather changed.  It became so hot and dry that the crops withered and died.  The days of famine arrived in Egypt.  Hungry people called out for grain and bread, but Pharaoh sent them to Joseph and told the people to do whatever Joseph told them to do.  Soon the famine was widespread and serious, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians.  People from all over the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine spread and became severe throughout the world.

 

Throughout the Middle East dreams were believed to be one of the ways that the gods communicated messages to humans.  People skilled at providing interpretations of dreams were highly valued and generously rewarded.  Even today in our more sophisticated culture there are people who believe in fortune tellers and dreams, and of course there are people who will provide fortune telling and dream interpretation services. In the early periods of Egyptian history a variety of nomads from the desert descended on Egypt.  Often these incursions were peaceful, sometimes they were violent. One group of nomadic desert people who settled on the outskirts of the Nile Valley were known by the Egyptians as Habiru, from which the word Hebrew comes.  It was not unusual for foreigners in Egypt to earn leadership positions in the government. Egypt survived as a great nation for several thousand years due at least in part to central planning and vast  storehouses for grain that got them—and their neighbors from the desert—through hard times that were inevitable in those years.