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Two years after the butler came
out of prison, Pharaoh king of Egypt had two wonderful dreams. He
thought he stood by the river, and saw seven fat kine come out of it, and
feed in a meadow. Soon after he saw seven other kine come out, very
thin and bad; and they ate up the seven fat ones. So Pharaoh
awoke. Then he slept again, and dreamed; and he saw seven fine good
ears of corn come up upon one stem; and soon after, seven ears more, very
bad and thin; and the bad ears devoured the seven good ears; and the king
awoke. In the morning, Pharaoh wondered what these dreams could
mean, and he called all his wise men, and asked them to interpret
them. But they had no heavenly wisdom, and God did not enable them
to explain the dreams He had sent to Pharaoh. But when the butler
heard Pharaoh and the wise men talking together about the dreams, he
remembered his own dream, which he had two years before, and which Joseph
had interpreted so truly; and he went to Pharaoh, and said, "I
remember to-day my faults long ago, when the king was angry, and sent me
to prison with the chief baker. We dreamed, in one night, I and he;
and there was a young man, a Hebrew, in the prison with us; and he
interpreted our dreams to us; and as he interpreted, so it was; I was
forgiven and the baker was hanged." Then Pharaoh sent, and
called for Joseph directly. Joseph
had been a long time in the prison; but though the butler had forgotten
him, his Father in Heaven had not forgotten him: God was now doing
wonderful things for Joseph, which he did not yet know. Joseph
washed, and shaved, and took off his prison clothes, and put on new, and
came to Pharaoh. Then the king told his dreams, and asked Joseph to
interpret them. But Joseph was not proud of his wisdom; he knew he
had no power, no wisdom, in himself; but that all he had God gave to him;
and so he said to Pharaoh, "It is not in me: God shall give
Pharaoh an answer of peace." And God taught Joseph rightly to
interpret the dreams. He said, "The seven fat kine, and the
seven good ears of corn, are seven years of great fruitfulness; and the
seven thin kine, and the seven bad ears, are seven years of famine.
Seven years are coming of great plenty in the land of Egypt; and then
seven years of famine will begin, when there will be no corn. Now
let Pharaoh look for a wise man, and set him over the land; and let him
gather up the corn in the seven good years, and keep it laid up in all the
cities of Egypt: that when the seven years of famine come, there may
be food to eat." Pharaoh was pleased with Joseph's wisdom and
advice; and he said, Joseph should rule over the land, and the people
should obey him. Then the king gave him a ring, and put a chain upon
his neck, and dressed him in fine linen, and made him ride in a chariot;
and all the people honored him. During
the seven plenteous years, Joseph commanded the people to gather up the
corn, and lay it safely in barns and storehouses; and they gathered very
much corn; so much that they could not count it. But the seven good
years ended, and then the seven bad years began. It was a sad
time. There was no corn to reap: all was dry and dead; and the
poor people cried for food. The
famine was in Canaan also; Jacob and his sons had no bread. But the
Egyptians came to Joseph, and he opened all the store-houses, and sold
corn to them: and when that was gone, they came again, and bought
more; and Joseph had plenty for them all. So when Jacob heard that
there was corn in Egypt, he sent his ten eldest sons to buy some:
but Benjamin staid with his father; for Jacob loved him so much, that he
did not like him to go away. The ten brothers went to Egypt, and
came and stood before Joseph, and bowed to the ground. Did they
remember Joseph? No: for Joseph was only a boy when he went to
Egypt; and now he was a man thirty-seven years old: but Joseph
remembered his brothers directly, and he remembered, too, his dream of the
sheaves of his brothers bowing down to him; how wonderfully that dream was
now explained! But Joseph did not tell his brothers who he was, for
he wished to try if they were still wicked, cruel, deceitful men; or if
they were sorry for their past sins, and had turned to God. So he
asked, "Who are you? Whence do you come?" They said,
"We come from Canaan to buy corn." Then he asked again,
"Have you more brothers?" They said, "We were twelve
brothers; but now one is not, and the youngest is with his father in the
land of Canaan." But Joseph said, "I do not know if you
tell me the truth or not: I will prove you: one of you shall
stay here a prisoner; and the others shall go, and take corn for your
families, and bring your youngest brother to me; then I shall know that
you are true men." The brothers were much distressed to hear
this, and Joseph too was distressed to see their sorrow; and he turned
away and wept. Then he hid his tears, and took Simeon, and bound him
before their eyes. Joseph
did all this not from revenge, but to make his brothers remember and feel
their past sins, and their unkindness to him. And so they did.
They said one to another, "We are verily guilty concerning our
brother, because we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and
we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us."
Sin, secret sin, will always at last be discovered, and punished.
"Be sure your sin will find you out." Numbers
32:23.
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