Pharaoh’s Dreams Part 1, 6/27/04

We’re in Genesis 41 or we’re going to look at Genesis 41 today and a couple weeks ago two or three weeks ago we took a look at Genesis 38 and before that we looked at Genesis 39 so we’re doing some studies in the book of Genesis. We’re trying to learn about this particular period in history because God refers to this time in the book of Acts in chapter 7 as He says that that great famine that great dearth that came over all the land was great tribulation, it’s translated as great affliction in Acts 7. And so when we go back to this book of Genesis and we learn about Jacob and Joseph and their experiences during this time it can help us but we’ve also seen it can help us in our present day. We’ve also seen the Gospel as we’ve looked at Genesis 39 for example and actually the account really begins in Genesis 37 when Joseph who is the favorite son of Jacob is asked or commanded by his father Jacob to go and see what his brethren are doing and return with a report. He’s to give a report on his brethren his brothers and his brothers are just fed up with Joseph they’re very jealous and envious of him and it’s just increasing. The more Joseph tells them of his dreams and the more they see that coat of many colours and the more that they see their father’s favor towards Joseph they just are getting angrier and angrier and they finally see him approaching as they’re in the land of Dothan taking care of their flocks and they hatch a plan where they are going to kill him you can tell by their desire to kill their brother just how much they hated him and despised him and could not stand him and was only according of course God was protecting Joseph but it was Reuben one of the brothers who would not allow them to carry out that plan and he sought to deliver Joseph and said no let’s just cast him into a pit and so Joseph is cast into that pit and right there we have a picture of the Gospel. Where the brothers, national Israel are bringing judgment they’re throwing Joseph into a pit and Joseph is a type of Christ who is under the wrath of God as he is thrown into that pit. And that’s one picture that God develops there and then they take that coat of many colours and they rip it and they pour lamb’s blood on it and they take it back to their father Jacob and they say well what has become of Joseph this is all that we have to indicate that something terrible happened to him and so Jacob is grief stricken and he’s weeping and crying for days and days he just cannot get over the fact that his favorite son Joseph has been devoured by evil beasts he thinks. And then we find though that what really happened is that the brethren those sons of Jacob they sold Joseph to Ishmeelite traders who in turn sold Joseph into Egypt. Potiphar the captain of the guard purchased Joseph as a slave and so Joseph began to work as a slave in Potiphar’s house. Now God’s hand was good upon Joseph God prospered him and blessed him in Potiphar’s house and soon Joseph was the one who was the overseer of the house he was the one who was maintaining the house organizing the house he was a goodly man and so Potiphar trusted him tremendously and he put everything into Joseph’s care and into Joseph’s hand but there was only one problem and it was Potiphar’s wife as she would constantly come after Joseph wanting him to lie with her. And Joseph we can see how he loved God where he would not commit that sin he would not lie with Potiphar’s wife and finally she gets frustrated and one time Joseph’s in the house by himself and she grabs his garment insisting that he lie with her and he does not but he got out and fled he just ran away and she was offended and so she called or actually she waited for her husband who was captain of the guard to come home and then she made up a story and she said Joseph tried to force himself upon her and then her husband was furious and he the officer of Pharaoh cast Joseph into prison. If you remember that’s the last account we looked at in Genesis 39 and we saw the spiritual meaning of that Potiphar is a picture of God Himself and He was married to Israel and that’s who His wife represented and his wife was constantly tempting Joseph just as Israel constantly was tempting the Lord Jesus Christ until finally Potiphar’s wife turns him over for judgment turns him over gives him up for judgment just as national Israel turned over the Lord Jesus Christ to the Roman authorities. And then Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh puts him in prison and that relates to what we read in Matthew 5:25-26 where God says:

Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

And we know that’s a reference to eternal damnation. So Potiphar the officer of Pharaoh delivers Joseph into prison and that prison once again just like the pit in Genesis 37 that prison becomes another picture of hell where Joseph as Christ being cast into hell and not for his own sin he committed no sin Joseph didn’t commit any sin he did nothing wrong in Potiphar’s house whatsoever but it was Potiphar’s wife’s false accusation it was her lie that delivered Joseph into prison just as with Israel Jesus did no sin against Israel against the people of Israel but they delivered Him up to the Roman’s and yet there was no sin found in Christ. And so while Joseph is in prison then we’re not going to look there but we would go to Genesis 40 and then the chief or Pharaoh was wroth with two of his officers the chief butler and the chief baker and they’re cast into prison at the same time and while in prison they each of them have a dream and they’re troubled by the dream they’re troubled they’re greatly troubled by the dream and Joseph comes in and he sees them and he asks them why do you look so sad today and then at first they don’t say anything but the chief butler tells Joseph the dream and then Joseph interprets the dream of the chief butler. And the chief butler by the way means cupbearer it’s the same word as in Nehemiah where Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king so he was the man who would taste the king’s drink before the king and then give it back to him. The chief butler had a dream concerning three vines and Joseph interprets the dreams that the three vines represent three days and in three days you will be restored to be the king’s cupbearer or once again be the chief butler. And the other man the chief baker he hears the dream he hears that it was a good interpretation he liked that kind of interpretation and so then he also tells Joseph his dream which had to do with three baskets being upon his head and all manner of bakemeats in the baskets and Joseph interprets that dream to mean that in three days again the three baskets mean three days and three days Pharaoh will lift up thine head from off thee and hang thee on a tree and then three days later that’s exactly what happened the butler is restored to his butlership the chief baker is hung on a tree just as Joseph had interpreted it to them. Now in Genesis 41:1 it says:

And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.

Now the reference to two full years in all probability has to do with the time from the time that the chief butler was released from prison and was restored to his butlership it was two years later. He forgot all about Joseph as Joseph had informed him that he was innocent and please approach unto Pharaoh and grant his release but the butler he just forgot all about it he did not concern himself with Joseph again until we’ll see in this account in Genesis 41 it was two years later. Now let’s look at the first dream of Pharaoh in verses 2-4:

And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.

So there’s the dream, there’s the dream. And immediately Pharaoh wakes up. There were seven kine, seven cattle, seven cattle that were well favoured and fatfleshed we can picture that, we can picture that. They’re grazing in green pastures they’re eating all they want they’re just eating everything to their hearts desire and they’re getting nice and fat and if you’re a farmer or rancher that’s exactly how you want your animals you want them to be fatfleshed. And yet these seven kine then are faced with seven other kine that come up after them ill favoured and leanfleshed and these ill favoured and leanfleshed to be leanfleshed means that you have no meat on your bones we get the picture where you can see their ribs there’s nothing on them and these ill favoured and leanfleshed cattle or kine eat up the seven fat cattle and then Pharaoh wakes up, Pharaoh wakes up. Now later on we know the interpretation of the dream that the seven kine are seven years. The seven fatfleshed kine are seven years of seven ill favoured kine are seven years but why does God use kine? Why does He pick that particular animal? You know God is the one who gave Pharaoh this dream. He could have picked any kind of animal out there He could have picked sheep He could have picked goats He could have picked any kind of animal why did He pick kine to use in this dream that He gave Pharaoh? Well if we turn to Amos in chapter 4 we find that kine do have a spiritual meaning in the Bible like many things in the Bible we have to search the Bible itself in order to discover the spiritual meaning. In Amos 4:1:

Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

Ye kine of Bashan that are in the mountain of Samaria is talking about Israel, Israel. They’re the ones that oppress the poor. Can kine, can cattle oppress the poor? No God is using that picture, the kine, to represent Israel. Or turn to Psalm 22:12-13. And Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm that is focused upon the Cross. Verses 12-13 says:

Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

You see that’s a reference as we read in Amos the kind of Bashan strong bulls of Bashan that were round about the Cross as Jesus is hanging on the Cross and they’re gaping upon Him with their mouths because it is referring to Israel. Israel is typified by the kine and Israel in turn is a picture of the New Testament church and we know because Acts 7 tells us that the great affliction the great dearth in Joseph’s day is related to the great tribulation that that is who finally is in view the New Testament churches and congregations. By the seven well favoured kine and by the seven evil, that’s what the word ill means, the evil favoured kine. And so we find that Pharaoh has this dream that God gives him and this dream is dealing with the people of God. It’s dealing with the people of God. Now there’s a timeline here seven years where they’ll be blessed seven years and God will remove the blessing but He’s dealing with the people of God that are represented by the kine. So however those seven years fit in history we know God is saying for seven years there’ll be great blessing, there’ll be an outpouring of blessing upon the churches upon the congregations of the world followed by a time that’s represented by these seven evil kine of seven years that’s typified by seven years where the blessing is just completely removed it’s just taken away entirely and so much so that the evil favoured kine eat up the seven fatfleshed kine those seven other cattle they just eat them up so you would never know you would never know that there had been blessing it is so bad and then Pharaoh awakes. And by the way we’re going to look at the spiritual meaning of Pharaoh awaking a little later on because everything here has spiritual meaning everything in this passage has spiritual meaning and isn’t it interesting that God makes a point of giving the dream twice and then Pharaoh awakes. And who’s Pharaoh? And what does it mean to awake? Well a little later we’ll take a look at that. But let’s go to Genesis 41:5-8:

And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good. And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

So again we’ve all had dreams and they’ve startled us and we’ve woken up in the middle of the night well Pharaoh had that kind of a dream with the kine and then he went back to bed, he went back to bed and he laid back down and immediately as soon as he fell asleep God gave him a second dream of the ears of corn that are on one stalk seven full ears of corn seven of the best ears of corn you would ever want to see on one stalk and then following that again seven thin ears rise up blasted with the east wind and they devour those seven beautiful ears of corn and once again Pharaoh wakens, and Pharaoh wakens and now he’s troubled he’s greatly troubled because now first of all we have to remember the dreams came from God God gave him the dreams because it’s part of the Word of God it’s part of the Bible and so God impressed upon him in those dreams a tremendous urgency concerning these dreams God impressed upon him that these dreams are super important that they’re a matter of life and death that everything even your whole kingdom depends on understanding these dreams and he woke up troubled, troubled and he could not understand what it was but he knew he had to find out he must discover what these dreams meant. Now later on Joseph is going to interpret both dreams and he’s going to say the dream is one, the dream is one. And so the seven ears of corn just like the seven kine represent the exact same thing. And just as the seven kine represented the people of God the church and the blessing they will receive for the seven years and then the judgment really that will come upon them for the last seven years so too the corn again the corn is representing the blessing upon the people of God remember when Jesus and some of His disciples went through the corn fields and they grabbed some of the corn and they began to eat the corn that was a picture it was done on the Sabbath day and that was a picture of the New Testament Sabbath that the believers were to minister the Gospel typified by the corn which would be the food it would be the Word of God that God would bless to the people of the New Testament era and so these seven ears of corn are representing again God’s blessing upon the church during the church age during the New Testament era. And then following that will come seven thin ears that will devour the seven good ears. Well actually let’s go to Zechariah 11:15, starting with verse 15:

And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

Now God typifies Himself as a shepherd but He’s not a foolish shepherd. Who would the foolish shepherd be? Satan, Satan.

… Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd …

Satan

… in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.

You see that’s what happened where fatfleshed cattle fatfleshed kine and they were devoured by the thin cattle, the thin kine Satan will rise up and he will eat the flesh of the fat. He will be that foolish shepherd. And also let’s go to Isaiah 17:4-5:

And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.

You see God is using the same picture that we find in Genesis 41 the glory of Jacob. There will come a time when it will be made thin and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. That is the time of the great tribulation that is the time near the end of the world when God looses Satan and Satan comes against the congregations and then the congregations which had been greatly blessed of God are then experiencing the judgment of God. Well let’s look at Acts 7, I made reference to it a couple of times just so we know that we’re on the right track. Acts 7:10-11 says:

And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

That word affliction is the same word as tribulation, the two words great affliction are the identical two Greek words as we find in Matthew 24 for great tribulation. It’s found four times in the new Testament, here, Matthew 24, Revelation 2 and Revelation 7. In each case when God mentions great tribulation that short little season of Satan’s loosing is in view. And so God is identifying that seven years of famine the seven years of famine that came in Joseph’s day as great tribulation it’s a picture of the great tribulation. And let’s go back to Genesis 41 and read a little bit further here in verses 9-13:

Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day: Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard’s house, both me and the chief baker: And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret. And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.

So when Pharaoh was troubled by the dream immediately the chief butler remembers because he would have had a dream like that he had a dream that came in the night that he was so sad and depressed as he was in his cell with the chief baker and they were greatly troubled just as Pharaoh was greatly troubled by his dream and so he remembers, he remembers and he’s telling this Pharaoh about the dream because the Pharaoh who put the chief butler in prison and later took him out of prison was not the same Pharaoh or else he would not say as he does in verse 13:

And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.

If it was the same Pharaoh he would say as you remember as you remember O king and Pharaoh me you restored to mine office and him you hanged but it was another Pharaoh and so he’s using the personal pronoun him, him he hanged and me he restored. And so the chief butler is telling Pharaoh there is a man in the kingdom but he’s in prison he’s in prison that can interpret your dream and then look at verse 14:

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.

So you can imagine Pharaoh’s greatly troubled and he gives the order to his general bring me this man bring me this man and the general gives the order to the captain who gives the order to the soldiers and they quickly rush into the prison where Joseph has been for years and they see him and he looks a sight he hasn’t shaved and he’s got prison garments on he’s not presentable to bring unto the king of Egypt and so they hand him a razor and have him shave and they give him proper garments that he can approach unto the king in and he puts these garments on and hastily, hastily quickly they get him out of the prison and they bring him in front of Pharaoh. Now remember when Joseph was cast into the prison when Potiphar the officer of Pharaoh cast him into the prison that was a picture of Jesus under the wrath of God of Jesus suffering the penalty for the sins of His people. Now quickly he is coming out. It’s a very similar picture to Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights and Jesus says as Jonah was in the whale’s belly so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth so that time was a portrait a picture of Jesus suffering for the sins of His people. But how quickly did Jonah come out of the belly of the whale? How quickly was it remember? After three days and three nights the whale vomited him out. About as fast as you could get out of there. The whale spewed him out onto dry land and that in itself is a picture of the fact that Christ has paid the penalty He paid the fulness of eternal damnation for His people and hell had nothing on Him any longer. The full equivalent an equivalent means same as the full equivalent of an eternity in hell was paid and now He comes out as fast as you can. It was early in the morning on Sunday that Jesus rose from the dead and now as Joseph is coming out of prison they’re hastily bringing him out hastily he goes before Pharaoh it’s the same picture. It is a picture of the resurrection, it’s a picture that the atonement has been completed that Christ has paid the penalty in full and now he comes to Pharaoh he comes before Pharaoh and this Pharaoh is representing God Himself. He’s a picture of eternal God Himself and what happens maybe next week we’ll get into the second half of this chapter but as he comes before Pharaoh he is lifted up to the second place in the kingdom. He’s at the right hand of Pharaoh, isn’t he placed there? He’s given all power all Egypt only Pharaoh himself is greater in the throne. You see the picture as Jesus rises from the dead and He’s seated at the right hand of the Father and so all dominion is placed in His hands and so that is the spiritual teaching that God is getting at here but it’s interesting that he is telling us two things. He’s confirming two things for us. When Joseph goes before Pharaoh that is the resurrection that is 33AD and He’s telling us in Acts 7 that the seven years of famine is the great tribulation. Now the only question we have what are the seven years of plenty? You see God is actually giving the whole time span from the resurrection of Christ to the end of the world and with the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine the seven years of plenty have to point to the New Testament era that began on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit is poured out and three thousand are saved a bountiful blessing a bountiful harvest is in view where they’re typifying the seven years of plenty is a time when the hundred and forty four thousand firstfruits are brought in and doesn’t God use that picture of a great harvest all across the world of all the nations of the world and so the seven years of God’s out pouring of blessing will come and during that time let’s hide away some corn, let’s hide away some corn let’s store some corn in the storehouse nobody’s allowed to touch that corn. You can’t eat that corn we’re going to take a fifth of everything we’re going to put it away but there’s still plenty for everybody and then comes the seven years of famine. And let’s look at verses 25-32:

And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine. This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous. And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

And so we’ve had it, so we’ve had it, we’ve had the seven years of plenty we’ve experienced the world has experienced the seven years of plenty the church has experienced the seven years of plenty and immediately following that comes the seven years of famine. The seven years typified by the ill favoured kine and the lean ears of corn that devour the first seven kine and the first seven ears of corn just as today the church was greatly blessed it had wonderful men of God like Calvin and Luther and Knox. It had wonderful theologians and teachings throughout many hundreds of years but does that advantage us really anything today when we go into the churches and congregations of our day at this time in history or really isn’t that all forgotten? It’s been swallowed up it’s been devoured by the seven years the seven is just a number representing the entire great tribulation but the great tribulation has come upon the world and it has devoured up all the good that was before it so now the people are starving they’re running to and fro in the land seeking the Word of the Lord and they can’t find it and there’s a spiritual famine going on a famine of hearing the Word of God and it’s a terrible time that the world has never known and yet wonderfully as we go on we know that God has another plan and Joseph is going to be the orchestrator behind developing that plan and getting Jacob and his family out of Canaan and into Egypt and we’ll look at that Lord willing in the coming weeks. But let’s go back to the beginning of Genesis 41 and just look at one last thing regarding these dreams of Pharaoh and that’s in verse 4 and in verse 7:

And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.

And then verse 7:

And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.

You see the order of events seven years of plenty seven years of famine Pharaoh awakes. And it was twice, twice he had the same dream he woke up immediately at the same time right after he dreamed about the seven years of corn that were lean fleshed he awoke and what is the significance of that what is the spiritual meaning of that? That would have a spiritual meaning too we’ve already seen that when Pharaoh brings Joseph hastily out of prison he is representing God he’s a picture of God the Father so when Pharaoh has these dreams and then he awakes he’s a picture of God who awakens and what happens when God awakens? Well turn to Psalm 78:65-66:

Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

Or eternal damnation. You see this is the timeline that God is giving us seven years of plenty, the New Testament era followed by the great tribulation typified by the seven years of famine then God awakes typified by Pharaoh’s awakening. We’re in the final days of earth’s history and as soon as the great tribulation period comes to an end whenever that last day will be then God will awaken in a sense and He will come to this earth and He will have the day of judgment and the Lord Jesus Christ will be seated upon the judgment throne and all the unsaved of the world will be gathered before Him and they will be judged for the things that they’ve done while they lived and they will be thrown into hell and God has established it and the terrifying thing remember as Joseph interprets the dream it was done twice it’s done twice which means and let me read that again because it’s so important. In verse 32:

And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

You see it is established the day of judgment is established by God just as much as the New Testament era was established by God just as much as this time of famine was established by God so will the time when He awakens be established by God and judges man and He will shortly bring it to pass.

Let’s pray.