Genesis 41:17-36 - The Meaning of the Dreaming

 Genesis 41:17-36

17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: “Behold, in my dream I stood on the bank of the river. 18 Suddenly seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. 19 Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt. 20 And the gaunt and ugly cows ate up the first seven, the fat cows. 21 When they had eaten them up, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were just as ugly as at the beginning. So I awoke. 22 Also I saw in my dream, and suddenly seven heads came up on one stalk, full and good. 23 Then behold, seven heads, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. 24 And the thin heads devoured the seven good heads. So I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do: 26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years; the dreams are one. 27 And the seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine. 28 This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. 29 Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt; 30 but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land. 31 So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. 32 And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

33 “Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. 34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years. 35 And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. 36 Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land may not perish during the famine.”

Joseph was given the meaning of the dreaming of Pharaoh by the LORD.  He listened to the potentate describe the two parallel events that he had dreamed of and which disturbed him so much.  The first was the seven fat well-fed cows that seemed content until seven starving waif cows followed after them, “poor and very ugly and gaunt,” as never seen or imagined before in prosperous Egypt.  These cows of skin and bone then devoured the fat cows but remained thin and ugly.  The king awoke then dreamed right away once more of the seven heads of lush grain on a single stalk followed by seven opposite looking withered heads dried up by a dry wind.  These then devoured the plump heads of grain as the lean cows had done with the robust ones in the prev dream.  When the Pharaoh told these things to his astrologers and wise men of occult occupations, they were utterly helpless and clueless to offer any explanation or interpretation.  This is why the Pharaoh had sent for Joseph in prison because the chief butler had told him how the God of Joseph had precisely interpreted the dreams and outcomes of him and of his fellow prisoner the baker (Genesis 41:11-13).  Now Joseph stood before the king of the realm after being made presentable from his unjust imprisonment and boldly gave the God-given interpretation of the two parallel events of the dreams given by God to Pharaoh.  He described the seven prosperous cows and grain heads as years of plenty and the following seven gaunt cows and withered grain heads as the corresponding years of famine to follow in the mirror image of prosperity afterwards.  The dream was repeated for emphasis to highlight the critical importance of taking action to avoid starvation from the severe consequences of the famine to come in seven years.  Not only did Joseph give the understanding from God to him, but he also then provided practical wisdom as to how to deal with this situation.  He provided godly counsel to choose a wise man to oversee the collection of grain during the first seven plentiful years that would sustain the kingdom for the seven lean years of famine to follow.  The Pharaoh was to use his authority to make this happen as a matter of law for the good of the people.  Thus the food reserves would be stored and distributed to keep them alive through the coming famine over the unseen horizon.  God sees over the horizon as described in the word for predestination in the New Testament that describes how He sees over the boundaries of time to the fulfillment of His determined purpose that He will certainly bring to pass in His determined time.  God sovereignly planned the famine and the deliverance from it and used Joseph to deliver both his people and the nation of Egypt in the process.  He also planned the deliverance of all His children from sin’s curse we inherited from Adam by providing His Son to atone for our sins by dying for us to take our punishment of the consequences of our inherited and ongoing sin and giving grace in eternal forgiveness to deliver us from the famine of His acceptance and presence for all time over the horizon of what we can see or imagine.  God satisfies the soul with fullness from His word and hope in the face of destruction in the tribulation of the judgment on the world and the famine for His word that is coming.  We have the interpretation of scripture like this in the Bible as His whole counsel and hope of the promise of eternal life in knowing Him and His Son (John 17:3, 1 John 5:20) who delivers us from this famine of the lack of understanding and the wrath to come through the gospel.  This is the meaning of the dreaming.