A Dream Come True
Welcome to parasha Mikketz. This portion begins in Genesis 41:1-44:17. We had ended our last parasha with Joseph waiting in jail for the butler to put in a good word for him to the Pharaoh. It's been two years now and so far the butler seems to have a lapse of memory when it comes to Joseph. But that's about to change. Now Pharaoh has some dreams of his own that need interpreted and no one seems to be able to help him. The dreams have Pharaoh standing by the Nile River. The Nile was considered a god to the Egyptian people. That's why in the plagues YHVH struck the Nile River. He struck one of their precious gods! Pharaoh saw seven fat cows come up out of the river, followed by seven skinny cows. The seven skinny cows ate the seven fat ones. Then Pharaoh awoke. When he fell back asleep again, he saw a stalk of grain with seven ears of grain on it. Remember when you read the word 'corn' it has been mistranslated from grain. Egypt was not known to grow 'corn'. So Pharaoh saw seven ears of grain on one stalk, which meant abundance. But along comes seven thin ears and devours them. Remember the number seven is the number for completion. After calling all his diviners and sooth sayers and whatever to interpret, the cupbearer (also known as the butler) finally tells him about Joseph. As much as I'm sure the butler hated to recall to Pharaoh the time he had put him in prison, he had to. It was the only way to inform him about Joseph and how Joseph had interrupted his and the bakers dreams. When Pharaoh called for Joseph to be brought before him, notice Joseph shaved himself.
Nothing is ever put in the Scriptures as just a passing thought. I'm sure Joseph had a beard and long hair as most Hebrews did. But the Egyptians shaved their beards and heads, so Joseph wanted to look more like Pharaoh. This meant shaving off his hair and beard. Notice it doesn't say he shaved his face or he shaved off his beard, but it says he shaved himself. Joseph proceeds to give Pharaoh the meaning of his dreams. He tells him the dreams are one and the same, although they were two separate dreams. Two is the number of witness, one dream was witness to the other dream. The dreams are as one, the cows represent plowing and the grain represents harvesting. He tells Pharoah there's going to be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine in the land. He even instructs him as to how he should prepare for it. We know that Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph that he set him in place as ruler/Viceroy over everything. Only Pharaoh himself was over Joseph. It says Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh. If he was seventeen when he was sold off to traders, this meant it had been 'thirteen long years' since he had seen his father. Wouldn't you wonder when Joseph became second in charge in all of Egypt, why he never once sent to inquire about his father? Didn't he want to see his father, after all, they were very close?
If you think about it, Joseph did not know his brothers had tricked his father into thinking he was dead. So as far as Joseph knew, his father never even came looking for him in all those years. If you disappeared and you thought your parents never once tried to find you, how would you feel? I believe this was why Joseph never tried to contact his father on his own, even after becoming Viceroy of Egypt. So Pharaoh gave Joseph a new name, Zaphnath-Paaneah, which means interpreter of dreams. He also gave him something else, a wife, Asenath. She was the daughter of Poti-Pherah, the Priest of On. This was not to be confused with the Potifar who once owned Joseph, who was the captain of the guard. Asenath was the mother of Manasseh and Ephraim. Tradition tells it that Asenath was the daughter of Dinah and Shechem. We cannot verify that in Scripture, but it's a thought. Now Joseph goes about the land in his royal chariot. Everyone is to get to know that he is second in charge in all the land. It's now time to begin preparations for housing the grain in the coming seven years of plenty. So when the famine came, the people had to buy grain from Joseph. He made Pharaoh rich from selling the grain, even many times richer than he already was. First the people used their money to buy the grain. When that ran out, they sold off their land and livestock for food. Finally, they sold themselves for food. Does this sound familiar in today's world? We've already sold out a huge amount of our industry overseas, they now own a lot of our roads, ports and property, what's next? So Jacob hears of the food in Egypt and sends ten of his sons there to purchase food for all of them. A picture of the ten lost tribes there perhaps:. He keeps Benjamin at home and sends the rest. They ended up bowing before Joseph, asking to buy food. They did not recognize him. However, he knew them.
He spoke to them through an interrupter. This interrupter was said to be Manasseh, but of course we can't prove that to be true, its speculation, but interesting speculation. Now the plot begins on Joseph's part. They are accused of being spies by Joseph. Of course they tell Joseph this is not true and tell him of their lineage. Joseph puts all of them in prison for three days and then brings them out again (a resurrection picture here). Then he informs them they must leave one brother there. They must bring the youngest brother to him in order to prove they are not spies. He took Simeon and bound him before their eyes and returned him back to prison. At first Jacob would not agree to let them take Benjamin back with them. He figured he'd lost Joseph and Simeon (who was bound now back in Egypt) and he wasn't going to take a chance on losing Benjamin too. Reuben even tells Jacob that he will be personally responsible for bringing Benjamin back safely. If he doesn't, Jacob could slay Reuben's own two sons in exchange. I wonder just how much weight that promise would carry. Would you be willing to kill your two grandchildren for any such reason, I think not. Maybe for dripping a sticky popsicle on your floor you might:. Just kidding! But the famine grew worse and the food they brought from Egypt was gone now. Now Judah takes it upon himself to be responsible for bringing Benjamin back safely, but they must go for more food or they will die. Judah tells Jacob that he will bear the blame himself 'forever' if anything happens to Benjamin. Finally Jacob agrees. But he decides to send gifts to the Viceroy. Reminds you of when Jacob sent gifts to Esau before he was to meet with him. I believe Jacob would be the type now days that would show up with flowers and candy for a woman he was meeting the first time:. So once again the brothers journey down to Egypt for food. I imagine by now Simeon who is in prison, is wondering what's taking so long:. But they return and Joseph has them brought to his house for food. Here, Joseph asks them of their father's health.
Joseph sees Benjamin again and is overcome by emotion. He has to leave the room in order that they should not see him weep. Next Joseph had them seated and done something amazing to them. He sat them at a table according to their birth order, from the first born to the youngest. He would have had no way of knowing their ages and birth order, this was what astounded the brothers, how did he know this, they marveled? He gave Benjamin five times (5 is the number of Torah) the potions he gave everyone else. Had the brothers lost the jealousy they once felt for the children of Rachael? He tested them to see if they put up any questions as to why Benjamin received more than they did, but no objections came. They finished eating and Joseph sent them out with full sacks of food and money. But as we know, he also had had his silver cup put in Benjamin's sack. As soon as they left, he sent his men to catch up with them. We all know how they accused them of stealing Joseph's cup and of course they were all pleading innocence. As far as they knew, they were innocent! They came back to Joseph's house and fell before him. They admitted they were at fault and all of them would become his servants. But that was not part of Joseph's plan. He only wanted to keep Benjamin. So he told them they could all leave except for the one in whose sack the cup was found, which of course was Benjamin. Now the bag the cup was put in is a picture of us. Silver represents redemption. Joseph represented Yeshua. So Yeshua/redemption is placed now in our bodies/sacks. Does this mean we are all old bags:? Sorry, I couldn't resist that:! We sometimes think of Benjamin as being around a teenager in this story. But that is far from the case. He is thirty-one to thirty-two according to the calculations of using when Joseph was born and the ages it gives for the events in Joseph's life. Joseph was around thirty-seven or thirty-eight here.
It is said Benjamin was about eight years younger than Joseph. I'm sure it's going through the brother's minds now what this is going to do to Jacob. Poor Jacob, he may have been a famous patriarch, but just like everyone else, he was not immune to trouble and grief. He had years of grief with Laban, grief with Esau, the trouble Reuben caused him, the episode with Simeon and Levi, the troubles with Rachael, Dinah, Joseph, and now Benjamin. Look back over Jacob's life and yours and see if you'd like to trade with him. So now Joseph has seen his one dream come true, literally. The eleven stars are all bowing before him!
Nothing is ever put in the Scriptures as just a passing thought. I'm sure Joseph had a beard and long hair as most Hebrews did. But the Egyptians shaved their beards and heads, so Joseph wanted to look more like Pharaoh. This meant shaving off his hair and beard. Notice it doesn't say he shaved his face or he shaved off his beard, but it says he shaved himself. Joseph proceeds to give Pharaoh the meaning of his dreams. He tells him the dreams are one and the same, although they were two separate dreams. Two is the number of witness, one dream was witness to the other dream. The dreams are as one, the cows represent plowing and the grain represents harvesting. He tells Pharoah there's going to be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine in the land. He even instructs him as to how he should prepare for it. We know that Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph that he set him in place as ruler/Viceroy over everything. Only Pharaoh himself was over Joseph. It says Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh. If he was seventeen when he was sold off to traders, this meant it had been 'thirteen long years' since he had seen his father. Wouldn't you wonder when Joseph became second in charge in all of Egypt, why he never once sent to inquire about his father? Didn't he want to see his father, after all, they were very close?
If you think about it, Joseph did not know his brothers had tricked his father into thinking he was dead. So as far as Joseph knew, his father never even came looking for him in all those years. If you disappeared and you thought your parents never once tried to find you, how would you feel? I believe this was why Joseph never tried to contact his father on his own, even after becoming Viceroy of Egypt. So Pharaoh gave Joseph a new name, Zaphnath-Paaneah, which means interpreter of dreams. He also gave him something else, a wife, Asenath. She was the daughter of Poti-Pherah, the Priest of On. This was not to be confused with the Potifar who once owned Joseph, who was the captain of the guard. Asenath was the mother of Manasseh and Ephraim. Tradition tells it that Asenath was the daughter of Dinah and Shechem. We cannot verify that in Scripture, but it's a thought. Now Joseph goes about the land in his royal chariot. Everyone is to get to know that he is second in charge in all the land. It's now time to begin preparations for housing the grain in the coming seven years of plenty. So when the famine came, the people had to buy grain from Joseph. He made Pharaoh rich from selling the grain, even many times richer than he already was. First the people used their money to buy the grain. When that ran out, they sold off their land and livestock for food. Finally, they sold themselves for food. Does this sound familiar in today's world? We've already sold out a huge amount of our industry overseas, they now own a lot of our roads, ports and property, what's next? So Jacob hears of the food in Egypt and sends ten of his sons there to purchase food for all of them. A picture of the ten lost tribes there perhaps:. He keeps Benjamin at home and sends the rest. They ended up bowing before Joseph, asking to buy food. They did not recognize him. However, he knew them.
He spoke to them through an interrupter. This interrupter was said to be Manasseh, but of course we can't prove that to be true, its speculation, but interesting speculation. Now the plot begins on Joseph's part. They are accused of being spies by Joseph. Of course they tell Joseph this is not true and tell him of their lineage. Joseph puts all of them in prison for three days and then brings them out again (a resurrection picture here). Then he informs them they must leave one brother there. They must bring the youngest brother to him in order to prove they are not spies. He took Simeon and bound him before their eyes and returned him back to prison. At first Jacob would not agree to let them take Benjamin back with them. He figured he'd lost Joseph and Simeon (who was bound now back in Egypt) and he wasn't going to take a chance on losing Benjamin too. Reuben even tells Jacob that he will be personally responsible for bringing Benjamin back safely. If he doesn't, Jacob could slay Reuben's own two sons in exchange. I wonder just how much weight that promise would carry. Would you be willing to kill your two grandchildren for any such reason, I think not. Maybe for dripping a sticky popsicle on your floor you might:. Just kidding! But the famine grew worse and the food they brought from Egypt was gone now. Now Judah takes it upon himself to be responsible for bringing Benjamin back safely, but they must go for more food or they will die. Judah tells Jacob that he will bear the blame himself 'forever' if anything happens to Benjamin. Finally Jacob agrees. But he decides to send gifts to the Viceroy. Reminds you of when Jacob sent gifts to Esau before he was to meet with him. I believe Jacob would be the type now days that would show up with flowers and candy for a woman he was meeting the first time:. So once again the brothers journey down to Egypt for food. I imagine by now Simeon who is in prison, is wondering what's taking so long:. But they return and Joseph has them brought to his house for food. Here, Joseph asks them of their father's health.
Joseph sees Benjamin again and is overcome by emotion. He has to leave the room in order that they should not see him weep. Next Joseph had them seated and done something amazing to them. He sat them at a table according to their birth order, from the first born to the youngest. He would have had no way of knowing their ages and birth order, this was what astounded the brothers, how did he know this, they marveled? He gave Benjamin five times (5 is the number of Torah) the potions he gave everyone else. Had the brothers lost the jealousy they once felt for the children of Rachael? He tested them to see if they put up any questions as to why Benjamin received more than they did, but no objections came. They finished eating and Joseph sent them out with full sacks of food and money. But as we know, he also had had his silver cup put in Benjamin's sack. As soon as they left, he sent his men to catch up with them. We all know how they accused them of stealing Joseph's cup and of course they were all pleading innocence. As far as they knew, they were innocent! They came back to Joseph's house and fell before him. They admitted they were at fault and all of them would become his servants. But that was not part of Joseph's plan. He only wanted to keep Benjamin. So he told them they could all leave except for the one in whose sack the cup was found, which of course was Benjamin. Now the bag the cup was put in is a picture of us. Silver represents redemption. Joseph represented Yeshua. So Yeshua/redemption is placed now in our bodies/sacks. Does this mean we are all old bags:? Sorry, I couldn't resist that:! We sometimes think of Benjamin as being around a teenager in this story. But that is far from the case. He is thirty-one to thirty-two according to the calculations of using when Joseph was born and the ages it gives for the events in Joseph's life. Joseph was around thirty-seven or thirty-eight here.
It is said Benjamin was about eight years younger than Joseph. I'm sure it's going through the brother's minds now what this is going to do to Jacob. Poor Jacob, he may have been a famous patriarch, but just like everyone else, he was not immune to trouble and grief. He had years of grief with Laban, grief with Esau, the trouble Reuben caused him, the episode with Simeon and Levi, the troubles with Rachael, Dinah, Joseph, and now Benjamin. Look back over Jacob's life and yours and see if you'd like to trade with him. So now Joseph has seen his one dream come true, literally. The eleven stars are all bowing before him!