Genesis 41

He therefore immediately relates his dreams, as he had done to them—but to them in vain. Joseph wishes him to know that there was a God in heaven who revealeth secrets, and directs him to give him the praise. ((Daniel 2:28).) Ver. 25—57. Joseph’s interpretation and advancement.— This interpretation was so natural, that the king appears to have been instantly struck with its simplicity, and probability, with the air of oracular authority with which it was delivered, and, above all, as coming from so young a man, (only thirty years of age,) with the wisdom and propriety of his advice. But Where (says the king) can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?” It is probable, that when Pharaoh laid his dreams before his magicians, they applied to their books of symbols—to their astrological calculations: and it seems wonderful they could hit on no scheme of interpretation to pacify the king; but he that giveth wisdom to the simple, “turneth wise men backward, and maketh the diviners mad.”

((Isaiah 44:25).) The principles of the interpretation appear to be these: Cattle being the instruments of agriculture, are the proper emblems of harvests, good or bad: their coming up out of the river (into which they retired in the sultry heat) implies, that the Nile was the source of fruitfulness with them, as rain is with us, and its inundations being too much, or too little, were equally fatal. (See Note on verse 2.) This is the first set of emblems: the others are of the like import. A species of Egyptian wheat bears seven ears on one stalk, (note on verse 5. i) and those ears blasted with the east (or south-east) wind, the Simoom, which, blowing from the parched deserts of Arabia, blasts and destroys every thing it reaches.

((Hosea 13:15).) The incongruity of cattle devouring each other, and of plants consuming one another, agrees exactly with the nature of dreaming, which, in scenes the most natural, always mixes such incongruous circumstances.—The king’s mind being happily relieved from anxiety, his first object was to reward Joseph, and place him in a situation which would enable him to execute the plan he had just recommended. He accordingly appointed Joseph his Grand Vizier, or Prime Minister, by delivering to him his ring, containing the royal signet, (which was the seal of office,) and made him the second person in his kingdom; and, that he might be duly reverenced and acknowledged as such, he clothes him in vestures of fine linen, (or cotton rather,) with a chain of gold about his neck, and places him in the second chariot, with a herald to proclaim before him, “Bow the knee.”

The name given to chains of a criminal, “until the time that his word came; the word of the Lord tried him.” ((Psalms 105:19).) Then his dungeon was exchanged for a palace, and his chains of iron for a chain of gold. Our plan allows but little room for amplification; but it seems unpardonable to pass over this history without remarking, how beautiful a type Joseph affords of a once suffering, but now exalted Saviour. Fairer and wiser than the sons of men: yet meek and humble, despised and persecuted, and that too by his brethren; consigned to the pit of death, and loaded with reproaches and accusations; but lo! at the appointed moment, the bars of death give way, and the gates of Hades open!

“Out of prison he comes to reign.” He is exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high. Every knee is commanded to bow before him; and the Sovereign of the universe proclaims, “Let all the angels of God worship him.”—“To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” But to return to Joseph: We are now called to contemplate the just retribution of Divine Providence. In the ensuing narrative we see his inhuman brethren are in their turn tortured with the same tortures (to use a Hebrew phrase) as they inflicted on their younger brother. Did they reproach him? they also are reproached—did they commit him to a pit? they also are imprisoned and in peril of their lives; but there was a bitter ingredient in their cup of which he never tasted—they had a guilty conscience.

On the other hand, there was a degree of mercy, as well as equity, mixed with their temporary sufferings; they were gently used, compared with his treatment, and the object evidently was to bring them to reflection: he therefore commits them for three days to prison; but no sooner were they brought to a proper sense of their situation, than Joseph pours into their wounded minds a balm like that of Gilead—“This do, and live; for I fear God!” You have therefore nothing unjust to fear from me. “Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.” How should they? when they last saw him he was a lad: now he was a man—a prince—the governor of the land. “They bowed themselves down before him with their faces to the earth; and he remembered the dreams which he had dreamed of them.”

And here is one of his dreams now literally fulfilled; he stands upright, and they make obeisance to him, ((Genesis 37:7).) Ah! what tender emotions now agitated his heart! but he is resolved to conceal himself, and therefore thus roughly addresses them:—“Ye are spies,” are ye not? and “to see the nakedness of the land are ye come. By the life of Pharaoh, ye are spies.” Commentators differ as to the question, whether this language can be justified, or even excused. We may leave it as we find it. ‘Scripture history exhibits men just as they are, not what they ought in all respects to be. Dark spots are most easily discerned on the whitest garments, and foul blemishes on the fairest reputations.

But let no sanctity of character (says Dr. Hunter) presume to shelter the slightest deviation from the path of God’s commandment.” It is not likely that Joseph would have used these forms of expression, if nn had not learned them in Pharaoh’s court.—We must remember, however, that he was acting under the character of Viceroy of Egypt, and that his ultimate object was to bring his father and the family to reside under his protection. They return, therefore, with corn to Jacob, under an understood promise to bring their youngest brother Benjamin; and Simeon is left in pledge. Ver. 21—38. They return with corn to Jacob.—* While Joseph, (says the writer last quoted,) the better to conceal himself, talks and acts like a true Egyptian, God employs his affected sternness and severity, to awaken their slumbering consciences, and to show the sons of Jacob to themselves. Treated as spies, roughly spoken to, their most solemn protestations disregarded, put into prison, and bound—their treatment of Joseph, in the evil day which put him in their power, rushes upon their memory in all its guilt and horror, and they mutually upbraid and reproach each other with their barbarity; saying one to another, “We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us—therefore, behold, also his blood is required of us.”

This they said in the hearing of Joseph, not imagining that he understood them, because he spake to them by an interpreter. Such assistance was not only proper for the purpose of dignity, but convenience, as he had to treat with persons from all the surrounding countries, who came to Egypt to buy corn, and whose languages having continued to diverge more and more from the parent Hebrew since the confusion of Babylon, must of course now considerably vary; though not so much, but that the family of Abraham, retaining (as we suppose) the parent language, and continually travelling through Canaan and the neighbouring countries, were able to make themselves understood. Joseph, however, affected not to understand them; but their words pierced his heart, and he was constrained to turn aside and weep.

But he speedily returned, took Simeon as a hostage—probably the man who bound him and cast him into the pit—and the rest he sent home to their aged father, and secretly returned their money into their sacks, charging them not to come again without their youngest brother, whom his heart yearned to see. They return accordingly to Jacob, relate all that passed, and, moreover, that their money had been given back, and was found on emptying out their sacks; but they were obliged to add, also, that Simeon had been left as a hostage till they should bring Benjamin. At this the old man’s heart was ready to burst with grief. “‘Joseph is not, (said he,) and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away; all these things are against me!”

Thus are we always apt to construe adverse providences, when, like Jacob’s trials in the present instance, they are all “working together for our good.” Reuben now offers his two sons to Jacob as security for Benjamin, but in vain. ‘My son (replied Jacob) shall not go down with you; for his brother (meaning Joseph) is dead, and he is left alone; if mischief befall him by the way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.” Here, it is thought, the Patriarch insinuates a suspicion, that they had not dealt fairly by Joseph; that they had perhaps quarrelled among themselves, and that he had fallen a victim to their jealousy or resentment; and it is not unlikely that, by their actions, or expressions, they might have given occasion for such surmises.

Notes on the verses

Ver. 8. Magicians.—{ Chartummim, the word here used, may probably mean no more than interpreters of abstruse or difficult subjects; especially of dreams and visions, which formed a considerable part of the ancient Pagan religion; and the Egyptian priests were the first who professed this art. The word may probably be of affinity with, or derived from, the Persian chiradmand, wise, learned, judicious, intelligent, from ‘chirad, understanding, judgment, and mand, endowed with. They seem to have been such persons as Josephus calls sacred scribes, or professors of sacred learning. |—Bagster. Ver. 14. Brought him out hastily,—Hebrew, ‘‘Made him run;" for the king’s command required expedition. This could hardly be without the knowledge of Potiphar, who commanded the guard; but “where the word of a king is, there is power,”

((Ecclesiastes 6:4).) and must be no resistance. It is probable, however, that before this, which was full two years after Joseph’s committal, Potiphar had received convincing proof of his wife’s infidelity; and though he might not think it prudent to restore him, it seems that he must have connived at, if not promoted, his advancement in the prison. But now, Joseph is raised sl at his master; and as he was captain of the prison it is not unlikely that he was sent to fetch him before the king. So mysterious are the ways of Providence: 3 Ver. 23. Blasted.—{It has been very properly observed, that all the mischief done to corn or fruit, by blasting, smutting, mildew, &c. are attributed to the east wind.

In Egypt it is peculiarly destructive, because it comes through the parched deserts of Arabia, often destroying vast numbers of men and women. The destructive nature of the Sam, Simoom, Smoom, or Samiel is mentioned by almost all travellers. When this pestilential wind advances, which it does with great rapidity, its approach is indicated by a redness in the air; and when sufficiently near to admit of being observed, it appears like a haze, in colour resembling the purple part of the rainbow, but not so compressed or thick. The principal stream of the blast always moves in a line, about 20 yards in breadth, and twelve feet above the surface of the earth; but its parching influence pervades all places to a considerable distance.

The only means of preservation from its noxious influence, is to lie flat, with the face upon the ground, till the blast be over. Camels and other animals instinctively perceive its approach, and bury their Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Him is, indeed, somewhat doubtful as to its exact import; but it certainly implies the highest rank, and the fullest power: and if this name implied an “Interpreter of dreams,” it is used not to class him with the magicians, but rather to distinguish him from them; as if Pharaoh meant to say they were but pretenders: this was “the man to whom secrets were revealed;” or, as he had before said, “This is a man in whom the Spirit of God is.”

The Egyptians, we may remember, boasted of their knowledge and their wisdom. Hence the encomium on Solomon, ((1 Kings 4:30).) that his “wisdom excelled all the wisdom of Egypt;” and so did that of Joseph. Pharaoh having thus promoted Joseph, seeks for him the most honourable alliance. Then he has two sons, the former of whom he calls Manasseh, “forgetting;” because, said he, “God hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house,” being now the founder of a family of his own; and the other Ephraim, that is, fruitful; “for God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.” Joseph, soon after his appointment, made the tour of Egypt, and had the satisfaction to see the complete fulfilment of the mouths and nostrils in the ground.

It rarely lasts more than seven or eight minutes, but so poisonous are its effects, that it instantly suffocates those who are unfortunate enough to inhale it.)—Bagster. Ver. 40. According to thy word (Heb. “mouth”) shall all my people be ruled.—The Chaldee says, ‘Be armed;”’ but the Hebrew rather means “kiss.” The sense is evidently “to reverence, obey;” and imports, that there was to be no access to the sovereign but through his means. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry.” (Psalms 2:12).; Ver. 42. Pharaoh took off his ring.—‘In the ring there is generally a seal, on which the name of the sovereign is engraved. ‘This signet is dipped in a coloured matter, and impressed over the royal orders, instead of the king’s title.

The symbol of power and authority given to the Grand Vizier, is the seal of the Sultan, with his cipher.”—Orient. Lit, Ver. 43. Bow the knee.—The custom of having criers to make their proclamations of praise before all great personages, when they appear in public, is common through all India.—Dudots’ India. Our translators go upon the supposition of the word Adrech being Coptic or Egyptian; but those who take it to be Hebrew, explain it “kind” or ‘blessed father.” For the former interpretation are Jablonski. Aquila, and the Vulgate; Origen, Jerome, &c. x all where- 1 Jacob sendeth his ten sons to buy corn in Egypt: 16 They are imprisoned by Joseph in was. a Ac.7.12, ‘do ye look one upon another?

first part of his prediction, in seven years of very extraordinary plenty; insomuch that, without difficulty, he “gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much,” and laid it up in storehouses in all the cities; but the trying season now approached. “The seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands;” that is, in all the lands round about; “but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.” It is evident that this dearth could not arise solely from any deficiency in the rising of the Nile, for Canaan and other surrounding countries were equally distressed. It was a dearth throughout all the East; and many thousands, but for the Providence that raised up Joseph, must have been famished.