I hadn't had the opportunity to share this
archaeological account on Sunday night.
Did I last Sunday night with you guys?
I didn't think so.
This is in The Signature of God, a
book by Grant Jeffries that really touches on
a lot of different things.
But it is interesting here it says that
Dr. Crutenden, an English explorer, found a rich
tomb of a wealthy Yemenite woman who had
died during the time of the Egyptian famine
recorded in Genesis 41.
This Yemenite tomb, 3,000 years old, fortunately
discovered around 1850 after being exposed following a
flood which uncovered the grave site.
The Yemenite inscription about the famine during Joseph's
time reads like this, and this is remarkable.
In thy name, O God, the God of
Hamyar, I, Tasia, the daughter of Tzu, Shefar,
I sent my steward to Joseph.
And he, delaying to return to me, I
sent my handmaid with a measure of silver
to bring back a measure of flower.
Not being able to procure it, I sent
her with a measure of gold.
And not being able to procure it, I
sent her with a measure of pearls.
And not being able to procure it, I
commanded them to be ground to powder.
And finding no profit in them, I am
shut up here.
Whosoever may hear of it, let him commiserate
me.
And I should, that any woman adorn herself
with an ornament from my ornaments, may she
die with no other death than my death.
So from a Yemenite tomb, southern part of
Saudi Arabia, an inscription about the famine and
how this wealthy woman had sent her servants
to Joseph in Egypt to procure grain, and
how she was unable to do that, and
at that point saying, all of the gold
and silver and pearls, you know, you can't
eat krugerrands.
We hear a lot today about krugerrands.
I think it's wise to invest your money.
I don't know that much about it.
It doesn't matter because I don't have that
much to invest.
I have four kids that eat all mine.
But if you're in that position, I think
it's wise to understand the investment and the
market.
But when push comes to shove, even in
the book of Revelation, it tells us that
people will be trading gold for wheat, a
wheelbarrow of gold for a wheelbarrow of wheat,
because you can't eat gold.
And in the bottom and final analysis, grain
is worth more than gold is.
And here's this woman saying how she had
sent her servants to Egypt in the famine
to procure grain from Joseph, and was unable
to do that.
So we pick up in Genesis chapter 41
in our record.
And the reason I read that is because
I want to give you all a sense,
again, that this is not a Bible story.
It is a historical record.
The beauty of it is God's involvement in
it.
And I think of all historical accounts ever
written, this must be one of the most
beautiful that's ever been recorded.
And not only because we have the humanness
and the struggle and the pathos and the
emotions of it, but woven within all of
that, we see the hand of God and
we see him working.
And we actually see again that the nations
are but a drop in the bucket to
him.
He is more concerned with this man and
his family in the growing of a nation
called Israel, and is able to, again, maneuver
the entire world to bring that about.
And we mentioned last week, remember while we're
reading this story, we don't even know what
Pharaoh's name was.
His title, we know, Pharaoh.
We don't know his name.
We know Joseph's name.
Even his Egyptian name, Zaphnath-Penea, we'll see
tonight.
But we don't even know who Pharaoh is.
God mentions Pharaoh in passing because to God,
that's who he is.
He's one of the rulers of this world.
He's a passing figure.
And yet we have 13 chapters on Joseph.
We know how he grew up, the struggles
of his early childhood and his youth and
being sold into Egypt.
We have record of his entire life.
And Pharaoh is a title mentioned about the
ruler of Egypt.
In passing, we know nothing of him.
Because, again, there's another, you know, the hand
of God.
And God's only involvement, again, in history and
his only interest in history is as it
relates to Jesus Christ and those that were
chosen in him from the foundation of the
world.
He has a much different perspective of history
than we do.
So here we have our record of Joseph.
If you remember, he had been carried away
to Egypt, sold on the auction block to
a wealthy man, captain of the guard named
Potiphar.
Worked in his house for some time.
God prospered his house because of Joseph's presence
there.
And Potiphar trusted him with everything he had.
Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph.
You know our record.
He fled from her in her anger.
She accused him of rape.
He was thrown into prison.
And that is where we left off.
Joseph in prison.
No doubt years of questions in his own
heart.
Thirteen years now.
He's thirty years old.
He was seventeen when he was sold into
slavery and taken down to Egypt.
We picked up the story here tonight where
he is thirty years old.
To encourage him, I believe God had sent
this baker and cup bearer so Joseph might
interpret their dreams and then again watch those
dreams come to pass exactly as he had
interpreted them.
And then remember, that's right, Lord, you gave
me a dream of my brother Sheeves bowing
down in front of me, of the sun
and the moon and the stars coming down,
Lord.
And if these things are fulfilled exactly the
way you said they would be, so will
the dreams, Lord, that which you've sown in
my heart, though it has not yet come
to fulfillment, Lord, I know that it will.
And in Psalm 105 verses 16 and 17
tell us there that the word of God
tried Joseph until it came to fulfillment, that
that dream, Joseph didn't have an Old Testament.
The word of God was that dream that
he had given to him, that it tried
him.
And the idea is like refining metal in
a fire, in a crucible.
It tried him until it became a reality.
It tested him because Joseph looked at it.
It was his hope.
God had given him a promise.
Yet everything was falling apart around him.
He clung to that promise.
Then he wondered if he had it straight.
Then God sent the butler and the chief
baker.
He interpreted their dreams and he realized, yes,
these dreams will be fulfilled.
So as just as they have been, so
will my dreams be fulfilled.
And now he had said to the the
cupbearer of Pharaoh, when you are reestablished in
your position in the kingdom, remember me.
And at that time, I think Joseph felt
this is great.
Finally, this is my ticket out of here.
The cupbearer probably being the closest person to
Pharaoh, the one who would taste his food,
drink his wine to make sure there was
no poison and put his line on life
on the line for Pharaoh every day.
And yet it tells us now it's two
full years.
Every time Joseph hears the prison doors creak
open and slam shut, he's thinking this is
it.
I'm out of here.
They finally remembered me.
No, it goes on and it goes on
and it goes on for two years.
Definitely the hardest two years he had.
And if Joseph had been delivered as soon
as this cupbearer was released, Joseph no doubt
would have gone back to Canaan and many
thousands upon thousands would have died in this
famine that was coming.
And the children of Israel would never have
been established in Israel and the line of
Judah would have perished and the Messiah would
not have come and we wouldn't be here
tonight studying this.
So I'm glad that the cupbearer forgot about
him personally.
Again, you know, as we read this, keep
it in mind, there may be times when
somebody you've helped forget you because God won't
let them remember you.
Seems to be the case here.
We tend to be mad at people.
Joseph always had that ability to lift his
eyes above the human transactions of this world
and realize that God was sovereign.
Chapter 41 says it came to pass at
the end of two full, and I bet
they were full, they were full of days.
Joseph was waiting for this guy to remember
him.
Two full years that Pharaoh dreamed and behold,
in his dream he stood by the river.
Behold, there came up out of the river
seven well-favored cows, fat-fleshed, and they
fed in the meadow.
Now, for Pharaoh, because they worshiped the Nile,
in his dream he's standing by the Nile
and he would immediately look for some significance
in the dream.
Then seven fatted cows came up and fed.
When we see some of the inscriptions of
Osiris, one of the major Egyptian deities, he
is portrayed as a bull, a great bull
with seven fatted cows next to him.
So as Pharaoh sees this scene by the
river and seven fatted cows, no doubt his
heart is stirred and it would mean much
more to him than it does to us.
And behold, then seven other cows came up
after them out of the river.
They were ill-favored and lean-fleshed, sickly
is the idea, and stood by the other
cows upon the brink of the river.
And the ill-favored and lean-fleshed cows
did eat up, and the King James literally,
they chewed up the seven well-favored and
fatted cows, so Pharaoh awoke.
That would tend to seven skinny killer cows
that would wake up anybody.
Strange dream, and evidently the skinny ones that
chewed up, imagine eating the other ones, they
were still skinny when they were done.
So this is strange stuff.
Pharaoh wakes up, rolls around, wipes the sweat
off his head, thinks what in the world
was that about?
Fell back to sleep, and he dreamed a
second time.
Behold now seven ears of grain came up
upon one stalk, and they were, the King
James' rank, which is an old English word
for full, they were full and good.
Behold seven thin ears that were blasted with
the east wind sprung up after them.
And the seven thin ears, now we have
a different word, devoured, it's literally they swallowed
up the full ears.
And Pharaoh awoke again, and behold it was
a dream.
So he sees the seven blasted and withered
stalks of grain actually just swallow up the
full ones.
And it came to pass in the morning
that his spirit was troubled.
God at this point is controlling the direction
of the world by a king who eats
too much pizza before he goes to bed
and has these dreams.
Isn't it remarkable God just reaches down into
human history and touches somebody, gives them a
dream and changes the course of things.
He was troubled in his spirit.
Most of the time when I wake up,
first of all, you remember the dream just
when you're waking up.
Then five minutes later you're thinking what in
the world was that?
I know I dreamt something.
What was that dream about?
I dreamt something last week.
I did something bad, I forget what it
was.
I was glad when I woke up that
it was a dream.
You do that, you dream you kill somebody
or do something bad and you wake up
and you think, boy, man, am I relieved.
Glad I'm better than I thought I was.
People come up and lots of times ask
me about dreams.
I don't have the gift of different Joseph.
I don't know.
It came to pass in the morning that
his spirit was troubled.
So he sent and he called for all
the magicians of Egypt, all the wise men
thereof, and Pharaoh told them his dream, but
there was none that could interpret them unto
Pharaoh.
Now these are, again, heavy-duty guys.
You have to remember that.
These wise men and sorcerers and magicians of
Egypt, when Moses comes before Pharaoh, Charlton Heston,
get the movie, watch it, we're coming there.
Just a great reminder of the whole story.
We have it in the video lending library.
And he throws down his staff and it
turns into a serpent.
And the magicians of Pharaoh throw down their
staffs.
They also turn into serpents.
Of course, Moses swallows theirs up.
Moses turns water to blood.
The magicians of Egypt turn water to blood.
Moses calls up frogs upon the land.
They call up frogs upon the land.
It isn't until Moses turns the dust of
the earth to lice that they say to
Pharaoh, this is the finger of God.
So these are no lightweights.
These are no phonies.
These guys come in.
Pharaoh tells them the dream.
They can't interpret it.
And it's because the dream was not inspired
by an evil spirit.
They have no access to the realm that
the spirit has come from.
God has inspired this dream.
And he has saved the interpretation for Joseph.
So with all of their power, they have
no ability to help.
Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying
now I remember my faults this day.
Nice guy.
Pharaoh was wroth with his servants and put
me inward in the prison of 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 a young Hebrew, a
servant of the captain of the guard.
We told him and he interpreted to us
our dreams to each man according to his
dream that he interpret.
And it came to pass as he interpreted
to us.
So it was.
And notice this me, he speaking of Joseph,
me, Joseph restored under my office and him,
Joseph hang.
They believe that the person who had the
power to interpret the dream was the one
who was then bringing it to pass.
So so now he's remembering, you know, me,
he restored the power, but he hanged the
chief baker thinking that Joseph had this supernatural
power to do this.
Now, again, you know, isn't it just like
this?
You know, it's, it's, it's bad enough when
you help somebody and they forget you.
You know, there's some people you wish they
would forget you, but there's some people that
you out of your way and you help
them and you do good things for them
and you help them paint their house and
hang their sheet rock.
And again, then they, you know, they, they
have a party and invite everybody, but you,
and then three months later, when they have
to paint the basement, they call you back
and they want you to come help them
again.
And, and, you know, this is typical stuff
we can all relate to here.
You know, the chief Butler doesn't remember Joseph
because of his kindness.
He remembers Joseph because there's a need again.
Oh yeah.
We got to interpret a dream again.
You know, look, call the guy, you know,
I forgot about him for two years, but
he's a guy that can do this.
And the remarkable thing is again, to see
Joseph's heart above all of these things.
When he comes out, he has not a,
and, and, and we will follow him again
from the time he comes out of prison
at 30 till he's 110, 80 years in
these remaining chapters of his life.
In 80 years, he doesn't speak a bitter
or an anger or angry word against his
brothers who hated him and sold him not
against Potiphar or Potiphar's wife, not against the
Butler who forgot him.
It is really remarkable to, to think of
the character of this man.
He interpreted to each of us our dreams
and they came to pass.
As he said, then verse 14, Pharaoh sent
and called Joseph and they brought him acely
out of the dungeon and he shaved himself
and changed his clothing.
I guess he did.
And he came to Pharaoh.
Now Jews did not shave.
Egyptians did.
This was probably the first time Joseph at
30 that he had ever shaved in his
life.
That's quite a growth.
And probably with the Egyptians many times presented
before Pharaoh, his head would be shaved, his
eyebrows, his beard, everything shaved.
When it says shaved, it means capital S
-H-A-V-E-D.
He was shaved and no doubt they put
some scent on him and a clean Egyptian
garb and made possibly even some of the
eye makeup.
They, they fixed him up and brought him
before Pharaoh.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed
a dream.
There is none that can interpret it.
I have heard say of thee that thou
canst interpret a dream, understand a dream to
interpret it.
Joseph answered Pharaoh saying, how remarkable, it is
not in me that thou canst interpret a
dream.
God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
Shalom.
God will give you an answer of peace,
Pharaoh.
I don't have any ability to interpret dreams.
Isn't it remarkable?
If you're going to put a 30 year
old over the known world, he has to
be a refined 30 year old.
And I mean refined in God's fire.
And here comes this kid 30 years old
and he refuses to touch the glory.
You know, he doesn't say, I could probably
interpret the dream if you cut this cupbearer's
head off.
Oh, you're much better.
He forgot me for two years.
You know, he doesn't, you know, there's none
of that.
He doesn't say, yeah, yeah, I can interpret
dreams.
You know, praise the Lord.
You know, none of this TV evangelist sideshow
nonsense taking the credit to himself.
You know, I have the power kind of,
no, it's not within me.
Just a man.
God, God is the one Pharaoh that can
give you an answer of peace.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, in my dream,
behold, I stood upon the bank of the
river.
Behold, there came up out of the river,
seven cows, fat flesh, well favored, and they
fed in the meadow.
The old seven other cows came up after
them.
Poor, very ill favored, lean flesh, such as
I never saw in all the land of
Egypt for badness.
So it tells why he woke up after
this and the lean and ill favored cows
did eat up the first seven fatted cows.
And when they had eaten them up, it
could not be known that they had eaten
them.
In other words, they were still skinny, but
they were still ill favored as at the
beginning.
So I woke.
These were the meanest, orneriest, skinniest looking cows
I ever saw.
I never saw anything like the land of
Egypt.
And after the eight, the fat cows, they
were still skinny.
Why?
So I awoke, he says.
And I saw my dream and behold, seven
ears came up in one stock, full and
good.
Behold, the seven ears and behold, seven ears
withered and thin blasted with the east wind
sprung up after them.
And the thin ears devoured the seven good
ears.
And I told this unto the magicians, but
there was none that could declare it to
me.
And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, the dream of
Pharaoh is one.
In other words, what he's saying, you've dreamed
two things, but it's the same message.
God's saying the same thing in both dreams.
God has showed Pharaoh what he is about
to do.
The seven good cows are seven years and
the seven good years of grain are seven
years.
And the dream is one.
They're both saying the same thing.
And the seven thin and ill-favored cows
came up after them.
They 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 has
shown 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.
So severe that people won't even remember how
good it was.
And the famine shall consume the land.
And the plenty shall not be known in
the land by reason of the famine following,
for it shall be very grievous.
And for the dream, it was doubled unto
Pharaoh twice.
It is because the thing is established by
God and God will shortly bring it to
pass.
Joseph now saying to Pharaoh, the thing is
confirmed.
Now I think maybe this gives us an
insight into Joseph's heart because his dream was
he saw these eleven stalks of grain that
came down and bowed down before him.
Bowed down before his stalk of grain.
Then he dreams again, the sun and the
moon of stars came and bowed down before
his star.
God had given him the same dream twice.
Certainly different aspects, but the same kind of
impression upon the heart.
Joseph says, the reason that you had this
dream twice, Pharaoh, is God is confirming.
It's something that's established.
And as I look at that, I think,
had that thing been established in Joseph all
of those years, that dream that God had
given him when he was 17, had it
been established, I believe it was in his
heart.
I believe he struggled.
I believe as the scripture says, it tried
him and refined him until it became a
reality.
But somehow he knew the double impact of
that thing happening twice.
It was something that was established before God.
Now, take note of that.
I think that's something great for you to
remember.
You know, again, you know, if you come
down the steps in the morning and you
trip because the kids left something on the
steps and you start yelling and you're miserable
and you spill, you pour your coffee, you
know, the coffee in the mug and the
mug cracks in half and all the hot
coffee pours on your laps and you scream
at your wife and then you get down
the steps and you open morning by evening
devotion by Spurgeon and your message for that
morning is love your wife the way Christ
loved the church and you're going to, you
know, and then you put it away and
you go and you get in the car
and turn on the radio and Charles Stanley
comes on and says, love your wife the
way Christ loved the church.
And you go, you know, and God's given
it to you two or three times during
the day.
Take note of that.
Joseph says, God does that when he's trying
to establish something, he's trying to confirm something
and you're laughing, but you know how that
goes.
Now, of course that happens to wives too.
I, I just doesn't happen to husbands and
you wives take note too.
Uh, but I'm sure that's happened in your
life.
You, you read something or you hear something
on the radio and then you run into
your friend and they say, Oh, you know,
God was really ministering this heart.
You know, this morning we, we were here
in Genesis and we studied chapters.
Uh, I kind of overview chapter 42 through
45.
The third service is over.
Great young guy walks up, says I'm not
saved this week.
I sat home, decided to read the Bible
and I read Genesis 42 through 45 came
here to the church this morning.
You taught the chapters.
I'm ready.
God's saying, you know, but God will continue
to work in his life throughout and in
ours.
So just take note of that.
Something to tuck away and remember that God
oftentimes will double or triple something to confirm
it to us that we might learn and
realize he's speaking because we're God's kids.
It's only fair.
Your kids at home, you have to tell
them some, at least two or three times
before it gets across.
We're just God's kids.
He tells us two or three times to
get it across.
Now, verse 33, Joseph now has interpreted the
dreams for Pharaoh, but this is what he,
now he gives Pharaoh something that he didn't
ask for.
He gives Pharaoh the advice on what to
do in response to the dreams.
He's interpreted the dreams.
Basically he said, Pharaoh, there are seven years
of plenty coming.
Unlike Egypt, the scene just filled with, with,
with a great harvest, but it will be
followed by seven years of famine.
So severe that people won't even remember how
good it was.
And the reason God gave you the dream
toys, confirming it in your heart, the things
established.
And that was all fail.
Pharaoh really asked for, but now Joseph continues.
I believe God's spirit by God's spirit and
tells him how he needs to respond to
the dream.
So we give Pharaoh free advice.
Now, verse 33.
Now, therefore, let Pharaoh look out for a
man discreet and wise and sent him over
the land of Egypt and let Pharaoh do
this and let him appoint officers over the
land and take up the fifth part of
the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous
years.
Let them gather all of the food of
those good years that come and lay up
grain under the hand of Pharaoh and let
them keep food in the cities.
And that food shall be in store to
the land against the seven years of famine,
which shall be in the land of Egypt,
that the land of perish not through the
famine.
So Joseph says, find someone that you think
has wisdom, put them over the management of
this.
Take a fifth in the good years.
Now it was common in many ancient cultures
to take a 10th for the government to
take a 10th right across the board from
the populace.
Joseph says these seven years will be so
abundant that you'll be able to take 20
% instead of 10% and the people
don't even mind.
Take 20% of the increase of the
grain of those years and put them in
national granaries and store them there.
And then when the seven years of famine
come, you will have stored up then what
you need.
Now, of course, the interesting thing is Joseph
has been trained by God.
He's going to the seminary of the Holy
Spirit.
He has learned to work in abundance in
Potiphar's house, and he's learned to work under
very difficult circumstances managing a prison.
Thirteen years of management, part of it under
a very full life and wealthy and lavish,
I'm sure.
And then a number of years, many years
managing a prison where things were very sparse.
So God had been training him in ignorance,
you know, much like what he does in
our lives.
How many times do we look back and
we think, God, you were at work long
ago.
Before I realized the Lord, that's why you
were doing, you know, God is preparing us
and working in our lives.
He's not dependent on us to understand everything
is doing.
His ways are above our ways as the
heavens are above the earth.
So are his thoughts above our thoughts are
past finding out.
The great consolation is that this shepherd is
not dependent on the sheep's IQ to lead
them.
Praise God.
It's so relaxing for me to be a
dumb sheep and let him lead.
My brain may not be up to the
job, but my heart is willing to be
led.
Joseph had been trained when he had not
even realized it.
Verse thirty seven says the thing was good
in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the
eyes of his servants and Pharaoh said unto
his servants, can we find such a one
as this is a man in whom the
spirit of God is.
And again, by the way, I don't believe
that meant to Pharaoh what it would mean
to you and I.
Theologically, as Christians, we would understand what it
meant for the Holy Spirit of God to
be working in Joseph.
Pharaoh did not believe in a one true
God.
He was polytheistic, but he took note what
he saw.
The evidence that he saw was the same.
He'd understand theologically the correctness of the fact
that it was the one true living God
working in the life of Joseph.
But he saw the evidence of of a
supernaturally divine force giving this young man wisdom
and says, how could we find someone like
this in whom the spirit of God is
working?
So the Pharaoh said unto Joseph, verse thirty
nine, for as much as God has showed
thee all of this, then there is none
so discreet and wise as you are.
Thou shalt be over my house and according
unto thy word shall all my people be
ruled.
Only in the throne will I be greater
than you.
Now, this is a strange day.
Joseph's, you know, what a life.
I mean, here's a kid, the beloved son
of his father, one day sent out by
dad to check on the older brothers, kind
of being the foreman, coming out with his
technical or dream coat in the morning.
He's he's the loved son of the father.
By that night, he's been sold into slavery.
He's on his way to Egypt.
One day he's in Egypt.
He serves for years.
Potiphar's entire mansion and his estate, even his
fields are blessed because of Joseph.
He wakes up in the morning and he's
he's a man of God.
He's he's he's over all of the wealth
of Potiphar's house.
By the same day in the evening, he's
in the dungeon for rape, for something he
didn't do.
His life changes in one day all the
time.
This morning, he wakes up in prison.
He's given out bread and water for breakfast.
The door opens.
Pharaoh wants to see you.
By the afternoon, he's ruling the land of
Egypt.
Same day.
Strange circumstance, you know, circumstance for young men.
Psalm 75 says this.
Lift not up your horn.
Don't try to elevate yourself on high.
Speak not with a stiff neck.
Don't open your mouth with pride.
For promotion cometh neither from the east or
from the west or from the south.
But God is the judge.
He put us down one and he set
us up another.
That God is the one who puts men
and women in positions, takes one down, sets
another up.
It's the theme of Daniel's prophecy that even
the rulers of the nations, God puts one
where he wants him, takes down another, and
he sets over nations, sometimes even the basest
of men.
Joseph now, by the evening, is over the
entire land of Egypt.
Verse 41, Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I
have set thee over all of the land
of Egypt.
And Pharaoh took off his ring, his signet
ring, the sign of authority and power in
Egypt, from his hand and put it upon
Joseph's hand.
And he arrayed him in vestures of fine
linen.
And he put a gold chain about his
neck instead of the shackles that had humbled
him in prison.
And he made him to ride in the
second chariot which he had.
The license plate said number two.
And they cried before him, Bow the knee.
And he made him ruler over all of
the land of Egypt.
Now he had been in God's seminary for
thirteen years to be prepared for this.
He had dreamed the dream in chapter 37
of others bowing down.
But he was thirteen years away from being
the man God wanted him to be so
that he could be worthy to rule when
people did bow down.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, verse 44, I
am Pharaoh.
Without thee shall no man lift up his
hand or foot in all of the land
of Egypt.
Joseph, no one shall even move in this
land without you.
And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-Penea.
You know, Joseph probably said, That's the name
I was thinking of.
Called him Zaph for short.
I don't know.
What a name.
And by the way, in Coptic, it has
something to do with the revealer of secrets
or the one whom secrets is revealed.
In more ancient Egypt, scholars try to say
it has something to do with preserving life.
I really haven't read one group of scholars
or commentators that are agreed on what it
means.
The meaning of Zaphnath-Penea is related to
the fact that he interpreted the dreams for
Pharaoh and would be preserving life.
We know that.
The exact meaning of it, I don't know.
When we get to heaven and you see
Joseph, you'll know him when you see him.
Peter, James, and John knew Elijah and Moses,
talking with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
So when you see him, you'll know him.
You can say to him, What the heck
does Zaphnath-Penea mean anyway?
And he'll tell you.
Just one of the things you can look
forward to in heaven.
Thought I'd mention that.
You know, there's been all kinds of things.
We'll go on there.
Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-Penea, giving him
an Egyptian name.
Egyptian citizenship wanted him to hold the respect
of the people that he would be ruling
over, making his job easier.
And he gave him a wife, Asenath, the
daughter of Potipharah, the priest of On, Hierapolis.
And Joseph went out over all the land
of Egypt.
Now, the priests of On were almost equal
in power to Pharaoh.
It was there in Hierapolis and On where
the universities were all ancient writers, even to
Strabo and Plato.
And many of them had traveled there and
studied there with the priests of On in
Egypt.
There was a university there.
There were libraries there.
Supposedly much of the learning of ancient Egypt
was recorded there.
And the priests of On were the major
worship of Ra and Atum, the sun god,
and were considered sometimes almost as powerful as
Pharaoh.
So for Joseph to have been given the
daughter of one of these idolatrous priests, but
powerful in Egypt, it was also a sign
of favor.
And, you know, I look at this and
I think, isn't it interesting?
I mean, Egypt is forbidden after the children
of Israel are taken out of it.
And yet here is a young man, you
know, it's like being set over Hollywood or
Las Vegas or something and given an idolatrous
wife and, you know, and an idolatrous name
and put in the middle of all this.
And yet, because God's favor is on his
life, the land of Egypt is preserved.
No doubt his wife becomes a believer.
His servants will see more evidence of that
as we study on.
His children.
Remarkable.
Joseph was 30 years old when he stood
before Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and Joseph went
out from the presence of Pharaoh and went
throughout all the land of Egypt.
Imagine him traveling in his chariot throughout the
land of Egypt.
And in the seven plenteous years, the earth
brought forth by handfuls.
The idea is when they harvested the grain,
there was so much they just actually took
it in handfuls of grain.
And he gathered up all the food of
the seven years which were in the land
of Egypt and laid it up, laid up
the food of the cities, the food of
the field, which was round about every city
he laid up in the same.
And Joseph gathered grain as the sand of
the sea very much till he left off
numbering.
He could no longer keep record in hieroglyphics
and tombs.
We find constant inventory taken of years of
harvest.
It says in these seven years, the harvest
was so great it was like the sand
of the sea.
They left off numbering.
It was without number.
They couldn't keep up with the harvest.
And unto Joseph were born two sons before
the years of famine came, which Asenath, the
daughter of Potiphar, a priest of On, bear
unto him.
And Joseph called the name of the firstborn
Manasseh, which is from the Hebrew verb forgetting.
For God, saith he, hath made me to
forget all my toil.
No, but he's wrong here.
And all my father's house, how Jacob and
his father's house was still in his heart.
But the idea of the bitterness of it
is the idea here.
God, he said, if you if you are
dealing with bitterness and unforgiveness and you're carrying
the weight of that, have you been hated
by your family, sold into slavery, accused falsely
of rape and imprisoned 20 years of your
life, wrongly gone down the drain?
Joseph is able to say without a New
Testament, without the revelation of Jesus Christ, we
have without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,
where we cry Abba, Father, without so many
of the benefits we have, Joseph is able
to say, God hath made me to forget
the years of bitterness.
And he's the same today, yesterday, today, forever.
The Old Testament says, I am the Lord.
I change not.
So my encouragement to you this evening is
if you are dealing with great bitterness and
great anger, the same God is the God
of of today, of yesterday, today and forever.
He is able to make you to forget
also in the sense of leaving off the
venom and the bitterness and the hatred.
Not the lessons that you were to learn
through those hard times, but the bitterness of
the experience.
The name of his second son, he called
Ephraim, which means fruitful, to be fruitful.
For God hath caused me to be fruitful
in the land of my affliction.
And seven years plenteous that was in the
land of Egypt were ended.
And the seven years of dearth began to
come, according as Joseph had said, and the
dearth was in all lands.
We read this evening about a princess in
Yemen who came under the effects of this.
But in all the land of Egypt, there
was bread.
Now, by the way, now we are 20
years since Joseph was sold.
He's 30 years when he comes out of
prison.
The seven good years have gone by.
He's 37 years old now.
This is 20 years again since he's come
out of Canaan.
And again, just remember how remarkable it was
for him to have sat on the knee
of Jacob, the son of his old age.
Jacob's name changed to Israel and to ask
him of the stories of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob.
And again, for Jacob to say to Joseph
as he was a young man, you know,
it was because of a dream at Bethel.
My brother hated my guts.
I was running.
God gave me a dream at Bethel and
I saw a stairway to heaven.
And God changed my life that night.
Yes, I served Laban 20 years.
Interesting number, huh?
Seven years I worked for Rachel and I
was ripped off.
Woke up and it was Leah.
Served seven more years for Rachel.
Then I served six more years after that
and it was 20 years before I was
restored and come back to the land.
Isn't it interesting because Joseph listening to that
Joseph's life would be changed by a dream.
Joseph would be hated by his brothers.
Joseph would be 20 years before he would
face them again and see those of his
own household once again.
How God wondrously prepared him as a youth
when he wasn't even aware of what God
was doing, how faithful God is again.
Can't you think back to times before you
were saved when God was doing things?
You know, after we're saved, we look back,
we think, Lord, you were at work.
Lord, I remember now.
Lord, it's amazing how that happened.
You saved me or you kept me from
being killed or Lord, you preserved me in
that circumstance or Lord, you let me in
that circumstance and broke my heart.
And part of my broke because of my
broken heart is one of the reasons I
turned to you and I was saved.
20 years, verse 55, when all the land
of Egypt was famished, the people cried unto
Pharaoh for bread and Pharaoh said to the
people, go to Joseph, whatever he says that
do.
And the famine was over all the face
of the earth, the whole Mediterranean world.
Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold unto
the Egyptians and the famine waxed sore in
the land of Egypt.
And notice all countries came unto Egypt to
Joseph to buy grain because the famine was
sore in all lands.
Now we're set up here when Jacob saw
he's back in Canaan, that there was no,
that there was grain in Egypt.
Jacob said unto his sons, why do you
look one upon another?
And whenever I read that, I think that's
what I call hungry.
You know, I, you always, you know, you
see one of those cartoons where there's two
guys on a desert island and one guy's
looking at the other guy and he turns
into a big drumstick, you know, he's looking
at our big hot dog or something, you
know, here we are in the famine, there's
starvation and, and Jacob saying to his sons,
what do you guys stand around looking at
each other for?
You know, one of them is called Reuben.
You know, you look at him and there's
corned beef and sauerkraut hanging out.
Why do you guys stand around looking at
each other?
You know, take Benjamin out of your mouth.
What are you doing?
And he said, behold, I have heard that
there is grain in Egypt.
Get you down there and buy for us
from there that we may live and not
die.
Now it is interesting that from some Egyptian
records, we know that it was considered an
insult for you to send your servant to
represent you in Egypt.
Maybe that's why this princess in Yemen was
not given grain.
Jacob sends his sons down to Egypt to
represent him.
And Joseph's 10 brothers went down to buy
grain in Egypt, but Benjamin, Joseph's brother, that
is by Rachel, by the same mother, Jacob
sent not with his brethren for, he said,
lest preadventure mischief shall befall him.
And the sons notice of Israel, Jacob came
to buy grain among those that came for
the famine was in the land of Canaan
also.
And Joseph was governor over the land, no
doubt working in the border areas where people
were coming in with ships and so forth.
And he, it was that sold to all
the people of the land.
And Joseph's brethren came down and bowed down
themselves before him with their faces to the
earth.
Now look down at verse nine.
It says, Joseph remembered the dreams.
This is from back in chapter 37.
Here, Joseph, now they come down to buy
grain.
They have not seen him for 20 years.
He was 17 years old when they sold
him into slavery.
He is now 37.
Those were, those were at least 13, very
hard years.
Joseph is dressed in Egyptian guard.
He's a man.
He may be, maybe his head is shaved
or braided at this point in time, possibly
eye makeup.
They look at Joseph and don't recognize him.
Joseph recognizes them.
And Joseph will speak to them through an
interpreter.
Joseph understands them because he understands Hebrew, but
he doesn't want to let on who he
is.
So he uses an interpreter who does speak
Hebrew to speak to them.
And the meantime, it says in his heart.
Now he's remembering the dreams that he had.
And lo and behold, here are his, his
10 brothers bowed down in front of him
to buy grain.
So Joseph is going to deal with great
emotion at this point in time.
And it's remarkable the way God records it
for us.
Verse seven says, Joseph saw his brethren and
he knew them, but made himself strange to
them and spake roughly under them.
And he said unto them, whence come ye?
And they say from the land of Canaan
to buy food.
And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew
not him.
So Joseph speaks roughly to the interpreter.
He says something in Egyptian and you know,
like he's mad.
And the interpreter says to these guys, he
wants to know who you guys are and
what you're doing here.
And, uh, they say, well, we've come from
the land of Canaan, uh, to buy grain.
And, uh, the interpreter says back to Joe,
you know, I think I'm going to buy
grain.
Verse nine said, Joseph remembered the dreams, which
he had dreamed of them and said unto
them, no, to the internet now through the
interpreter, you're spies.
You came to see the nakedness of the
land.
That's why you've come.
There's famine everywhere.
You want to figure out how you can
rip off grain.
You're spies.
There's 10 of you.
That's why you've come.
They said unto him, no, my Lord, but
to buy food or thy servants come.
We are all one man's sons.
We're a family.
Now these guys are all between 40 and
60 years old.
Now they were all older than Joseph.
Joseph was 17 when he was sold in
Egypt.
Only Benjamin is younger.
So they were all between 20 and 40,
20 years before this.
So they're all between 40 and 60 years
old now.
Now that's middle age.
Joseph lives to be 110.
You know, it's not as old as it
sounds today.
We are all one man's sons.
We are true men or honest men, or
they're saying to Joseph, you can trust us.
He's thinking, yeah, I know we are honest
men.
Thy servants are not spies.
And he said unto them, no, but to
see the nakedness of the land, you've come.
And maybe when Joseph had come from Jacob
to see what they were doing, maybe they
accused him of being a spy for daddy.
I get the feeling as I read through
this.
And they said, no, thy servants are 12
brethren, the sons of one man in the
land of Canaan.
And behold, the youngest is this day with
our father and one is not.
Imagine Joseph hearing that he's the one who
is not, by the way, if you're not
keeping up with the story here, Joseph's thinking
you could say that one is not.
They just said you can trust us now.
I'm sure Joseph is dealing with in his
heart now.
Is dad alive?
Do they hate Benjamin the way they hated
me?
Are they persecuting him?
Have they injured him?
What in the world did they tell dad
happened to me?
Where are their hearts?
So instead of immediately revealing himself to them,
he hesitates.
No doubt he wants time to pray and
seek the Lord.
But I'm sure he's as startled as they
are as he confronts the situation.
Verse 15, he says, and no, I think
you're spies.
Verse 15.
Hereby shall you be proved.
This is how I'll know that you are
honest men.
By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not
go forth from here, except your youngest brother
come down, send one of you, let him
fetch your brother, and you shall be kept
in prison, that your words may be proved,
whether there be any truth in you, or
else by the life of Pharaoh, surely you
are spies.
I'm going to send one of you back
to Canaan to get Benjamin.
You bring him down here, and if he
comes back with the younger brother, then I'll
know you're telling me the truth.
And he put them all together into the
prison inward for three days.
Now you can imagine Joseph is musing and
praying during these three days.
Joseph himself remembering the pit.
These 10 brothers were going to find out
how guilty their conscience is.
It is starting to eat at them now.
And Joseph is no doubt saying, God, what
do I do?
Lord, this is the fulfillment of a dream
you've given me.
But how do I process all this?
Lord, how do I respond to this?
How I've been your servant these years.
Lord, I was your servant in Potiphar's house.
I was your servant in the prison.
I have stood before Pharaoh and served you,
and I'm not taking any glory.
I've lifted your name up now.
Lord, these things are happening in my life.
How do I respond?
And no doubt in these three days, Joseph
gains what he feels is direction in the
situation.
Verse 18, Joseph said unto them the third
day, this do and live notice, because I
fear God that must have convicted them.
If you be true men, honest men, let
just one of your brethren be bound in
the house of your prison where you were.
Go ye, carry the grain for the famine
of your houses, but bring your youngest brother
unto me.
So shall your words be verified and you
shall not die.
And they did so.
Now he begins to let them go.
And they said one to another.
Now you have to understand this.
Look down in verse 23.
Joseph is eavesdropping on the argument they're going
to have.
And it says they knew not that Joseph
understood them, for he had been speaking to
them through an interpreter.
So now they break out into this argument
before Joseph in verse 21.
They say one to another.
We are verily guilty.
Truly, we are 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?
Here is Joseph listening.
And these guys are saying, hey, when we
threw Joseph in the pit, we listened to
him.
We sat down and we ate lunch.
We didn't have any mercy on him.
He was pleading with us.
We didn't listen to the sound of his
voice.
We had no mercy.
And because of that, this is coming upon
our heads.
Still, 20 years later, guilt.
They're still hearing his words come up out
of the pit.
Reuben answered and says to them, spake I
not unto you saying don't sin against the
child?
No.
Here's Reuben 20 years later still saying, didn't
I tell you so?
Don't you love to have somebody like this
around 20 years later still saying, I told
you.
I told you so.
Didn't I tell you not to sin against
the child?
And you would not hear.
Therefore, behold, his blood is required of us.
Imagine this again all these years later.
You know, there is this incredible record of
Joseph overcoming bitterness and unforgiveness.
And on the other side, there's this emotion
threaded through here of guilt.
20 years later.
Now, again, I shared this morning when I
was a kid, five or six years old,
1955, my first cousin, my dad's sister's son,
17 years old, he's older than me, got
in a fight with his best friend over
a girl.
And as they fought, there was a gun
there and he grabbed the gun.
And in the struggle, one shot and off,
one shot from a .22 rifle killed his
best friend, went through his head.
17 years old, he got murder one life
sent to Gratersford, 17 years old.
Now, as a five or six year old
kid, I remember the anguish of the family.
I remember the tears.
I remember them coming in with suits and
not knowing what was going on.
And the verdict was passed.
And I remember asking what happened.
And they would say, well, he's at college.
You know, tell me something.
I was a kid, he's away.
It wasn't until I was older, 13, 14,
they told me the story and I went
and visited him a number of times.
Gratersford.
Well, he was paroled 20 some years later.
In the 1970s, he went in around 1955
and it was around 1976, 77, he's paroled.
Now imagine how much the world had changed
between 1955 and 1976.
He hadn't changed much.
He's paroled.
Within a year and a half, he's involved
with a minor and something happened and he
was back in again.
Year and a half back in, paroled again,
he's back out.
Fist fight, I don't know, something.
Back in, paroled again, back out.
30 years after he killed his best friend,
he drove back to Scranton, to the area
where he killed him, took a hose, put
it on the exhaust pipe of his car
and asphyxiated himself, killed himself.
30 years later.
Now I had heard the last year or
so he was living with a Christian family.
So sometimes in the back of my mind,
I wonder if God got to him.
God's pretty amazing.
But 30 years later, he was still ridden
with guilt.
Now, as a Christian, we should not be
dealing with that.
If you if you are a Christian and
you are still handling some kind of guilt,
maybe from an abortion, maybe from a family
that you destroyed.
And now there are teenage kids who don't
even want to see you.
They don't want to visit with you.
They don't want anything to do with you.
Maybe from somebody else's life that you just
caused to be a disaster.
I don't know all of your stories, but
I do know this, you know, here we
are working through this record that God gives
to us of how he worked in the
lives of men and women in history.
And here are these brothers 20 years later
still bearing this tremendous guilt.
God is bringing them to the point where
they're going to hear Joseph say, God sent
me to Egypt to preserve life.
So it was not you that sent me.
It was God.
Joseph's not going to say what you did
was right.
But he's going to say that God.
Providence was was riding all of this, making
things come out of it that we hadn't
dreamed of so that I am not bitter
with you.
You know, maybe you need to ask someone
forgiveness and hear their voice like Joseph's voice
to his brother saying, be not angry with
yourselves or grieved with yourselves.
Or maybe you need to go to God
and maybe you need to believe again that
he has forgiven you, that it's all been
taken care of 2000 years ago on the
cross and that when he saved you, he
cleansed you as far as his records are
concerned.
Of all of your sin past, present and
future, that he's removed all of your transgression
from heaven's record.
And maybe you just need to believe that,
you know, maybe you read in the word
that God has forgiven you, but you can't
forgive yourself for some reason.
And if you have come in with a
piece of that baggage, I pray that you
leave it here tonight before you leave.
If you've come here this evening with the
weight of guilt upon you because you're not
a Christian, maybe you have gone to church
and that really won't do anybody any good
going to church because there are people all
over the country that go to the house
of God and never know the God of
the house that they go to.
I grew up in a church system.
Didn't do me any good.
I wasn't saying I didn't know Christ.
I didn't know one who was risen and
loved me.
If you're here this evening and you don't
know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I'm
not talking about religion.
I'm talking about relationship.
The vast difference.
Again, I know about Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime
minister of Israel.
I know information about him.
I know about him, but I don't know
him.
His kids know him.
His wife knows him.
Big difference.
A lot of people grow up in church
and they know all the information about Jesus.
He was God's son.
He was the Savior.
They have the information, but they never know
him.
They just know about him.
And there's a vast difference.
Again, Jesus, when he was amongst us, said,
I am the bread of life.
If you partake of me, you'll live forever.
And just like those starving in Egypt, they
could have known what the bread of life
was, that the loaf of bread was sitting
in front of them.
They could have known it was made from
the grain that had been kept in the
storehouses there.
And they could have starved to death looking
at the loaf of bread.
And you see, if their wife ate it,
they wouldn't get full.
They'd still die.
Their wife couldn't eat it for them.
Their parents couldn't eat it for them.
And the Bible says that flesh and blood
does not inherit the kingdom of God.
It can't be left to you from your
parents' will, their faith.
Jesus said, I am the bread of life.
You can know all the information about that
loaf of bread and die of starvation.
It won't do you any good unless you
partake of it, unless you take it and
you eat it and you put it in
your mouth and put it in your life.
And my challenge to you this evening is
if you don't know Jesus personally as your
Lord and Savior, I'm talking about religion, talking
about knowing him.
I encourage you before you leave this evening,
after we end the service, we're going to
sing a song and in the service, we'll
have the musicians come.
You guys want to come?
The elders and the pastors will be down
the front.
What I want you to do is I
want you to come down the front and
pray with us.
We'll give you a Bible.
We'll give you some literature to read.
Jesus said this, if you are ashamed of
me in this adulterous and wicked generation, I
also will be ashamed of you.
But if you're not ashamed, if you'll confess
me, I'll confess you before my father and
before all of his angels in heaven.
If the cost to you is your pride
and all it costs you is to walk
down the aisle and say, all right, I
want to pray.
Let's do this.
I'm ready.
He hung naked before the world for you.
And you don't have to come down here
to be saved.
That's not the point.
It has to be real.
It has to be in your heart.
It can't be phony.
And I'm sure if you've grown up in
the church and you're not saved, you don't
want anything phony.
But it's a wonderful time to know in
your heart there was a moment in time
I prayed with somebody.
I was not ashamed.
I asked Jesus to be my savior.
And if that's you this evening, I pray
that you don't leave because we can't guarantee
you're not going to meet a tractor trailer
on the way home and your soul be
cast out into eternity without Christ.
But I can guarantee you this.
If you pray with us here tonight, when
you leave, before you leave and you meet
the tractor trailer, you're going straight to heaven
from there.
I can guarantee you that.
So if you don't know Christ, I'm making
appeal to you.