Joseph and Pharaoh
Pharaoh’s butler suddenly remembers his promise to mention Joseph to his master.
Bronze Age ?3000 – ?1050 BC
Pharaoh’s butler suddenly remembers his promise to mention Joseph to his master.
Bronze Age ?3000 – ?1050 BC
Joseph, sold into slavery in Egypt by his envious brothers, has been jailed by his master Potiphar on the malicious testimony of Potiphar’s wife. However, Joseph has become a popular trusty by interpreting troubling dreams on behalf of several inmates, including Pharaoh’s disgraced butler.
PHARAOH confided to his household one day that he had been suffering from perplexing dreams, and his butler, who had been back in favour for two years now, suddenly remembered that he had promised to help Joseph by mentioning him at court.
When Pharaoh heard that an imprisoned Hebrew slave was skilled in the interpretation of dreams, he immediately ordered him to be brought before him. Joseph listened carefully, and then explained that the Pharaoh’s dreams foretold seven years of plenty followed by seven of famine, and urged him to make provision for the famine at once.
Pharaoh could think of no one better qualified for this task than Joseph himself. He invested him with his own ring, and Joseph had the kingdom so well organised that when the famine struck, peoples from all around came to Egypt to receive a handout from Joseph’s bursting granaries.
Among them were Joseph’s brothers, Judah, Reuben and the rest, all except for little Benjamin, the youngest.