The story of Joseph ep. 4 - Ruler in Egypt

Where can we find someone like Joseph, a man filled with the Spirit of God? Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has made all this known to you, you shall be in charge of my palace, and you will rule over all of Egypt. All my people will obey your commands. Hello children, welcome to a new story from our series, The Life of Joseph. Today we will see Joseph's childhood dreams come true as he becomes a great ruler in Egypt. Our previous episode left off when Pharaoh's servants were going to take Joseph out of the prison and bring him before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Joseph was glad to hear he was being released from prison, but he was not sure why Pharaoh had needed him so urgently. When Pharaoh saw Joseph, he approached him and said, Young man, I was told you can interpret dreams. Pharaoh began, I have had two dreams, and I am very troubled by them. None of the wise men in Egypt can interpret the meaning of my dreams for me. Joseph replied, The wisdom I have is not mine, but it comes from God, whom I serve. He will help me interpret your dreams, master. Pharaoh described his two dreams to Joseph. Do you remember Pharaoh's two dreams? In the first dream, he saw seven fat, sleek cows that came out of the Nile, the great river of Egypt, and began to graze among the reeds. After them, seven ugly and skinny cows came out of the river and rushed to the sleek fat ones and ate them. In the second dream, Pharaoh saw seven big, beautiful heads of grain growing on a single stalk. After them, seven other heads sprouted, withered and thin, and they swallowed up the seven good heads. When Pharaoh finished sharing his dreams, everyone became silent, absolutely silent. Everyone in the room waited to see if Joseph could interpret Pharaoh's dreams. Your Highness, these dreams mean only one thing, Joseph responded. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years as well, all a part of the same dream. God will send upon this land seven years of great harvest and abundance. The seven skinny, ugly cows and the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind are seven years as well. They are seven years of famine, in which the land will not bring forth any food. All the officials and Pharaoh himself were amazed at Joseph's skill and wisdom, for he was able to interpret Pharaoh's dream. After interpreting the dream, Joseph told Pharaoh that God had sent these dreams to reveal to him what was about to happen, so that he could prepare for the upcoming famine, a time when there would not be enough food for everyone to eat. Master, Joseph continued, you need to look for a wise and experienced man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Let him choose managers to collect and store a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. If this food is stored, the country will survive the years of drought and famine. Joseph's wise words pleased Pharaoh and his officials, so they discussed how they would find a man like this. Pharaoh then told his counselors, where can we find someone like Joseph, a man filled with the Spirit of God? Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has made all this known to you, you shall be in charge of my palace, and you will rule over all of Egypt. All my people are to obey your commands. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you, and no one in Egypt shall do anything without your permission. As a token of the power he was giving Joseph, Pharaoh commanded that Joseph be dressed in robes of fine linen. In this way, God exalted Joseph and made him ruler over Egypt, the land where he first arrived as a slave. Joseph became a mighty man in Pharaoh's kingdom. He began to travel throughout Egypt to collect and store part of the food produced in those seven years of abundance, so that the storehouses would be full and ready for the years of famine. When the drought came and the land stopped producing food, Joseph opened all the storehouses filled with the supplies gathered during the seven years of abundance and sold the grains to the Egyptians. And on top of that, word got out to other countries that Egypt had plenty of grains, and people came to Joseph from all over the world to beg him to sell them some grains, too. The famine had also reached the land of Canaan, where Joseph's father Jacob lived with his entire family. There, people were out of food and were very worried. One day, Jacob told his sons, My sons, Jacob began, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy food for our people. So Joseph's brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain. They soon found out there was plenty of food there, food that had been stored up over the years of plenty. They also learned about the new great and wise ruler of Egypt. Like all the others who wanted to buy food, they went to see Joseph, too. It had never occurred to them that the man sitting on the throne in front of them, dressed in royal robes, was their brother whom they had sold into slavery years before. Joseph was now a well-respected leader. Everyone bowed before him as they would do before a king. His brothers bowed before him, too. Joseph recognized his brothers as soon as he first saw them. When they bowed before him, he remembered his dream. He then understood that his dreams had come true. Joseph knew God had a purpose when he allowed him to be sold into slavery in Egypt. But Joseph wanted to see if his brothers had changed for the better. He first pretended to be a stranger and was very cold and suspicious toward them. Who are you? Joseph asked them harshly. Master, we are men of the land of Canaan, one of the brothers began. We are all brothers. Your servants were twelve brothers, but one of us died and our youngest brother is now with our father at home. You are spies, Joseph responded, and I know you have come to see where our land is unprotected. You plan to come later with an army. No, no, no way. We are good men. Then the brothers replied, I need to put you to the test. Joseph said sternly, I will keep you in prison while one of you will return home to get your youngest brother. This is how I will test you, and I will know if you are telling the truth. Joseph's brothers said to one another, surely we are being punished because we sold Joseph. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen. Reuben spoke up and said, didn't I tell you not to sin against Joseph? He was our brother, but you wouldn't listen. Now we must pay for our sins. What will happen to Joseph's brothers? Will Joseph free them from prison, or will he choose to take revenge for the wrong they have done to him? Let's discover more about Joseph's character through the decision he made, which we will reveal in the next episode. Even though Joseph went through many hardships, he understood God was fulfilling the plans he had for his life. This is true for us as well. God always has our best interest at heart if only we obey Him. Produced by David and Goliath Productions. You can rewatch this episode, along with the rest of this series, on YouTube on the DG Bible Stories channel. Also, you can find our series in audio format on most podcast apps. We invite you to listen to the DG Bible Songs music. You can find it on YouTube, as well as on Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming platforms. DG Biblies! Yay!