Gen 40:1-41:36 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Gen 40:1-23: 40:1-23 Joseph did not lose faith in God’s promises, as evidenced by his readiness to interpret the dreams of two prisoners. He was still convinced that God’s revelation in his own two dreams (37:5-11 ) was true, and he had not abandoned hope that they would be fulfilled. When the fellow prisoners’ dreams were fulfilled exactly as Joseph said, this confirmed that his previous dreams were from God. Summary for Gen 40:1-4: 40:1-4 Joseph was so faithful and trustworthy that the captain of the guard trusted him with the care of two of Pharaoh’s chief ... officials .

Summary for Gen 40:1-23: 40:1-23 ^a Joseph did not lose faith in God’s promises, as evidenced by his readiness to interpret the dreams of two prisoners. He was still convinced that God’s revelation in his own two dreams (37:5-11 ^b) was true, and he had not abandoned hope that they would be fulfilled. When the fellow prisoners’ dreams were fulfilled exactly as Joseph said, this confirmed that his previous dreams were from God.
Summary for Gen 40:1-4: 40:1-4 ^c Joseph was so faithful and trustworthy that the captain of the guard trusted him with the care of two of Pharaoh’s chief ... officials.
Summary for Gen 40:5-8: 40:5-8 ^d Pharaoh’s cup-bearer and baker looked worried because they knew that their futures were somehow bound up in these ominous and disturbing dreams that they could not understand.

• Joseph still had faith that interpreting dreams is God’s business and that he would understand them with God’s help. He knew he had not misinterpreted his own dreams.
Summary for Gen 40:9-19: 40:9-19 ^e Joseph listened to the dreams and offered their interpretations. These dreams were not trivial; they were ominous warnings from God about what everyone was going to face. These two dreams prepared for Pharaoh’s two dreams, which revealed the periods of life and death that the nation would soon experience.
Summary for Gen 40:14-15: 40:14-15 ^f Because he knew that the chief cup-bearer was going back into Pharaoh’s personal service, Joseph saw an opportunity to seek his own release from prison.
Summary for Gen 40:20-22: 40:20-22 ^g The interpretations Joseph gave the prisoners proved true. The death of the chief baker speaks of the harsh realities of life in ancient Egypt, with a king whose word was his land’s highest law.
40:23 ^h The cup-bearer ... forgot all about Joseph, but God did not forget him. Joseph’s faith was about to be rewarded (ch 41 ⁱ).

‏ Genesis 41:1-36

Summary for Gen 41:1-46: 41:1-46 ^j God had used two dreams to identify Joseph as a leader among his brothers (37:5-11 ^k). He used two dreams to test Joseph’s faith in prison (40:5-14 ^l). Now he would use two dreams to elevate Joseph from prison to preeminence. Joseph had repeatedly proven faithful in small matters; now he would be put in charge of great things.
Summary for Gen 41:1-4: 41:1-4 ^m Pharaoh’s first dream was about cows. Cows liked to stand half-submerged among the reeds in the Nile River to take refuge from the heat and flies. They would come out of the water to find pasture. The second group of cows disturbed Pharaoh because they were scrawny yet able to swallow the fat cows.
Summary for Gen 41:5-7: 41:5-7 ⁿ Pharaoh’s second dream carried a similar message. Seven plump . . . heads of grain on a single stalk were swallowed up by seven shriveled and withered heads that sprouted after them.
41:8 ^o The magicians and wise men belonged to a guild of supposed experts in spiritual matters, including dreams and visions (cp. Exod 8:18-19 ^p; Dan 2:10-11 ^q), but they could not interpret these dreams. God used an Israelite slave to confound the wisdom of the world (cp. Dan 2 ^r). However powerful a nation becomes, it is still under God’s sovereign control (Dan 2:20-23 ^s).
Summary for Gen 41:9-13: 41:9-13 ^t The chief cup-bearer finally remembered Joseph and testified that his interpretations were true.
Summary for Gen 41:14-15: 41:14-15 ^u Pharaoh immediately summoned Joseph from prison to interpret his dreams.

• He shaved, as was the Egyptian custom.
41:16 ^v Joseph knew that only God could tell what Pharaoh’s dreams meant (cp. 40:8 ^w), and he was confident that God would do so, because he had given the dreams for a purpose (41:25 ^x, 28 ^y).
Summary for Gen 41:17-24: 41:17-24 ^z Pharaoh recounted his dreams and testified that no human wisdom could interpret them.
Summary for Gen 41:25-32: 41:25-32 ^aa Both dreams predicted that seven years of abundant crops would be followed by seven years of severe famine.
41:32 ^ab The two similar dreams confirmed that the message was decreed by God and would soon ... happen, just as the dreams of the two prisoners were quickly fulfilled (40:5-23 ^ac). Joseph’s own two dreams (37:5-11 ^ad) were about to come true as well (41:37-46 ^ae; 42:6-9 ^af).
Summary for Gen 41:33-36: 41:33-36 ^ag God’s revelation demanded a response—it was not given just to satisfy curiosity about the future. Joseph’s advice about planning and preparing showed that he was the kind of intelligent and wise man that Pharaoh needed (41:37-40 ^ah).

• Joseph instituted central planning and control with a supervisor, local managers, a 20 percent tax on grain, and a rationing system. Later wisdom literature (see study note on 37:2–50:26) teaches the principle of planning ahead rather than living just for the moment (see Prov 6:6-8 ^ai; 27:12 ^aj).