Scripture Daily

Context No. 2654 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 41:1-8: in context

1At the end of two full years, Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river. 2Behold, seven cattle came up out of the river. They were sleek and fat, and they fed in the marsh grass. 3Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ugly and thin, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river. 4The ugly and thin cattle ate up the seven sleek and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke. 5He slept and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good. 6Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. 7The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. 8In the morning, his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt’s magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

The chapter opens with a small, painful phrase: at the end of two full years. Two years earlier, Joseph had interpreted the cupbearer's dream in prison and asked to be remembered, and the cupbearer forgot him. For two more years Joseph waited, forgotten, in a dungeon for a crime he did not commit. Then, at the end of those two years, Pharaoh dreams, and no one in Egypt can interpret it. The stage is being set, though Joseph cannot see it.

Two full years. That is a long time to wait forgotten, and Joseph had no way of knowing his deliverance was being prepared the whole time, that his release was only a dream and an interpretation away. The delay was real and unexplained, and it was not God forgetting him; it was God's timing moving toward a moment Joseph could not see. When we are in a long stretch that feels like being overlooked, this is worth remembering. The delay is not proof of abandonment. God's rescue can be two years off and fully underway at the same time, invisible until the morning it suddenly arrives.

In a long delay where I feel forgotten, can I trust that God is working toward a deliverance I cannot yet see, as he was for Joseph those two years?

Sources