NOTES for Gen 41:25-57

Joseph is considered an example of faith and trust in God. Life constantly requires him to submit to the principle formulated much later by the apostle Paul: "I believe God" (Acts). That is, Joseph is clearly a deeply, even intensely, believing man. What do we expect from such people? The stereotyped image of people who have given themselves completely to God is one of exaltation, exaggeration in everything, and what is usually called "obsession." Yet words like these are usually used to describe the insane. If we look at Joseph, however, we see a man filled with common sense. He does not simply interpret dreams or set before himself, as a defense, the God whom he knows. He realizes what the warning consists in and immediately offers a path of salvation. The most surprising thing in today's text is that for the Egyptians this very rationality of thought, this common sense, becomes evidence of the presence of the Spirit of God.