NOTES for Gen 41:1-57
Today's reading is remarkable, among other things, because it tells how the cupbearer remembered Joseph. True, this required two years and circumstances favorable to the petitioner's career (vv. 1, 8-14). Now, when Pharaoh himself needed an interpreter of dreams and no one around him could help, remembering Joseph meant being useful not only to Joseph but also to Pharaoh himself, which of course changed the matter completely and gave Joseph a chance not only for release but also for a new, this time absolutely dizzying, career.
The matter, however, was not merely the interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams (vv. 1-7). That in itself was not especially difficult, since their meaning was quite transparent (vv. 25-32). What Pharaoh and his courtiers liked most was Joseph's proposed plan for how to use the coming years of abundance in order to prepare for the drought and famine that would follow (vv. 33-36). Egypt was then going through difficult times; the country had almost broken apart into separate regions, and nomads were attacking from the deserts. These nomads had managed not only to establish themselves in the Nile Delta and create their own small state there, something unprecedented in Egyptian history, but also to seize the Egyptian throne for a time; the dynasty ruling Egypt at that time was Semitic in origin. This situation, on the one hand, gave Joseph himself and his tribesmen opportunities they could not have had at any other time, but on the other hand, it required decisive action from the authorities. Gathering and preserving surplus grain was only half the matter; later, this grain was to be loaned to large private estates being ruined by the drought, first against the pledge of the future harvest and then against the pledge of the estate itself (Gen. 47:13-26). In this way, without any repressive measures, large private landownership, the economic foundation of regional separatism, was practically eliminated, and the land passed into state ownership. Naturally, the central authority was strengthened by this, and the state was reinforced. It is no surprise that Joseph's proposed plan was accepted with enthusiasm, and its implementation was entrusted to Joseph himself as the author of the project (vv. 39-49).
And yet the most remarkable episode in today's passage can be considered Joseph's mention of his God in response to Pharaoh's question about the interpretation of the dreams (vv. 15-16). It is not hard to remember God in times of trouble and misfortune; it is far harder not to forget Him in years of success and prosperity. And perhaps it is still harder to remember Him when such possibilities open before you as opened before Joseph, standing before Pharaoh, who expected from him an interpretation of his dreams. In such a situation, only the one for whom relationship with Him has become the center and meaning of all life remembers God.