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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
‘Pharaoh sent and called Joseph.’
Gen_41:14
II. The king’s pleasure cannot wait.—There must be no delay in bringing Joseph out of prison; ‘they made him run” (marg.). Are we quick to execute our Lord’s commands, or do we linger, fancying any time will suffice to enter upon the duty assigned? ‘The king’s business requireth haste.’
III. Yet prison garb does not befit a king’s court.—Extreme haste did not prevent the necessary preparations for a decent appearance before Pharaoh. Joseph ‘shaved (his beard and perhaps his head) and changed his raiment.’ Too often we rush into the presence of the King of kings unthinkingly, without the preparation of the heart and seriousness of manner which become us before the Holy Lord God. Joseph’s prison dress would have seemed an insult to the monarch. The ceremonial law of Israel never permitted the priests to minister before God with any sign of mourning upon them. Let us come before God not defiled but cleansed in the blood of Christ, wearing His robe of righteousness, not sorrowful but rejoicing, not looking like slaves but as His children. One day Christians will be presented faultless before the Father’s throne.
IV. The diligent servant is honoured by standing before the king.—This was an illustration of Pro_22:29. Had Joseph not been faithful to his work he had not been appointed warder and attendant on the state officials, nor had he noticed their sadness, interpreted their dreams, and been called to Pharaoh’s aid. Our acts are linked together, we cannot foresee the consequences of the most trivial deed. Let all our labour be conscientiously discharged.
V. The true prophet ascribes credit and power to God alone.—How modestly Joseph disclaimed the knowledge attributed to him, and referred the glory to Him whose messenger he was. Humility ever decks God’s servants, for they say, ‘What have we that we have not received?’ Pride on account of intellectual ability or rank or strength or character is unwarrantable. ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’ Herein did the Saviour assert His Divine dignity, for He scrupled not to draw attention to Himself, and to perform miracles in His own name. Whereas the highest of men echo the petition, ‘Not unto, us, O Lord, but unto Thy name give glory.’
VI. The king is assured that God will answer him to his advantage.—Indeed, all God’s revelations concerning the future are for our welfare, even threatenings may be profitable by leading us to amend our lives and avert the evil of which we are warned. The ‘answer of peace’ was to prove really beneficial to Pharaoh, though it predicted both abundance and dearth. Besides, the interpretation of the dreams would ease the monarch’s restlessness. God is ever ready to ‘speak peace to His people and to His saints.’
Illustration
(1) ‘There is a morbid feeling which delights in railing against human nature, but it seems to me that there is a wiser lesson to be gained from this story than merely speaking of the butler’s ungratefulness. Consider, first, the suspense in which he was respecting his trial, and then the onerous duties he had to perform. What Joseph did for him after all was not so much, it was merely the interpreting of his dream. The lesson that we draw from this is—in this world we do too little, and expect too much. We bless a poor man by giving to him, and we expect that we have made him our debtor through life. You fancy that the world has forgotten you. For this world, from which you expect so much, what have you done? And if you find that you have done little and received much what marvel is it that you receive no more? The only marvel is that you have received so much.’
(2) ‘A very remarkable circumstance, and an important point of analogy, is to be found in the extreme rapidity with which the mental operations are performed, or rather, with which the material changes on which the ideas depend are excited in the hemispherical ganglia. It would appear as if a whole series of acts, that would really occupy a long lapse of time, pass ideally through the mind in one instant. We have in dreams no true perception of the lapse of time—a strange property of mind! for if such be also its property when entered into the eternal disembodied state, time will appear to us eternity. The relations of space as well as of time are also annihilated; so that while almost an eternity is compressed into a moment, infinite space is traversed more swiftly than by real thought.’
(3) ‘One of the loveliest traits in Joseph’s character was his humility. He did not pose before the great Egyptian monarch, nor take on airs not assume that he had some occult clue. From himself he turned all eyes to God.’