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Genesis 41: Two years later, Pharaoh had a dream where
7 fat cows came out of the River Nile and 7 starved cows came out after them and
ate up the fat cows. Pharaoh woke up and went to sleep again. This time,
he saw 7 full heads of grain and after them came 7 thin heads of grains that
swallowed up the full heads of grain. Pharaoh woke up and was troubled.
Pharaoh told his dream to all his wise men and magicians in Egypt, but none
could interpret the dream. The cupbearer then came forward to Pharaoh to remind
Pharaoh of his time in prison and how Joseph's interpretations of both his dream
and that of the cupbearer came to pass. Pharaoh brought Joseph out and asked him
to interpreter the dream, but Joseph said that God will do it. Joseph told
Pharaoh that there will be 7 years of plenty which will be swallowed up by 7
years of famine throughout Egypt. The 7 years of famine will be so severe that
the 7 years of plenty will be forgotten. Pharaoh got double dreams with
the same meaning because God has decided to bring it into reality soon. Hold on
to dreams especially if they are repetitious because God speak through dreams.
Pharaoh made Joseph his second-in-command to guide all of Egypt through the time
of plenty against the time of famine and Joseph was given the daughter of an
Egyptian priest as wife. Joseph was 30 years old when Pharaoh hired him
(13 years of slavery and stagnation in life),
had two sons later, and he stored food throughout the cities of Egypt.
When famine came, Joseph fed all of Egypt and people from other lands came to
buy food from Joseph because the whole world was starving.
Genesis 42: Jacob sent his 10 sons without Benjamin, the only
brother of Joseph from Rachel, to Egypt to buy grain because he was scared
to loss him too like he had lost Joseph years before. When they came to buy grain in
Egypt, they bowed to Joseph and Joseph recognized them. So Joseph arrested
them for 3 days on the charges of being spies and asked them to return with
grain and bring Benjamin back with them in order to free their last brother -
Simeon.
They said among themselves that they were being punished for what they did to
Joseph over 20 years ago to Joseph's hearing and not knowing that Joseph could
understand them. So no matter how evil or wicked people are, their
conscience never gives them peace regardless of how long ago the crime was
committed. It was because of the jealousy of Joseph's future that his brothers
sold him for money. When they got home, they told Jacob all that happened
and that the lord in Egypt (Joseph) would like to see Benjamin in order for them to free
Simeon, prove that they are not spies, and be allowed to buy more grain. Jacob refused because he has now
lost Joseph and Simone, and was not prepared to loss Benjamin too despite the
fact that Reuben tried to convince Jacob that he would bring Benjamin back. |
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The Political & Spiritual Purpose of the
Holy Land
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Genesis 43: So Jacob eventually allowed Benjamin to go with the
brothers back to Egypt to buy more grain because the grain they bought before
was now finished and the famine was still severe. They took gifts to
Joseph and were told by their father to return the money that was hidden in
their sacks in their last trip to Egypt. When Joseph saw Benjamin, he asked his servant to
take them all to his house for dinner. The brothers presented their gifts
to Joseph, returned the silver from before, and Simeon was brought to join them.
When Joseph came to the house, they all bowed to him and he asked about his
father. As soon as he saw Benjamin, he hurried out to weep. The
Egyptians and Hebrews ate separately because it was not accepted for the groups
to eat together. African Egypt was quiet arrogant against the
African Hebrew or Israelites. They ate and Benjamin got 5 time the amount that others
got.
Genesis 44:
Joseph asked his servant to give his brothers lot of food, as well as put
their money for the grain back in their bags and put his silver cup used for
drinking and for divination in Benjamin's bag. So Joseph believed in divination
as a way to speak to God in order to see the future or foretell dreams.
This means that traditions that used divination
to communicate with God were okay with God as long as they were genuinely serving
God and their communities. So divination may have been discouraged
by the colonizers to prevent us from knowing the future from God so that the
colonized can easily be controlled by their power and money rather than God. After they left, Joseph sent his servants after
his brothers to accuse them of stealing. The servants searched for
Joseph's divination cup and found it in Benjamin's bag, so he was arrested to
become a slave as the brothers have sworn. So Judah negotiated with Joseph
to become the slave because Jacob, their father, would die if Benjamin does not
return with them. Jacob reluctantly allowed Benjamin to come to Egypt because they
needed to buy food and Joseph would only sell them food if Benjamin came along
in the trip. |
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