Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Yesterday ended with Joseph in prison in Egypt, forgotten by everyone but God, and probably

his dad Jacob. Today we opened with Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, having a pair of weird dreams.

They bothered him because, as we talked about yesterday, the ancient Near East cultures believe

that dreams were messages from God.

So Pharaoh called for his magicians to interpret these dreams.

First of all, don't think David Blaine type magicians. Think Hollywood medium type

magicians. They were more like spiritual mediums who would

interpret signs and omens. But second of all and in general I should point out

that consulting mediums and spiritists is ill-advised. We'll see that here, but also throughout scripture.

Pharaoh's magician mediums were useless. It was all part of God's plan to help the

cup-bearer remember that Joseph exists and is really good at this dream interpretation thing.

After all, Joseph had delivered God's interpretation of the Cupbearer's dream and the Chief

Faker's dream a couple of years earlier. So the cupbearer filled

Tharo in on this and theiro had Joseph brought to him quickly, but not before

a shave because those Egyptians loved a bald head. Pharaoh asked Joseph for an interpretation,

and Joseph makes it clear that this is not some skill he possesses,

but that it is, in fact, a gift from God.

Pharaoh shares the dreams with Joseph, who then, without missing a beat, tells him what they mean.

There will be seven years of agricultural abundance in Egypt, and then there will be seven

years of famine in that part of the world.

And it's about to happen real soon.

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