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 open 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

believed 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 cup bearer's dream and the chief

faker's dream a couple of years earlier.

So the cup bearer filled Pharaoh in on this and Pharaoh 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.

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