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 bother him, because as we talked about yesterday, the ancient Near East cultures believe that dreams are messages from God.

So Pharaoh calls for his magicians to interpret these dreams.

First of all, don't think David Blaine-type magicians.

Think Hollywood medium-type magicians. They're 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 and spiritists is ill-advised. We'll see that here, but also throughout scripture.

Pharaoh's magician mediums are useless. It's 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 to the cupbearer's dream and the chief baker's dream a couple of years earlier.

So the cupbearer fills Pharaoh in on this, and Pharaoh has Joseph brought to him quickly, but not before a shave because those Egyptians love a bald head.

Pharaoh asked Joseph for an interpretation, and Joseph makes it clear that this is not some kind of 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. Then, after his dream interpretation, Joseph drops some wisdom on Pharaoh. He basically says,

because this is happening soon, you should put someone in charge of preparation. That person

should store up 20% of all the harvest during the abundant years.

Pharaoh asks around about who should fill this role and decides that this Hebrew guy who is

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