After two years Pharaoh had a dream that he was standing by the water and saw seven of his oxen coming up out of the water, all of them skinny, walking by the pasture in the meadow. After these he saw other seven oxen coming up out of the water, which were shapeless and lean in body, and they stood beside the oxen on the bank by the water, and the shapeless and lean oxen ate the beautiful and fat oxen. Then Pharaoh awoke. And he fell asleep again, and dreamed again, and saw,
Seven ears of corn grew from one stalk, full and good; then he saw seven thin and scorched ears spring up, and the seven lean ears swallowed up the seven large and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke and saw that it was a dream. And when morning came, his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called all the diviners of Egypt, and all the wise men, and told them his dream. But there was none who could interpret it to Pharaoh. Then the chief innkeeper spoke to Pharaoh, saying:
Today I remember my sin; when Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me in prison with the chief baker in the court master's house, we both had a dream in one night, each of us according to his own dream. There was with us a Hebrew youth, the court master's servant, to whom we told it, and he interpreted our dreams to each of us according to his dream. And as he interpreted to us, so it came to pass; for I am restored to my office, and he is hanged. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and let him out of the hole in haste. And he was clothed, and changed his garments, and came in unto Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to him, "I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one to interpret it. But I have heard thee say, when thou hearest a dream, interpret it. Joseph answered Pharaoh and said, "God will make Pharaoh happy, even without me. Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I dreamed that I was standing on the shore by the water, and I saw seven oxen come up out of the water, fat and thin, and going to pasture in the meadow. And after them I saw other seven oxen come out, thin and almost shapeless, lean in body. I have not seen such rough ones in all the land of Egypt. And the seven lean and shapeless oxen ate up the seven first fat oxen. And when they had eaten them, it was not known in them that they had eaten them, and they were without form, as before. Then I awoke. And again in my dream I saw seven ears of corn growing on one stalk, full and good. After that, seven thin, scorched ears of corn came up. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven good ears. And I have told my diviners, but they tell me nothing of it. Joseph answered Pharaoh: Both dreams of Pharaoh are the same, God tells Pharaoh what he is doing. The seven good oxen are seven years, and the seven good ears are also the seven years. It is one dream. The seven lean oxen and unshaped, which came up after those, these are seven years, and the seven lean ears and scorched, these will be seven years of theurung. Now this is what I said to Pharaoh,
God will show Pharaoh what he is doing. Behold, seven years shall come with great abundance throughout all the land of Egypt. And after them shall come seven years of trouble; and all such abundance shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt. And the flood will consume the land, so that no one will know about the abundance in the land before the time of trouble that comes afterward, because it will be almost heavy. But that Pharaoh dreamed another time means that such a thing is made by God, 1) and God will do it in haste. Now Pharaoh shall look for a wise and understanding man, whom he shall set over the land of Egypt, and shall appoint officers in the land, and take the fifth in the land of Egypt, in the seven years of plenty, and gather all the food of the good years that shall come, And they shall pour out corn under Pharaoh's power for food in the cities, and keep it, that food may be found ordained for the land in the seven precious years that shall come upon the land of Egypt, that the land perish not for hunger. The speech pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants: How can we find such a man in whom is the Spirit of God? And he said unto Joseph, Because God hath made all these things known unto thee, there is none so understanding and wise as thou. Thou shalt be over my house, and according to thy word shall all my people feed. But of the royal throne I will be more than thou. And said, Behold, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took his ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in white silk, and put a chain of gold upon his neck, and made him ride in the other chariot, and proclaimed before him that they should bow the knee to him, whom he had set over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh: without thy will shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt. And called his name Zaphnath Paneah. 2) And he gave him a wife, Asnath the daughter of Poti-
1) to make ready, to prepare, to promote. In the Bible, that God will certainly and speedily do this.
2) Marginal gloss: Zaphnath Panea is Egyptian spoken, and still unaware what it is, without that, as much as one can feel, it is called, as one speaks in German: Der heimliche nächste Rath.
Phera, the priest of On. So Joseph went out to see the land of Egypt. And he was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he departed from Pharaoh, and went through all the land of Egypt. And the land did so the seven rich years, and gathered all the meat of the seven years that was in the land of Egypt, and put it into the cities. Whatever food was growing in the fields of each city, they put into it. So Joseph piled up the grain in abundance, like sand on the seashore, so that he stopped counting it, for it could not be counted. And unto Joseph were born two sons, before the time of the theurung, which bare him Asnath the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On. And he called the name of the first Manasseh: for God, said he, hath made me forget all my work, and all my father's house. The other he called Ephraim: for God, said he, hath made me to grow in the land of my affliction. And it came to pass, when the seven years of plenty were past in the land of Egypt, that the seven years of trouble began to come, which Joseph had spoken of. And there was a famine in all the land, but there was bread in all the land of Egypt. And when the land of Egypt was also famished, the people cried unto Pharaoh for bread. But Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you. And when the famine was over all the land, Joseph took up all that was with him, and sold it to the Egyptians. So the rioting took over in the land. And all the countries of Egypt came to buy of Joseph: for the spoilage prevailed in all the countries.
(1) What I have said about the two dreams, the gift-giver's and the baker's, should also be understood here in Pharaoh's dream. When the time came for Joseph to come forth again, God sent him, without a second thought and unawares, to come up suddenly, not knowing how, so that it might ever be seen that all our things are in the hands of God alone, who creates and works as he wills, always coming before we think that it is all his goodness and grace. Joseph, the holy child of God, comes so shamefully from his father, but God is with him; I never thought that he would come to have a good, gracious master.
who gives him everything he has in the house and court. But when the wicked whore brings him into prison without his oversight, and [he] now has to go up again, he again knows nothing about it: that God's counsel always comes before us; but we are fools, we cannot judge ourselves in it, and yet we have to give it back to him. As this Joseph does, so he does again like a pious God and father, whose works and counsels are all salvation, happiness and grace, although it seems much different. Here, too, when he is in the deepest misfortune, he soon comes to the highest happiness. For he did not think otherwise, because now he would be forgotten, because the chief innkeeper had forgotten him, and now he had sat two whole years after him.
2 People often ask how far happiness and unhappiness are from each other. Then all reason must say that it does not know; it is also true that one cannot know, it must be believed. For there lies Joseph, as the 1) now should remain eternally imprisoned as an adulterer, but before God it is already decided that all knees must bow before him. So faith sees how close they are to each other. Just as life and death are closed in on each other, that life is in death, that [it] could not be closer, yes, is already one thing: so again there is unhappiness in the greatest happiness, in poverty and misery riches, pleasure and joy. Again, in the safest life, death is in a moment. Thus, when we are to die, we go to death as if we were to lie dead forever: the last day comes to us in a flash, that we say: Now I will live forever. This is what faith can grasp, that good and evil, life and death, are all intertwined.
God shows us this by many examples, how he is the Lord, who throws behind and lifts up, and everything must go according to his counsel, so that we do nothing of ourselves, but give everything to him to rule, of which almost all the Psalms of David sing, as [Ps. 94:11]: "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are nothing"; as also everyone experiences in his life.
1) Erlanger: er.
2) "we" is missing in the Erlanger.
3) enhinter (enhinder) - back.
and must confess that nothing goes out according to our advice and suggestion. Now then, how God exalted Joseph and made him like the king by the interpretation of his dreams.
V. 37. ff. The speech pleased Pharaoh and all his servants well. And Pharaoh said to his servants: How can we find such a man in whom is the Spirit of God? And he said unto Joseph, Because God hath made all these things known unto thee. 2c.
4 But there you see a piece of God's works. The Jews thought that God alone was with them; but there He shows that He rules and provides for the whole world, as Joseph himself confesses from the Spirit: "God shows Pharaoh what He will do." Therefore, this Pharaoh must not be a bad man in the sight of God, but must have had right understanding and faith from God, because He Himself revealed this to him, and to no one else. For the text clearly says that he knew God, because he honors Him in Joseph and confesses that he has God's spirit, which no unbeliever would have done.
5 So we have also heard above [Cap. 20, § 21] in Abraham's history, from the king Abimelech, that there were many people who had right faith and understanding, even if they were not from the line and line of Abraham, who although it is promised, other people are not excluded, as Paul Rom. 3, 29. says: "Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, indeed, he is also the God of the Gentiles." For if you look at the histories of the Gentiles as well, as of the Romans, you will see clearly how God has acted and ruled, even though they have not understood it.
(6) So Pharaoh honors Joseph, that he may be seen to be a great man; therefore God also gives him such a man. For if God wants to help and advise a country, He must give people to it. So now this whole country must enjoy Joseph, so that it has become a paragon before all countries, which could also feed other countries that were corrupt. So God had a special eye on this land, and greatly favored it above all others, for Joseph's sake and for the sake of his father Jacob, because
He wanted to send them there so that many people would also be helped spiritually to learn God's word. I say this so that one may know how God rules in a whimsical way, assuming the whole world to find those who belong to Him in every corner.
(7) Moses, therefore, as Pharaoh set him over all the land, and commanded that they should bow the knee to him in all the land, calls him in Egyptian XXX XXX, 1) for which in our Latin Bible it is written, Salvatorem mundi, as if it were to say, a Savior of the world. But I think that some Jew, who instructed St. Jerome, joked with him as he pleased. I think he will have called him his chancellor and highest, most secret councilor, so that he gives him the ring from his hand.
For this he gives him a wife, the daughter of the highest priest. But someone might be annoyed that he does not take a wife from his blossom, but frees himself 2) with the pagans. But the priest Potiphera will have been a great, brave man. For the kingdoms that have been so graced by God have been provided with fine people. They have also held priests and teachers in honor; as we shall hear [Cap. 47, 22. 26.] that Joseph, when he burdened the land with interest to give the fifth, let the priests go free. Therefore they must not have been bad people; even though they were pagans, they had some right sense. So the king took the best of the mead, that he might set Joseph in greater honor.
(9) Neither was it forbidden to be free from the Gentiles; for David, Solomon, and others did it also: only that they did it not too much, and were not deceived by them: otherwise Joseph would not have gone in. [He] was acquainted with them, and talked and counseled with them, and corrected the fault, as the 105th Psalm, v. 22, says, "that he might discipline his princes according to his will, and make his elders wise"; that is, that he might make both, worldly and temporal, wise.
1) In the Erlanger: Zaphnat Pacaenea; in the Wittenberger and the Jenaer: Paenea.
2) liberate-marry. - Erlanger: befreidet.
and spiritual regiment, in right pregnancy. Therefore it was by the special order of God that he had the wife, that he instructed her and his children, and the whole royal court. He was appointed as the master, who punished what was wrong and corrected all things, as is necessary when the word is preached.
(10) Further, Moses writes how he begat two sons, 1) of whom the Scriptures speak much. Above he told the twelve patriarchs one after the other, so that Joseph was the eleventh, and Benjamin the twelfth; but now afterwards he takes the two and makes them the chief sons, so that from one father, Joseph, came two tribes.
(11) He calls the first son Manasseh because God had made him forget 2) his father's house and all the misery, for the word Manasseh means forget. How is that Christian, that he boasts that he has forgotten his father?
1) Erlanger: gets.
2) Erlanger: has.
and mother? [He wants to say: I see that God wants to take away the confidence that I have in my Father; for God is a zealot, does not want the heart to have a ground on which it relies and sounds, but on Him alone; therefore I must consider this, even if I never come to the Father, and am always alone; I have a God, if I have Him, I have everything.
(12) He called the other son Ephraim, that is, grown, as if to say, I am cut off from my father's house, I have no inheritance, I am dried up and dried up; but God has made me grow here in misery, more than all my friends.
(13) It is also necessary to know how the two countries, Egypt and Canaan, abut each other and meet at an angle. Canaan lies in the north, Egypt in the evening, so that they border on each other and meet like two corners. Therefore it was not a distant journey when they went in and bought grain, as follows.