Joseph Becomes Ruler of Egypt
Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dreams of seven cows and seven ears of grain and at thirty becomes the second man in Egypt.
Pharaoh dreams twice: seven fat cows devoured by seven lean ones, and seven full ears swallowed by seven withered ones. None of Egypt's wise men can give an interpretation that satisfies him, until the butler remembers the Hebrew youth in the dungeon. Joseph is rushed out, shaved and reclothed after twelve years in prison, and speaks without flattery: "It is not me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace." The reading is simple and terrible—seven years of great plenty, then seven years of famine that will consume the land. Unasked, he adds a plan: let Pharaoh appoint a discerning man to gather a fifth of the harvest during the years of plenty. Pharaoh answers, "Can we find such a one, in whom is the spirit of God?"—takes the ring from his own hand, dresses Joseph in fine linen, sets him in the second chariot and names him Zaphenath-Paneah. Joseph is thirty. Through seven years of abundance he stores grain "as the sand of the sea, without number."
How we know
Sources
Tanakh
- Bereishit 41 — Pharaoh’s dreams, their interpretation, the rise to power and the years of plenty
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Bereishit Rabbah 89 — two extra years in prison for saying “remember me” twice
- Sotah 36b — the night on which Yosef learned seventy languages
Rishonim
- Rashi on Bereishit 41:45 — the name Tzafnat Paneach — “revealer of what is hidden”
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.
People and places
Joseph · Judah · Benjamin · Egypt (Goshen)