“What crime, Excellency?”
“Why, the crime of being more attractive to your master’s wife than your master is. She would never dream of tearing off my clothes, not in a thousand years. Which, incidentally, is the age you make me feel.”
“I am innocent.”
“You are guilty. You have dared to be more richly endowed than I am in a most vital area. My household is a small but highly placed social structure. You have turned it upside down. In this sphere you are a revolutionary. And you know the punishment for fomenting social disorder.”
“You would impale me?”
“That is the punishment demanded by law.”
“If I have done you any service, O Potiphar, grant me a painless death.”
“I can’t quite bring myself to do that,” said Potiphar. “But, in recognition of your remarkable services, I grant you a painful life. Painful, filthy, confining. The alternative to impalement is imprisonment.”
“Thank you, Master.”
“You may be choosing unwisely. Impalement is uncomfortable but lasts only a few hours. You may rot in prison for forty or fifty years.”
Joseph bowed. Potiphar smiled. And Joseph was cast into prison.
The Reader of Dreams
He was taken to a dungeon made of stone, standing at the desert’s edge under the roasting sun. It was one great room without windows, and its door was a slab of rock. Iron rings were set into the wall, and men were shackled to these rings by their ankles. They lay on dirty straw and waited to be fed. Food was shoved through the door, and it was wormy and foul. But they fell on it like wild animals, devouring it and shrieking for more. And they sank back upon the straw and waited for the next day’s meal.
Joseph called upon his God, who answered, saying, “Joseph … are you brought low?”
“I never rose very high, O Lord. A slave exalted is still a slave. O God of my fathers, help me again. You who brought me up out of the pit, who saved me from the taskmaster’s lash, help me now in this vile place.”
“Do you remember the words I spoke when you wore a copper collar and called to me out of the camel train?”
“I have remembered your words, O Lord, and do not indulge in self-pity.”
“Look about you. Here are others who suffer exceedingly. They need your help. I am the All-Father and my children call unto me, and I shed my mercy upon the merciful.”
Joseph sent a message to the keeper. “I have been sent to change your fortune. Put out your hand, and I will fill it with gold.”
The keeper sent his guards, and Joseph was brought before him. “Impudent slave!” he cried. “How dare you offer me a bribe when you have no money. You were searched when you came here and have nothing.”
Joseph tapped his head and said: “Behold my treasure house, O keeper. In it now is an idea that will fill your coffers many times over. And it will cost you nothing but a little patience, as I explain.”
“Speak.”
“You receive a fixed sum of money for the keep of each prisoner. You pocket most of the money; with the rest you provide starvation rations—until your prisoners die. All wrong, my lord. You should not be feeding the prisoners at all. They should be feeding you.”
“Your words have no meaning for me.”
“They will. They will. You have heard of me. You know that I was Potiphar’s chief man of business and that his affairs prospered under my management. So I am a man of capacity, not a fool or idle chatterer. Hear, O keeper. Treat your prisoners like men, not like beasts. Unshackle them. Feed them decent food. Allow them exercise in the open air. And—put them to work. Many of them are able men. Farmers, fishermen, makers of tools and weapons, artificers of all kinds. You will sell what they make, and your return will be many times what you can keep out of their food allowance.”
“I propose a bargain,” said the keeper. “I will put you in charge of the prisoners. If you can make a skilled work force out of these stinking skeletons, then I will permit you to oversee their labors and market their wares. But if at the end of three months’ time you do not show a handsome profit, then you shall suffer most painfully. Do you agree?”
“You will never regret this bargain.”
“If I do, you will regret it even more.”
The keeper put Joseph over the prisoners and allowed him to order things as he wished. And it all happened just as Joseph had promised. The prisoners became healthy men, working in the open air and confined only to the prison grounds. They worked hard at their different trades under Joseph’s eye, and he sold what they made and gave the money to the keeper, who was very content.
It came to pass that the butler and baker who served Pharaoh fell into disfavor and were cast into prison. Joseph saw that they were able men and put the butler in charge of wine making and the baker in charge of cooking and baking. And it happened that they both dreamed a dream on the same night. When Joseph saw them the next morning, he said: “Why do you look so sad?”
“I have dreamed a dream,” said the baker. “And he has, also. We do not know what our dreams mean—but they are full of foreboding.”
“God sends dreams,” said Joseph. “He sometimes allows their meaning to be revealed and sometimes does not. Tell me your dreams.”
The chief butler said: “I saw a vine with three branches. The vine was budding, and blossoms shot forth and became clusters of grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into his cup, and gave the cup into his hand.”
“This is the interpretation,” said Joseph. “The three branches are three days. In three days Pharaoh shall lift you up again and restore you to your place. And you shall give the royal cup into his hand as you did before.… I pray you think of me when you are restored to your place. And do me this kindness. Mention me to Pharaoh so that he may deliver me from prison. For, believe me, I have done nothing to deserve imprisonment.”
“Tell me what my dream means,” cried the baker. “Lo, I stood with three white baskets on my head. In the top basket were all manner of cakes and loaves that I had baked for Pharaoh. Then birds swooped down and ate the cakes and loaves right out of the basket. What does it mean? Shall I be restored to my place, also?”
“The three baskets are three days,” said Joseph. “In three days Pharaoh shall cut your head off and hang you on a tree, and the birds shall eat the flesh from your bones.”
The baker fell to his knees, gibbering with fear. “How do you know you’re right?” he cried.
“Let us hope I am wrong,” said Joseph. And he went to select another man to do the baking.
Three days passed, and it was Pharaoh’s birthday. A great feast was held. To mark his birthday, he pardoned his chief butler and ordered him released from prison and restored to his place. The man was Pharaoh’s cupbearer again and poured wine into the royal cup. And Pharaoh ordered his baker to be hanged, as Joseph had foretold. But the butler did not remember Joseph and did not speak his name to Pharaoh.
One night Pharaoh dreamed a dream. He was standing at the river’s edge; out of the river came seven fat cows and grazed on the meadow.
Then he saw seven other cows in the reeds, but these were ugly and bony. They leaped out of the reeds like wolves and attacked the fat cows and ate them up. Pharaoh awoke and tried to fathom the dream but could not, and slept again. He dreamed again. He was in a field. Before his eyes seven ears of corn sprouted out on one stalk; they were ripe and full of kernels. Then, as he watched, seven thin ears of corn sprouted, and they were mean and dry, blasted by the east wind. They crawled off their stalks like great green insects and seized the seven fat ears of corn and devoured them.
Pharaoh awoke and could not sleep again. In the morning he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt, for he could not forget the two dreams and was troubled in spirit. He told his dreams. The magicians listened, and the wise men. They listened and pondered, but no one could tell him what the dreams meant. And Pharaoh was angry, and all men trembled.
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sp; Then the chief butler spoke: “O King, forgive me for speaking. But when I was in prison with the baker, we each dreamed a dream on the same night and we did not know what our dreams meant. But in that prison was a young man, a Hebrew, who was the keeper’s chief man and did all the business of the place. We told him our dreams and he interpreted them, reading the events according to his wisdom. He told me that I would be restored to my place in three days, and he told the baker that in three days he would lose his head. And it all came to pass.”
Pharaoh heard the words of the butler and ordered Joseph to be taken from prison and brought to the court. When the keeper heard the news, he shot orders in all directions and told Joseph to shave himself and bathe himself, and gave Joseph fresh garments to wear out of his own wardrobe. And Joseph went to court.
Pharaoh received him in private and said: “I dreamed twice last night, and the dreams trouble me. I do not know what they mean, but they vex my spirit. I have told them to all the magicians and all the wise men of my court, and no one can interpret them. But I hear that you have a special understanding of those sleep visions that men call dreams.”
“O great Pharaoh,” said Joseph, “I am honored to serve you. But it is God who sends us dreams. Sometimes He allows their meaning to be revealed, other times He does not. Be gracious enough to relate to me what you beheld in your sleep, and I shall attempt to read it.”
Pharaoh told Joseph what he had dreamed—how the seven lean cows had devoured the seven fat cows, and how the seven blasted ears of corn had eaten the seven fat ears. Joseph said: “Pharaoh, your two dreams are one. God has spoken twice in a single night to warn you of His intention. I can read that intention, if you wish.”
“Speak,” said Pharaoh.
“The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven fat stalks of corn are seven years. The dreams are one. The seven thin and wolfish cows are seven years, and the seven wind-blasted stalks are seven years, and these are years of famine. And this is God’s intention, which He has announced to you in the watches of the night. The next seven years shall be years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. Good crops you shall have; your cattle shall graze and grow fat. And the land shall prosper. But after that seven years of plenty shall come seven years of famine. No rain shall fall. The east wind shall blow, withering the corn in the ear. The grass shall fail and cattle die. There shall be hunger in the land. The famine shall be so terrible that the years of plenty shall be forgotten.”
“You speak dire things, Hebrew. Are you certain of what you say?”
“Very certain. God doubled the dream for you to show you that He meant all this to begin at once. This year shall be the first year of plenty. You have seven years of plenty in which to prepare for the famine that will follow.”
“But can I believe you? Or are these vain words and empty boasting?”
“Consult yourself, O Pharaoh,” said Joseph. “It was in your own slumbering imagination that God planted the seeds of these: prophetic visions. Out of your own head came these night pictures. Ask yourself if the meaning I have given your dreams does not echo your inward feelings.”
“Does your god have anything else to tell me?”
“These dreams are warnings. He warns you to guard your people against the great famine. This is what I advise: Select a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt to speak for you and act for you in the matter of provisioning. Let this man of yours appoint officers for different districts to do his bidding. And this is what he must do in your name. He must send men to each farm and take one fifth of each food crop; this food must be put into separate granaries and stored there and not eaten. Thus for the grain. Also a fifth part of every herd and flock of kine and goats and sheep must be separated out and kept in special places and not slaughtered until the years of famine come. Thus, with God’s help, you will be able to put aside enough food during these years of plenty to feed your people during the time of famine, and they will not perish. It is God’s wish that you do this. That is why he sent you the double dream.”
Pharaoh called his wise men and magicians to him and told them how Joseph had interpreted his dreams. And Pharaoh cried: “I will do as he says. I will appoint a chief officer. But where will I find a man discreet and wise to do this great work? A man through whom the spirit of god speaks, uttering words of wisdom.”
There was silence. No one answered. And Pharaoh said: “Behold the man! It is he himself, the man who has spoken the meaning of my dreams after my wise men and magicians failed. He has been sent to do this work himself, and it is him I choose.”
Then he said to Joseph: “Since your god has shown you his intention, I believe he has selected you for me. So I will put you over my house, and my people shall be ruled according to your word. And only I on my throne shall be greater than you are. Joseph, Hebrew, reader of dreams, I put you over all the land of Egypt. Here is my ring. Wear it, and rule.”
Pharaoh took a ring off his finger and put it on Joseph, and put a gold chain about his neck, and ordered the royal tailor to make him garments of fine linen. He gave him a golden chariot, and gave him men to run before him, crying, “Bend the knee!” And Joseph was second only to Pharaoh in Egypt and ruled the land.
Pharaoh esteemed Joseph beyond all men and gave him an Egyptian name, Zaphenathpaneah, meaning “revealer of secret things.” And Joseph took to wife the daughter of the head priest. Her name was Asenath and she was beautiful. He was thirty years old when he began to govern. He went to every corner of the land, instructing the people how to put aside a part of their harvest in the years of plenty and save it against the years of famine. He gathered up all the food that was saved during these seven years and laid it up in granaries near the cities. And he built great storehouses for the enormous quantity of wheat and barley.
During these years, Asenath bore Joseph two sons. He named the firstborn Manasseh, which means “forgetting,” because the Lord’s bounty had made him forget his past suffering. His second son he named Ephraim, meaning “fruitful.” “Because,” said Joseph, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
The seven years ended, the years of plenty, in which Joseph had taken of this plenty and saved grain against the years of famine. Now the time of want began. No rain fell; crops withered in the field. No grass grew, and the cattle starved. But Joseph had laid up grain in the storehouses and food for the cattle, as well. And when famine lay on the land and the people cried out unto Pharaoh for bread, he said: “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.” The people went to Joseph, who opened the storehouses and sold them enough grain to keep off hunger.
The Brothers
Famine lay on all the lands in that part of the world, on the lands bordering the Inner Sea and as far inland as the Chaldees. But there had been no food saved in those lands, and the people were starving. They came to Egypt to buy corn.
There was famine in Canaan, also. People died in the cities and dropped in the fields. Jacob and his sons had great flocks and herds, but the grass had withered on the meadows and there was nothing to feed them. The sheep were dying, and the goats and the cattle. Jacob and his sons killed the beasts for food, but they needed grain for themselves and for the stock. And Jacob said to his sons: “We are in want, but you do nothing. You stand here staring. What do you expect to read in one another’s foolish faces?”
“What would you have us do?” said Judah.
“Get you down to Egypt. Their granaries are full of corn, and they are selling it. I have heard this. Take money and go, all ten of you. I shall keep Benjamin here with me.”
Benjamin was the youngest, the last son of Rachel. And Jacob feared that some terrible thing might happen to this lad, also, if he went down into Egypt.
The sons of Jacob, the ten brothers of Joseph, journeyed southward from Canaan and crossed into Egypt. They came to buy food and they brought gold with them. But when they sought to buy, they were told they would have to see one called Zaph
enathpaneah, who was Pharaoh’s governor, and who kept all business in his hands. “Go to see him,” they were told. “He alone can sell you corn.”
Now, Joseph was master of all Egypt and had ruled in Pharaoh’s name for many years. He was looked upon as a savior, for the people knew that it was he who had taught them to put aside grain against the famine. He lived in a great palace, second only to Pharaoh’s, and was attended by servants. Fountains played in the courtyard. The air was cool and scented by flowers.
The weary, travel-worn brothers were awed by such pomp, and were uneasy as they waited for the great man to appear. His word was life or death to them. If he refused to sell to them and they had to return to Canaan without corn, then, they knew, it was only a matter of time before they must starve, they and their families. Trumpets blared. Armed men marched into the courtyard, clanking their weapons, and formed a double row of spears. Through the aisle of spears came a man. He was clad in gorgeous robes. His face was shaved. A ring shaped like a great golden beetle glittered on his finger. On his arms were bands of beaten gold. He walked toward the brothers. And they knew that they were in the presence of the mighty one, the governor of the land of Egypt. They bowed very low before him.
Joseph, walking into the courtyard, saw the ten men bowing before him. Time turned inside out. He was back in his youth, back in that first dream that had offended his brothers. And, lo, the dream had engulfed them. Here they were in Egypt, bowing before him even as their sheaves of wheat had bowed to his. He knew them immediately. But they did not know him. They had last seen him as a boy, and now he was a man, in the flower of his years, clad in power. He wished to hide his knowledge of Hebrew, and spoke through an interpreter. “Where do you come from?”
“From the land of Canaan,” said Reuben. “To buy food.”
Joseph looked at them closely to see if he could name each one. Twenty years had passed, but he knew them as surely as when they had bound him and flung him into the pit. He looked at Simeon and his voice grew very stern. “You are spies,” he said. “You have come into Egypt to spy out the nakedness of the land. And you will return to Canaan and gather men, perchance, and seek to attack us.”
Signs and Wonders Page 13