Two long years went by. Then, one morning, the King of Egypt said, “I had a dream last night. A strange dream! And I can’t work out what it means.”
“A dream?” said the wine-server. “I know a man who can tell you all about your dreams.”
And straight away Joseph was brought from the prison.
“I was standing on the banks of the river,” the king told Joseph, “When I saw seven fat cows walk up out of the water. They were chewing happily on the grass when seven other cows joined them. These cows were bony and thin, and, instead of eating the grass, they ate the first seven cows. But they stayed as skinny as ever! What can it mean?”
God whispered in Joseph’s ear. Joseph listened. The he bowed and said, “Your majesty, for the next seven years Egypt will grow many good crops and be as fat as those first cows. But after that, for another seven years, hardly any food at all will grow. So unless you want your people to look like those skinny cows, you must store up food in the good years and use it wisely later.”
The king was so impressed with Joseph’s answer that he not only let him stay our of prison, he put him in charge of storing and saving and serving out Egypt’s food.
Seven good years were followed by seven bad. And, after the king, Joseph became like a dream come true
Read more about this story in Genesis 41.
Taken from The Lion’s Storyteller Bible by Bob Hartman.
Copyright © 2008 Bob Hartman and Lion Hudson.