The Bible Story Part 134

And Joseph answered and said, "This is the interpretation thereof: the three baskets are three days; within yet three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee."

And it came to pa.s.s the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and the head of the chief baker among his servants.

And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand: but he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him.

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THE SEVEN FAT KINE AND THE SEVEN LEAN KINE

_Which Joseph Told the King Meant Seven Fat Years of Plenty and Seven Lean Years of Want. The Hebrew Boy is Made Chief Ruler of Egypt. The Famine Comes_.

And it came to pa.s.s at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, well favored and fatfleshed; and they fed in the reed-gra.s.s. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favored and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. And the ill favored and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favored and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.

And he slept and dreamed a second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, full and good. And, behold, seven ears, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. And the thin ears swallowed up the seven full and good ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. And it came to pa.s.s in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

Then spoke the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, "I do remember my faults this day: Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in prison in the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker: and we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. And {105} there was with us there a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret. And it came to pa.s.s as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged."

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in to Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that when thou hearest a dream thou canst interpret it."

And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, "It is not in me: G.o.d shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace."

And Pharaoh spoke unto Joseph, "In my dream, behold, I stood upon the brink of the river: and, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favored; and they fed in the reed-gra.s.s: and, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favored and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness: and the lean and ill favored kine ate up the first seven fat kine: and when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favored as at the beginning. So I awoke.

"And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up upon one stalk, full and good: and, behold, seven ears, {106} withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them: and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears: and I told it unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me."

And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, "The dream of Pharaoh is one: what G.o.d is about to do he hath declared unto Pharaoh. The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. And the seven lean and ill favored kine that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind; they shall be seven years of famine. That is the thing which I spoke unto Pharaoh: what G.o.d is about to do he hath showed unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: and there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; and the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine which followeth; for it shall be very grievous. And the reason that the dream was doubled to Pharaoh is because the thing is established by G.o.d, and G.o.d will shortly bring it to pa.s.s. Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. And let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. And the food shall be for {107} a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine."

And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom the spirit of G.o.d is?"

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, "Forasmuch as G.o.d hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou: thou shalt be over my house, and according to thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou." And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, "See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt."

And Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, "Bow the knee": and he set him over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt."

And Pharaoh gave Joseph Asenath the daughter of Poti-phera the priest of On to be his wife. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of {108} Egypt. And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. And Joseph laid up corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left measuring; for it was without measure. And to Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, which his wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On bore to him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Mana.s.seh: "For," said he, "G.o.d hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house." And the name of the second called he Ephraim: "For G.o.d hath made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, came to an end. And the seven years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said: and there was famine in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph; what he saith to you, do."

And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine was sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn; because the famine was sore in all the earth.

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

A VIEW OF THE PYRAMIDS, WITH A VILLAGE IN THE FOREGROUND

From a photograph belonging to Miss Clara L. Bodman and used by her kind permission.

The pyramids, which are seen in the distance in this picture, were considered one of the "Seven Wonders of the World." There are seventy of them in Egypt and they were built as tombs of the Pharaohs. The "Great Pyramid" is four hundred and eighty feet and nine inches high; it is supposed to have taken one hundred thousand men fifty years to build it, and the date is given as from 3229 to 2123 B.C.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

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THE SONS OF JACOB COME TO EGYPT TO BUY CORN.

_They Do Not Recognize, in the Ruler of the Land, the Brother Whom They Sold. He Commands Them to Bring Their Youngest Brother to Egypt_.

Now Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, "Why do ye look one upon another?"

And he said, "Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die."

And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn from Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, "Lest peradventure mischief befall him."

And the sons of Israel came to buy among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was the governor over the land; he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves to him with their faces to the earth. And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange to them, and spoke roughly with them; and he said unto them, "Whence come ye?"

And they said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food." And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.

And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, "Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come."

And they said unto him, "Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies."

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And he said to them, "Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come."

And they said, "We thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not."

And Joseph said unto them, "That is it that I spoke unto you, saying, 'Ye are spies': hereby ye shall be proved: 'by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.

Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be bound, that your words may be proved, whether there be truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies." And he put them all together into prison three days.

And Joseph said unto them the third day, "This do, and live; for I fear G.o.d: if ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in your prison house; but go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses: and bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die."

And they did so. And they said one to another, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us."

And Reuben answered them, saying, "Spoke I not unto you, saying, 'Do not sin against the child'; and ye would not hear? therefore also, behold, his blood is required."

And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them.

And he turned himself about from them, and wept; {113} and he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph commanded to fill their vessels with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provisions for the way: and thus was it done unto them. And they loaded their a.s.ses with their corn, and departed thence. And as one of them opened his sack to feed his a.s.s in the lodging place, he espied his money; and, behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. And he said unto his brethren, "My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack": and their heart failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, "What is this that G.o.d hath done unto us?"

And they came to Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them; saying, "The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country. And we said to him, 'We are true men; we are no spies: we are twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.'

"And the man, the lord of the land, said unto us, 'Hereby shall I know that ye are true men; leave one of your brethren with me, and take corn for the famine of your houses, and go your way: and bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land.'"