The One Year Bible TLB (17 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
The curse of God is on the wicked, but his blessing is on the upright.
34
The Lord mocks at mockers, but helps the humble.
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The wise are promoted to honor, but fools are promoted to shame!
January 20So Pharaoh told him the dream. “I was standing upon the bank of the Nile River,” he said,
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“when suddenly, seven fat, healthy-looking cows came up out of the river and began grazing along the riverbank.
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But then seven other cows came up from the river, very skinny and bony—in fact, I’ve never seen such poor-looking specimens in all the land of Egypt.
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And these skinny cattle ate up the seven fat ones that had come out first,
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and afterwards they were still as skinny as before! Then I woke up.
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“A little later I had another dream. This time there were seven heads of grain on one stalk, and all seven heads were plump and full.
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Then, out of the same stalk, came seven withered, thin heads.
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And the thin heads swallowed up the fat ones! I told all this to my magicians, but not one of them could tell me the meaning.”
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“Both dreams mean the same thing,” Joseph told Pharaoh. “God was telling you what he is going to do here in the land of Egypt.
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The seven fat cows (and also the seven fat, well-formed heads of grain) mean that there are seven years of prosperity ahead.
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The seven skinny cows (and also the seven thin and withered heads of grain) indicate that there will be seven years of famine following the seven years of prosperity.
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“So God has showed you what he is about to do:
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The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout all the land of Egypt;
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but afterwards there will be seven years of famine so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten and wiped out; famine will consume the land.
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The famine will be so terrible that even the memory of the good years will be erased.
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The double dream gives double impact, showing that what I have told you is certainly going to happen, for God has decreed it, and it is going to happen soon.
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My suggestion is that you find the wisest man in Egypt and put him in charge of administering a nationwide farm program.
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Let Pharaoh divide Egypt into five administrative districts,
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and let the officials of these districts gather into the royal storehouses all the excess crops of the next seven years,
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so that there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come. Otherwise, disaster will surely strike.”
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Joseph’s suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his assistants.
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As they discussed who should be appointed for the job, Pharaoh said, “Who could do it better than Joseph? For he is a man who is obviously filled with the Spirit of God.”
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Turning to Joseph, Pharaoh said to him, “Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, you are the wisest man in the country!
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I am hereby appointing you to be in charge of this entire project. What you say goes, throughout all the land of Egypt. I alone will outrank you.”
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Then Pharaoh placed his own signet ring on Joseph’s finger as a token of his authority, and dressed him in beautiful clothing and placed the royal gold chain about his neck and declared, “See, I have placed you in charge of all the land of Egypt.”
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Pharaoh also gave Joseph the chariot of his second-in-command, and wherever he went the shout arose, “Kneel down!”
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And Pharaoh declared to Joseph, “I, the king of Egypt, swear that you shall have complete charge over all the land of Egypt.”
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Pharaoh gave him a name meaning “He has the godlike power of life and death!”
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And he gave him a wife, a girl named Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis. So Joseph became famous throughout the land of Egypt.
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He was thirty years old as he entered the service of the king. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and began traveling all across the land.
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And sure enough, for the next seven years there were bumper crops everywhere.
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During those years, Joseph requisitioned for the government a portion of all the crops grown throughout Egypt, storing them in nearby cities.
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After seven years of this, the granaries were full to overflowing, and there was so much that no one kept track of the amount.
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During this time before the arrival of the first of the famine years, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of the sun god Re of Heliopolis.
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Joseph named his oldest son Manasseh (meaning “Made to Forget”—what he meant was that God had made up to him for all the anguish of his youth, and for the loss of his father’s home).
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The second boy was named Ephraim (meaning “Fruitful”—“For God has made me fruitful in this land of my slavery,” he said).
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So at last the seven years of plenty came to an end.
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Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted. There were crop failures in all the surrounding countries, too, but in Egypt there was plenty of grain in the storehouses.
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The people began to starve. They pleaded with Pharaoh for food, and he sent them to Joseph. “Do whatever he tells you to,” he instructed them.
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So now, with severe famine all over the world, Joseph opened up the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians and to those from other lands who came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph.
42:
1
When Jacob heard that there was grain available in Egypt he said to his sons, “Why are you standing around looking at one another?
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I have heard that there is grain available in Egypt. Go down and buy some for us before we all starve to death.”
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So Joseph’s ten older
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brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain.
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However, Jacob wouldn’t let Joseph’s younger brother Benjamin go with them, for fear some harm might happen to him as it had to his brother Joseph.
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So it was that Israel’s sons arrived in Egypt along with many others from many lands to buy food, for the famine was as severe in Canaan as it was everywhere else.
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Since Joseph was governor of all Egypt, and in charge of the sale of the grain, it was to him that his brothers came, and bowed low before him, with their faces to the earth.
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Joseph recognized them instantly, but pretended he didn’t.
“Where are you from?” he demanded roughly.
“From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We have come to buy grain.”
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Then Joseph remembered the dreams of long ago! But he said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see how destitute the famine has made our land.”
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“No, no,” they exclaimed. “We have come to buy food.
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We are all brothers and honest men, sir! We are not spies!”
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“Yes, you are,” he insisted. “You have come to see how weak we are.”
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“Sir,” they said, “there are twelve of us brothers, and our father is in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother is there with our father, and one of our brothers is dead.”
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“So?” Joseph asked. “What does that prove?
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You are spies.
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This is the way I will test your story: I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you are not going to leave Egypt until this youngest brother comes here.
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One of you go and get your brother! I’ll keep the rest of you here, bound in prison. Then we’ll find out whether your story is true or not. If it turns out that you don’t have a younger brother, then I’ll know you are spies.”
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So he threw them all into jail for three days.
Here is another illustration Jesus used:
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer sowing good seed in his field;
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but one night as he slept, his enemy came and sowed thistles among the wheat.
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When the crop began to grow, the thistles grew too.
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“The farmer’s men came and told him, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that choice seed is full of thistles!’
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“‘An enemy has done it,’ he exclaimed.
“‘Shall we pull out the thistles?’ they asked.
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“‘No,’ he replied. ‘You’ll hurt the wheat if you do.
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Let both grow together until the harvest, and I will tell the reapers to sort out the thistles and burn them, and put the wheat in the barn.’”
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Here is another of his illustrations:
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a tiny mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds but becomes the largest of plants, and grows into a tree where birds can come and find shelter.”
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He also used this example:
“The Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a woman making bread. She takes a measure of flour and mixes in the yeast until it permeates every part of the dough.”
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Jesus constantly used these illustrations when speaking to the crowds. In fact, because the prophets said that he would use so many, he never spoke to them without at least one illustration. For it had been prophesied, “I will talk in parables; I will explain mysteries hidden since the beginning of time.”
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Then, leaving the crowds outside, he went into the house. His disciples asked him to explain to them the illustration of the thistles and the wheat.
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“All right,”
he said,
“I am
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the farmer who sows the choice seed.
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The field is the world, and the seed represents the people of the Kingdom; the thistles are the people belonging to Satan.
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The enemy who sowed the thistles among the wheat is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels.
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“Just as in this story the thistles are separated and burned, so shall it be at the end of the world:
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I
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will send my angels, and they will separate out of the Kingdom every temptation and all who are evil,
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and throw them into the furnace and burn them. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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Then the godly shall shine as the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Let those with ears, listen!
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“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure a man discovered in a field. In his excitement, he sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field—and get the treasure, too!
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“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl merchant on the lookout for choice pearls.
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He discovered a real bargain—a pearl of great value—and sold everything he owned to purchase it!”
This song of David was written at a time when the Lord had delivered him from his many enemies, including Saul.
Lord, how I love you! For you have done such tremendous things for me.
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The Lord is my fort where I can enter and be safe; no one can follow me in and slay me. He is a rugged mountain where I hide; he is my Savior, a rock where none can reach me, and a tower of safety. He is my shield. He is like the strong horn of a mighty fighting bull.
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All I need to do is cry to him—oh, praise the Lord—and I am saved from all my enemies!
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Death bound me with chains, and the floods of ungodliness mounted a massive attack against me.
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Trapped and helpless, I struggled against the ropes that drew me on to death.
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In my distress I screamed to the Lord for his help. And he heard me from heaven;
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my cry reached his ears.
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Then the earth rocked and reeled, and mountains shook and trembled. How they quaked! For he was angry.
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Fierce flames leaped from his mouth, setting fire to the earth;
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smoke blew from his nostrils.
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He bent the heavens down and came to my defense;
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thick darkness was beneath his feet.
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Mounted on a mighty angel,
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he sped swiftly to my aid with wings of wind.
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He enshrouded himself with darkness, veiling his approach with dense clouds dark as murky waters.
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Suddenly the brilliance of his presence broke through the clouds with lightning
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and a mighty storm of hail.
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The Lord thundered in the heavens; the God above all gods has spoken—oh, the hailstones; oh, the fire!
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He flashed his fearful arrows of lightning and routed all my enemies. See how they run!
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Then at your command, O Lord, the sea receded from the shore. At the blast of your breath the depths were laid bare.