Wisdom Truck 3

 

Same story, different verse(s):

Gen 41:33  Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt... 

Gen 41:38  And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” 

Gen 41:39  Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. 

Here we are at the other end of the "Pharaoh's dream" story.  V 33 is Joseph's suggestion about what to do about the upcoming disaster Joseph had foretold; the next two were Pharaoh's reaction.  Joseph said, "Seek a wise man;" Pharaoh said, "I found one."

So how did Joseph become "the wise man"?

He certainly didn't start out that way.  God's hand was with Joseph from his youth- but Joseph had to learn a few key things.  If you remember the story, Joseph had told his kinfolk of two prophetic dreams he had.  All of them put him in a great light; his family, not so much.  Thus the first thing he had to learn was: know what to share when God tells you something, and when to keep it to yourself.  If God tells me something; I try to share it with you- BUT I say it, you judge it, and then I give the glory to Him.

Second, he had to learn to read the room.  He hadn't learned this when telling the dreams to a set of brothers already jealous of himself; He hadn't learned it when getting caught alone with Potipher's wife- a woman he knew was adept at betrayal.  However, he HAD learned it by the time he got the audience with Pharaoh:

Gen 41:14  Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. 

He didn't come blinking and staggering out of prison; and shaving was a BIG thing here.  He set himself to look like a respectable Egyptian before Pharaoh.  Something indeed had changed since he wore his many-colored cloak to visit his jealous brothers.  Somewhere in the month to month and a half it took to go the 4 to 5 hundred miles from the pit in Dothan to the dealer in Thebes, Joseph might have been acquired- but he also acquired something.

He knew how to present himself to his social superiors;  he knew how to read his audience and speak in a way to show respect; and despite the fact he had to have some notion that God was about to move for him, he didn't self-promote.  In our witness to others, we would do well to learn this.

Beyond a doubt, he wouldn't be in Egypt except for the fact he knew NONE of these things prior to the trip.  But that trip, which very much simulated a 40-day fast, did for him what it would do for Jesus millenia later; it taught him prayer, it taught him humility, and it taught him how to rely on God.  Even then, though, he had a further excursion into the dungeon, because he had more to learn.

He had to learn to set barriers between himself and the occasion of sin, for one.  As important as he was in Potipher's household, and the manner of Potipher's wife being known to him, he would have been- dare I say it?- wise to keep a lad with him at all times in his master's house.  And the cupbearer forgetting him for 2 years taught him to rely on God alone, not man.

So Pharaoh deemed Joseph wise, and gave three reasons.  First, he recognized God in Joseph.  Remember that, when asked to interpret the dreams, Joseph had said:

Gen 41:16  Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” 

Second, he noted Joseph's discernment.  Joseph had come to him as a proper Egyptian; I imagine that a bearded Joseph, which would have been fine in Canaan, would have gotten no more than, "Why do you bring me this bearded savage?" from him.

Finally, he saw the wisdom in Joseph's words; it was a good plan, one he wouldn't have thought of, and probably knowing Joseph's organizational skills from Potipher (a man who wisely tried his cupbearer and baker surely would have done research on Joseph before allowing him into the presence!), knew he was the man for the job.

That it was a wise choice was borne out:  Joseph prospered as the second in Egypt; his family prospered in coming to Egypt, not only in food but in reunification; the People of Egypt, and surrounding areas, prospered in surviving the famine because of Joseph's plan; and the government of Egypt prospered, because:

Gen 47:20  So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh's. 

Gen 47:21  As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other. 

The lessons that Joseph learned became the reasons Pharaoh saw the wisdom in him; and that recognition "saved many people alive".