Joseph remains in prison and time passes by. Eventually, Pharaoh's butler and baker anger Pharaoh and join Joseph in prison. They have dreams that spook them out and look for an interpreter. They find Joseph who interprets the dreams. He first does the butler, who is promised to be restored to his job in three days. The baker hears this, perks up and wants his dream interpreted. Surely it is a favorable interpretation, right? No. He will be executed in three days.
This all happens at Pharaoh's birthday, which was in three days. If you're Pharaoh or king, executing people on your birthday sounds kind of creepy, unless that person really made you mad. Then I would probably do that as well.
Two years go by and the Pharaoh gets spooked by a series of dreams. He can't find any interpreters, but the butler remembers Joseph had this ability, although he credits it to God. The Pharaoh summons Joseph, who gets clean clothes and nice clean shave before appearing before Pharaoh. I love details like those, it makes it seem real.
He interprets the dreams. As it turns out, both dreams have the same meaning - a famine is coming to Egypt after several years of plenty. Because they were two dreams with the same meaning, this means that God has definitively made up his mind.
Two dreams mean that God has made up his mind? This is an interesting thing for Joseph, dream boy, to say. He had two dreams where his family bowed to him. Since those dreams, he was sold into slavery, accused of attempted rape, and then thrown in jail. I imagine he had a long time to think about what was up with those dreams. Why would anyone bow to him when he's a slave or worse, an imprisoned slave? How can he see his family when he's locked in a prison cell 100s of miles away from them?
The Pharaoh is highly impressed with the interpretation and Joseph's advice on what to do to prepare. So, he makes Joseph second-in-command of all Egypt to get ready for this famine.
Joseph, a former slave of a government official, was in jail for attempted rape of the same official's wife, is now second-in-command of the entire country. We in America are hesitant to hire people with criminal records, let alone violent felonies. He's not being let out to clean streets or some other manual labor (like build pyramids), but given a significant amount of power.
I suppose that turns on several things. Ultimately, it was God's plan for Joseph to be elevated, but also 1. Pharaoh must have been really spooked by the dream, and 2. Joseph not only interprets the dream but provides wise and practical advice on what to do next.
As second-in-command, he now outranks Potifar and probably could have killed him. It's not recorded, but his first conversation with Potifar would have been interesting. "Hey dude, you know your wife set me up and that's why I went to prison, right?". "Yeah, I sort of figured that out. Sorry, please don't kill me."
Speaking of which, it is also interesting why he was not put to death during his 2+ years in prison. By contrast, the baker did not last nearly as long. Obviously, God protected Joseph, but I wonder if Potifar had doubts about the rape accusations and did not insist on Joseph's execution.
As second-in-command, he now outranks Potifar and probably could have killed him. It's not recorded, but his first conversation with Potifar would have been interesting. "Hey dude, you know your wife set me up and that's why I went to prison, right?". "Yeah, I sort of figured that out. Sorry, please don't kill me."
Speaking of which, it is also interesting why he was not put to death during his 2+ years in prison. By contrast, the baker did not last nearly as long. Obviously, God protected Joseph, but I wonder if Potifar had doubts about the rape accusations and did not insist on Joseph's execution.
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