Genesis 41:8: “In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.’”
Desert sunsets in Egypt are spectacular. The golden fireball sinks below the horizon, paving the way for the moon and stars to appear. According to Egyptian mythology, Ra was believed to take a trip through the heavens by day and cross the underworld by night.
Potiphera had been meditating on the porch during sunset hour when his wife Nubia joined him. Unable to conceive children of their own, they had decided to adopt a little baby girl, about two decades ago. Back then, a young maiden with her escort had brought the infant to the temple of Ra. They spoke Hebrew from what Potiphera could tell. Looking at the baby in the girl’s arms he immediately fell in love with this little bundle of joy. Very appropriately, his wife had named her Asenath – Gift of Ra.
Potiphera seemed lost in thought. “What is the matter?” Nubia asked her husband. Looking at her thoughtfully he replied, “The past few nights our daughter had some very striking dreams. She described them to me just this morning.”– “Oh”, Nubia exclaimed, “the gods must have spoken to her – how exciting!” Potiphera nodded. “Yes, I believe Asenath had a prophetic dream, but without a good interpretation we won’t know its meaning.” He sighed. “Today I went to Ra’s temple to consult with the Masters of the Secret Things and even they could not explain it.”
Now Nubia’s curiosity was piqued: “Should we let Pharaoh know? After all, you are his head priest. I think he’d be interested.” Her husband agreed. “Next time I see him I will mention this dream to him.”
Playfully, Nubia nudged her husband. “Shouldn’t you inform your wife also?” she asked, “Please tell me – what did she dream about?” Potiphera smiled at his wife. He loved her dearly. The name “Nubia” – meaning “Gold” – did her justice. He believed his wife had a heart of gold. “Well”, he replied, “She had two distinct dreams.” And under the starry skies of Egypt they discussed at length the sacred secrets yet to be disclosed.
The following day, Potiphera asked for an audience with the Pharaoh. Eventually, he was ushered into his throne room where Pharaoh had a staff meeting. In Egyptian fashion he wore a white, gold-rimmed kilt while his shoulders were draped with a cloak made of leopard skin. Respectfully Potiphera bowed before him. “Your Majesty,” he said, “I did not mean to interrupt your important meeting.” The Pharaoh shook his head. “Nothing important to interrupt,” he said, “I’m just curious. What brought you here at this early hour?” And Potiphera replied: “Apparently, the gods decided to reveal themselves to my daughter Asenath. They spoke to her the night before in two distinct dreams. Unfortunately, her dreams are shrouded in mystery and very hard to understand.”
Interpreting dreams was big in Ancient Egypt. It was believed that nightly visions were one of the channels the gods used to speak to mortals.
Now the Pharaoh was clearly intrigued. “Go ahead,” he said to his head priest, “tell us about those dreams your daughter had.” And so Potiphera related his daughter’s visions in the presence of Pharaoh’s court magicians and priests. Everybody was stumped after he had finished his report. And they all agreed that these dreams were indeed a very special message from heaven. But none of the priests, magicians or dream tellers was able to unravel its meaning.
A year went by. Then one night the Pharaoh woke up from an intense dream. In his vision he saw seven well-fed cows coming up from the Nile. But right behind them emerged seven underfed cows swallowing the fat ones, at which point the Pharaoh woke up, deeply disturbed. He could not make heads or tails of his night vision and lay brooding for a while until he fell asleep again. In his second dream seven heads of grain were growing on a single stalk. It was a healthy specimen with well-rounded kernels. But then other heads of grain sprouted, which were scorched by the east wind. This poor specimen ended up swallowing up all the good-looking heads of grain. Again Pharaoh woke up. The rest of the night he slept in fits and rose at the crack of dawn to ask his magicians and priests for help. He also called his head priest Potiphera to the palace.
Potiphera reached Memphis in the late afternoon. He passed palace security and immediately headed to the meeting. The awe-inspiring throne room was lined with hand-painted columns that stretched 50 feet to the ceiling. In the back of the hall Pharaoh sat on his throne surrounded by his staff. He looked up, recognized his head priest and waved him to come closer. Turning to one of his servants he ordered: “Please ask the cupbearer to bring me a cup of wine.” Then he addressed Potiphera: “I am glad you are here. Last night I had a dream, and none of the people present here can figure out what it means.” Then he began to describe to Potiphera all the details of his nightly visions.
Meanwhile the cupbearer came in with his utensils. From a carafe he filled Pharaoh’s goblet with wine, taste-tested it and when nothing indicated that the wine was poisoned, the cup was offered to his master to drink. Stepping aside, he stood nearby to wait on his master whenever he requested.
Potiphera was especially interested in hard-to-interpret dreams ever since the incident with his daughter. He listened intently to Pharaoh’s report and consulted a scroll that he carried with him at all times. This scroll explained images of dreams and their meanings, however nothing in the scroll could point him in the right direction. He bowed low before the Pharaoh and respectfully stated: “I’m at a loss, your Majesty! In fact, this reminds me of my daughter’s riddled dreams from a year ago.”
Suddenly, the chief cupbearer spoke up. “With Your permission, your Highness – may I speak?” It took a lot of courage for a servant to speak up without the king’s beckoning, but the chief cupbearer did it anyway. He loved his master and he was convinced that Joseph could help him. – “You may speak”, the Pharaoh replied and it got eerily quiet as everybody listened intently to what his servant had to say [Genesis 41:9-13]:
“Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, ‘Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.’”
The Pharaoh was amazed. There was a seer in his dungeon? – “Bring him here at once”, he commanded, “We will not close this meeting until we all have heard what this man has to say.”