The Sidra of Mikketz describes Joseph’s meteoric and miraculous rise to power, after having been imprisoned for 12 years. When the Butler was released two years before him, Joseph had hoped that he would help him regain his freedom. On the day that the Butler left prison, Joseph specifically asked him to remember him to Pharaoh. However the Butler forgot him as soon as he left prison. The last verse in the previous Sidra of Vayeshev reads: “The Butler did not remember Joseph, he forgot him”. The unusual repetition suggests that he forgot him deliberately.
Our ancient rabbis of the Midrash criticised Joseph for his attempt at relying on the Butler to save him. However, many later commentators are intrigued by this criticism. They cannot understand the reason for it. After all, surely it was natural for Joseph to make the effort to save himself. Furthermore, the rabbis themselves advise us that when we try to help ourselves, God helps us. If we don’t help ourselves, then God ignores us. Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik states that this is true for you ordinary people. However, Joseph was an extraordinary person. After everything that had happened to him, he should have put his trust in God alone. He should have recognised that the Almighty had given him special care and protection. Consequently, he should have exercised more patience. Indeed, this is one of the great principles of the Jewish religion which the Torah teaches us in the story of Joseph. The lesson is that human beings enjoy personal providence. The Almighty plans our lives and cares for everyone of us, individually. In Hebrew this religious concept is called HASHGACHA P’RATIT. Joseph enjoyed it even more than most.
When Joseph finally stood in front of Pharaoh, he himself came to understand this principle. He acknowledged that he was totally dependent upon God. He did not boast of his talents as he might have done before. Joseph was asked to interpret the two dreams that Pharaoh had dreamt. In chapter 41 verse 17, the first word that Joseph said to Pharaoh in response to his request, was BILADAI. This means that Joseph emphasised to Pharaoh that his dreams would be interpreted by God alone and that he had no powers of his own. He reassured Pharaoh and said with great confidence: “It is God who will calm you down, Pharaoh, and bring to you peace of mind.” Joseph wanted Pharaoh to know that he was not like his other professional interpreters, who thought that they could interpret dreams on their own. This answer impressed Pharaoh. Without further delay, he recounted his dreams to Joseph.
As soon as Joseph heard the two dreams, he offered an explanation as to why the Egyptian interpreters had failed to satisfy Pharaoh, while his interpretation would satisfy Pharaoh. Joseph told him that both dreams had only one interpretation. They were not two separate dreams, as the other interpreters had thought. Joseph explained that it was this mistaken conviction that had confused them. He explained that the reason that the one dream had appeared to Pharaoh in two separate images, was in order to show him that God had decided to bring about the years of plenty, followed by the years of famine, very soon.
In his interpretation, Joseph mentions the seven years of famine first. This was not in accordance with the sequence of the dreams or, indeed, with what actually happened, because the years of plenty preceded the years of famine. Nachmanides explains Joseph’s thinking. Years of plenty were normal in Egypt. Egypt benefited from the waters of the Nile. It did not depend on rain, like the Land of Israel. There was always the possibility of irrigation and its inhabitants were not used to famine. Joseph wanted to show Pharaoh that God had made him dream those particular dreams because of His great compassion. God wanted Pharaoh to prepare himself and the Egyptian population for the impending great catastrophe.
Joseph also advised Pharaoh that an important aspect of these interpretations was God’s desire for Pharaoh to appoint a far- seeing and perceptive Minister of Foods. This person would have to have the necessary abilities to prepare the country for the long famine ahead, during the preceding seven years of plenty.
Joseph outlined a detailed plan. He proposed that the new ‘Minister of Foods’ who would be in charge of the whole operation, should be given the authority to appoint officers. These officers would have extensive powers in order to collect all the corn from the fields and to store them, in special storehouses, throughout the cities of Egypt.
This suggestion of the appointment of ‘Minister of Foods’, gave Joseph a wonderful chance of becoming free again. Some commentators suggest that Joseph added this, as his own idea, without being asked. It was, however, a very clever move. Joseph knew that Pharaoh would have no alternative but to appoint him.
Joseph’s interpretation and suggestions found favour in Pharaoh’s eyes. Indeed, one of the remarkable things about Joseph was that, from the moment he had arrived in Egypt, he impressed people and found favour in everyone’s eyes. Potiphar liked him while he served him as a slave. Potiphar’s wife liked him very much. The Minister of Prisons also liked him as well as the Butler and the Baker who shared this affection for him during their mutual time in prison.
Pharaoh was very impressed. He told his servants that Joseph was endowed with a special divine spirit. In other words, he recognised that Joseph had prophetic powers. He appointed Joseph as his Chief Minister, second in command only to himself. He changed Joseph’s name to ZOFNAT PA’ANEACH. Many commentators have tried to explain this name. If this is a Hebrew name, its meaning is The ‘Revealer of Hidden Things’. If it is based on an Egyptian word, it has been suggested that it means: The ‘Saviour of the World’. One of the Hasidic Masters has stated that Joseph’s renaming was most fortunate. If Joseph had continued to use the name given to him at birth, the brothers would have had no problem in identifying him.
Pharaoh also found Joseph a wife who stemmed from a priestly family in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis. This is a Greek name which means ‘the city of the sun’. This implies that Joseph joined a family of priests that worshipped the sun. The priests belonged to the highest classes of Egyptian society. In this way, Joseph became the most powerful man in Egypt.