(12- 36-54)
Two other
young men were sentenced to prison along with Joseph. One was the wine-bearer of the king; the
other was head butler. They were impressed by Joseph’s personality and said to
him, “Each one of us has had a dream and we want you to interpret our dreams
for us. We are asking you because we
think you are a very sensible man. ”
The first man
said, “I dreamt that I was squeezing grapes for the king.” The other man
said, “I saw that I was carrying a basket of bread on my head; birds were
picking at it and eating from it.”
“I will interpret your dreams for you before the time
for luncheon arrives,” said Joseph. “I
want to tell you about myself before I interpret your dreams for you. I do not belong to any prevailing
religion. I am a follower of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, my forefathers. I
believe in one God and his laws only. I
will further illustrate my belief with an example. One man is a servant of one master and he works
according to his orders. Another is a servant of many masters and they order
him to do errands for them. The poor servant is always confused. He does not know which one to obey. Don’t you think that one master is better
than many masters? The many gods you obey are nothing but names without power
which you and your forefathers have coined for yourselves. Sovereignty only
belongs to Allah. There is no justification or reason for making partners with
God. Sovereignty is only for Allah.”
“As for the interpretation
of your dreams,” he continued, “I think the first one will be restored to his
duty as wine-bearer. The second one is
going to be crucified and birds will eat from his head.” Then he turned
to the one he thought would rejoin the king and said, “When you see the king,
mention me.”
The wine-bearer
was restored to his duty; the other was crucified. The cup-bearer was so happy
to continue his routine that he completely forgot about Joseph. Joseph stayed in
prison for several years.
One night the king saw a strange dream: seven fat cows
were gobbling seven thin cows, and he saw seven green ears of corn and seven
withered ones. The king went to his court and nobles. He told them about his dream and demanded an
interpretation from the courtiers. The
courtiers said, “This is not a dream. This is a hodgepodge of nightmares. We
cannot interpret nightmares.” The wine-bearer
was present in the court. Suddenly he remembered Joseph and said to the king, “Sire,
permit me to go to the prison and I shall bring the interpretation of your dream.”
The permission
was granted. The cup-bearer of the king entered the prison and said to Joseph, “Truthful
Joseph! Give me the interpretation of the king’s dream.” If Joseph had
been less magnanimous of heart, he might have said, “Now you have come to me
when you need me. What about the request that I made? If the king is desirous of
an interpretation, let him come and I will give it to him. Why should I give you a chance to oblige the
king?”
Joseph was too
generous to come to this level of selfishness, so he said, “I am going to
interpret the dream of the king and the method by which he can cope with the
coming calamity. Tell the king that the
coming seven years are going to be years of prosperity and copious crops; but
after those, seven years of famine will follow them. In the years of prosperity, the king should
use only a small amount of grain, and let the rest of the grain stay in the
ears so it will not rot. The saved grain should be used in the years of famine,
and for the cultivation of new crops.
The following year is going to be a year of plenty in which people will
have good crops, and they are going to squeeze the juices of grain and grapes.”
The king was
pleased to hear the interpretation and the advice on how to face the coming
devastation. He said, “I want to see the
man who has interpreted my dream. Remove him from the prison and bring him in
front of me.”
When the king’s
messenger with the order of release for Joseph came to the prison, Joseph said,
“I do not want to come out of the prison as a matter of grace from the king. I
want to prove my innocence. For that, the king should reopen my case and do an
investigation.”
The king acted
as he was requested and the case against Joseph was retried by the king
himself. This time it was not a helpless man verses high-society women; it was
a powerful monarch of Egypt who had the power to uproot these women and their
families from the land. They were so
afraid of the consequences of telling a lie that they admitted the greatness of
Joseph’s character without much persuasion.
One by one, all the women witnesses of the case told the king about his
integrity.
Seeing this, Aziz’s
wife also blurted out the secret: “As the realty is revealing itself, I must admit
my crime. It was I who wanted to seduce
Joseph, but he declined. The point blank
rejection of my wishes by a slave threw me into a fit of fury. I was completely in the grip of baser
passions, and they made me do such a mean thing.”
Before leaving
the prison, Joseph sent a message to his previous mentor, Aziz, informing him
about the case and his exoneration. He
wanted to prove that he was not dishonest about his wife in his absence, and he
had not breached his mentor’s trust.
The king of
Egypt met Joseph and talked with him.
The king liked his honesty and intelligence. He declared, “Today I
single you out only for myself; you will be given a high place of honor with
responsibility. What type of work would
you like to take in my administration?” Joseph
replied, “Sire, Egypt’s economy is an agricultural economy; put me in charge of
the resources of land so that I may increase the produce and preserve it.”
Joseph’s
request was granted; in this way God established him in Egypt. He was given the
power to do his work without being accountable to anyone except the king. The shepherd-boy of Cannon, a slave sold for a
few coins in a slave- market, and a prisoner who spent many years in prison,
was given full control of the Egyptian economy.
He was allowed to act in any way he desired without being answerable to
anyone. This was the result of
controlling his passions and acting in accordance with the law of God. God
never wastes good actions, and His rewards are bountiful.
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