Pharaoh dreams of seven fat cows swallowed by seven lean cows, and he dreams of seven fat ears of corn swallowed by seven shiveled.
No one can interpret the dream.
The butler then remembers Yosef’s interpretting his own dream and that of the baker in prison.
Yosef is brought out of the prison, cleaned up and presented to Pharaoh.
Pharaoh relates the dream to Yosef, who has told him that only Gd gives interpretation.
Yosef tells Pharaoh that Gd has revealed what is coming: seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.
The double telling of two dreams indicates that it is coming quickly.
Yosef advises Pharaoh to appoint a wise man to oversee the storage of grain during the time of plenty for the coming famine.
Yosef is appointed Egyptian viceroy (41:38-49)
Pharaoh appoints Yosef, saying everyone will be under him, save Pharaoh himself.
Pharaoh called Yosef Zaph-nath-paanah and gave him Osnat, the daughter of Potipherah for a wife.
Yosef is thirty years old.
Yosef married Osnat and begets two sons (41:50-54)
Manasseh: For Gd, said he, has driven from my mind all my trouble, and all my father’s house.
Ephraim: For Gd has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my misery.
Seven years of plenty followed by famine (41:55-57)
Famine was in all the world; only in Egypt is there bread.
The people cry out in hunger, and Pharaoh answers that they must do what Yosef tells them.
All the nations come to Egypt for grain.
The brothers travel to Egypt (42:1-5)
Yaakov sends the brothers to Egypt for grain.
Only Benyamin does not go because of Yaakov’s fear of losing him, too.
Yosef deals harshly with the brothers (42:6-28)
Yosef’s brother bow to him.
He recognizes them, but they do not know him—he speaks to them through an interpretter.
Yosef remembers his dreams of which he had told them.
He accuses them of being spies.
They tell him they are twelve sons of one man, that one was lost and the youngest at home with their father.
They are put in prison for three days.
Yosef says they must bring their youngest brother to prove what they are claiming.
Reuven reminds the brothers of what they did to Yosef.
Yosef understands their conversation about what they did to him and turns away to weep.
Shimon is bound and put into prison.
Yosef allows the others to leave with the grain for the family; he orders that the money of each one be put into the sack.
When each finds the money, they panic.
The brothers ask Yaakov to send Benyamin to Egypt with them (42:29-43:15)
They recount the story to Yaakov, telling him they can’t return without Benyamin.
Yaakov refuses.
The family again needs food; they remind Yaakov they can’t return without Benyamin.
Reuven offers his own two sons’ lives to Yaakov as assurance for Benyamin.
Yehudah convinces Yaakov to let him take Benyamin.
Yaakov sends gifts and double the money to “the man.”
The brothers dine with Yosef (43:16-34)
Yosef orders the noon meal to be prepared for his brothers at his house.
They recount their story of the money in their bags to Yosef’s servant.
Shimon is brought.
They give the gifts to Yosef and bow to him.
He asks about their father.
The brothers are seated at the table according to age—Yosef is seated at a table by himself.
Each is given a present, but Benyamin’s is five times as much as the others’.
The brothers are accused of stealing Yosef’s goblet (44:1-17)
Yosef commands that the money be again put in each man’s sack, and his silver goblet into Benyamin’s.
The servant then pursues the brothers and accuses them of stealing the goblet.
They protest their innocence, but when they open their sacks, the goblet is found in Benyamin’s.
Yosef tells them they may all leave, that he will only hold the “thief” as a slave.
Yehudah begins to plead for Benyamin.
______________________________
Join the classes on
Virtual Yeshiva "Spirituality for the Nations" by Miriam Ben-Yaacov ~~ Thursdays 9:00 pm EST
Come learn the teachings of Jewish thought on spirituality by the great Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (Ramchal), presented in the classic "Derkh Hashem" ("The Way of Gd")
