Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dream in the PalaceBible World
41:31Genesis 41:31
And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous.
The verse foretells seven years of great plenty followed by seven years of famine so severe and grievous that the earlier abundance would be forgotten and no longer be known or recognized in the land. The promised plenty means field and garden would yield more abundantly than ever before. The verse shows God revealing to Pharaoh what He is about to do, and the giving of the dream in two forms proves that its fulfillment is certain and near.
The years of abundance were given so the land could prepare, calling for immediate action to set a discreet and wise man over Egypt with officers to take up the fifth part of the land in the plenteous years and gather corn under Pharaoh's hand and keep food in the cities as a store against the famine. What was once only a matter of prophecy was fulfilled in accordance with the prediction, showing that predicted events limited to a given time occur within that time. Together with other fulfilled chronological predictions, this fulfillment shows that the chronological portions of the Bible are as much the word of God as any other portion and deserve serious consideration, giving confidence that the chronological periods extending to the second coming are appointed times revealed by God and will likewise be fulfilled.
The prediction was fulfilled when the famine became severe in Canaan, where Jacob's family nearly ran out of food and faced starvation, while Egypt's grain stored because of the warning given in a dream seven years earlier offered a way for them to survive. In the fulfillment, the famine reached beyond Egypt and people from many countries went there to buy grain.
The verse foretells seven years of great plenty followed by seven years of famine so severe and grievous that the earlier abundance would be forgotten and no longer be known or recognized in the land. The promised plenty means field and garden would yield more abundantly than ever before. The verse shows God revealing to Pharaoh what He is about to do, and the giving of the dream in two forms proves that its fulfillment is certain and near.
The years of abundance were given so the land could prepare, calling for immediate action to set a discreet and wise man over Egypt with officers to take up the fifth part of the land in the plenteous years and gather corn under Pharaoh's hand and keep food in the cities as a store against the famine. What was once only a matter of prophecy was fulfilled in accordance with the prediction, showing that predicted events limited to a given time occur within that time. Together with other fulfilled chronological predictions, this fulfillment shows that the chronological portions of the Bible are as much the word of God as any other portion and deserve serious consideration, giving confidence that the chronological periods extending to the second coming are appointed times revealed by God and will likewise be fulfilled.
The prediction was fulfilled when the famine became severe in Canaan, where Jacob's family nearly ran out of food and faced starvation, while Egypt's grain stored because of the warning given in a dream seven years earlier offered a way for them to survive. In the fulfillment, the famine reached beyond Egypt and people from many countries went there to buy grain.