Pharaoh has heard that Yosef can interpret dreams. Rushed from the dungeon, Yosef answers: “Not I.”
The story
Pharaoh sends for Yosef, and they rush him out of the dungeon. He shaves, changes his clothes and comes to Pharaoh. Pharaoh says: “I had a dream and no one can interpret it. I have heard that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.” Yosef answers: “Not I. God will answer, for Pharaoh’s welfare.”
Pharaoh tells his dream: seven healthy, handsome cows come up from the Nile, then seven gaunt, ugly cows, worse than any he has seen in all Egypt. The gaunt cows eat the healthy ones and look as bad as before. Then seven thin ears of grain swallow seven full ones. He has told the magicians, and none can explain it.
וַתֹּאכַלְנָה הַפָּרוֹת הָרַקּוֹת וְהָרָעוֹת
Bereshit 41:20
Yosef explains: it is one dream, and God has told Pharaoh what He is about to do. The good cows and ears are seven years of great plenty. The gaunt cows and thin ears are seven years of heavy famine to follow. The dream came twice because it is set by God, and God will soon bring it about.
Yosef does not stop at the interpretation. He proposes that Pharaoh find a discerning and wise man and set him over Egypt, and that officials gather food in the years of plenty and keep it in the cities as a reserve for the famine years, so the land will not perish. Pharaoh and all his courtiers approve.
יֵרֶא פַרְעֹה אִישׁ נָבוֹן וְחָכָם
Bereshit 41:33
Pharaoh asks his courtiers: “Can such a man be found, with God’s spirit in him?” He tells Yosef: “Since God made all this known to you, no one is as discerning and wise as you. You will run my household; only the throne will set me above you.” Then he adds: “I have placed you over all Egypt.”
Yosef answered Pharaoh, saying: “Not I. God will answer, for Pharaoh’s welfare.”
Words from the verse
בִּלְעָדָיnot I; not from me
אֶת־שְׁלוֹםwelfare, well-being
What it teaches: Humility
Knowing your place and not taking pride in what you were given.
Pharaoh credits Yosef with the power to interpret dreams, and Yosef answers “Not I.” Yet he does not fall silent: he interprets the dream and proposes a practical plan. Here the Torah teaches that humility means knowing where wisdom comes from, and using it fully.
A question to sit with
Which talent of yours do you tend to see as purely your own achievement, and what would change if you saw it as a gift?
Questions about the story
Before he even hears the dream, where does Yosef say its interpretation will come from?
From his own special talent
From God, who will answer Pharaoh
From Pharaoh, who had the dream
Answer
b. From God, who will answer Pharaoh
Pharaoh said he had heard that Yosef interprets dreams. Yosef answered “Not I” and said it was God who would answer.
By the end, where does Pharaoh say Yosef’s wisdom comes from?
From a talent he was born with
From Egypt’s magicians, who taught him
From God, who made it known to him
Answer
c. From God, who made it known to him
Pharaoh tells Yosef that no one is as discerning and wise as he is, since God made all this known to him.
The lesson
Humility is not hiding your gift but remembering who gave it to you.
For this week
This week, when someone praises something you did well, try accepting the compliment with thanks and naming, aloud or to yourself, who else had a share in it.
From the sources
Rashi explains Yosef’s answer: “The wisdom is not mine,” but God will answer. On this reading, Yosef does not say there is no wisdom here, only that it is not his own. Then he hears the dream and interprets it before the king.
The verses are from Miqra according to the Masorah (Wikisource, CC BY-SA 4.0), via Sefaria, without the cantillation marks. On this site the four-letter Name is written ה׳.
