Genesis 40

Some scripture is descriptive and some is prescriptive. Descriptive scripture describes what took place or what was said. Prescriptive scripture tells us what should take place and what should be said. Some scripture does both. This chapter deals with dreams and their interpretation. Is it only describing what happened in the life of Joseph, or is it describing what should be happening in the lives of Christians today?

Why did God use dreams to communicate with Joseph and through Joseph? It is because the Egyptians believed in dreams. Ancient books have been found telling how dreams should be interpreted. History tells us some Egyptians used such books to train themselves to be interpreters of dreams. God used dreams because it is what the Egyptians were expecting.

The two men were sad because they both had dreams and there was no one to interpret. Joseph asks “Do not interpretations belong to God?” Joseph understood that outside of an interpretation by God dreams were meaningless, and interpreters were frauds. This is still true today. You can still find books on how to interpret dreams. They’re still as worthless today as they were to the Egyptians in their day.

Joseph was able to interpret the dreams only because God told him what they meant. This was the means by which Joseph was able to convince the Egyptians that God spoke to him. When God speaks to us we do not need dreams to know his will.

This text is descriptive in nature. It tells us what happened. It does not tell us that we should put any stock into dreams, or the interpretation of dreams. In the Old Testament, God use dreams to speak to people who did not know him well enough to recognize his voice directly. As Christians we have the Holy Spirit with us. When the Spirit of God can speak to us directly there is no need for dreams. We do not need to be asleep to hear God. If we will listen, God will speak.