Highlights of the Bible: Genesis 40 a 42 Highlights for the Week of March 10-16, 2014 Gen 40:8 - *** w11 12/1 pp. 12-13 Who Can Interpret Prophecy? *** Some 3,700 years ago, two men were locked away in a prison in Egypt. Each received an intriguing dream. Having no access to the wise men of the land, they expressed their perplexity to a fellow inmate, Joseph, exclaiming: “We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter with us.” That servant of God encouraged them to relate their dreams to him, saying: “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (Genesis 40:8) Only Jehovah God has the ability to unravel prophecies, just as an experienced sailor can untie complicated knots. After all, it was God who made or tied up those prophecies in the first place. Logically, we must look to him for the loosening of their meaning. Yes, Joseph was right in giving the credit to God. In what sense, then, do “interpretations belong to God”? There are a number of ways that this proves to be the case. Some Bible prophecies are recorded along with their fulfillment. These, then, are relatively simple to untie, as are some knots that the sailor freely explains how to undo.—Genesis 18:14; 21:2. Other prophecies can be explained and unraveled by an examination of the context. The prophet Daniel had a prophetic vision of ‘a ram with two horns’ being decisively struck down by a “hairy he-goat” that had “a conspicuous horn between its eyes.” The context shows that the ram with the two horns represented “the kings of Media and Persia” and the goat, “the king of Greece.” (Daniel 8:3-8, 20-22) More than 200 years later, “the great horn”—Alexander the Great—began his conquest of Persia. The Jewish historian Josephus claimed that during Alexander’s military campaign in the vicinity of Jerusalem, he was shown this very prophecy and believed that it referred to him. “Interpretations belong to God” in another sense. Guided by holy spirit, Joseph, a faithful servant of Jehovah God, was able to understand the meaning of the perplexing dreams his fellow prisoners related to him. (Genesis 41:38) When present-day servants of God are unsure of the meaning of a certain prophecy, they pray for God’s spirit and then diligently study and search the spirit-inspired Word of God. With God’s guidance they can locate scriptures that open up the meaning of some prophecies. The interpretation does not come miraculously through any humans. It comes from God because it is by means of his spirit and his Word that the meaning becomes clear. The interpretation is not introduced from outside the Bible by human forecasters.—Acts 15:12-21. “Interpretations belong to God” also in that he determines and directs when a prophecy is to be understood by his faithful servants on earth. The meaning of a prophecy can be discerned before, during, or after its fulfillment. Since God tied up the prophecies, he will unravel them at the right time—his time. In the account of Joseph and the two prisoners, he interpreted the dreams three days before they were fulfilled. (Genesis 40:13, 19) Later, when Joseph was brought before mighty Pharaoh to explain Pharaoh’s dreams, seven years of plenty were about to start. With God’s spirit, Joseph unraveled the meaning of Pharaoh’s dreams, so that arrangements could be made to take in the foretold bumper crops.—Genesis 41:29, 39, 40. Other prophecies are fully understood by servants of God only after their fulfillment. Many events in Jesus’ life had been prophesied centuries before his birth, but this was not fully understood by his disciples until after his resurrection. (Psalm 22:18; 34:20; John 19:24, 36) Finally, according to Daniel 12:4, certain prophecies were to be ‘sealed up’ “until the time of the end,” when, Daniel said, “the true knowledge will become abundant.” Gen 40:20 - *** w98 10/15 p. 31 Questions From Readers (Genesis 40:20) 20 Now the third day was Phar′aoh’s birthday, and he made a feast for all his servants, and he brought out both the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his servants. The first is the birthday of the Pharaoh in Joseph’s day. (Genesis 40:20-23) In this regard, the article on birthdays in Hastings’ Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics begins: “The custom of commemorating the day of birth is connected, in its form, with the reckoning of time, and, in its content, with certain primitive religious principles.” Later, the encyclopedia quotes
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 09:21:19 +0000
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