Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 41:38
And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find [such a one] as this [is], a man in whom the Spirit of God [is]?
37 46. Joseph as Grand Vizier
38. such a one as this ] Pharaoh and his servants are represented as discerning in Joseph the supreme gifts of one who combined the supernatural power of interpreting dreams with the practical wisdom and sagacity of a statesman.
in whom the spirit of God is ] The same phrase is employed by Belshazzar when he addresses Daniel: Dan 5:14, “I have heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.” The presence and operation of the Spirit of God, in the O.T., account for those special manifestations which surpass the limits of ordinary human capacity, in wisdom or prowess. Cf. Exo 31:3; Num 27:18; Jdg 3:10; Jdg 14:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 38. In whom the Spirit of God is?] ruach Elohim, the identical words used Ge 1:2; and certainly to be understood here as in the preceding place. If the Egyptians were idolaters, they acknowledged Joseph’s God; and it is not to be supposed that they only became acquainted with him on this occasion. The knowledge of the true God was in Egypt long before; but it is very likely that though they acknowledged his influence with respect to Joseph, as they saw most clearly that he acted under an influence far beyond that of their magicians, for he interpreted dreams which they could not; yet they might, notwithstanding, have their gods many and their lords many at this time, for we know that in religious matters they were exceedingly corrupt afterwards.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Or, of the gods, in his heathen language. One whom God hath endowed with such admirable knowledge and wisdom.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
38. Pharaoh said unto hisservantsThe kings of ancient Egypt were assisted in themanagement of state affairs by the advice of the most distinguishedmembers of the priestly order; and, accordingly, before admittingJoseph to the new and extraordinary office that was to be created,those ministers were consulted as to the expediency and propriety ofthe appointment.
a man in whom the Spirit ofGod isAn acknowledgment of the being and power of the trueGod, though faint and feeble, continued to linger amongst the higherclasses long after idolatry had come to prevail.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Pharaoh said unto his servants,…. That were about him, and with whom he was consulting about a proper person to be over this affair of gathering in the fruits of the earth in the time of plenty, and laying them up against a time of famine:
can we find [such an one] as this [is], in whom the Spirit of God [is]? if we search among all the ranks and degrees of men throughout the kingdom, let them be of what character they will, we shall never find a man like this, who appears to have the Spirit of God, or “of the gods”, as he in his Heathenish way spoke, and which he concluded from his vast knowledge of things; and especially of things future: hence the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan interpret it, the spirit of prophecy from the Lord.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
38. Can we find such a one as this? We see that necessity is an excellent teacher. If prefects or judges are to be created, some one is advanced to the honor because he is a favorite, without consideration of his desert; whence it happens that they who are most unworthy frequently creep into office. And although we see political order disturbed and mankind involved in many inconveniences, because they who are least suitable, rashly push themselves, by wicked contrivances, into affairs for which they are not able to manage; nevertheless, ambition triumphs, and subverts equity. But necessity extorts a sober judgment. Pharaoh says nothing but what is naturally engraven on the hearts of all men, that honors ought to be conferred on none but competent persons, and such as God has furnished with the necessary qualifications. Experience, however, abundantly teaches, that this law of nature slips from the memory, whenever men are free to offend against it with impunity. Therefore the pride of Pharaoh was wisely so subdued, that he, setting aside ambition, preferred a foreigner just brought out of prison, to all his courtiers, because he excelled them in virtue. The same necessity restrained the nobles of the kingdom, so that they did not each contend, according to their custom, to obtain the priority of rank for themselves. And although it was but a compulsory modesty, inasmuch as they were ashamed to resist the public good; yet there is no doubt, that God inspired them with fear, so that, by the common consent of all, Joseph was made president of the whole kingdom. It is also to be observed that Pharaoh, though he had been infatuated by his soothsayers, nevertheless honors the gifts of the spirit in Joseph: because God, indeed, never suffers man to become so brutalized, as not to feel his power, even in their darkness. And therefore whatever impious defection may hurry them away, there still abides with them a remaining sense of Deity. Meanwhile, that knowledge is of little worth, which does not correct a man’s former madness; for he despises the God whom with his mouth he proclaims: and has no conception of any other than I know not what confused divinity. This kind of knowledge often enlightens profane men, yet not so as to cause them to repent. Whereby we are admonished to regard any particular principle as of small value, till solid piety springs from it and flourishes.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(38) In whom the Spirit of God is.Joseph from the first declared that he neither claimed for himself, nor possessed any art of divination, but that Elohim would answer (that which would be for) the peace of Pharaoh (Gen. 41:16). And not only does Pharaoh now recognise the truth of Josephs words, but sees also in him the instrument by which Elohim had spoken. But besides the interpretation of the dreams, Joseph had given the king wise and prudent advice, and he justly felt that one so gifted by God, and so intelligent in counsel, was the person best fitted to carry Egypt through the years of trouble in store for her.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
JOSEPH MADE OVERSEER OF EGYPT, Gem 41:37-57 .
38. In whom the Spirit of God is Pharaoh recognises the message as from God, and Joseph as a man inspired by the Holy One .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?’
Pharaoh has been impressed and accepts that the interpretation has come from ‘God’ (Joseph’s God) through Joseph. He recognises that the spirit of this God, Who is able to interpret when all others have failed, must be working through him. What better man then to take charge of operations.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 41:38. In whom the Spirit of God is The original is, the Spirit of the Aleim. I cannot conceive any foundation for Le Clerc’s interpretation, who would have us believe that Pharaoh speaks the language of an idolater, ascribing Joseph’s wisdom to magic, or a familiarity with his idol gods; for, granting (which cannot be absolutely proved) that Pharaoh and his people worshipped a plurality of gods, yet we cannot doubt that they acknowledged one Superior Deity; and therefore it seems reasonable to put the most favourable construction on his words; especially since, in the following verse, the verb, with which aleim is joined, is in the singular number. The Chaldee renders the passage, “can we find such a man, in whom is the spirit of prophecy, from the face of God?”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 41:38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find [such a one] as this [is], a man in whom the Spirit of God [is]?
Ver. 38. And Pharaoh said unto his servants. ] He would resolve nothing without the advice of his Council. He was not like the Persian monarchs, who gave their peers no freedom nor liberty of advice; a nor that wilful King James of Scotland, that reigned in our Edward IV’s time, that would seldom ask counsel, but never follow any: so wedded he was to his own opinion, saith the historian, that he could not endure any man’s advice, how good soever, that he fancied not. b Pharaoh heard what his servants could say to it; who all at length consented when the ill-affected saw it was no profit to dissent.
Can we find such a man as this?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Genesis
JOSEPH, THE PRIME MINISTER
Gen 41:38 – Gen 41:48
At seventeen years of age Joseph was sold for a slave; at thirty he was prime minister of Egypt Gen. xxxvii, 2; xli. 46. How long his prison life lasted is uncertain; but it was long enough for the promises contained in his early dreams to ‘try him’ Pro 5:19 whether his faith would stand apparent disappointment and weary delay. Like all the Scripture narratives, this history of Joseph has little to say about feelings, and prefers facts. But we can read between the lines, and be tolerably sure that the thirteen years of trial were well endured, and that the inward life had grown so as to fit him for his advancement. We have here a full-length portrait of the prime minister, or vizier, which brings out three points-his elevation, his naturalisation, and his administration.
Joseph had not only interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, but had suggested a policy in preparation for the coming famine. He had recommended the appointment of ‘a wise and discreet man,’ with supreme authority over the land. Pharaoh first consulted ‘his servants,’ and, with their consent, possibly not very hearty, appointed the proposer of the plan as its carrier-out, quoting to him his own words, ‘wise and discreet.’
The sudden installing of an unknown prisoner in high office has often been thought hard to believe, and has been pointed to as proof of the legendary character of the story. But the ground on which Pharaoh put it goes far to explain it. He and his servants had come to believe that ‘God’ spoke through this man, that ‘the Spirit of God’ was in him. So here was a divinely sent messenger, whom it would be impiety and madness to reject. Observe that Pharaoh and Joseph both speak in this chapter of ‘God.’ There was a common ground of recognition of a divine Being on which they met. The local colour of the story indicates a period before the fuller revelation, which drew so broad a line of demarcation between Israel and the other nations.
Joseph’s sudden promotion is made the more intelligible by the probability which the study of Egyptian history has given, that the Pharaoh who made him his second in command was one of the Hyksos conquerors who dominated Egypt for a long period. They would have no prejudices against Joseph on account of his being a foreigner. A dynasty of alien conquerors has generally an open door for talent, and cares little who a man’s father is, or where he comes from, if he can do his work. And Joseph, by not being an Egyptian born, would be all the fitter an instrument for carrying out the policy which he had suggested.
His ceremonial investiture with the insignia of office is true to Egyptian manners. The signet ring, as the emblem of full authority; the chain, as a mark of dignity; the robe of ‘fine linen’ or rather of cotton, which was a priestly dress-all are illustrated by the monuments. The proclamation made before him as he rode in the second chariot has been very variously interpreted. It has been taken for a Hebraised Egyptian word, meaning ‘Cast thyself down’; and this interpretation was deemed the most probable, until Assyrian discovery brought to light ‘that abarakku is the Assyrian name of the grand vizier’ Fr. Delitzsch, Hebrew Language Viewed in the Light of Assyrian Research , p. 26. Sayce proposes another explanation, also from the cuneiform tablets: ‘There was a word abrik in the Sumerian language, which signified a seer, and was borrowed by the Semitic Babylonians under the varying forms of abrikku and abarakku . It is abrikku which we have in Genesis, and the title applied by the people to the “seer” Joseph proves to be the one we should most naturally expect.’ The Tel el-Amarna tablets show that the knowledge of cuneiform writing was common in Egypt Sayce, Higher Criticism and the Monuments , p. 214. This explanation is tempting, but it is perhaps scarcely probable that the proclamation should have been in any other language than Egyptian, or should have had reference to anything but Joseph’s new office. It was not as seer that he was to be obeyed, but as Pharaoh’s representative, even though he had become the latter because he had proved himself the former.
But in any case, the whole context is accurately and strongly Egyptian. Was there any point in the history of Israel, down to an impossibly late date, except the time of Moses, at which Jewish writers were so familiar with Egypt as to have been capable of producing so true a picture?
The lessons of this incident are plain. First stands out, clear and full, the witness it bears to God’s faithfulness, and to His sovereign sway over all events. What are all the persons concerned in the narrative but unconscious instruments of His? The fierce brothers, the unconcerned slave-dealers, Potiphar, his wife, the prisoners, Pharaoh, are so many links in a chain; but they are also men, and therefore free to act, and guilty if acting wrongly. Men execute God’s purposes, even when unconscious or rebellious, but are responsible, and often punished, for the acts which He uses to effect His designs.
Joseph’s thirteen years of trial, crowned with sudden prosperity, may read all of us, and especially young men and women, a lesson of patience. Many of us have to fight our way through analogous difficulties at the outset of our career; and we are apt to lose heart and get restive when success seems slow to come, and one hindrance after another blocks our road. But hindrances are helps. If one of Joseph’s misfortunes had been omitted, his good fortune would never have come. If his brethren had not hated him, if he had not been sold, if he had not been imprisoned, he would never have ruled Egypt. Not one thread in the tapestry could have been withdrawn without spoiling the pattern. We cannot afford to lose one of our sorrows or trials. There would be no summer unless winter had gone before. There is a bud or a fruit for every snowflake, and a bird’s song for every howl of the storm.
Plainly, too, does the story read the lesson of quiet doing of the work and accepting the circumstances of the moment. Joseph was being prepared for the administration of a kingdom by his oversight of Potiphar’s house and of the prison. His character was matured by his trials, as iron is consolidated by heavy hammers. To resist temptation, to do modestly and sedulously whatever work comes to our hands, to be content to look after a jail even though we have dreamed of sun and moon bowing down to us, is the best apprenticeship for whatever elevation circumstances-or, to speak more devoutly, God-intends for us. Young men thrown into city life far away from their homes, and whispered to by many seducing voices, have often to suffer for keeping themselves unspotted; but they are being strengthened by rough discipline, and will get such promotion, in due time, as is good for them. But outward success is not God’s best gift. It was better to be the Joseph who deserved his high place, than to have the place. The character which he had grown into was more than the trappings which Pharaoh put on him. And such a character is always the reward of such patience, faith, and self-control, whether chains and chariots are added or not.
Little need be said about the other points of the story. Joseph’s naturalisation as an Egyptian was complete. His name was changed, in token that he had completely become a subject of Pharaoh’s. The meaning of the formidable-looking polysyllable, which Egyptian lips found easier than ‘Joseph,’ is uncertain. ‘At present the origin of the first syllable is still doubtful, and though the latter part of the name is certainly the Egyptian n-ti-pa-ankh “of the life”, it is difficult to say in which of its different senses the expression pa-ankh “the life” is employed’ Sayce, ut supra , p. 213. The prevailing opinion of Egyptian experts is that it means ‘Support of life.’
The naturalising was completed by his marriage to Asenath supposed to mean ‘One belonging to the goddess Neith’, a daughter of a high officer of state, Poti-phera meaning, like its shortened form, Potiphar, ‘The gift of Ra’ the sun-god. Such an alliance placed him at once in the very innermost circle of Egyptian aristocracy. It may have been a bitter pill for the priest to swallow, to give his daughter to a man of yesterday, and an alien; but, just as probably, he too looked to Joseph with some kind of awe, and was not unwilling to wed Asenath to the first man in the empire, wherever he had started up from.
But should not Joseph’s religion have barred such a marriage? The narrator gives no judgment on the fact, and we have to form our own estimate. But it is not to be estimated as if it had occurred five or six centuries later. The family of Jacob was not so fenced off, nor was its treasure of revelation so complete, as afterwards. We may be fairly sure that Joseph felt no inconsistency between his ancestral faith, which had become his own in his trials, and this union. He was risking a great deal; that is certain. Whether the venture ended well or ill, we know not. Only we may be very sure that a marriage in which a common faith is not a strong bond of union lacks its highest sanctity, and is perilously apt to find that difference in religious convictions is a strong separator.
Joseph’s administration opens up questions as to Egyptian land tenure, and the like, which cannot be dealt with here. ‘In the earlier days of the monarchy the country was in the hands of great feudal lords; . . .the land belonged to them absolutely. . .. But after the convulsion caused by the Hyksos conquest and the war of independence, this older system of land tenure was completely changed. . .. The Pharaoh is the fountain head, not only of honour, but of property as well. . .. The people ceased to have any rights of their own’ Sayce, ut supra , p. 216.
We may note Joseph’s immediate entrance upon office and his characteristic energy in it. He ‘went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.’ No grass grew under this man’s feet. He was ubiquitous, personally overseeing everything for seven long years. Wasteful consumption of the abundant crops had to be restrained, storehouses to be built, careful records of the contents to be made, after Egyptian fashion. The people, who could not look so far as seven years ahead, and wanted to enjoy, or make money out of, the good harvests, had to be looked after, and an army of officials to be kept in order. Dignity meant work for him. Like all true men, he thought more of his duty than of his honours. Depend on it, he did not wear his fine clothes or ride in the second chariot, when he was hurrying about the country at his task.
He had come ‘out of prison to reign,’ and, as we all find, if we are God’s servants, to reign means to serve, and the higher the place the harder the task. The long years of waiting had nourished powers which the seven years of busy toil tested. We must make ourselves, by God’s help, ready, in obscurity, and especially in youth, for whatever may be laid on us in after days. And if we understand what life here means, we shall be more covetous of spheres of diligent service than of places of shining dignity. Whatever our task, let us do it, as Joseph did his, with strenuous concentration, knowing, as he did, that the years in which it is possible are but few at the longest.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
the spirit. Hebrew. ruach. App-9. No art. = a Divine spirit or inspiration. Pharaoh knew nothing of Biblical Psychology.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
in whom: Num 27:18, Job 32:8, Dan 4:6, Dan 4:8, Dan 4:18, Dan 5:11, Dan 5:14, Dan 6:3
Reciprocal: Exo 7:11 – wise men 2Ch 26:5 – had Psa 105:22 – teach Pro 11:11 – the blessing Pro 16:20 – handleth Pro 24:26 – shall Ecc 8:1 – who knoweth Isa 19:11 – I am Isa 28:6 – for a spirit Dan 4:9 – the spirit Act 6:3 – full Act 11:28 – great Act 27:10 – I perceive 1Co 12:8 – is given Eph 1:17 – the spirit 2Ti 2:7 – and Jam 1:17 – good Jam 3:17 – the wisdom
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
41:38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find [such a one] as this [is], a man in whom the {k} Spirit of God [is]?
(k) No one should be honoured who does not have gifts from God fitting for the same.