Gen 40:8, Then they said to him, "We have had a dream and there is no one to interpret it." Then Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please." 
	We are now at the point in our reading where we are given a very specific picture of Joseph. It is a most important portrait, which could very easily be overlooked. This is much like the interjection of the account of Judah which can be easily read with only the interested question of why was that put into the midst of the Joseph account. To do so would be to miss the fact that the promise of the blessing was absolutely wrapped up in the entire salvation of the heritage and lineage of Judah through the righteous action of his daughter-in-law. So, too, we can easily miss the type of man that Joseph presents in the heart of God if we just casually skim through this passage. 
	We could readily assume, through the reading of this chapter, that the account centers on the interpretation of the dreams and with it, the manner in which Joseph would, not only be brought to the attention of Pharaoh, but ultimately be put in charge over all the land of Egypt. While this is a major aspect of this account, we would be remiss if we did not look to the full presentation of Joseph in this story and the manner in which he portrays so much more in the dispensation of God’s heart throughout the entirety of His Word. 
In Joseph, we come to a different manner of leadership to be exhibited before the Children of Israel in their lives of obedience before God. To this point in the recorded history of the development of the People of God, we see that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were led forward by visions of God. They were spoken to by God in visions of what would be the promises of God. Gen 15:1, After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great." Those promises of God were real, but they were to come into reality at a future time far beyond their life spans.
Joseph, on the other hand, presents one who was given the ability to see the Hand of God in operation in the immediate time. He understood how God operated and what God would perform within the very near future. Joseph was given the interpretation of the dreams as God revealed that understanding through the wisdom and discernment that He had given to Joseph. Joseph stands as the wise man who could make the necessary decisions that would honor the plan and purpose of God in the immediate future of His Chosen nation.
Let us consider the inherent differences that this chapter shows with regard to the wisdom that Joseph practiced before God and before man. It is well to examine the characteristics that Joseph embodies as the type of leader required as the people of God proceed forth on this earth. 
Initially, as we mentioned, to this point in the record of mankind, the guidance given by God was in the terms of His prophetic dealings, particularly with Abraham. God related this to King Abimelech as we read in Gen 20:6+7. Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. Now therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours." 
	Note that God warned Abimelech not to touch Sarah and that Abimelech’s very life was in the hands of the prayers of Abraham, God’s prophet. God, Himself, made this declaration known as the manner of His heart toward Abraham and Abraham’s heart toward God. All that was tied up in the promises of God to Abraham were to be realized by the descendents who would be too numerous to number as the stars in the heavens and the sand on the shore. 
The land of Promise was to be wandered by Abraham and by Isaac and by Jacob, but still there was no nation to inhabit or to claim it as a heritage. All that was to come forth as God made good His Word to these patriarchs, the prophetic recipients of those visions of God’s divine plan and purpose.  
The difference with Joseph is that God made his dreams to come into reality with expediency. He was given a heart of wisdom with which to guide and to direct and to make every provision for the manner in which God would manifest Himself in the coming days, months, and years. 
Joseph is the picture of a wise man, who realized that when God acted, it would be with might and power and with intensity of purpose. Therefore, Joseph took the necessary steps to understand and to respond to those coming events with immediate preparation and with determined purpose to do all that God required in that very day.
We see this played out as Joseph interpreted the two dreams of the servants of Pharaoh. He did do with the understanding that the cup bearer would be restored and the baker would be beheaded. As we read those dreams, we do not understand how Joseph could so fully and correctly interpret them. There are parts that we can see in terms of the number of days, etc., but the full accounting is beyond our grasp even after we are given the explanation by Joseph. 
What we do discover is that all that Joseph foresaw came true as we hear the recounting of the cup bearer to Pharaoh in the next chapter. Gen 41:12+13, Now a Hebrew youth was with us there, a servant of the captain of the bodyguard, and we related them to him, and he interpreted our dreams for us. To each one he interpreted according to his own dream. And it came about that just as he interpreted for us, so it happened; he restored me in my office, but he hanged him." 
	Pharaoh was in need of someone to tell him what his dreams meant. None of Egypt’s wise men or magicians could tell Pharaoh what the dreams detailed. Pharaoh knew that his dreams were of vital importance. Here, the cupbearer remembered Joseph and at the risk of bringing back to the Pharaoh’s memory his own offences, he spoke concerning Joseph’s ability to understand and to discern what dreams meant.
	As Pharaoh called forth for Joseph to be brought out of the prison and cleaned up in order to try to give Pharaoh the sought after interpretation, Joseph’s wisdom prevailed, not just in the manner of telling Pharaoh about the dreams but in the fact that Joseph made no claim to his own ability. As we read in Gen 41:16, Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, "It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer." Joseph was wise enough and discerning enough to give God the credit and the glory for the interpretation. 
	After the fact of Joseph’s interpretation and the manner in which Joseph instructed that Pharaoh should prepare for the coming drought, Pharaoh then made known the point of what we are striving to see at this juncture. Gen 41:38+39, Then Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?" So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. 
	Joseph did have the divine Spirit of God operating in him to make known all that was necessary with regard to what was to take place. In God’s plan, the Children of Promise were to be saved because of the wisdom shown by Joseph in preparation for the coming difficulties. Joseph’s discernment of the matters brought before him were all evidence that God was using this man to prepare those earthly necessitates that would make every provision for the sake of God’s inheritance within the sons of men. 
	That divine wisdom, practiced by Joseph, in complete credit to God, elevated him to the position in which the entire nation of Egypt, the most powerful country of that time, would become a safe haven for his family. This would ensure that the promises of God’s heritage would survive. Judah and the rest of Joseph’s brothers would soon bow down to Joseph, just as predicted in his earliest dreams. At the same time, they would find safe keeping and such security within the borders of Egypt so that, when another prophet was raised by God to lead them forth, they would be the nation of promise.
	That prophet was Moses, who would be chosen by God to lead His people out of captivity and to the borders of the Promised Land. Here is where we see more of the differences of leadership as defined by the wisdom of God within the hearts and minds of those He chooses to bring into practical application, the plan and purpose of God. 
Moses was a prophet like no other. Deut 34:10-12, Since then no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, for all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel. 
Mosses talked with God, face to face and Spirit to spirit. He was chosen to lead the nation of Israel out of the slavery of Egypt. He was the one who presented the Commandments of God to the people and who made the way of the manner of worship and the tent of meeting and the Ark of the Covenant. The spiritual needs were dealt with and put into practical application in the details of God’s instructions as recounted by Moses. However, Moses was not the one who would lead the people into the Promised Land to expel the other nations and to inhabit and to enjoy the fruits of the land. 
That task of practical application fell to one who was, as well, filled with the Spirit of wisdom, like Joseph. It was Joshua who was chosen to lead the nation across the Jordan River and to make the Promised Land the home of the tribes of Israel. As we read in Deut 34:9, Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. 
It took wisdom and the practical application of that wisdom and discernment and understanding to make the people the actual inheritors of all that God had guaranteed. It was in the hands of Joshua to follow the direction and the guidance of God in dealing with the people, as a nation, who were marching into that hostile territory to claim it for the Lord. The people needed such a leader who harkened back to the wisdom of Joseph in the manner of fulfilling all that the Lord showed forth as true and necessary in the struggle to create a nation under the government of God.
This was followed by two other wise leaders that the Lord used to establish His inheritance of Israel. Both King David and King Solomon were given the wisdom to assess each situation and make the pronouncements required to govern as unto the Lord. That which Joseph presented and practiced in Egypt was brought forward into the application of God’s rule in Israel. Joseph represents the kind of leaders that Israel would need in order to flourish in the Promised Land
	Then we have another who hearkens back to the wisdom and the discernment of Joseph and that is Daniel. Dan 9:2+3, in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 
	Please note that Daniel practiced the same wisdom and discernment as Joseph. He studied what the Lord was doing and what the Lord had done. He prayed for wisdom and he studied the Word of God in a constant manner in order to understand all that God was making known for the sake of His Name and His Glory on the earth. He did not just assume things, but he sought the Lord in a daily devotion after the heart of God, in the same earnestness of commitment that we have seen in Joseph.
	We now understand that Joseph was the prototype of the wisdom of all the later wise men of Israel. All the future leaders of that nation would be measured against him as he foreshadowed Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Daniel, and ultimately as a type of the Messiah.
	As we are told by the Apostle Paul with regard to our Lord Jesus Christ, He is our wisdom, transcending all those who went before Him. In Christ, the Risen Son of God, we do not just have the greatest of all prophets, but we have the very embodiment of all the necessary wisdom and discernment to face every daily detail and obstacle. 
	Please turn to 1 Cor 1:22-31 as we draw our study to a conclusion this morning. 1 Cor 1:22-31, For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." 
	Joseph presents to us one whom God raised up to fulfill all that was His plan and purpose from the beginning of eternity. Just as this passage presents, he was lowly of estate, a slave, a prisoner in the king’s jail, despised and forgotten by all. Yet, God elevated him to the highest of authority within all of Egypt because Joseph could see the Hand of God in operation. He had the wisdom to respond in accordance with what God was doing. In this capacity, he was a type of the active and perfect wisdom of God manifested in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior, Who daily is our wisdom in dealing with our every day to day, step by step walk on this earth. So be it!
	Then they said to him, "We have had a dream and there is no one to interpret it." Then Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please." Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Ps 96:2-4. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. Amen.