Go To Joseph: Trusting the Deeper Self

Readings: Genesis 41:1-16, 25-43, 46-69, 53-57, Secrets of Heaven #5340 (see below)
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Today we continue with our series on the Old Testament figure of Joseph. He was the favored son of the patriarch Jacob, but due to the jealously of his brothers, he was sold into slavery in Egypt. Joseph excelled in Egypt though, his diligence and honesty leading him to valued by those he served, even in places like a prison. Last week we heard of the way that Joseph accurately interpreted the dreams of two of Pharaoh’s servants. Now it is the Pharaoh himself who is troubled by confusing dreams. His cupbearer remembers that Joseph helped him and recommends the Pharaoh consult him. 

We recall that in the Swedenborgian interpretive framework, all the people and places in the Bible represent dynamics within our internal spiritual life. We believe that God speaks within the Bible, within the stories given to an ancient people to aid their own journey in their own specific context. That context doesn’t always translate in the same way to us now, but if we look deeper, we can see internal truths that are personal and timeless and applicable to the human spiritual journey in a broader way.

So, when we hear about Joseph, we can see him as a part of us, a part of us that is longing for spiritual meaning, yearning to live in harmony with the divine design. This part of us is steadfast and resilient, always looking beyond the self to a sense of what will serve the greater good. There will be times when our Joseph self seems more quiescent, locked up in prison if you will, and times when we will need to call upon him, as Pharaoh does.

Pharoah is the ruler of Egypt, and we understand “Egypt” to represent the aspect of our lives that is focused on facts and external effectiveness. Swedenborg calls these “memory-knowleges,” meaning things that we learn about and store in our memory. These things are very good to grow in! This why we go to school, this is how we learn how to be independent adults, how to manage our lives, how to contribute to society and our families via a useful job or vocation. Maybe we take time for formal study, maybe we just learn how to be functioning and effective in whatever that means for our own context. We hold this learning in our mind, everything from how to do long division to how to cook our favorite meal, how to pay our bills, how to fix things or create things, to how to be successful at our work, and how to drive the car to get there. There is so much to learn in this realm, and it is often deeply satisfying and nourishing. We can see a parallel here to the land of Egypt being very fertile, due to its steady, mild climate, and the abundant water of the Nile river. Our ability to learn how to be useful and effective in the world can be an incredibly fertile part of our life.

We spend a lot of time in this Egypt aspect of our life, learning and getting really good at various things. But this kind of knowledge has its particular purpose and it can only go so far. In our darker times, in our challenges and trials, we often need a different kind of knowledge and a different kind of competency. This is where Joseph comes in, the Joseph we have swept to the side while we have focused on how satisfying it is to live in the Egypt of our external effectiveness. But famine comes even to Egypt, the granary of the ancient world. We will all go through hard times. This is what Pharaoh’s dreams indicate, with the gaunt cows and heads of grain swallowing the healthy cows and heads of grain. There will be times when we are in the flow, in metaphorical times of plenty, and everything seems to be going well. And there are times when we are blind-sided by loss, by illness, by anxiety, by struggle, and all our old ways to coping, of getting things done, of being who we thought we were in the world, they don’t work anymore, or in the same way. 

We need something deeper to sustain us. We need the Joseph part of ourselves, the part that God has been sustaining for us the whole time, just waiting for the moment when we would need to rely on him.

And the key insight here is that when we are living our Egypt lives, it is really easy to feel our own power. We are supposed to, and we are allowed to. God made us to live useful and creative lives in the world. But, it becomes very easy to pretend that it is under our own power, our own effectiveness, our own ethos, that we do these things. Our Egypt life creates a sense of selfhood to go along with it, a selfhood that wants to believe it is calling all the shots. And why not? In those metaphorical times of plenty and flow, we seem to be doing pretty well. 

And yet, in the times of metaphorical famine—loss, fear, doubt—we feel the opposite, we feel our limitations, we feel our flaws, we feel our inadequacy. We recognize that we need help. This is the time that we might remember to invite our Joseph self to take the lead, to help us look towards a larger sense of meaning beyond our own experience. This is what is represented by the Pharaoh putting Joseph in charge of the whole land. Note that the Pharaoh isn’t deposed. In no circumstances does our Egypt life become a bad thing to inhabit; our purpose is to be here in the world, to engage with it as best we can. Heeding our Joseph self isn’t a call to retreat away from the world. The ancient world depended on the fertility of Egypt and would have suffered greatly had Egypt entered into the famine unprepared. Thus, we see Joseph in the story stepping whole-heartedly into adminstration; details, planning, and foresight that would save countless lives when the famine came. 

So it is with us. We are not celebrating the triumph of Joseph over Egypt here, but rather, it is about learning stay in Egypt while letting Joseph take the lead. What does this look like? It will look a little different for everyone. It can look like making space in a busy schedule for prayer and reflection. It can look like being willing to reposition values that we thought were important, and now seem less so. It can look like asking questions about our purpose in life. It can look like letting others support us, when we used to like to do it all ourselves. It can look like practicing gratitude and humility. It can look like learning to listen, to ourself, to others, to God. There are plenty more examples for each of us.

And as we cycle through different times in our life, our reaction to our Joseph self might feel varied. Pharaoh in the story was relieved to receive Joseph’s discernment, and we as readers are relieved to see Joseph finally ascend to a position he deserves, but we can imagine others in the court not feeling the same. They might ask: who is Joseph to come and tell us what to do? How are we to know his discernment is right? And midway into the seven years of plenty, it must have seemed downright ridiculous to be putting so much grain away for later. Really, they might ask, do we know for certain the famine will come? Our selfhood does not always want to give way to Joseph, nor to God.

But, our self-interest cannot answer the larger questions that life will ultimately bring us to. We will probably spend plenty of time trying to pretend that it can. But it will fail. At some point, our self-regard, our self-reliance, our self-sufficiency will need to give way. And the Joseph part of us that God is constantly flowing into will be ready to meet the moment, if we let it. The more we learn to let it, the more we will learn to trust it. Just as Joseph stored up grain to feed the people, so we can store up trust in this part of ourselves, trust that it can lead us. Over time, each time life cycles us through our metaphorical famines, eventually even our external Pharaoh self will say “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you” because more and more we will have a deep knowledge of God’s presence and God’s care stored within us. 

So as we continue with the Joseph saga, perhaps we can ask ourselves: Where do we find ourselves within this story today? Are we in a time of plenty but with Joseph sitting waiting in the prison? A time of plenty with Joseph actively storing up practices and attitudes that will help us later? A time of famine or confusion but we don’t know how to interpret it? A time of famine that has called upon Joseph for nourishment? There is no judgment in these questions; we are all probably finding ourselves a little bit in each. But perhaps in our next sleepless night, we can remember to tell ourselves to “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.”

Amen.

Readings:
Genesis 41:1-16, 25-43, 46-49, 53-57
1 When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, 2 when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. 3 After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. 4 And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up. 5 He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. 6 After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted—thin and scorched by the east wind. 7 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream. 8 In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him. 9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. 10 Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. 11 Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. 12 Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. 13 And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.” 14 So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh. 15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” 16 “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. 27 The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine. 28 “It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. 29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, 30 but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. 31 The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. 32 The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon. 33 “And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. 34 Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. 35 They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food.
36 This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.” 37 The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. 38 So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God ?” 39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. 40 You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”

41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and people shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt. 47 During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. 48 Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. 49 Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure.

53 The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, 54 and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. 55 When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.” 56 When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. 57 And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.

Secrets of Heaven #5340
And he gathered all the food of the seven years symbolizes preservation of truth connected with goodness…Joseph gathered the food and put it in the cities, in the middle of each, which symbolizes storing something up in the inner depths and therefore preserving it, because what was stored could be used in the years of famine. Food symbolizes everything that nourishes the inner self. What nourishes the inner self is goodness and truth, as is plain from the correspondence between earthly food, which feeds the outer self, and spiritual food, which feeds the inner self. Here it accordingly means truth connected with goodness, because this is what is preserved and stored up in the inner depths.