All the plenty will be forgotten. (Genesis 41:30)
Pharaoh looked out from the bank of the river. What were those coming up out of the Nile?
Seven healthy cows emerged from the waters and walked upon the land. Who has ever seen cows emerge from the depths of a mighty river? A strange sight indeed. But more came; he shivered. Seven sickly cows staggered from the waters to stand on the shore. Seven plump cows; seven bony cows. Even for dreams, this was odd.
But bizarre soon turned nightmarish. “The ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows” (Genesis 41:4).
Pharaoh woke.
Cannibal cattle could not be forgotten. Pharaoh turned over, disturbed. Eventually he dozed off into another dream of seven thin ears of grain swallowing seven thick ears. The pattern begged explanation. What did the architect of such visions mean to tell the king?
His magicians could not answer. But Pharaoh’s cupbearer, overhearing the inquiry, remembered a guy who had interpreted his dream exactly as it unfolded. Joseph was told to prepare himself to see the king.
“It is not in me,” the Hebrew confessed before the court. “God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer” (Genesis 41:16). He unraveled the mystery:
There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. (Genesis 41:29–32)
God warned Pharaoh of coming calamity while he still had time to prepare. Pharaoh, with Joseph elevated to his right hand, did prepare. They survived. More than that, they used the prophecy to profit. Egypt became a mighty nation.
Egypt’s prosperity and famine has come and passed. But I believe Pharaoh’s nightmare teaches us a lesson about the nature of another impending calamity, one each of us must prepare for. This nearing catastrophe too is fixed by God, and shortly he will bring it about. Blessed only are those who are found ready.
Thin Cows Come
What sends a shiver up my soul is how the ruinous years erased the memory of the prosperous ones. God warned the king that poverty would so overwhelm the days of plenty that those happier days of abundance would be emptied of meaning and memory.
Isn’t this a picture of the destruction destined for the unrepentant? God has shown us a vision of coming judgment, a judgment so severe that it will make irrelevant the days of fortune, even Western fortune.
We live, figuratively speaking, in the first seven years. Many flatter themselves that things can only get better. Fat cows do not just stand on our banks; they lay well cooked on our plates. So many feast sumptuously and cannot understand all this fussing by their religious relatives of coming destruction. All is sunny; life is fair; why can’t these Christians just enjoy themselves?
Because these Christians know more of the vision. It is not in us to foretell the times, but our God has plainly told us: Thin cows are coming upon an unwatchful world. Near is a calamity so severe, so devouring, so unmistakable and inescapable that all unsanctified plenty, all worldly laughter, all ungodly abundance will become utterly meaningless and altogether forgotten. As memories of feasts do not fill starving bellies, so recollections of favorite pastimes shall bring no satisfaction to perishing souls.
This is the point of the ugly cows swallowing the plump ones. The happy times, the good old days, those merry and unholy moments — consumed, seen no more. When the promised judgment comes, when the wrath of God descends, when the books are opened and the pleading of the unrepentant for death goes unanswered — all the former pleasure, all the bright days, all the former times of fat cows shall be swallowed forever.
Jesus makes the connection for us in his teaching. He teaches that earthly riches shall not offer one drop of relief to the anguishing tongue under burning judgment. The Lord describes a ghastly vision of a rich man withering in fire, who would have given every coin, every feast, every pleasure he ever owned — all from that former life — for a single drop of water, a second of reprieve. He cries, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame” (Luke 16:24). A suitable caption for this tormented man: “All plenty will be utterly forgotten.”
Wise Men Prepare
Sinner, your prosperity — now felt by you as a wall of protection — will crumble in a moment, as the walls of Jericho, and you will stand exposed before the wrath of God. And when you look up you will not see cows but white horses, a divine army led by a Lord whose robe is dipped in blood.
But here is the point: You have time to prepare. Pharaoh and Joseph prepared for the famine in times of abundance and saved many in Egypt and beyond. So must we.
Consider God’s willingness to save. “Fire and brimstone preaching” has fallen under rebuke, but wasn’t it gracious for God to interrupt Pharaoh’s cozy dreams to foretell of the famine to come? The nightmare was not given to destroy Egypt but to save it (and God’s covenant people through it). In receiving the warning of coming disaster, do not miss the mercy of God.
He is willing to save. Warnings of wrath and coming punishment may alarm you, annoy you, make you angry — the thin cows are grotesque in your sight. Such talk ruins a good time, weighs down levity, grounds a helium life. But the bad news is told to you that you may avoid it. God warns of the flood, the fiery judgment, the wrath to come so that you flee to Jesus Christ. The Lord himself spoke most of hell because he most wanted the guilty to escape it.
He alone made a way through his own blood for us to be saved. Sinner, meet the great Savior: Jesus Christ. He, the only one who ever deserved eternal life by his perfect obedience, laid down his life that you may share in his reward. God offers you mercy, not by letting you out of hell centuries early on good behavior, but by sending his own Son to bear your consequence so you never taste a drop of his wrath. His obedience for your rebellion, his reward for your guilt, his death for your life. Will you not relent?
Consider his promises of blessing. This Redeemer is so full he does not just take away the famine; he leaves eternal prosperity in its place. On the shores of the better country, the plump cows devour the ugly and thin. It is the very reverse of what we have seen. No matter how much pain and sorrow and loss and famine you have experienced, come to Jesus. He promises future years that swallow all sorrow.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4)
God’s warning: Continue to ignore Jesus Christ, continue to cling to your sins, and all your former joys will be utterly forgotten in an endless famine.
God’s welcome: Trust in Christ — his perfect life, his atoning death, his resurrection, and his soon return — and all your past griefs and pain and regrets shall be swallowed up by eternal life with him.
Desiring God