Scripture Reference
Genesis 41:1-40 (NIV)
"When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.
He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good were growing on a single stalk. After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted - thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream.
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.
Then the chief cup bearer said to Pharaoh, 'Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. 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 dreams. And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged.'
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.
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.'
'I cannot do it,' Joseph replied to Pharaoh, 'but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.'
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows came up - scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first.
But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before. They I woke up.
In my dreams I also saw seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk. After them, seven other heads sprouted - withered and thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but none could explain it to me.'
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. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. 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.
'It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. The reasons 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.
'And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. 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. 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.'
The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. So Pharaoh asked them, 'Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?'
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. 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'."
Activity
When I was little, I always had a hard time envisioning the skinny cows eating the fat cows, so while telling the Bible story today, I'm going to illustrate it a little using sock puppets. We always seem to have extra socks (singles), so I'm going to choose one small sock and one big one to represent the types of cows. I'll use a permanent marker to draw on eyes and nose-hoses (two spots). On the smaller cow, I'll cut a small slit in the mouth. Then as I read/tell the story, I'll have the skinny cow gobble up the fat cow. (I'll use the slit in the small sock to pull in the larger sock until it can't be seen.)
How It Went
Both kids really enjoyed the illustration. Kiera knew what I had done right away, but Andrew looked and looked for the puppet of the big cow. He checked up my t-shirt sleeve, behind me, etc. It was fun to watch him try and figure it out!
Kiera immediately wanted to know what our activity for the night would be. I told her that we'd done an illustration tonight with the puppets, rather than an activity. She told me in no uncertain terms that would not be acceptable. She wanted to make cow masks!
Below is a picture of our cow masks and sock puppets. Looking at the puppets now that the lesson is done, I guess I should have given them ears to make them look a little more cow-like! The cow on the left is the larger one; it's a men's tube sock. The one on the right is an ankle sock - not tiny, but it has to be able to "eat" the other sock...
Kiera didn't want to do what I suggested. I would have rather made them into cows by taping spots on their clothing, making headbands with "ears", and maybe adding a paper cow-bell.
