After Pharaoh’s advisors failed to satisfactorily interpret his dreams, Yosef was brought out of the dungeon and in front of Pharaoh. Yosef not only interprets the dream, but he also offers a plan how to mitigate the situation that the dream portends. Egypt must save up during the good years to prepare for the bad years, and a wise and discerning individual must be placed in charge of implementing this plan.
The pasuk says “And the matter found favor in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants.” (Bereishis 41:37). Consider the following two scenarios:
Scenario #1: A high-powered law firm is considering a tough case. All the partners are in the conference room trying to figure out what is the best legal approach to the case. They can’t figure out a good plan. Suddenly, the guy from the mail room walks into the conference room and hears the issue that the lawyers are discussing and makes a suggestion. The entire legal team of $650-an-hour lawyers unanimously say “You know what? This kid knows what he is talking about!”
Scenario #2: A group of medical specialists are trying to diagnose a patient and determine a course of treatment for a particularly mysterious illness. They don’t know what to do. Suddenly, an orderly who is merely trained to assist patients’ daily living activities walks in and suggests a plan for how to treat this patient. All the doctors are blown away by the suggestion, and they tell the orderly, “You know what? You may only have a grade school education, but you are right!”
The chances of either of these scenarios actually occurring is between zero and none. “I, the $650 an hour lawyer, should listen to this little kid from the mail room?” or “I, the great physician, am going to listen to an orderly?” People’s egos won’t let that happen. And yet the Torah says: “The matter found favor in Pharaoh’s eyes, and in the eyes of all his servants!”
Pharaoh’s advisors said: “This guy is right!” How did that happen? Yosef was a slave who spent the last who knows how many years in prison. Go to the detention center downtown. Yosef should have had as much credibility as any of those prisoners.
Yosef was aware of this challenge. Yosef knew that if he merely suggested an interpretation, no one would believe him. That is why Yosef added the other detail that the solution to this problem is “to get a wise and discerning individual and to give him the authority to implement this plan and to thereby become the viceroy to Pharaoh, the second most important person in the land of Egypt.” Every single advisor thought, “Who is this wise and discerning individual? Who is Pharaoh going to appoint?” Each advisor assumed that he would be chosen as the one. Consequently, they all agreed to Yosef’s plan.
The story was similar a thousand years later with Haman. “... And the king said to him, ‘What shall be done to the man whom the king wishes his welfare?’ And Haman said to himself ‘Who does the king wish to honor more than me?'” (Esther 6:6)
That is why Yosef not only explained the dream, but also suggested a solution for it. Who asked Yosef to advise Pharaoh? Yosef was asked to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, not tell Pharaoh what to do! The answer is that Yosef knew what he was up against. He understood that all of Pharaoh’s advisors were going to belittle his interpretations and reject anything he told Pharaoh. But once the advisors heard that this interpretation created an opportunity to be appointed CEO, every advisor thought to himself “Aha! I am CEO material!” (R’ Frand)
