John Calvin Commentary Genesis 41:17

"And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the brink of the river:" — Genesis 41:17 (ASV)

In my dream. This whole account does not need to be explained, for Pharaoh only repeats what we have previously considered, with the addition that the lean cows, having devoured the fat ones, were not improved at all. By this, God intended to show that the famine would be so great that the people, instead of being nourished by the abundant food gathered together, would be starved and drag on a miserable existence.

Joseph, in answering that the two dreams were one, simply means that one and the same thing was shown to Pharaoh by two figures. But before he introduces his interpretation, he maintains that this is not a merely fleeting dream, but a divine oracle; for unless the vision had come from God, it would have been foolish to inquire anxiously what it meant.

Pharaoh, therefore, does not strive in vain here in seeking God’s counsel. The manner of speaking, however, should be noted, because Joseph does not merely say that God will foretell what may happen from some other source, but what He Himself is about to do.

Therefore, we infer that God does not lazily observe the random course of events, as most philosophers idly claim, but that He determines, according to His own will, what will happen. Therefore, in foretelling events, He does not give a response from the tables of fate, as the poets invent about their Apollo, whom they consider a prophet of events that are not in his own power, but declares that whatever will happen will be His own work.

So Isaiah, in order to ascribe to God alone the glory due to Him, attributes to Him both the revealing of future things and the governance of all events by His own authority (Isaiah 45:7). For he proclaims loudly that God is neither deceived, nor deceives, like the idols; and he declares that God alone is the author of good and evil, understanding by evil, adversity.

Therefore, unless we want to cast God down from His throne, we must grant Him His power of action, as well as His foreknowledge.

And this passage is especially worthy of note because, in all ages, many foolish people have attempted to rob God of half His glory. Now, as I have said, the same fabrication appeals to many philosophers because they think it absurd to ascribe to God whatever is done in the world, as if Scripture had truly declared in vain, his judgments are a great deep (Psalms 36:7).

But while they try to subject the works of God to the judgment of their own minds, having rejected His word, they prefer to believe Plato regarding celestial mysteries. “That God,” they say, “has foreknowledge of all things, does not involve the necessity of their occurrence:” as if we were indeed asserting that mere foreknowledge was the cause of things, instead of maintaining the connection established by Moses: that God foreknows future things because He had determined to do them. But they ignorantly and perversely separate God’s providence from His eternal counsel and His continual operation.

Above all, we should be fully convinced that whenever the earth is barren—whether frost, drought, hail, or anything else may be the cause—the whole result is directed by the counsel of God.