41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt."
42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
43 and he made him to ride in his second chariot; and they cried before him, "Bow the knee!" Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt.
The signet ring that Pharaoh placed upon Joseph's hand represents authority, and the fine raiment with which he clothed Joseph symbolizes approval; that is, the ruling power of the body gives to the imagination authority and approval in both the internal and the external.
44 Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt."
When a person has developed the Joseph state of consciousness and can give vivid form to his ideas by using his imaginative faculty, he does not take his dreams or visions in a literal sense. He rather unclothes the dream of its form by using the same power that he has of clothing ideas with form. Then he clearly sees the idea hidden behind the forms and symbols of his dream. He knows that all forms represent ideas and is able to resolve the form back into the primal idea of Divine Mind. Thus, he is taught by Spirit more directly than is the ordinary individual. Spiritual Truth comes to him directly through an always open channel.
One of the surest proofs that you have opened yourself to Spirit is that you have symbolical dreams and can spiritually interpret them. Divine ideas are imaged in your placid soul like shadows on a quiet pool. You see them mentally and you may catch their import if you meditate patiently and persistently on the relation that each image or symbol bears to thought. Things are first ideas, then thoughts reduced in radiation to the plane of sense perception. When you still the senses you will begin to perceive the thoughts that are behind things. This may be a slow way, but it is a sure way to learn the language of mind, and in time it will enable you to translate all the shapes and forms you see on any plane of consciousness, into their corresponding thoughts. When this is accomplished you have become a Joseph and stand next to Yeshua, the Messiah.
45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.
Those who are wise will conserve this energy in the storehouse of the subconscious, because there is certain to be a reaction proportionate to action. The law holds good for every form of energy. When this generated force is properly conserved, the reaction is not felt. When we exalt the Joseph state of consciousness (as did Pharaoh) and let it rule in our body, Spirit will show us how to handle the situation. Then we shall make storage batteries of our "cities," which are the ganglionic centers of the body (Egypt). When Pharaoh gave Joseph the power and authority to do this conserving work, he changed his name to Zaphenath-paneah, a compound word meaning "savior of the universe," "sustainer of the life of the world," "governor of the district or place of stored-up life." This would clearly indicate that the body should be ruled over by the spiritually empowered imaginative faculty, working under the direction and by the power of Spirit.
46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went through all the land of Egypt.
Joseph was thirty years old when he began his great work in Egypt. At about that age a man completes a natural cycle in the evolution of his soul and is ready for an adventure into the spiritual. When the spiritually awakening man has reached this stage of development there is an increase of energy throughout the body. As we have previously noted, the imagination is the "increasing faculty" as well as the formative faculty.
The Hebrew meaning of the name Joseph is "YHVH shall increase." The great increase that comes at this period in his development lasts about seven years, or passes through seven stages of activity, symbolized in Pharaoh's dream by the seven fat kine and the seven full ears of corn.
47 During the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth abundantly,
48 and he gathered up all the food of the seven years when there was plenty in the land of Egypt, and stored up food in the cities; he stored up in every city the food from the fields around it.
49 And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.
50 Before the year of famine came, Joseph had two sons, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.
Asenath represents the Feminine or Love side of the natural man.
51 Joseph called the name of the first-born Manasseh, "For," he said, "Gods have made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house."
Two sons were born of this union, Manasseh (Understanding) is the firstborn.
The name Manasseh means "who makes to forget." Manasseh was the first son born to Joseph, who had a great deal to forget. Joseph needed to forget the wrong done him by his brothers, the temptation of Potiphar's wife, and the error of long imprisonment. Thus, Manasseh represents the understanding of how to use one's ability to forget or deny that which is no longer profitable to the man.
52 The name of the second he called Ephraim, "For Gods have made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."
The second son is Ephraim (Will).
The name Ephraim means "very fruitful." Ephraim represents the ability of man to add to his consciousness through the action of his Will whatever he may choose to affirm and to become fruitful in his thoughts even in the land of affliction.
53 The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to an end;
54 and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
The word famine implies extreme scarcity of food, reducing people to an extremity of hunger, of starvation. Here, Egypt (the subconscious), the storehouse of plenty, is the source from which all the surrounding countries (states of consciousness) come for sustenance when the outer man has exhausted his resources.
55 When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do."
The seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine show that the unregenerate man lives in a consciousness of duality, seeing good and evil, heat and cold, plenty and poverty, feast and famine; the spiritually empowered imagination (Joseph) sees all parts of life as One. He sees no lack but recognizes a coming consciousness of lack and relates it to the present consciousness of plenty, and by this unifying work he lays up a store of substance for future use.
56 So, when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
57 Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.
The imagination should rank high among all the faculties of man, for without its magic touch life would become flat, stale, and meaningless; but once imagination is awakened, man is filled with health, life, substance, and abundance.