Dreams: Interpretation as Destiny Actuation: Joseph's brothers’ uncharitable interpretation of his dreams were self-fulfilling.
Joseph’s first dream [37:7] clearly did not necessarily mean what the brothers read into it, that they would eventually come to bow before him [37:8]
Just as translators actually are engaging in interpretation, and any reading of the Torah’s often ambiguous passages involves interpretation as well, the events in our lives, and their meanings are open to ‘interpretation’, with the interpretation we choose eventually affecting the actuality
Had the brothers been more open and less hateful, they would have understood the dream more charitably, and would not have eventually sold him. He would have arrived in Egypt somehow, not as a slave, and would have saved civilization and his family from famine without them having ever to bow to him. But their uncharitable interpretation caused a chain of events leading up to the eventual concretization of this very interpretation, so that they indeed ended up bowing to him [44:14].
After the first dream was interpreted as it was, the reality was set to some degree, and the second dream already reflected some of this new reality: now we see entities bowing to Joseph himself. And, it was the sun and moon and stars, potent symbols, which were doing so.
Joseph was able to rise above Fate and the stars and profitably manage the series of years of plenty and famine, but the brothers subjected themselves to the power of Fate by interpreting the dreams under the influence of their egos.
When the brothers later decided to kill him they said : “now we will see what will be of his dreams”: but Joseph was given the power to rise above plain destiny, whether his brothers tried to kill him or have him be a slave in a strange land for the rest of his life, or whether he would be framed and sent to prison, in every situation his destiny would be above that fated in any reading of the stars.
Since the stars symbolize also fate, their bowing to Joseph symbolized his ability not only to predict the future but also to use this knowledge of the future to overcome fate and change destiny.
Why Bother Sending Prophetic Dreams?
The dreams of Pharaoh’s ministers later on in the story did not help them in any way, since there was no way for them to know whether the interpretation was accurate until the events themselves unfolded, and in any case even if they believed the interpretation, how could they beneficially use this knowledge? In any event we’re not told that they benefited from the knowledge. But the purpose of their dreams was not for their benefit but rather to prove to the surviving minister that Joseph was capable of interpreting dreams, so that he would mention this to Pharaoh at the appropriate time.
Joseph’s reception of prophetic dreams had a purpose: the brothers were to have helped Joseph fulfill these dreams rather than attempt to foil them. The dreams were meant to test both Joseph and those around him: to see whether Joseph was sufficiently sensitive to the feelings of others to relate the dreams in a way that would not seem arrogant, and to test the reactions of the brothers.
The purpose of the second Dream
After the reaction of the brothers to the first dream, the second dream may have been a warning to them, it being influenced by their inappropriate interpretation of the first dream.
Life’s Ambiguous Challenges:
A psychology experiment testing people’s ability to cooperate will obtain the most accurate results when the subjects are not aware of what is really being tested – it may involve people who believe they are part of an experiment testing something else entirely. The same with divine challenges: it is not always easy to know what the test is, what the real event is, what is the challenge.
When God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, was the challenge that God was posing perhaps for Abraham to come up with a telling argument against child sacrifice, as he had tried to argue against the destruction of Sodom – perhaps God saw that he was a good defense attorney and wanted to see if Abraham would know how to refuse an immoral command. Or was the challenge to show that he believed fully in God’s promises regarding Isaac as the father of generations that he would not sacrifice Isaac – bringing him to sacrifice might indicate that he didn’t really believe in the promise. Abraham it seems correctly interpreted the challenge as being doing exactly what was requested without argument, but this would not necessarily have been clear to all (and maybe it WAS multiple choice, with several correct answers.)
The brothers and Joseph however did not respond correctly. The content of the dream referred to the future, and the brothers and Joseph related to it as though that was the essential element, but in actuality the entire purpose of sending the dreams may have been to test the reactions of the brothers and Joseph in the present.
Dreamland Causation
Previous to the Joseph story, his father Jacob/Yakov dreamed profusely, having various intriguing encounters with God - and even involved Lavan in a nocturnal divine encounter. Now it is Joseph’s turn to dream. And with him, the two ministers in jail, and then Pharaoh.
Joseph’s dreams land him in Egypt where the minister’s dream is the catalyst of Joseph’s interpetation of Pharaoh’s dream which leads to the fulfillment of Joseph’s original dream. And the dreams are fulfilled not according to some preordained fate, but rather according to the interpretation they were given.