slander he had uttered against his ten brethren. However,
he remained in prison two years longer. "Blessed is the
man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord,"
but Joseph had put his confidence in flesh and blood. He had
prayed the chief butler to have him in remembrance when
it should be well with him, and make mention of him unto
Pharaoh, and the butler forgot his promise, and therefore
Joseph had to stay in prison two years more than the years
originally allotted to him there.[154] The butler had not
forgotten
him intentionally, but it was ordained of God that
his memory should fail him. When he would say to himself,
If thus and so happens, I will remember the case of Joseph,
the conditions he had imagined were sure to be reversed, or
if he made a knot as a reminder, an angel came and undid
the knot, and Joseph did not enter his mind.[155]

But "the Lord setteth an end to darkness," and Joseph's
liberation was not delayed by a single moment beyond the
time decreed for it. God said, "Thou, O butler, thou didst
forget Joseph, but I did not," and He caused Pharaoh to
dream a dream that was the occasion for Joseph's release.[156]

In his dream Pharaoh saw seven kine, well-favored and
fat-fleshed, come up out of the Nile, and they all together
grazed peaceably on the brink of the river, In years when
the harvest is abundant, friendship reigns among men, and
love and brotherly harmony, and these seven fat kine stood
for seven such prosperous years. After the fat kine, seven
more came up out of the river, ill-favored and lean-