Genesis 41:1

Observe, 1. The delay of Joseph's enlargement. It was not till the end of two full years (Gen 41:1); so long he waited after he had entrusted the chief butler with his case and began to have some prospect of relief. Note, We have need of patience, not only bearing, but waiting, patience. Joseph lay in prison until the time that his word came, Psa 105:19. There is a time set for the deliverance of God's people; that time will come, though it seem to tarry; and, when it comes, it will appear to have been the best time, and therefore we ought to wait for it (Hab 2:3), and not think two full years too long to continue waiting. 2. The means of Joseph's enlargement, which were Pharaoh's dreams, here related. If we were to look upon them as ordinary dreams, we might observe from them the follies and absurdities of a roving working fancy, how it represents to itself tame cows as beasts of prey (nay, more ravenous than any, eating up those of their own kind), and ears of corn as devouring one another. Surely in the multitude of dreams, nay, even in one dream, there are divers vanities, Ecc 5:7. Now that God no longer speaks to us in that way, I think it is no matter how little we either heed them or tell them. Foolish dreams related can make no better than foolish talk. But these dreams which Pharaoh dreamed carried their own evidence with them that they were sent of God; and therefore, when he awoke, his spirit was troubled, Gen 41:8. It cannot but put us into a concern to receive any extraordinary message from heaven, because we are conscious to ourselves that we have no reason to expect any good tidings thence. His magicians were puzzled, the rules of their art failed them: these dreams of Pharaoh, it seems, did not fall within the compass of them, so that they could not offer at the interpretation of them. This was to make Joseph's performance by the Spirit of God the more admirable. Human reason, prudence, and foresight, must be nonplussed, that divine revelation may appear the more glorious in the contrivance of our redemption, Co1 2:13, Co1 2:14. Compare with this story, Dan 2:27; Dan 4:7; Dan 5:8. Joseph's own dreams were the occasion of his troubles, and now Pharaoh's dreams were the occasion of his enlargement.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Gen 41:1 And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.

Ver. 1. At the end of two full years.] After the butler was restored; by whose intercession Joseph hoped to have been presently delivered, but was fairly deceived. So are all such sure to be, as depend upon living men (never true to them that trust in them) or deceased saints to intercede for them to God. Deus O. M. pro ineffabili sua clementia dignetur, et in Tosterum Divo Kiliano intercessore, Amplitudinem tuam contra fidei et Ecclesiae hostes tueri fortiter, et fovere suaviter, saith Eckius, in a certain Espistle {a} to a Popish bishop. Such a prayer begs nothing but a denial, with a curse to boot.

{a} Epist. dedicat. ad Episcop. Herbipolens .

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

- Joseph Was Exalted

1. יאר ye'or, “river, canal,” mostly applied to the Nile. Some suppose the word to be Coptic.

2. אחוּ 'āchû, “sedge, reed-grass, marsh-grass.” This word is probably Coptic.

8. חרטמים charṭumı̂ym, ἐξηγηταὶ exēgētai, ἱερογραμματεῖς hierogrammateis, “sacred scribes, hieroglyphs.” חרט chereṭ “stylus,” a graving tool.

43. אברך 'abrēk “bend the knee.” In this sense it is put for הברך habrēk imperative hiphil of ברך bārak. Those who take the word to be Coptic render it variously - “bow all, bow the head, cast thyself down.”

45. פענח צפנת tsāpenat-pa‛nēach, Tsaphenath-pa‘neach, in the Septuagint ψονθομ-φανήχ Psonthom-Fanēch. “Revelator occulti,” Kimchi. This is founded on an attempted Hebrew derivation. Σωτήρ κόσμου Sōtēr kosmou in Oxford MS., “servator mundi,” Jerome. These point to a Coptic origin. Recent Egyptologists give P-sont-em-ph-anh, “the-salvation-of-the-life or world.” This is a high-flowing title, in keeping with Eastern phraseology. אסנת 'âsnath, Asenath, perhaps belonging to Neith, or worshipper of Neith, a goddess corresponding to Athene of the Greeks. פוטי פרע pôṭı̂y-pera‛, Potiphera‘, seems to be a variation of פוטיפר Pôṭı̂yphar, Potiphar Gen 37:36. אן 'ôn or און 'ôn, On =Oein, “light, sun;” on the monuments TA-RA, “house of the sun.” ביתשׁמשׁ bêyth shemesh, Jer 43:13, Heliopolis, north of Memphis, on the east bank of the Nile.

51. מנשׁה menasheh, Menasheh, “causing to forget.”

52. אפרים 'eprâyı̂m Ephraim, “double fruit.”

Here we have the double dream of Pharaoh interpreted by Joseph, in consequence of which he is elevated over all the land of Egypt.

Gen 41:1-8

The dreams are recited. “By the river.” In the dream Pharaoh supposes himself on the banks of the Nile. “On rite green.” The original word denotes the reed, or marsh grass, on the banks of the Nile. The cow is a very significant emblem of fruitful nature among the Egyptians, the hieroglyphic symbol of the earth and of agriculture; and the form in which Isis the goddess of the earth was adored. “Dreamed a second time.” The repetition is designed to confirm the warning given, as Joseph afterward explains Gen 41:32. Corn (grain) is the natural emblem of fertility and nurture. “Blasted with the east wind The east wind”. The east wind is any wind coming from the east of the meridian, and may be a southeast or a northeast, as well as a direct east. The Hebrews were accustomed to speak only of the four winds, and, therefore, must have used the name of each with great latitude. The blasting wind in Egypt is said to be usually from the southeast. “And, behold, it was a dream.” The impression was so distinct as to be taken for the reality, until he awoke and perceived that it was only a dream. “His spirit was troubled.” Like the officers in the prison Gen 40:6, he could not get rid of the feeling that the twofold dream portended some momentous event. “The scribes” - the hieroglyphs, who belonged to the priestly caste, and whose primary business was to make hieroglyphic and other inscriptions; while they were accustomed to consult the stars, interpret dreams, practise soothsaying, and pursue the other occult arts. The sages; whose chief business was the cultivation of the various arts above mentioned, while the engraving or inscribing department strictly belonged to the hieroglyphs or scribes. “His dream;” the twofold dream. “Interpreted them” - the two dreams.

Gen 41:9-13

The chief butler now calls Joseph to mind, and mentions his gift to Pharaoh. “My sins.” His offence against Pharaoh. His ingratitude in forgetting Joseph for two years does not perhaps occur to him as a sin. “A Hebrew lad.” The Egyptians were evidently well acquainted with the Hebrew race, at a time when Israel had only a family. “Him he hanged.” The phrase is worthy of note, as a specimen of pithy brevioquence. Him he declared that the dream foreboded that Pharaoh would hang.

Gen 41:14-24

Pharaoh sends for Joseph, who is hastily brought from the prison. “He shaved.” The Egyptians were accustomed to shave the head and beard, except in times of mourning (Herod. 2:32). “Canst hear a dream to interpret it” - needest only to hear in order to interpret it. “Not I God shall answer.” According to his uniform habit Joseph ascribes the gift that is in him to God. “To the peace of Pharaoh” - so that Pharaoh may reap the advantage. In form. This takes the place of “in look,” in the former account. Other slight variations in the terms occur. “And they went into them” - into their stomachs.

Gen 41:25-36

Joseph now proceeds to interpret the dream, and offer counsel suitable to the emergency. “What the God is about to do.” The God, the one true, living, eternal God, in opposition to all false gods. “And because the dream was repeated.” This is explained to denote the certainty and immediateness of the event. The beautiful elucidation of the dream needs no comment. Joseph now naturally passes from the interpreter to the adviser. He is all himself on this critical occasion. His presence of mind never forsakes him. The openness of heart and readiness of speech, for which he was early distinguished, now stand him in good stead. His thorough self-command arises from spontaneously throwing himself, with all his heart, into the great national emergency which is before his mind. And his native simplicity of heart, practical good sense, anti force of character break forth into unasked, but not unaccepted counsel. “A man discreet” - intelligent, capable of understanding the occasion; wise, prudent, capable of acting accordingly. “Let Pharaoh proceed” - take the following steps: “Take the fifth” of the produce of the land. “Under the hand of Pharaoh.” Under his supreme control.

The measures here suggested to Pharaoh were, we must suppose in conformity with the civil institutions of the country. Thee exaction of a fifth, or two tithes, during the period of plenty, may have been an extraordinary measure, which the absolute power of the monarch enabled him to enforce for the public safety. The sovereign was probably dependent for his revenues on the produce of the crown lands, certain taxes on exports or imports, and occasional gifts or forced contributions from his subjects. This extraordinary fifth was, probably, of the last description, and was fully warranted by the coming emergency. The “gathering up of all the food” may imply that, in addition to the fifth, large purchases of corn were made by the government out of the surplus produce of the country.

Gen 41:37-46

Pharaoh approves of his counsel, and selects him as “the discreet and wise man” for carrying it into effect. “In whom is the Spirit of God.” He acknowledges the gift that is in Joseph to be from God. “All my people behave” - dispose or order their conduct, a special meaning of this word, which usually signifies to kiss. “His ring.” His signet-ring gave Joseph the delegated power of the sovereign, and constituted him his prime minister or grand vizier. “Vestures of fine linen.” Egypt was celebrated for its flax, and for the fineness of its textures. The priests were arrayed in official robes of linen, and no man was allowed to enter a temple in a woolen garment (Herodotus ii. 37, 81). “A gold chain about his neck.” This was a badge of office worn in Egypt by the judge and the prime minister. It had a similar use in Persia and Babylonia Dan 5:7. “The second chariot.” Egypt was noted for chariots, both for peaceful and for warlike purposes (Herodotus ii. 108). The second in the public procession was assigned to Joseph. “Bow the knee.” The various explications of this proclamation agree in denoting a form of obeisance, with which Joseph was to be honored. I am Pharaoh, the king Gen 12:15. “Without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot.” Thou art next to me, and without thee no man shall act or move. “Zaphenath-paneah.” Pharaoh designates him the preserver of life, as the interpreter of the dream and the proposer of the plan by which the country was saved from famine. He thus naturalizes him so far as to render his civil status compatible with his official rank. “Asenath.” The priests were the highest and most privileged class in Egypt. Intermarriage with this caste at once determined the social position of the wonderous foreigner. His father-in-law was priest of On, a city dedicated to the worship of the sun.

With our Western and modern habit we may at the first glance be surprised to find a stranger of a despised race suddenly elevated to the second place in the kingdom. But in ancient and Eastern governments, which were of a despotic character, such changes, depending on the will of the sovereign, were by no means unusual. Secondly, the conviction that “the Spirit of God was in” the mysterious stranger, was sufficient to overbear all opposing feelings or customs. And, lastly, it was assumed and acted on, as a self-evident fact, that the illustrious stranger could have no possible objection to be incorporated into the most ancient of nations, and allied with its noblest families. We may imagine that Joseph would find an insuperable difficulty in becoming a citizen of Egypt or a son-in-law of the priest of the sun. But we should not forget that the world was yet too young to have arrived at the rigid and sharplydefined systems of polytheism or allotheism to which we are accustomed. Some gray streaks of a pure monotheism, of the knowledge of the one true God, still gleamed across the sky of human memory. Some faint traces of one common brotherhood among mankind still lingered in the recollections of the past. The Pharaoh of Abraham’s day feels the power of him whose name is Yahweh Gen 12:17. Abimelek acknowledges the God of Abraham and Isaac Gen 20:3-7; Gen 21:22-23; Gen 26:28-29. And while Joseph is frank and faithful in acknowledging the true God before the king of Egypt, Pharaoh himself is not slow to recognize the man in whom the Spirit of God is. Having experienced the omniscience and omnipotence of Joseph’s God, he was prepared, no doubt, not only himself to offer him such adoration as he was accustomed to pay to his national gods, but also to allow Joseph full liberty to worship the God of his fathers, and to bring up his family in that faith.

Joseph was now in his thirtieth year, and had consequently been thirteen years in Egypt, most part of which interval he had probably spent in prison. This was the age for manly service Num 4:3. He immediately enters upon his office.

Gen 41:47-49

The fulfillment of the dream here commences. “By handfuls.” Not in single stalks or grains, but in handfuls compared with the former yield. It is probable that a fifth of the present unprecedented yield was sufficient for the sustenance of the inhabitants. Another fifth was rendered to the government, and the remaining three fifths were stored up or sold to the state or the foreign broker at a low price. “He left numbering because there was no number.” This denotes that the store was immense, and not perhaps that modes of expressing the number failed.

Gen 41:50-52

Two sons were born to Joseph during the seven years of plenty. “Menasseh.” God made him forget his toil and his father’s house. Neither absolutely. He remembered his toils in the very utterance of this sentence. And he tenderly and intensely remembered his father’s house. But he is grateful to God, who builds him a home, with all its soothing joys, even in the land of his exile. His heart again responds to long untasted joys. “Fruitful in the land of my affliction.” It is still, we perceive, the land of his affliction. But why does no message go from Joseph to his mourning father? For many reasons. First, he does not know the state of things at home. Secondly, he may not wish to open up the dark and bloody treachery of his brothers to his aged parent. But, thirdly, he bears in mind those early dreams of his childhood. All his subsequent experience has confirmed him in the belief that they will one day be fulfilled. But that fulfillment implies the submission not only of his brothers, but of his father. This is too delicate a matter for him to interfere in. He will leave it entirely to the all-wise providence of his God to bring about that strange issue. Joseph, therefore, is true to his life-long character. He leaves all in the hand of God, and awaits in anxious, but silent hope, the days when he will see his father and his brethren.

Gen 41:53-57

The commencement and the extent of the famine are now noted. “As Joseph had said.” The fulfillment is as perfect in the one part as in the other. “In all the lands” - all the lands adjacent to Egypt; such as Arabia and Palestine. The word all in popular discourse is taken in a relative sense, to be ascertained by the context. We are not aware that this famine was felt beyond the distance of Hebron. “Go unto Joseph” Pharaoh has had reason to trust Joseph more and more, and now he adheres to his purpose of sending his people to him. “All the face of the land of Egypt.” “And Joseph opened all places in which there was food” - all the stores in every city. “And sold unto Mizaim.” The stores under Pharaoh’s hand were public property, obtained either by lawful taxation or by purchase. It was a great public benefit to sell this grain, that had been providently kept in store, at a moderate price, and thus preserve the lives of a nation during a seven years’ famine. “All the land.” This is to be understood of the countries in the neighborhood of Egypt. Famines in these countries were not unusual. We have read already of two famines in Palestine that did not extend to Egypt Gen 12:10; Gen 26:1.

The fertility of Egypt depends on the rise of the waters of the Nile to a certain point, at which they will reach all the country. If it fall short of that point, there will be a deficiency in the crops proportioned to the deficiency in the rise. The rise of the Nile depends on the tropical rains by which the lake is supplied from which it flows. These rains depend on the clouds wafted by the winds from the basin of the Mediterranean Sea. The amount of these piles of vapor will depend on the access and strength of the solar heat producing evaporation from the surface of that inland sea. The same cause, therefore, may withhold rain from central Africa, and from all the lands that are watered from the Mediterranean. The duration of the extraordinary plenty was indeed wonderful. But such periods of excess are generally followed by corresponding periods of deficiency over the same area. This prepares the way for the arrival of Joseph’s kindred in Egypt.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Gen_41:1-8

Pharaoh dreamed

Pharaohs dream

I.

THAT APPARENTLY INSIGNIFICANT EVENTS MAY OFTEN GROW INTO AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE WORLDS HISTORY.

II. THAT GOD CHOOSES THE INSTRUMENTS OF REVELATION ACCORDING TO HIS OWN GOOD PLEASURE.

III. THAT GOD CAN SUDDENLY ARREST THE ATTENTION OF THOSE WHO ARE THE FARTHEST REMOVED FROM EVERY EARTHLY FEAR. (T. H. Leale)

Pharaohs dream and its interpretation

I. THE SUMMONING OF JOSEPH TO INTERPRET PHARAOHS DREAM.

1. The long waiting of Joseph before he attained his emancipation.

2. The wisdom of this delay in respect of Josephs circumstances.

3. Pharaohs prophetic dream.

4. The chief butlers forgetfulness.

II. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE DREAM.

1. The graceful way in which Joseph refers all to God.

2. Josephs calmness, produced by the consciousness of Gods presence.

3. Josephs plan in the interpretation of the dream. It was simply a providential foresight for the future. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

The dream of Pharaoh

1. The dream was formed of elements with which the dreamer was somewhat familiar.

2. The dream was a Divine communication to the mind of a heathen.

3. The dream brought trouble into the heart of a monarch.

4. The dream could only be interpreted by a devout Theist.

I. THE REVOLUTIONS OF PROVIDENCE. Alternations mark the earthly history of the human world.

1. They tend to promote our spiritual discipline.

2. They remind us of the activity of God.

3. They tend to inspire us with a sense of our dependence upon

Him.

4. This method tends, moreover, to give a meaning to the Bible.

5. This method often prepares the mind to receive the truths of the Bible.

II. THE ADVANTAGES OF WISDOM.

1. It invested Joseph with a chastened humility of soul.

2. It enabled Joseph to solve the distressing inquiries of the monarch.

3. It exalted Joseph to supremacy in the kingdom.

III. THE DUTY OF RULERS. They should be--

1. Philanthropic.

2. Forecasting.

3. Economical.

Lessons:

1. How great is the Governor of the world.

2. How worthless the world is without religion.

3. How important to be in fellowship with the great God. (Homilist.)

An episode in a nations history

Imperfect as human monarchs are, and sometimes corrupt, they are beneficial to society. A government must be very rotten if it is not better than anarchy. Hence, for the most part, God designs to act through kings, and permits them to be His ministers. God has a secret to make known to Egypt, viz., tidings of approaching scarcity; and since Pharaoh is on the throne, the communication shall be made to him.

I. A MAN-MADE KING IS, AT THE BEST, IMPOTENT.

1. A dream is enough to terrify him. Yet is not this cowardly? Why should the great Pharaoh be alarmed by a night-vision? Has he not an enormous army at his back? Ah, verily, there is another Power, active, mightier, more august, hedging him on every side! What if this strange Power should be unfriendly! No wonder that Pharaohs knees tremble. He is like a fly upon the unseen mechanism of the universe. He is but a waif upon the stormy Atlantic. What is this all-surrounding Power? Possibly it may be God!

2. Further, he is a very dependent man. He cannot do without astrologers, magicians, butlers, and bakers. No; it would not do for the king to be independent. The temptation to play the tyrant would be irresistible. He is only one part of the social system, though it may be the most prominent.

3. The king is dependent upon the most obscure in his kingdom. On an imprisoned slave Pharaoh and all Egypt have to depend. Verily nobleness and worth may be found in the lowliest lot!

II. THE RING IS AN ALLY OF GOD.

1. Josephs first utterance was to acknowledge God. In substance he says, I am powerless; God can meet the case. Hers was a great opportunity for ostentation, self-display. His bearing is calm, princely, royal. Of himself he can do nothing; but he has brought the true God into court, and with God nothing is impossible.

2. This was an act of heroic faith. Joseph stood alone in that awestruck assembly. Magnates, officers, stewards, magicians, all were worshippers of Egypts countless idols. To disparage the ancient idols, powerful for long ages, were perilous to a young man and a foreigner.

III. THE REAL KING IS TRAINED IN ADVERSITY.

1. It is clear that Joseph was master of the situation. Etymologically, the word king means the man that knows. It was this that made Elijah great and powerful in the face of idolatrous Israel. This gave Daniel sovereign influence in the Chaldean court. This made Luther a monarch among men. Them that honour Me, I will honour.

2. For this royal position Joseph had been skilfully trained.

IV. THE REAL KING IS SUPREME IN EVERY EMERGENCY. Most sailors can steer the ship in fine weather; it requires a real pilot to steer safely through a storm. Pharaoh might do well enough at the helm of affairs, so long as harvests were copious, and the nation was well fed. But in presence of a night-vision, Pharaoh lost his balance; in presence of a famine, Pharaoh was staggered. (J. Dickerson Davies, M. A.)

Kine and corn

I. THE VICISSITUDES OF LIFE. Prosperity and adversity succeed each other. Life generally is as variable as an April day. If a man has seven years of uninterrupted happiness, he must not expect that it will continue much longer. The most prosperous men are liable to surprises. Families that have for years been free from sickness or bereavemant may suddenly be overshadowed by the angel of death. Hopes may be blighted when they are near fulfilment, and pleasure may be followed by severe and protracted trial.

II. THE OVER-RULING PROVIDENCE OF GOD. Whatever may be the opinions held by some, we say unhesitatingly that God has the affairs of all nations and of all men under His immediate control; that He gives or withholds, as seemeth good unto Him, but always in a way consistent with human freedom. And He invites our confidence.

III. THE DUTY OF USING THE PRESENT WELL. Although we are not to be overanxious about the future, we are not to disregard it altogether. We cannot tell what demands may be made upon our resources. We must provide, as far as possible, against sickness and adversity. We must not ignore the claims of others. (F. J. Austin.)

A perplexing dream

This dream will appear to many but a jumble of incoherent ideas, which no wise man would retain in his memory. What other man ever thought, even in a dream, of kine, or of ears of corn, eating one another? Yet it is certain that this dream came from God, and that it was an intimation of future events, of exceedingly important consequence, both to the Egyptian nation, and to all the neighboring nations, and even to the church of God. Gods ways are not as our ways, nor ought we to measure His providential administration by our own rules. He discovers His mind in the manner best fitted to serve His purpose. It was not the will of God that Pharaoh should understand his own dream, till it was explained by a heaven-taught interpreter. If the meaning had been so plain, that it could have been explained by the wise men of Egypt, the design for which it was sent to Pharaoh would not have been gained. It was for Josephs sake, and for the sake of his fathers house, that Pharaoh dreamed, and that his dream required such an interpreter as Joseph. There are dreams and visions recorded in many places of the Bible, that appear to our narrow minds as dark as this dream of Pharaoh. God hath His reasons for choosing to deliver many parts of his mind in dark figures, which we would need a Joseph to interpret. But to allege that any part of Scripture ought to have been plainer than it is, would be daringly presumptuous. Every part of it was dictated to the holy men of God by that wisdom which cannot err. Every censure of the Divine wisdom must he folly and blasphemy. The darkest portion of Scripture was not written in vain. (G. Lawson, D. D.)

Importance attached to dreams

It cannot be surprising that men in all ages and countries should have attached a great importance to dreams. When the functions of the soul seem fettered, and the images of the mind appear dissolved in floating phantoms, it was thought that the direct interference of the Deity alone could give strength and direction to the relaxed faculties; that if in such a state distinct and clearly circumscribed forms were perceived, they must have a higher tendency; and that their meaning is as mysterious as their origin is supernatural. Eastern nations especially, endowed as they are with a luxurious imagination, and carried away by a love of symbolism, searched the import of dreams with eager and serious anxiety. The Egyptians and Chaldeans were foremost in the cultivation of this branch of knowledge; they developed the explanation of dreams into a complete science; the interpreters of dreams were held in the most distinguished honour; they were regarded as being favoured with the highest order of wisdom, and even with divine inspiration; they surrounded the throne of the king, accompanied the expedition of the general, and often exercised a decisive influence in the most important deliberations. But the Greeks and Romans were not less scrupulous in this respect. That dreams come from Jupiter, is a maxim already pronounced by Homer; but they were considered significant only if occurring in the last third of the night, when dawn is near; persons in distress or difficulties slept in temples, in the hope of obtaining prophetic dreams which might indicate the means of rescue; men afflicted with illness especially resorted to this expedient, in the belief that AEsculapius would reveal to them the proper remedies; and Alexander the Great actually fancied he saw, in a dream, the herb which cured the wound of Ptolemy, his friend and relation. But how deeply the faith in the reality of dreams were rooted among the ancient nations is manifest from She views entertained by the Hebrews on this subject. Dreams grew in importance among the Hebrews in the course of centuries, and after the Babylonian captivity they were classified in a complete system; they were regarded either as auspicious or ominous; harassing or frightful visions were expiated by fasts and prayer; and Philo wrote an elaborate treatise, in two books, to prove that dreams are sent by God. It could not fail, that these decided notions, on a subject so vague and uncertain, caused serious abuses, chiefly from two sides; from weak-minded dreamers, who were often tortured by visionary misfortunes, and from cunning interpreters, who knew how to take advantages of such imbecility; but sometimes, also, from wicked schemers, who made real or pretended dreams the pretext of base and selfish plans; as Flavius Josephus did, when, by treachery and cowardice, he saved his life by passing over into the camp of the enemies. Jesus Sirach, therefore, though acknowledging that some dreams are sent by God, censured severely the folly of attributing weight to all; he impressed upon his readers that many dreams are idle and empty, like the wind and the shadow, a delusion to the fool, and a phantom of deceitful hope; just as Artabanus had, long before, said to king Xerxes: The visions of dreams are not Divine; they most commonly hover around men respecting things which engaged their thoughts during the day; although the superstition of his time is reflected in the legend which he narrated, how he yet was forced to acknowledge the awful sanctity of dreams. Nor has the interest in dreams ceased since that time; they have occupied the pen of many a modern psychologist; they have given rise to some of the most beautiful works, replete with profound thought and shrewd observation; and the peculiar mystery which surrounds those remarkable phenomena, too aerial to permit of the rigid analysis of the philosopher or the man of science, will always exercise an excusable charm over the human mind. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 41:1. At the end of two full years — After the butler’s restoration to his place. No doubt Joseph was some considerable time in prison before the keeper of the prison would so far trust him as to commit the other prisoners, especially the state prisoners, to his charge; and he was some time confined with them. Yet two years more pass away before his deliverance came. By this great and long-continued humiliation and trial, he was prepared for the extraordinary exaltation which God designed for him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Dreams of Pharaoh and the Advancement of Joseph

1. Pharaoh] It is believed that a dynasty of Asiatic (perhaps Bedouin) conquerors, known as the Hyksôs or Shepherd kings, were now in power in Egypt. Their rule lasted for 500 years, until 1700 or 1600 b.c., when a native Nubian dynasty from Thebes expelled the invaders. The court was at Zoan on the eastern frontier of Egypt. The elevation of Joseph to an almost royal position, and the welcome extended to his kinsmen, were natural at the hands of a dynasty who were Asiatic like himself, but very improbable had a native dynasty who hated foreigners been in power: see on Exo_1:8.

1. The river] Heb. Yeor, i.e. the Nile. As is generally known, the fertility of Egypt depends entirely upon the amount of water which overflows the banks when the Nile is at its highest. Without that river the land would be a desert, the rainfall being extremely slight.

In recent years great improvements have been made for maintaining the water at a normal height always. Large 'barrages' or dams have been erected at Assouan, by the island of Philoe, for this purpose. The artificial irrigation of Egypt is alluded to in Deu_11:10, where see note.

2, 3. The seven well favoured kine] coming up out of the Nile signified an abundant over-flow for seven years and consequent plenty for Egypt, but the ill favoured ones the reverse.

Meadow] RV 'reed grass' which grows by the Nile.

5. Seven ears.. upon one stalk] This many-eared wheat is still grown in Egypt. Specimens have been found in mummy cases of very early periods.

6. The east wind] the parching SE. wind from the desert; see on Exo_10:21.

8. Magicians] RM 'sacred scribes.' They were the literary caste of Egypt, writing the hieroglyphics, or sacred writings, and learned in the interpretation of dreams and astrology. They attended at the Court of the Pharaohs, and their duty was 'to guide every act of the king's life, and to interpret the will of the gods as shown in visions, omens, or signs in the heavens. They did not affect to speak by direct inspiration in giving their interpretations, but confined themselves to consulting the holy books and to performing magical rites '(Geikie). See on Exo_7:11.

14. He shaved himself] so as to be ceremonially clean in Pharaoh's presence, a distinctively Egyptian trait. 'The Hebrews regarded their beard with peculiar pride, cultivated it with care, touched it at supplications, often swore by it, and deemed its mutilation an extreme ignominy: hence, in mourning, they shaved their beards and hair' (Kalisch). The Egyptians, on the other hand, never allowed the hair to grow unless they were in mourning, or prisoners, or belonged to the poorer classes. To be shaved was regarded as essential to ceremonial purity, as well as to cleanliness: see on Exo_8:16. The great beards and head-dresses with which Egyptian kings are represented on the monuments are artificial. There is an ancient Egyptian wig in the British Muséum, and the strap by which the beard was held on the chin may be observed on the monuments.

16. Render, 'It is not I but God who will answer what will profit Pharaoh.'

25. The dream of Pharaoh is one] i.e. both dreams have the same significance. The narrative here is a striking fulfilment of the words in Gen_39:2, 'The Lord was with Joseph.'

34. Joseph's suggestion was that a fifth part of the corn crop should be required of the people for the next seven years to be stored up by the government; this would keep a quantity in the. country which would otherwise have been sold to other lands. The corn tax was already an important part of Egyptian revenue, and its increase in years of such abundant plenty would be no hardship.

38. Pharaoh felt that Joseph's wisdom had a divine source.

40. Pharaoh makes Joseph his grand vizier or prime minister, only reserving to himself the supreme authority.

42. Ring.. vestures.. chain] 'The speculative mind of the Oriental invests everything with a symbolical significance '(Kalisch). The ring was Pharaoh's signet or seal, showing that Joseph was invested with full power as to edicts and commands. The king and the priestly order only wore the finest linen vestures. The chain round the neck from which the scarabæus, or beetle, the emblem of immortality, was suspended, was also a mark of rank.

43. They cried] i.e. the grooms who ran before the chariot, as is done to the present day in Egypt. Bow the knee] Abrek, the word used here, is still the cry to the camel to kneel.

44. The exaltation of Joseph, who was a Hebrew, is less remarkable if the Pharaohs of this period were themselves of Asiatic descent. See on Gen_41:1.

45. Zaphnaph-paaneah] meaning, perhaps, 'God, the Living One, has spoken.' It is a word of Egyptian origin, but not found earlier than the 9th cent. b.c. Asenath] 'One belonging to the goddess Neith, the Egyptian Minerva, goddess of wisdom.' Poti-pherah] 'One given by Ra the sun-god.' On] or Heliopolis, 'city of the sun,' was 7 m. NE. of Cairo. It was the centre of the sun (Ra) worship. A great granite obelisk of the twelfth dynasty is all that remains standing of the temple of the sun, but a similar monolith known as 'Cleopatra's needle 'was brought from Alexandria to London in 1878, and erected on the Thames embankment. It had originally been one of the obelisks at Heliopolis. It is held that these obelisks were the symbol of Ra, the fertilising sun-god. In Jer_43:13; On is called Beth-shemesh, 'house of the sun.' This marriage, no doubt, exalted Joseph in the eyes of the Egyptians, but there is abundant evidence that he did not forsake the faith of his fathers on account of these new ties.

46. Thirty years old] he was seventeen when sold into Egypt (Gen_37:2).

51, 52. Manasseh] 'causing to forget.' Ephraim] 'fruitful.' The first name suggests that Joseph felt in his present prosperity compensation for his early trials.

54. Seven years of dearth] A similar visitation took place between the years 1064-1071 a.d., and this also was caused through the failure of the Nile. There is a record on the monuments of a great famine in Egypt 3000 b.c. In Canaan such a scarcity would be due to insufficient rainfall.

56. Over all the face of the earth] an expression for the countries near Egypt, such as Arabia, Palestine, and parts of Africa. And Joseph opened all the storehouses] Dr. Brugsch has discovered a tomb at El-Kab with an inscription which very possibly refers to this famine. Its occupant seems to have been one of the distributors of corn during the famine years. The following extract refers to it: 'I collected the harvest, for I was a friend of the harvest god. I was watchful at the time of sowing, and now when a famine came lasting many years I issued corn to the city to each hungry person.'

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE DREAMS OF PHARAOH, Gen_41:1-8.

1. Two full years — Hebrews, two years of days. Comp. Gen_29:14. This may mean two years from the date of Joseph’s imprisonment, or from the date of the butler’s release. More naturally it would mean the latter, as being the thing last mentioned.

The river — Hebrews, היאר, the yeor, an Egyptian word, and used in the Pentateuch always of the Nile. It was suitable that the dream-vision of Pharaoh should be associated with the sacred river, which was to Egypt the source of fertility and life.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Gen_41:1. The river.] So the Nile is called, by way of emphasis in the Old Testament when the scene is laid in Egypt.

Gen_41:6. Blasted with the east wind.] “The east wind here is the Chamsia from the south-east or desert of Arabia. It withers every green thing if it continues to blow any time,”—(Jacobus.)—

Gen_41:8. The magicians.] “The scribes, the hieroglyphs, who belonged to the priestly caste, and whose primary business was to make hieroglyphic and other inscriptions; while they were wont to consult the stars, interpret dreams, practise sooth-saying, and pursue the other occult arts. The wise men. The sages, whose chief business was the cultivation of the various arts above mentioned, while the engraving or inscribing department strictly belonged to the hieroglyphs or scribes.”—(Murphy)—

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_41:1-8

PHARAOH’S DREAM

Pharaoh’s dream illustrates the following principles and truths:—

I. That apparently insignificant events may often grow into an important part of the world’s history. Who would have thought, before the event, that this strange dream would have had any important bearing on the history of the world! Yet we know that it stands connected with the highest interests of the human race. It led to the preservation of Israel and of Egypt. It educated the people of God for the peculiar position which they were to occupy in the history of redemption. The links of the chain were these: It was not God’s will that Pharaoh should understand his dream till it was explained to him by a heaven-taught interpreter. Had the meaning of it been so clear that the wise men of Egypt could not have failed to interpret it, the very purpose for which the dream was granted would have been defeated. Then Joseph comes to the front, and is found to be the man for the times. Both the Egyptians and the Israelites by his means are preserved. A position and persistent endurance are thus given to that family out of which redemption is to spring.

II. That God chooses the instruments of revelation according to His own good pleasure. Israel, of old, was the chosen home of revelation, yet God sometimes made known His will to men of other nations. Pharaoh’s dream was certainly prophetic, and there is no question but that dreams like this have been vouchsafed to many outside the chosen family. God gave this dream to a heathen man. Even the possession of the gift of prophecy does not of necessity imply superior religious knowledge, or the holiness of the prophet’s character. Balaam had the gift of prophecy, and spake the words of God, as well as Isaiah. There may be gifts where there are few or no graces. This heathen king is made to serve God by becoming an unconscious and unwilling instrument of His will. (Pro_21:1.) Such were the high priests in the days of our Lord.

III. That God can suddenly arrest the attention of those who are the farthest removed from every earthly fear. Pharaoh was absolute lord of the nation, yet “his spirit was troubled.” The common people were superstitious in regard to dreams and omens, but his princely education would surely place him above the credulous fears of the vulgar! Yet, God suddenly arrests the attention of this man by a remarkable dream. Pharaoh could afford to laugh at vulgar prejudices and superstitions, but now strange misgivings and terrors from, he knows not whence, arise within him. Thus there is a power above us which can tame the greatest of earth’s sons. Think of the courage and daring of Nebuchadnezzar, yet God could make him afraid like a grasshopper by the visions which he had upon his bed.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Gen_41:1. Two years of imprisonment will appear a much longer time to one who has not learned to bear the evils of life with an uncommon degree of fortitude. In fact, it is not so much the intenseness of our trials as the duration of them that is the greatest test of our patience. Even those who have been taught of God are strongly tempted under long-continued afflictions to weary of the Lord’s correction.—(Bush.)

Joseph’s exaltation was accomplished by his innocent sufferings and his good conduct. (Php_2:6.) Carried out by God’s grace and wisdom as a divine miracle in His special providence. Its principal object, the preservation of Israel and of many nations. Its further object, Israel’s education in Egypt. Its imperishable aim, the glory of God, and the education of the people of God by means of the fundamental principle: through humiliation to exaltation. Its typical significance. The seal of Israel’s guidance in Egypt, of the guidance of all the faithful, of the guidance of Christ as the model of our divine instruction.—(Lange.)

Whom God means to raise to honour, He suffers to remain, for a time, under the cross.—(Cramer.)

Gen_41:2. The cow is a very significant emblem of fruitful nature among the Egyptians, the hieroglyphic symbol of the earth and of agriculture; and the form in which Isis, the goddess of the earth, was adored.—(Murphy.)

Gen_41:3-4. These, by their leanness, portended drought and dearth, though they came up out of Nilus also. This river, when it overflows unto twelve cubits’ height only, causeth famine; when to thirteen, scarcity; when to fourteen, cheerfulness; when to fifteen, affluence; when to sixteen, abundance, as Pliny tells us.—(Trapp.)

Gen_41:5-7. The number seven represents the religious element in the case. The thin ears are said to be blasted with the east wind, which, when directly east, occurs in Egypt as seldom as the directly west. The south-east wind, however, is frequent. (Hengstenberg.)

Gen_41:8. The wisdom that God reveals excels that of the world; therefore the latter is to be confounded by the former. (Rom_8:28.)—(Starke.)

Unlike the wise men of Babylon, whom Nebuchadnezzar summoned to his aid on a like occasion, and who confidently promised to unravel the king’s dream as soon as it was made known to them, the magicians of Egypt, when Pharaoh’s dream was rehearsed in their ears, did not pretend to know the meaning of it. All their combined wisdom durst not pretend to penetrate the secrets of Divine Providence to which it referred. God, by His overruling influence upon their minds, constrained them to acknowledge their ignorance:—(Bush.)

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

FIFTH SECTION

Joseph the interpreter of Pharaoh’s dreams.

Gen_41:1-57

1And it came to pass, at the end of two full years [lit., days], that Pharaoh dreamed; and, behold, he stood by the river. 2And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well-favoured kine, and fat-fleshed; and they fed in a meadow1 [bulrushes, the grass on the bank of the river]. 3And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill-favoured 4and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. And the ill-favoured and lean-fleshed kine did eat up the seven well-favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke. 5And he slept and dreamed the second time; and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good. 6And, behold, seven thin ears, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up [in single stacks] after them. 7And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. 8And it came to pass in the morning, that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians2 [scribes: skilled in hieroglyphics] of Egypt, and all the wise men [magicians] thereof; and Pharaoh told them his dreams; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh. 9Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day. 10Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard’s house, both me and the chief baker; 11And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. 12And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret. 13And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged. 14Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon [pit]; and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh. 15And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it; and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. 16And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me:3 God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. 17And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river; 18And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed, and well-favoured; and they fed in a meadow; 19And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor, and very ill-favoured and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness; 20And the lean and the ill-favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine; 21And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill-favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke. 22And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good; 23And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them; 24And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. And I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me. 25And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one; God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do. 26The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years; the dream is one. 27And the seven thin and ill-favoured kine, that came up after them, are seven years; and the seven empty ears, blasted with the east wind shall be 28seven years of famine. This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh; what God is about to do, he sheweth unto Pharaoh. 29Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt; 30And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; 31And the plenty shall not be known in the land, by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous. 32And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and 33God will shortly bring it to pass. Now, therefore, let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. 34Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. 35And let them gather [lay in store] all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. 36And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine. 37And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. 38And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? 39And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art; 40Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled; only in the throne will I be greater than thou. 41And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. 42And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain upon his neck; 43And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee;4 and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. 44And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. 45And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah5 [gave him the title of Savior of the world; preserver of life, &c.]; and he gave him to wife Asenath [consecrated to Neith (the Egyptian Minerva)], the daughter of Potipherah [same as Potiphar; near to the sun], priest of On [light: sun; Heliopolis]. And Joseph 46went out over all the land of Egypt. And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. 47And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls [armful upon armful]. 48And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; the food of the field which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. 49And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number. 50And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came; which Asenath, the daughter of Poti-pherah, priest of On, bare unto him. 51And Joseph called the name of the first-born Manasseh [the one that causes to forget; viz., Jehovah]; For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. 52And the name of the second called he Ephraim [Fürst: fruits; Delitzsch: double fruitfulness]; For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. 53And the seven years of plenteousness that was in the land of Egypt were ended [וַתִּכְלֶינָה]. 54And the seven years of dearth began [וַתְחִלֶּינָה] to come, according as Joseph had said; and the 55dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. And when [also] all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do. And the famine was over all the face of the earth; And Joseph opened all the store-houses, and sold unto the Egyptians; 56and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. 57And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

Contents of this section: The dreams of Pharaoh (Gen_41:1-7); 2. The Egyptian interpreters of dreams and Joseph (Gen_41:8-16); 3. The narration of the dreams and their interpretation (Gen_41:17-32): 4. Joseph’s counsel in the employment of his interpretation; 5. Pharaoh’s consent and appointment of Joseph as overseer (Gen_41:37-45); 6. Joseph’s management during the seven years of plenty, and God’s blessing him with children (Gen_41:46-53); 7. The seven years of dearth, the famine, and the buying of the corn in Egypt (Gen_41:54-57).

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Gen_41:1-7. The dreams of Pharaoh.—At the end of two years (ימים).—This shows Joseph’s long imprisonment.—By the river (Lange translates: By the Nile).—The Nile, as is well known, is the condition on which Egypt’s fruitfulness depends. Its overflowing fertilizes the soil, and when it does not occur, the crops fail.—Seven well-favored kine.—On the one hand was the male kine, a symbol of the Nile (Diod. Sic. i. 51), and especially sacred to their god Osiris, who invented agriculture (Diod. i. 21). The bullock was a symbol of Osiris, whose name was also given by the Egyptian priests to the Nile (Plutarch:De Iside, 33, 39, 43). On the other hand, the female kine, in the Egyptian symbolical language, was the symbol of the earth, of agriculture, and of the sustenance derived from it (Clemens Alex.Strom. v. p. 567). This agrees with the representation of Isis, who was worshipped as the goddess of the all-nourishing earth (Macrob. “Saturn,” i. 20), or of the earth fertilized by the Nile (Plutarch:De Iside, 38). The cow was specially sacred to her, and she was pictured with horns (Herod. ii. 41). Her symbol was the kine. “Isis was, at the same time, goddess of the moon which determined the year. In hieroglyphic writing, her picture denoted the year.” Knobel. Seven well-favored kine rising out of the Nile were, therefore, pictures of a seven-fold appearance of the soil made fruitful by the Nile.—Seven other kine came up, ill-favored.—Lit., thin (Gen_41:19), lank, lean-fleshed. They follow these well-favored ones, and appear right by their side—a typical expression of the fact that the years of famine are to follow close upon the years of plenty.—And dreamed the second time.—“According to the ancient art of dream-interpretation, dreams that tare repeated within a short time have the same meaning; the repetition was to awake attention and secure confidence (Artemidorus:Oneirocrit. 4, 27). Knobel.—Seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk.—According to Knobel, the coming up upon one stalk is to denote the immediate connection of the respective heptades. But then the same thing would have been mentioned in respect to the seven thin ears. The plentiful branching of the principal stalk into separate spears and ears, is, however, an immediate appearance of fertility, whilst, on the contrary, the thin crop does not spread, but comes up in separate and slender stalks.—Blasted with the east wind.—With the southeast wind coming from the desert—the wind called chamsin.—It was a dream.—It was obvious to Pharaoh from both dreams that there was in them something very important; but the imagery had been so vivid that he awakes with conscious surprise at finding it a dream. Knobel: “A beautiful series of symbols: the Nile the source of fertility, cows as representing fertility itself, and ears of corn as the result.”

2. Gen_41:8-16. The Egyptian interpreters of dreams, and Joseph.—That his spirit was troubled (Comp. Dan_2:2). There was something painful in the thought that though there was some evident monition to him as a sovereign, the interpretation was wanting; and the pictures were the more painful since their termination was apparently so terrible.—And called all the magicians.—The חרטמים from חֶרֶט, a writing stile, were the ἱερογραμματεῖς, belonging to the order of the priests, and occupied with the sacred sciences, such as hieroglyphical writing, astrology, dream-interpretation, fortune-telling, magic, and sorcery. They were regarded as possessors of the secret arts (Exo_7:11), or, in other words, the philosophers, or wise men of the nation. Keil. More particularly concerning their magic art, see Knobel, p. 311. As interpreters of dreams the Egyptian priests are also mentioned by Tacitus: “Hist.” iv. 83. See Delitzsch, p. 544, and Hengstenberg.—But there was no one that could interpret them.—“Though the roots of the dream, and of its interpretation, were given in the religious symbolical science of Egypt,” as Keil remarks, they failed to find its meaning; but then ho calls to mind what Baumgarten says: “It is the doom of this world’s wisdom to be dumb where its knowledge might avail, or dependence is placed upon it (Job_12:20).” This incapacity, however, must naturally be increased in cases where the interpretation to be brought out is evidently of a fearful nature; for the heathen court-prophets were doubtless flatterers, too, just as afterwards the false prophets in the courts of the Jewish kings.—I do remember my fault.—The chief butler, too, is called to the council; for together with the magicians the wise men generally were summoned to attend. The declaration of the chief butler is referred, by Knobel and Keil, to his offence against the king (Gen_40:1), and, at the same time, to his forgetfulness of Joseph (Gen 40:43). At all events, the unpleasant recollection of his former punishment was the principal cause.—And they brought him hastily.—A vivid representation of the turning of his fortune, caused by the rising court favor.—And he shaved himself.—Joseph met the excitement of his liberators with grace and dignity. “He changed his garments, as is done by one who is to participate in some sacred act (see Gen_35:2). The Egyptians let the beard and hair grow, in mourning (Herod, ii. 36). So Joseph had done in the mournful time of his imprisonment. He observes the Egyptian custom. The Hebrews, on the other hand, cut off their hair and beard on such occasions.” Knobel. According to Wilkinson, the Egyptian painters represented with a beard any one whom they would designate as a man of low caste, or life.—To interpret it.—Pharaoh draws bold inferences from the statement of the chief butler, but in a manner perfectly consistent with that of a despot who is impatient to have his expectations realized. Not even, however, the flattering words of the king, can discompose Joseph. He gives God the glory (as in Gen_40:8). But he also hopes for divine light, and courteously invites the king to narrate his dream.

3. Gen_41:17-32. The narration of the dreams, and their interpretation. The narration agrees perfectly with the first statement, and it only brings out more distinctly the subjective truthfulness of the account, that the king, in the description of the ill-favored kine, mingles something of his own reflections.—What God is about to do he showeth unto Pharaoh.—Joseph puts in the front the religious bearing of the dream, and in this most successfully attains his aim. Whilst unhesitatingly professing his belief that these dreams came from God, he at the same time keeps in view the practical aspect. God would inform Pharaoh, through Joseph’s interpretation, what he intends to do, in order that the king may take measures accordingly. The certainty and clearness of the interpretation are to be so prominently manifested as to remove it far from comparison with any heathen oracles. Knobel will have it that the Elohist and the Jehovist assume here different positions in respect to dream-revelations.

4. Gen_41:33-36. Joseph’s counsel in respect to the practical use of the interpretation. The candid advice of Joseph shows that his high gift did not intoxicate him; but rather, that he himself was greatly struck by the providence revealed in the dreams. It is a great delivery from a great and threatening destruction. The first demand is for a skilful overseer, with his subordinates. Then there is wanted the enactment of a law that the land shall be divided into five parts during the seven plenteous years; so that they were to give the fifth instead of the tithe (or tenth), as may have been customary; and that the royal storehouses should be built in the cities of the land, in order to be filled with corn. We have no right to say that Joseph meant in this to recommend himself. It would seem rather that he is so struck with the foresight of the great coming famine, that he cannot think of himself. Besides, the office which his counsel sketches is much less important than that which Pharaoh afterwards confers on him. There is still a great difference between a chief of the taxgatherers and a national prime minister.

5. Gen_41:37-45. Pharaoh’s consent and Joseph’s appointment.—And the thing was good.—The correctness of the interpretation and the certainty of its fulfilment are both here presupposed. By the rules of Egyptian symbolism their correctness could not be questioned; their certainty, however, lay in the belief that the dreams of Pharaoh were sent by God. The stress, therefore, lies upon the approbation with which Joseph’s advice was received. And this was so conformable to the object in view, that even had the fulfilment been doubtful, it would have been a wise measure of political economy. But Pharaoh goes farther; from the divine illumination that appears in Joseph he concludes that he is just the man to carry out the plan.—Thou shalt be over my house.—What follows is the direct consequence: And according to thy word.—Knobel explains the Hebraism in this language (וְעַל פִּיךָ יִשַּׁק כָּל עַמִּי), lit., upon thy mouth every one of my people shall kiss), according to 1Sa_10:1 and Psa_2:12, as referring to the custom of expressing homage by a kiss, or throwing the kiss with the hand. Keil disputes this on verbal grounds; but even if the language admits it idiomatically, such an act would not be appropriate in homage paid to princes. It would be better to give נשק here its primary significance: to attach, to unite oneself. So Joseph is nominated as Pharaoh’s Grand Vizier. Knobel infers from this that it is a Jehovistic insertion, and that, according to the Elohist, Joseph was made a state officer, and not a royal minister. Does he derive this from an acquaintance with the Egyptian state-calendar of those days? Before Pharaoh’s explanation (Gen_41:41), Knobel’s twofold distinction of the highest dignities falls to the ground.—His ring from his hand.—After the concession of the dignity, he confers on him its insignia. The first is the seal-ring, “which the grand vizier or prime minister held, in order to affix it to the royal decrees (Est_3:10; Est_8:2).” Keil. So also was it among the Turks (Knobel, p. 314). The second is the white byssus-robe (made out of fine linen or cotton), worn by the priests, and by which he was elevated to a rank corresponding to the dignity of his office. The third mark of honor was a gold chain about his neck, to denote distinction, and as a special mark of the royal favor. “According to Ælian and Diodorus, it was the usual mark of distinction in the personal appearance of the judges, like the golden collar, as seen pictured upon the monuments.” Delitzsch. In this dignity Joseph is now to be presented to the people; the king, therefore, makes him ride in procession through the city, in his second chariot, i.e., in the one that came immediately after the royal chariot, and caused the customary announcement of the dignity conferred to be made by a herald. “The exclamation: אַבְרֵךְ i.e., bow down, is an Egyptian word formed from ברך by means of Masoretic vowels which make the Hiphil and Aphel conjugation.” Keil. Gerlach: Out of the, Coptic word “bow the head,” a Hebrew is made, bow the knee.—I am Pharaoh.—He again repeats the reservation of his royal dignity, but with the same definiteness he appoints him overseer of the whole land, with the consciousness that he was committing the salvation of his people to the favorite of Deity. Therefore he says: And without thee shall no man, etc.—Yet for the Egyptians’ sake he must be naturalized. Pharaoh, therefore, first gives him an Egyptian name (the Sept.: ψονθομφανήχ; for the various interpretations of which, see Keil, p. 256; Knobel, p. 314). Bunsen interprets it, creator of life. In its Hebrew transformation the word has been rendered revealer of secrets; Luther:secret counsel. In its stateliness the name is in accordance with the oriental feeling,—especially the Egyptian,—yet it simply expresses Pharaoh’s feeling acknowledgment that Joseph was a man sent by God, and bringing salvation. In him, first of all, was fulfilled the word of that prophecy: In thy seed shall the nations of the earth be blest. Next, the king gives to him an Egyptian wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potipheres (LXX, πεντεφρῆ, ille qui solis est), priest at On, which was the vernacular name for Heliopolis (LXX, ̔Ηλιούπολις, city of the sun). “This city of On (אוֹן, changed by Ezekiel, Eze_30:17, derisively into אָוֶן) was a chief city, devoted to the worship of Ra, the sun-god.” Delitzsch. “According to Brugsch (‘Travels,’ etc.), its name upon the monuments was Ta-Râ, or Pa-Ra, house of the sun. Here, from the oldest times, has been a celebrated temple of the sun, with a company of learned priests, who took the first stand in the Egyptian colleges of priests (comp. Herod, ii. 3; Hengstenberg, p. 30).” Keil. The same remarks: “Such an extraordinary promotion of a slave-prisoner is to be explained from the high importance which antiquity, and especially Egyptian antiquity, ascribed to the interpretation of dreams, and to the occult sciences, as also from the despotic form of oriental governments.” As a parallel case, ho refers to Herod. ii. 121, where Rhampsinitus is represented as promoting the son of a mason to be his son-in-law, because, as “the Egyptians excelled all men, so this one excelled all the Egyptians themselves, in wisdom.” The priest rank was esteemed the highest in Egypt, as it was the caste to which the king himself belonged. Knobel (p. 315) attempts to do away the difficulty which this temple of On makes to the assumption that the Israelites were the same as the Hyksos, who are said to have destroyed the Egyptian temples. This ancient On was situated in lower Egypt, about two leagues northeast from the present city of Cairo. The situation of Heliopolis is marked by mounds of earth, now enclosing a flat piece of land, in the centre of which stands a solitary obelisk. In the vicinity is the city of Matarieh, with the well of the sun, and a sycamore-tree, under which, according to the tradition, the holy family is said to have rested.

6. Gen_41:46-53. Joseph’s management of the harvest during the seven years of plenty, and his blessing of children.—And Joseph was thirty years old.—The summary account, Gen_41:45, and Joseph went out, is here given more specifically. Knobel does not seem to know what to make of this mode of Biblical representation, in which it resumes a former assertion for the purpose of making specifications. He calls upon the reader to note “that this had been already said, Gen_41:45.” As the dreams are fulfilled, so Joseph fulfils his calling. His mode of proceeding is clearly stated. In the cities of the different districts storehouses are built, in which is to be laid up the fifth part of the harvest.—Manasseh.—In this name is expressed the negative effect of his exaltation: God has freed him from the painful remembrance of his sufferings, and from all angry recollections of his father’s house. The name Ephraim expresses, on the contrary, the positive consequence. It is a double happiness on a dark foil, as though he had said: In the land of my wretchedness there is first, deliverance, second, a raising to honor.

7. The seven years of dearth, the famine, and the selling of the grain. On the frequent occurrence of famines in Egypt and the adjacent northern countries, see Keil, p. 258. For particulars see Hengstenberg, and extracts by Schröder, p. 590.—And all countries.—The countries adjacent to Egypt, and especially Palestine. Aside from the fact that Egypt, in early times, was a granary for the neighboring countries, and that they, therefore, suffered also from every famine that came upon it, it is a thing to be noticed that the rain-season of these lands, as well as the rising of the Nile, was conditioned on northern rainy winds.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Joseph’s exaltation: 1) Considered in itself. Grounded in his destiny. Accomplished by his innocent sufferings and his good conduct (Php_2:6). Carried out by God’s grace and wisdom as a divine miracle in his providentia specialissima. Its principal object the preservation of Israel and of many nations. Its further object, Israel’s education in Egypt. Its imperishable aim the glory of God, and the edification of the people of God by means of the fundamental principle: through humiliation to exaltation. 2) This exaltation, in its typical significance: the seal of Israel’s guidance in Egypt, of the guidance of all the faithful, of the guidance of Christ as the model of our divine instruction.

2. Joseph’s sufferings from his brethren so turned by God’s grace that they become sufferings for their own good. Thus Joseph’s sufferings become a turning-point between Abel’s blood crying for vengeance, and the death of Christ reconciling the world. The contrast here is no contradiction. The blood of Abel was crying for vengeance in no absolute or condemning sense, whilst, on the other hand, Christ’s reconciliation is connected with an inward and spiritual judgment. And thus, also, Joseph’s brethren were to be led through a hell of self-knowledge to peace of conscience, just as Joseph individually attained, by degrees, to a complete victory over himself.

3. Pharaoh’s dreams, like Nebuchadnezzar’s, became, through the divine providence, factors in the web of the world’s history. The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; as the rivers of water he turneth it (Pro_21:1). As the high priests (Joh_11:51) were to utter words of significance unconsciously, and unwillingly, so kings are made to serve God in acts having a significance beyond immediate intentions. Its roots, however, extended down into the dream of life. Gerlach calls attention to Nestor’s words concerning Agamemnon’s dream (Iliad, ii. 80). Heim (“Bible Hours”) is full on the same thought.

4. The memory of the chief butler. Forgetfulness of the small—a sharp remembrance in the service of the great. The memory as exercised in the service of God: forgetting all (that hinders)—remembering all (that promotes). The change from darkness to light, from night to day, in the landscape of history.

5. Joseph as opposed to the Egyptian interpreters of dreams, Moses as opposed to the Egyptian sorcerers, Christ as opposed to the Scribes and Pharisees, Paul as opposed to heresies, etc.; or, in other words, the contrast between divine wisdom and the wisdom of this world—a contrast that pervades all history.

6. God conducts every nation by its special characteristic, by its religious forms, according to the measure of piety that is in them. Thus he ruled the Egyptians through the night-life and the world of dreams.

7. The Egyptian symbolism in the dreams of Pharaoh. “These and similar thoughts, no doubt, occurred also to the Egyptian scribes, but Joseph’s divinely-sealed glance was necessary in assuming the responsibility of the fourteen years, as well as in the interpretation of the dreams, which afterwards appear very simple and obvious.” Delitzsch. The ethical point, that divine courage is necessary for prophecy, is not to be overlooked. It was a perilous undertaking to announce to the Egyptian despot a famine of seven years. It is not correct, as Knobel states, that among the Hebrews, false prophets alone referred to dreams; and still more groundless his allegation of a difference between the “Elohist” and the “Jehovist” in this respect. Roos speaks of the gift of interpreting dreams which Joseph possessed, as a gift of prophecy, inferior, however, to that manifested by Israel and Jacob when they blessed their sons. For the dream interpreter has a handle given to him by the dream; whilst in the case of Isaac, Jacob, and other prophets, everything is dependent on direct divine inspiration. But the prophets mentioned, even those that prophesied immediately, had historic points of departure and connection. We can only say, therefore, that there are different forms for the manifestation of the prophetic spirit. Divine certainty is the common mark of all.

8. The universalistic aspect of the Old Testament appears also from the fact that our narrative, without any reserve, informs us how pious Joseph becomes incorporated in the caste of Egyptian priests. “Jehovah’s religion,” says Delitzsch, “enters into Egyptian forms, in order to rule, without becoming lost in it. Strictly speaking, it was the assuming of Egyptian customs by one devoted to the religion of Jehovah. Compare the indulgence shown by Elisha to Naaman the Syrian (2Ki_5:17-19).

9. Delitzsch: “How, then, asks Luther—how is it Christian in him to glory in having forgotten his father and his mother?” This, however, is not the case; for when Joseph speaks of having forgotten his father’s house, he has surely some memory of the injuries of his brethren, and the name Manasseh is to remind him constantly of this noble resolution to forget his wrongs. Luther thus answers his own question: He intended to say, I now see that God meant to take away from me the confidence which I had in my father; for he is a jealous God, and is not willing that the heart should have any other ground of rest than himself. “It is remarkable,” says Knobel (p. 288), “that Joseph gives no timely information of his existence, and of his exaltation, to a father who so loved him, and whom he so loved in turn, but permitted a series of years to pass, and even then was led to it by the coming of his brethren.” The proper solution of this scruple, already entertained by Theodoret, we find in Baumgarten. “With steadfast faith he renounced all self-acting in respect to God’s decree, which pointed to a further and more glorious aim. The first consequence to be traced was the verification of his prophecy, that his power might be placed on a stable foundation.” To this there must be added the consideration that Joseph could not make himself hastily known to his father without leading to the discovery of the guilt which weighed upon his brethren. A precipitate disclosure of this dark secret might, perhaps, ruin Jacob’s house irrecoverably. And, finally, it must be considered that Joseph, especially during the first years, had a call to active duties of the most stringent and pressing nature.—Schröder: Since Joseph first mentions his adversity (in the declaration respecting the name Manasseh), he must have referred to his father’s house only in its mournful reminiscence as the scene of his misery. In view of the present as something evidently controlled by God, his whole past vanishes away, as comparatively of no consequence. It is the confidence of rest in God’s providence. Calvin, it is true, imputes it to him as a sin; whilst Luther calls it a wonderful declaration. Afterwards, at Ephraim’s birth, as Schröder remarks, Joseph held in, so to speak, his former exuberance of joy. The words, in the land of my sorrows (meaning Egypt), reveal a mournful longing for Canaan.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See the Doctrinal and Ethical. Pharaoh’s character. A good king a blessing to his country. Pharaoh’s dream a mark of his care for his people, therefore, also of God’s care for him. Fruitful and unfruitful years; great means in the hand of God’s providence. Joseph’s deliverance beyond expectation: 1. Late beyond expectation; 2. early beyond expectation; 3. great beyond expectation; 4. entirely different from what he thought in his longing for home. Joseph’s deliverance and exaltation a typical order in God’s kingdom: 1. Every true exaltation presupposes a deliverance; 2. every true deliverance is followed by exaltation.—Joseph and the other personages in our narrative. Joseph the Hebrew slave standing in royal dignity before the throne of Pharaoh: a. In his quiet preparation for audience; b. in his humility and his faithful confidence; c. in his fearless interpretation of the dreams according to their truth; d. in his wise counsel. Joseph, like Moses, an Egyptian prince, and yet a prince in the kingdom of God.—Joseph’s political economy.—His economy on a grand scale the type of all lesser economies. Joseph and his sons.—The years of blessing.—God’s care for men through the commercial intercourse of different lands.—How sure the divine decrees! (the brethren of Joseph must come). Taube: Through humiliation to exaltation.—The history of Joseph’s exaltation: 1. When in the deep, how confidently may we suffer God to guide us; 2. when on the mount, how surely from the deep does the blessing draw its verification.

First Section (Gen_41:1-7). Starke: (Plin.: “Hist.” v. 9). “There is famine in Egypt when the Nile rises only twelve ells; there is still suffering if it does not exceed thirteen; if it rises to fourteen, there is great rejoicing.”—Cramer: Whom God means to raise to honor, he suffers to remain, for a time, under the cross.—Schröder: At the expiration of two years of days.—Luther: Joseph, oppressed with cares, counted on his fingers all the hours, days, months, whilst deeply sighing for deliverance. For the anticipation of the future the soul of man shares with that of the animal, except that in the former, by its connection with spirit, or that higher principle which constitutes humanity, such a faculty becomes perceptible in dreams, whilst in the animal it is confined to the waking state (Schubert). The number seven represents the religious element in the case. The thin ears are said to be blasted with the east-wind, which, when directly east, occurs in Egypt as seldom as the directly west. The southeast wind, however, is frequent (Hengstenberg).

Second Section (Gen_41:8-16). Starke: The wisdom that God reveals excels that of the world: therefore the latter is to be confounded by the former (Rom_8:28).—Cramer: A Christian is not to judge the gifts according to the person, but the persons according to the gifts, and must not be ashamed to learn even from the lowest. A Christian should study decorum towards all, especially towards those of high rank. Serving and suffering are the best tutors for those maturing for the ruler’s station (Psa_113:7-8).—Hall: How are God’s children rewarded for their patience! How prosperous are their issues! A true Christian does not boast of the talents confided to him, but ascribes everything to God.

Third Section (Gen_41:17-32). Starke: Bibl. Wirt.: Even to the heathen and to infidels, God sometimes reveals great and secret things, to the end that it may become known how his divine care and providence may be traced everywhere within and without the Church.—Cramer: When God repeats the same things to us, the repetition is not to be regarded as superfluous, but as an assurance that it will certainly come to pass. Schröder: In prison, and upon the throne, the same humility, the same joyous courage in God.—Joseph marks his God—consciousness more distinctly before Pharaoh, by saying Ha-Elohim, thus making Elohim concrete by means of the article.

Fourth Section (Gen_41:33-36). Starke: Men generally make a bad use of abundance. The people, doubtless, imitated Joseph’s example, and provided for the future. Careful in earthly things—much more so in heavenly things. Schröder: God’s true prophets did not merely predict the future; they also announced means of relief against the approaching evil (Calvin).—He who takes counsel is the one to be helped (the same).

Fifth Section (Gen_41:37-45). Starke: Cramer: “He that handles a matter wisely shall find good” (Pro_16:20).—[The Egyptian linen, on account of its snowy whiteness, and its great excellence, was so costly that it was thought equal to its weight in gold.]?—Schröder: The king’s conclusion shows how greatly Egypt esteemed the higher knowledge; since it confirms the opinion which made this nation so renowned for wisdom among the ancients.—Liberation was not Joseph’s only want when in prison; afterward, however, he received what he did not, at first, understand (Luther).

Sixth Section (Gen_41:46-53). Starke: Wise rulers fill their granaries in time of famine, and thus teach prudence to the poor. The saving hand is full and beneficent; the squandering hand is not only empty, but unjust.—Schröder: Information from Hengstenberg on the monuments and tombs, serving to elucidate our narrative.—Schröder: Now is the time of exaltation, when he is to become the instrument of God’s great purposes (Krummacher).

Seventh Section (Gen_41:54-57). Starke: Cramer: It is in accordance with Christian charity that the surplus of the one shall relieve the deficiency of the other. How gloriously does God compensate Joseph for his former unhappiness. (The hate of his brothers; the favor of the king; abuse and derision, reverence; imprisonment in a foreign land, exaltation; the work of a slave, the seal of the king; stripped of his coat of many colors, clothed in white vesture; iron bands, a golden chain.)

Footnotes:

[1][Gen_41:2.—אָחוּ. A pure Egyptian word, say most of the commentators and lexicographers; and yet no reason can be given why it is not, at the same time, Shemitic. Its occurrence, Job_8:11, is as good proof of the latter supposition, as Gen_41:2 is of the former. The thing signified, a reedy pasture, was more common in Egypt than in Judea or Arabia, and, therefore, it became better known in the early Egyptian tongue. The same may be said of יְאֹר.—T. L.]

[2][Gen_41:8.—חַרְטֻמֵּי . Here is a word used of a thing most peculiarly Egyptian, and yet there can hardly be a doubt of its root being Shemitic. It is from חֶרֶט, stylus, a writing or graving instrument. They were the sacred scribes. See Gesenius, and Bochart, Hieroz. ii. p. 408. Comp. חרץ.—T. L.]

[3][Gen_41:16—בִּלְעָדָי: Beside me, or some one else than me. The LXX have rendered it, ἄνευ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἀποκριθήσεται τὸ σωτήριον Φαραώ, “as though they had read לֹא יֵעָנֶה,” says Rosenmüller. But there is no need of this to explain the interpretation. The LXX have given the general sense correctly, since there is a negative or excluding force in בלעדי. Not me—no one but God can answer to Pharaoh’s satisfaction. The famous Hebraico-Samaritan Codex has the negative particle, and there could not be a better proof of its having followed the LXX; keeping its apparent error without its general correctness in this passage.—T. L.]

[4][Gen_41:43.—אַבְרֵךְ. It is not easy to see why there should have been so much pains to make out this to be a pure Egyptian word, or to deny its Shemitic origin. Some make it from OΥΒΕ ΡΕΧ, inclinate contra. See Jablonsky as cited by Rosenmüller. Others would make it equivalent to A—ΠPE—XEK, a rege cinctus. The word is almost identical with הַבְרֵךְ, the Hiphil imperative of ברך, and its Hebrew sense, bow the knee or kneel (just as we make the verb from the noun) would seem the meaning, of all others, best adapted to the context. The slight variation confirms this. Had it been simply dressing up a pure Egyptian word in a Hebrew form, there is no reason why the writer should not have employed the proper Hebrew Hiphil. The word at this time, doubtless, belonged to both languages, but its solemn and public pronunciation in the shouting procession made the narrator prefer to keep the broader Egyptian sound of א for ה.—T. L.]

[5][Gen_41:45.—צָפְנַת פַּעְנֵחֵ, Zophnath-paeneah. This word is doubtless Egyptian, as there can nothing be made of it in Hebrew. LXX, Ψονθομφανήχ. The latter part of the compound is, doubtless, a Coptic word, equivalent to the Greek αἰών, and the whole is rendered caput seculi or mundi. Vulg., salvatorem mundi. It is worthy of note as showing, that at this early day, and in this early language, a time word (age, period, cycle, etc.) was used for world, like the later use of the Hebrew עוֹלָם, and of αἰών, for mundus in the New Testament.—T. L.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER 41 Joseph’s Exaltation

1. Pharaoh’s dreams (Gen 41:1-7)

2. Joseph brought from the prison (Gen 41:8-15)

3. Joseph’s humility (Gen 41:16)

4. The revealer of secrets (Gen 41:17-32)

5. Joseph’s wise counsel (Gen 41:33-36)

6. Pharaoh’s answer (Gen 41:37-40)

7. Joseph’s exaltation and marriage (Gen 41:41-46)

All is so simple that little comment is needed. The dreams impressed Pharaoh, because the cow was a sacred animal, the emblem of Isis. At last Joseph is remembered and brought out of the prison and his raiment is changed. All this finds an application in the life of our Lord. He was taken out of the grave. Compare Gen 41:16, Joseph’s humility, with the humility of another Hebrew prisoner, Daniel in Babylon. (See Dan 2:27-30.)

The seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine are typical. This age will close with the seven years of tribulation.

And this dream of Pharaoh and Joseph’s interpretation has been remarkably confirmed by the hieroglyphic inscriptions. One was discovered in 1908 which tells of the seven years of famine, because the Nile did not overflow. It has been ascertained that this was the very time when Joseph was in Egypt.

Then follows Joseph’s exaltation. The name of this Pharaoh was Apepi. His father and grandfather were for a time co-regents with him. He recognized the presence of the Spirit of God in Joseph. Note the beautiful comparisons with our Lord. Pharaoh said, “I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.” Of Christ we read, “Thou didst set Him over the works of Thy hands.” Joseph said, “God hath made me lord of all Egypt” and Christ is “Lord over all.” Joseph is arrayed in royal vesture, and Christ is crowned with glory and honor. The word “Abrech” was cried before him. This word means “bow the knee.” According to Prof. Sayce of Oxford “Abrech” is the Sumerian “Abrok,” which means the seer. This would call for prostration. Thus every knee must bow before our exalted Lord. The name by which he was called is in the Septuagint “Psomtomphanech.” This is an Egyptian name, meaning “saviour of the world.” The word Zaphnethpaaneach means “revealer of secrets.” Even so Christ after He was rejected by His own brethren became the Revealer of secrets and the Saviour of the world.

Before the seven years of famine came Joseph received his bride, Asenath, the Gentile, and Christ will have His beloved with Him before the years of tribulation and judgment come. All had to come to Joseph for corn, as all must come to Christ for the bread of life.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

41:1-46 God had used two dreams to identify Joseph as a leader among his brothers (37:5-11). He used two dreams to test Joseph’s faith in prison (40:5-14). Now he would use two dreams to elevate Joseph from prison to preeminence. Joseph had repeatedly proven faithful in small matters; now he would be put in charge of great things.

41:1-4 Pharaoh’s first dream was about cows. Cows liked to stand half-submerged among the reeds in the Nile River to take refuge from the heat and flies. They would come out of the water to find pasture. The second group of cows disturbed Pharaoh because they were scrawny yet able to swallow the fat cows.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hebrew, at the end of two years of days.

This dream was not so much for Pharaoh, as to be a means to deliver Joseph, and to provide for God’s Church.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

CHAPTER XLI

Pharaoh's dream of the seven well-favoured and seven

ill-favoured kine, 1-4.

His dream of the seven full and seven thin ears of corn, 5-7.

The magicians and wise men applied to for the interpretation

of them, but could give no solution, 8.

The chief butler recollects and recommends Joseph, 9-13.

Pharaoh commands him to be brought out of prison, 14.

Joseph appears before Pharaoh, 15, 16.

Pharaoh repeats his dreams, 17-24.

Joseph interprets them, 25-32,

and gives Pharaoh directions how to provide against the

approaching scarcity, 33-36.

Pharaoh, pleased with the counsel, appoints Joseph to be

superintendent of all his affairs, 37-41.

Joseph receives the badges of his new office, 42, 43,

and has his powers defined, 44;

receives a new name, and marries Asenath, daughter of

Poti-Pherah, priest of ON, 45.

Joseph's age when brought before Pharaoh, 46.

Great fertility of Egypt in the seven plenteous years, 47.

Joseph hoards up the grain, 48, 49.

Ephraim and Manasseh born, 50-52.

The seven years of famine commence with great rigour, 53-55.

Joseph opens the storehouses to the Egyptians, 56.

People from the neighbouring countries come to Egypt to

buy corn, the famine being in all those lands, 57.

NOTES ON CHAP. XLI

Verse 1. Two full years] שנתים ימים shenathayim yamim, two years of days, two complete solar revolutions, after the events mentioned in the preceding chapter.

The river.] The Nile, the cause of the fertility of Egypt.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1. At the end of two full years What anxiety oppressed the mind of the holy man during this time, each of us may conjecture from his own feeling; for we are so tender and effeminate, that we can scarcely bear to be put off for a short time. The Lord exercised his servant not only by a delay of long continuance, but also by another kind of temptation, because he took all human grounds of hope away from him: therefore Moses puts “years of days” for complete and full years. That we may better understand the invincible nature of his fortitude, we must also notice that winding course of divine providence, of which I have spoken, and by which Joseph was led about, till he rose into notice with the king. In the king’s dream, this is worthy to be observed in the first place, that God sometimes deigns to present his oracles even to unbelieving and profane men. It was certainly a singular honor to be instructed concerning an event yet fourteen years future: for truly the will of God was manifested to Pharaoh, just as if he had been taught by the word, except that the interpretation of it was to be sought elsewhere. And although God designs his word especially for the Church, yet it ought not to be deemed absurd that he sometimes admits even aliens into his school, though for an inferior end. The doctrine which leads to the hope of eternal life belongs to the Church; while the children of this world are only taught, incidentally, concerning the state of the present life. If we observe this distinction, we shall not wonder that some oracles are common to profane and heathen men, though the Church possesses the spiritual doctrine of life, as the treasure of its own inheritance. That another dream succeeded to the former, arose from two causes; for God both designed to rouse the mind of Pharaoh to more diligent inquiry, and to add more light to a vision which was obscure. In short, he follows the same course in this dream which he does in his daily method of procedure; for he repeats a second time what he has before delivered, and sometimes inculcates still more frequently, not only that the doctrine may penetrate more deeply into men’s hearts, and thus affect them the more; but also that he may render it more familiar to their minds. That by the second dream God designed to illustrate more fully what was obscure in the first, appears from this, that the figure used was more appropriate to the subject revealed. At first, Pharaoh saw fat cows devoured by lean ones. This did not so clearly prefigure the seven years’ abundance, and as many years of want in corn and other seeds, as the vision of the ears of corn did: for the similitude, in the latter case, better agrees with the thing represented.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

XLI.

JOSEPH INTERPRETS PHARAOH’S DREAMS HE IS MADE GOVERNOR OF EGYPT, AND MARRIES THERE.

(1) Pharaoh dreamed.—After two years spent in the prison, the time has now come for Joseph’s elevation to power; and it is to be noticed that this was not brought about by those arts by which men usually attain to greatness, such as statesmanship, or military skill; nor was it by accident, but according to the Biblical rule, by the direct intervention of Providence. Just as centuries afterwards, Daniel rose to high office at Babylon by God making known to him the dream of Nebuchadnezzar; so here, the transplantation of Israel into Egypt is brought about by the revelation to Joseph of “what was to be hereafter.”

The river.—Heb., Yeor, the Egyptian word for “great river.” It is the usual name in the Bible for the Nile, but is used for the Tigris in Dan_12:5-6, and for any large river in Job_28:10. The Pharaoh in Those reign Joseph became governor of Egypt, is generally supposed to have been Apophis, the most famous of the shepherd kings. But Canon Cook, in his Essay, On the bearings of Egyptian History upon the Pentateuch, after carefully reviewing the whole subject, decides in favour of King Amenemha III., the greatest monarch of the noble twelfth dynasty, and the last king of all Egypt.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1–7. Pharaoh’s Dreams

1. two full years] i.e. from the execution of the chief baker.

river] Heb. Yeor, i.e. the Nile, as always in the O.T., except Job_28:10; Isa_33:21; Dan_12:5-6. The Heb. word reproduces the Egyptian. According to Egyptologists it stands for the Egyptian aur, “stream,” or aur-aa, “the great stream,” Assyr. ia’uru, “stream.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And it came to pass at the end of two full years,.... It is not a clear case, as Aben Ezra observes, from whence these years are to be reckoned, whether from the time of Joseph's being put into prison, or from the time that the chief butler was taken out of it; the latter seems more probable, and better connects this and the preceding chapter:

that Pharaoh dreamed, and, behold, he stood by the river; it seemed to him, in his dream, as if he stood near the river Nile, or some canal or flow of water cut out of that river.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

River; or the branch of the Nile which ran to Tanis, his capital. There were seven principal canals, and this was the most to the east, except that of Pelusium. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Two full years, after the butler's restitution to his place. Heb. Years of days, for full years, as 2Sa 14:28; Jer 28:3; as a month of days is put for a full month, Gen 29:14, which is complete to a day. Nilus is called the river simply, because of its eminency, as Homer or Virgil are called the poet.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And it came to pass at the end of two full years (literally, two years of days, i.e. two complete years from the commencement of Joseph"s incarceration, or more probably after the butler"s liberation), that Pharaoh on the import of the term vide Gen_12:15. Under what particular monarch Joseph came to Egypt is a question of much perplexity, and has been variously resolved by modern Egyptologists in favor of

1. Osirtasen I, the founder of the twelfth dynasty, a prosperous and successful sore-reign, whose name appears on a granite obelisk at Heliopolis (Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptians," 1:30, ed. 1878).

2. Assa, or Assis, the fifth king of the fifteenth dynasty of Shepherd kings (Stuart Peele in Smith"s "Bible Dict.," art. Egypt).

3. Apophis, a Shepherd king of the fifteenth dynasty, whom all the Greek authorities agree in mentioning as the patron of Joseph (Osburn, "Menumental History," vol. 2: Ge 2; Thornley Smith, "Joseph and his Times," p. 42).

1. Thothmes III, a monarch of the eighteenth dynasty (Stanley Leathes in Kitto s "Cyclopedia," p. 744).

2. Rameses III, the king of Memphis, a ruler belonging to the twentieth dynasty (Bonomi in "The Imperial Bible Dict.," p. 488; Sharpe"s "History of Egypt," vol. 1. p. 35). It may assist the student to arrive at a decision with respect to these contending aspirants for the throne of Pharaoh in the time of Joseph to know that Canon Cook ("Speaker"s Commentary," vol. 1. p. 451), after an elaborate and careful as well as scholarly review of theentire question, regards it as at least "a very probable conjecture" that the Pharaoh of Joseph was Amenemha III, "who is represented on the lately-discovered table of Abydos as the last great king of all Egypt in the ancient empire (the last of the twelfth dynasty), and as such receiving divine honors from his descendant Ramesesdreamed. "For the third time are dreams employed as the agencies of Joseph"s history: they first foreshadow his illustrious future; they then manifest that the Spirit of God had not abandoned him even in the abject condition of a slave and a prisoner; and lastly they are made the immediate forerunners of his greatness" (Kalisch.). And, behold, he stood by the riveri.e. upon the banks of the Nile, the term raOye (an Egyptian word signifying great river or canal, in the Memphitic dialect yaro, in the Sahidic yero) being used almost exclusively in Scripture for the Nile. (Exo_1:22 Exo_2:3 Exo_7:15; Gesenius, "Lex., p. 326) This was the common name for the Nile among the Egyptians, the sacred being Hapi (Canon Cook in "Speaker"s Commentary," p. 485).

Vers. 1-45.

Joseph before Pharaoh, or from the prison to the throne.

I THE DREAMS OF THE MONARCH.

1. His midnight visions. Two full years have expired since the memorable birthday of Pharaoh which sent the baker to ignominious execution, but restored the butler to the favor of his royal master. Slumbering upon his bed, the king of Egypt seems to stand among the tall grass upon the banks of the Nile. First seven well-formed and full-fleshed heifers appear to climb up one after the other among the reeds from the river"s edge, where they have probably been drinking, followed by seven lean and haggard animals, walking up in the same mysterious procession, till they stand side by side with their thriving predecessors, when they suddenly fall upon these predecessors and eat them up. Startled by the strangeness of the scene, the royal sleeper wakes only to discover it a dream. Then composing himself a second time to slumber, he finds himself still standing in the Nile valley, but now looking out towards its luxuriant corn-fields. Again a strange phenomenon occurs. Growing from the soil he sees a tall, massive stalk of corn, with seven fat ears depending from its top; but scarcely has this arrested his attention, when he notices another by its side, spare and feeble, with its seven ears parched and empty, as if they had been burnt up by the hot south-east winds blowing up from the sandy wastes of Arabia. To his astonishment, as before, the fat ears are devoured by the thin. Awaking, he a second time discovers that he has been dreaming.

2. His morning agitations. The spirit of the king of Egypt was troubled first because of the dreams, which he obviously regarded as conveying to his royal mind some supernatural communication, which, however, he failed to understand; and secondly because the interpretation of them appeared equally to baffle the penetration of all the wise men and magicians of his empire, whom he had summoned to assist him in deciphering their import.

II THE INTERJECTION OF THE BUTLER.

1. The recollection of his faults. If this referred to his ingratitude to Joseph (which is scarcely likely), that was a shortcoming which should have been remembered at least two years before, though it was better he should recall it then than never. But it is more than probable the offence spoken of was the crime for which he had been previously imprisoned by Pharaoh, and of which he now confessed himself to be guilty, as without acknowledging the justness of his royal master"s anger he could scarcely hope to experience the mildness of his royal master"s favor. That he only remembers Joseph when he deems it possible by doing so to gratify his master and serve himself indicates a disposition as hypocritical and time-serving as ungrateful and unfeeling.

2. The recital of his mercies. Narrating the story of his imprisonment, he informs the anxious monarch that he and his late companion, the chief baker, while suffering the righteous penalty of their misdeeds in the round house or State prison, had each dream on one and the self-same night; that a young man, then an inmate of the cells, a Hebrew, and a servant of the provost marshal, to whom they severally related their extraordinary dreams, volunteered to deliver their interpretation; and that the event, in the case of both himself and his companion, had turned out exactly as had been predicted the chief baker had been hanged, while himself, the chief butler, through the royal clemency of Pharaoh, had been restored to his office.

III THE APPEARANCE OF THE PRISONER.

1. The opening of the interview. In obedience to a royal summons, Joseph, after shaving and exchanging his prison garb for a costume suited to the high occasion, is hastily presented to the king. Regarding him with mingled feelings of respect and awe, the mighty potentate declares his dilemma, he has dreamed a dream which has baffled the ingenuity of all the Court magicians, and explains how he has heard of Joseph"s Are skill as an interpreter of dreams, upon which Joseph, disclaiming all ability in himself, and pointing Pharaoh to the true Interpreter of dreams, assures him, speaking in the exercise of prophetic faith, that God would vouchsafe to him an answer that should tend at once to the happiness of his own person and the prosperity of his realm.

2. The interpretation of the dreams. Listening to the monarch"s recitation of the singular phenomena of his nocturnal visions, Joseph

(1) declares their import to be the coming of seven years of plenty to the land, to be followed by seven years of famine, which should consume the land by reason of its severity;

(2) affirms the certainty of this prediction as involved in the repetition of the dream; and

(3) concludes by recommending as a precautionary measure that a fifth part of the produce of the seven years of plenty should be taken up and stored in granaries in the chief cities of the empire, to be distributed among the people during the seven years of famine a measure which would necessitate the appointment of one competent officer with a requisite staff of assistants, and with supreme authority to enforce the tax or compel the sale, according as the king might determine to uplift the grain.

3. The reward of the interpreter. As became one who had proved of such incomparable service to the monarch and the State, Joseph was immediately and generously recompensed.

(1) His counsel was accepted. "The thing," or advice tendered, "was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants." It is ever a grief to God"s prophets and Christ"s ministers when their Divinely-sent communications are rejected, as the acceptance of their heavenly messages never fails to afford them occasion of rejoicing.

(2) His person was exalted.

(a) He was constituted grand vizier of the empire, in the historian"s account of which may be noticed the monarch"s resolution and the reason of it as God hath showed thee all this, thou shaft be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled," or dispose themselves; the royal edict and the public attestation of it I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring," &c.; the extent of his authority and the limitation of it his power was to be absolute over all the realm thee shall no man lift up hand or foot only as to the throne was he to be subordinate to Pharaoh.

(b) He was naturalized as an Egyptian prince by the assignment of a new name, Zaphnath-paaneah, for the import of which the Exposition may be consulted.

(c) He was married to a daughter of the priestly caste, who formed the highest dignitaries in the State.

Learn

1. The marvelous facility with which God can accomplish his designs. God can make Pharaoh dream and the butler recollect his faults when it is time to bring Joseph out of prison.

2. The amazing incompetence of human wisdom to understand God"s riddles. The world by wisdom knows not God, any more than Pharaoh"s magicians could interpret his dreams.

3. The extraordinary insight which those have-who receive their teaching from God. Joseph can interpret the dreams of the monarch and the dreams of his officers with a like promptitude and accuracy, and God"s people have an unction from the Holy One that enables them to know all things.

4. The incomparable greatness to which Christ"s followers will eventually be raised. Joseph stepped from the prison to the palace, from the tower to the throne, from the wearing of iron fetters to the wielding of regal power; and such honor will have all the saints in the day of the manifestation of the sons of God. Even now God "raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill, that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people;" but then "to him that overcometh will I grant," saith the King, "to sit with me on my throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne.

HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD

Job_8:11.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Two things providence is here bringing about.

1. The advancement of Joseph.

2. The maintenance of Jacob and his family in a time of famine; for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the earth, and direct the affairs of the children of men. In order to these, here is,

I. Pharaoh's dream, ver. 1-8.

II. The recommendation of Joseph to him for an interpreter, ver. 9-13.

III. The interpretation of the dreams, and the prediction of seven years plenty, and seven years famine in Egypt, with the prudent advice given to Pharaoh thereupon, ver. 14-36.

IV. The preferment of Joseph to a place of the highest power and trust, ver. 37-45.

V. The accomplishment of Joseph's prediction, and his fidelity to his trust, ver. 46-57.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Genesis 37 - 50

On which we shall dwell more particularly. There is not in scripture a more perfect and beautiful type of Christ than Joseph. Whether we view Christ as the object of the Father’s love, the object of the envy of His own, - in His humiliation, sufferings, death exaltation, and glory, in all we have Him strikingly typified by Joseph.

In Gen. 37 we have Joseph’s dreams, the statement of which draws out the enmity of his brethren. He was the object of his father’s love, and the subject of very high destinies, and inasmuch as the hearts of his brothers were not in communion with these things, they hated him. They had no fellowship in the father’s love. They would not yield to the thought of Joseph’s exaltation. In all this they represent the Jews in Christ’s day. He came to His own and his own received him not." He had "no form nor comeliness in their eyes." They would neither own Him as the Son of God, nor king of Israel. Their eyes were not open to behold "his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of "grace and truth." They would not have Him; yea, they hated Him.

Now, in Joseph’s case, we see that he, in no wise, relaxed his testimony in consequence of his brethren’s refusal of his first dream. "And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren;" and they hated him yet the more....And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren." This was simple testimony founded upon divine revelation; but it was testimony which brought Joseph down to the pit. Had he kept back his testimony, or taken off ought of its edge and power, he might have spared himself; but no; he told them the truth, and therefore they hated him.

Thus was it with Joseph’s great Antitype. He bore witness to the truth - He witnessed a good confession He kept back nothing - He could only speak the truth because He was the truth, and His testimony to the truth was answered, on man’s part, by the cross, the vinegar, the soldier’s spear. The testimony of Christ, too, was connected with the deepest, fullest, richest grace. He not only came as "the truth," but also as the perfect expression of all the love of the Father’s heart:" grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." He was the full disclosure to man of what God was. Hence man was left entirely without excuse. He came and showed God to man, and man hated God with a perfect hatred. The fullest exhibition of divine love was answered by the fullest exhibition of human hatred. This is seen in the cross; and we have it touchingly foreshadowed at the pit into which Joseph was cast by his brethren.

"And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh; come now, therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit; and we will say, some evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams." These words forcibly remind us of the parable in Matthew 22. "But, last of all, he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir, come let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him." God sent His Son into the world with this thought, "They will reverence my son;" but, alas! man’s heart had no reverence for the "well beloved" of the Father. They cast him out. Earth and heaven were at issue in reference to Christ; and they are at issue still. Man crucified Him; but God raised Him from the dead. Man placed Him on a cross between two thieves; God set Him at His own right hand in the heavens. Man gave Him the very lowest place on earth; God gave Him the very highest place in heaven, in brightest majesty.

ALL this is shown out in Joseph’s history. "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him; but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel;) even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breast and of the womb; the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren." (Gen. 49: 22-26)

These verses beautifully exhibit to our view "the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." "The archers" have done their work; but God was stronger than they. The true Joseph has been shot at and grievously wounded in the house of his friends; but "the arms of his hands have been made strong" in the power of resurrection, and faith now knows Him as the basis of all God’s purposes of blessing and glory in reference to the Church, Israel, and the whole creation. When we look at Joseph in the pit, and in the prison, and look; at him afterwards as ruler over all the land of Egypt, we see the difference between the thoughts of God and the. thoughts of men; and so when we look at the cross, and at "the throne of the majesty in the heavens," we see the same thing.

Nothing ever brought out the real state of man’s heart toward God but the coming of Christ. "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin." (John 15: 22) It is not that they would not have been sinners. No; but "they had not had sin." So He says, in another place, "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin." (John 9: 41) God came near to man in the Person of His Son, and man was able to say, "this is the heir;" but yet he said, "come, let us kill him." Hence, "they have no cloak for their sin." Those who say they see, have no excuse. confessed blindness is not at all the difficulty, but professed sight. This is a truly solemn principle for a professing age like the present. The permanence of sin is connected with the mere profession to see. A man who is blind, and knows it, can have his eyes opened; but what can be done for one who thinks he sees, when he really does not?

C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Two Dreams of Pharaoh

v. 1. And it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed; and, behold, he stood by the river, on the banks of the Nile. This was after the imprisonment of Joseph had lasted two more whole years.

v. 2. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well-favored kine and fat-fleshed, cows in the best of condition, both as to appearance and flesh; and they fed in a meadow, in the luscious grass on the banks of the Nile.

v. 3. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. The cows in the second set were in an extremely poor condition, very lean as to flesh, but they followed hard upon the first set.

v. 4. And the ill-favored and lean-fleshed kine did eat up the seven well-favored and fat kine. The lean cows devoured the fat cows, without, however, deriving any benefit therefrom,

v. 21. So Pharaoh awoke, the vividness of the dream bringing him to his senses with a start.

v. 5. And he slept and dreamed the second time; and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good, long, full, heavy ears, indicating great fertility.

v. 6. And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them. This was not a single stalk, as before, but seven individual thin stalks, scorched by the southeast wind from the Arabian desert, the so-called Chamsim.

v. 7. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. The picture had been so vivid in his mind’s eye that Pharaoh was surprised to find it a mere dream. Yet he felt that facts of unusual importance were being brought to his attention by means of these dreams.

v. 8. And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, with the full awakening came the full consciousness of important events pending; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof, men belonging to the priestly order who devoted themselves to astrology, dreams, fortune-telling, and magic, commonly considered the wise men of the nation. And Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh. With all the wisdom of the kingdom at their disposal, they failed miserably, for, as one interpreter has it, "It is the doom of this world’s wisdom to be dumb where its knowledge might avail, or dependence is placed upon it. " Interpretation that may be depended upon belongs to God.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

PHARAOHS DREAMS

Genesis 41

"Thus saith the Lord, that frustrateth the tokens of the liars and maketh diviners mad; that confirmeth the word of His servant, and performeth the counsel of His messengers; that saith of Cyrus, He is nay shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure."- Isa_44:25; Isa_44:28.

THE preceding act in this great drama-the act comprising the scenes of Josephs temptation, unjust imprisonment, and interpretation of his fellow-prisoners dreams-was written for the sake of explaining how Joseph came to be introduced to Pharaoh. Other friendships may have been formed in the prison, and other threads may have been spun which went to make up the life of Joseph, but this only is pursued. For a time, however, there seemed very little prospect that this would prove to be the thread on which his destiny hung. Joseph made a touching appeal to the Chief Butler: "yet did not the Chief Butler remember Joseph, but forgat him." You can see him in the joy of his release affectionately pressing Josephs hand as the kings messengers knocked off his fetters. You can see him assuring Joseph, by his farewell look, that he might trust him; mistaking mere elation at his own release for warmth of feeling towards Joseph, though perhaps even already feeling just the slightest touch of awkwardness at being seen on such intimate terms with a Hebrew slave. How could he, when in the palace of Pharaoh and decorated with the insignia of his office and surrounded by courtiers, break through the formal etiquette of the place? What with the pleasant congratulations of old friends, and the accumulation of business since he had been imprisoned, and the excitement of restoration from so low and hopeless to so high and busy a position, the promise to Joseph is obliterated from his mind. If it once or twice recurs to his memory, he persuades himself he is waiting for a good opening to mention Joseph. It would perhaps be unwarrantable to say that he admits the idea that he is in no way indebted to Joseph, since all that Joseph had done was to interpret, but by no means to determine, his fate.

The analogy which we could not help seeing between Josephs relation to his fellow-prisoners, and our Lords relation to us, pursues us here. For does not the bond between us and Him seem often very slender, when once we have received from Him the knowledge of the Kings goodwill, and find ourselves set in a place of security? Is not Christ with many a mere stepping-stone for their own advancement, and of interest only so long as they are in anxiety about their own fate? Their regard for Him seems abruptly to terminate as soon as they are ushered to freer air. Brought for a while into contact with Him, the very peace and prosperity which that intercourse has introduced them to become opiates to dull their memory and their gratitude. They have received all they at present desire, they have no more dreams, their life has become so plain and simple and glad that they need no interpreter. They seem to regard Him no more than an official is regarded who is set to discharge to all comers some duty for which he is paid; who mingles no love with his work, and from whom they would receive the same benefits whether he had any personal interest in them or no. But there is no Christianity where there is no loving remembrance of Christ. If your contact with Him has not made Him your Friend whom you can by no possibility forget, you have missed the best result of your introduction to Him. It makes one think meanly of the Chief Butler that such a personality as Josephs had not more deeply impressed him-that everything he heard and saw among the courtiers did not make him say to himself: There is a friend of mine, in prison hard by, that for beauty, wisdom, and vivacity would more than match the finest of you all. And it says very little for us if we can have known anything of Christ without seeing that in Him we have what is nowhere else, and without finding that He has become the necessity of our life to whom we turn at every point.

But, as things turned out, it was perhaps as well for Joseph that his promising friend did forget him. For, supposing the Chief Butler had overcome his natural reluctance to increase his own indebtedness to Pharaoh by interceding for a friend, supposing he had been willing to risk the friendship of the Captain of the Guard by interfering in so delicate a matter, and supposing Pharaoh had been willing to listen to him, what would have been the result? Probably that Joseph would have been sold away to the quarries, for certainly he could not have been restored to Potiphars house; or, at the most, he might have received his liberty, and a free pass out of Egypt. That is to say, he would have obtained liberty to return to sheep-shearing and cattle-dealing and checkmating his brothers plots. In any probable case his career would have tended rather towards obscurity than towards the fulfilment of his dreams.

There seems equal reason to congratulate Joseph on his friends forgetfulness, when we consider its probable effects, not on his career, but on his character. When he was left in prison after so sudden and exciting an incursion of the outer world as the kings messengers would make, his mind must have run chiefly in two lines of thought. Naturally he would feel some envy of the man who was being restored; and when day after day passed and more than the former monotony of prison routine palled on his spirit; when he found how completely he was forgotten, and how friendless and lone a creature he was in that strange land where things had gone so mysteriously against him; when he saw before him no other fate than that which he had seen befall so many a slave thrown into a dungeon at his masters pleasure and never more heard of, he must have been sorely tempted to hate the whole world, and especially those brethren who had been the beginning of all his misfortunes. Had there been any selfishness in solution in Josephs character, this is the point at which it would have quickly crystallized into permanent forms. For nothing more certainly elicits and confirms selfishness than bad treatment. But from his conduct on his release, we see clearly enough that through all this trying time his heroism was not only that of the strong man who vows that though the whole world is against him the day will come when the world shall have need of him, but of the saint of God in whom suffering and injustice leave no bitterness against his fellows, nor even provoke one slightest morbid utterance.

But another process must have been going on in Josephs mind at the same time. He must have felt that it was a very serious thing that he had been called upon to do in interpreting Gods will to his fellow-prisoners. No doubt he fell into it quite naturally, and aptly, because it was liker his proper vocation, and more of his character could come out in it than in anything he had yet done. Still, to be mixed up thus with matters of life and death concerning other people, and to have men of practical ability and experience and high position listening to him as to an oracle, and to find that in very truth a great power was committed to him, was calculated to have some considerable result one way or other on Joseph. And these two years of unrelieved and sobering obscurity cannot but be considered most opportune. For one of two things is apt to follow the worlds first recognition of a mans gifts. He is either induced to pander to the worlds wonder and become artificial and strained in all he does, so losing the spontaneity and naturalness and sincerity which characterise the best work; or he is awed and steadied. And whether the one or the other result follow, will depend very much on the other things that are happening to him. In Josephs case it was probably well that after having made proof of his powers he was left in such circumstances as would not only give him time for reflection, but also give a humble and believing turn to his reflections. He was not at once exalted to the priestly caste, nor enrolled among the wise men, nor put in any position in which he would have been under constant temptation to display and trifle with his power; and so he was led to the conviction that deeper even than the joy of receiving the recognition and gratitude of men was the abiding satisfaction of having done the thing God had given him to do.

These two years, then, during which Josephs active mind must necessarily have been forced to provide food for itself, and have been thrown back upon his past experience, seem to have been of eminent service in maturing his character. The self-possessed dignity and ease of command which appear in him from the moment when he is ushered into Pharaohs presence have their roots in these two years of silence. As the bones of a strong man are slowly, imperceptibly knit, and gradually take the shape and texture they retain throughout; so during these years there was silently and secretly consolidating a character of almost unparalleled calmness and power. One has no words to express how tantalising it must have been to Joseph to see this Egyptian have his dreams so gladly and speedily fulfilled, while he himself, who had so long waited on the true God, was left waiting still, and now so utterly unbefriended that there seemed no possible way of ever again connecting himself with the world outside the prison walls. Being pressed thus for an answer to the question, What does God mean to make of my life? he was brought to see and to hold as the most important truth for him, that the first concern. is, that Gods purposes be accomplished; the second, that his own dreams be fulfilled. He was enabled, as we shall see in the sequel, to put God truly in the first place, and to see that by forwarding the interests of other men, even though they were but light-minded chief butlers at a foreign court, he might be as serviceably furthering the purposes of God, as if he were forwarding his own interests. He was compelled to seek for some principle that would sustain and guide him in the midst of much disappointment and perplexity, and he found it in the conviction that the essential thing to be accomplished in this world, and to which every man must lay his shoulder, is Gods purpose. Let that go on, and all else that should go on will go on. And he further saw that he best fulfils Gods purpose who, without anxiety and impatience, does the duty of the day, and gives himself without stint to the "charities that soothe and heal and bless."

His perception of the breadth of Gods purpose, and his profound and sympathetic and active submission to it, were qualities too rare not to be called into influential exercise. After two years he is suddenly summoned to become Gods interpreter to Pharaoh. The Egyptian king was in the unhappy though not uncommon position of having a revelation from God which he could not read, intimations and presentiments he could not interpret. To one man is given the revelation, to another the interpretation. The official dignity of the king is respected, and to him is given the revelation which concerns the welfare of the whole people. But to read Gods meaning in a revelation requires a spiritual intelligence trained to sympathy with His purposes, and such a spirit was found in Joseph alone.

The dreams of Pharaoh were thoroughly Egyptian. The marvel is, that a symbolism so familiar to the Egyptian eye should not have been easily legible to even the most slenderly gifted of Pharaohs wise men. "In my dream," says the king, "behold, I stood upon the bank of the river: and, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine," and so on. Every land or city is proud of its river, but none has such cause to be so as Egypt of its Nile. The country is accurately as well as poetically called "the gift of Nile." Out of the river do really come good or bad years, fat or lean kine. Wholly dependent on its annual rise and overflow for the irrigating and enriching of the soil, the people worship it and love it, and at the season of its overflow give way to the most rapturous expressions of joy. The cow also was reverenced as the symbol of the earths productive power. If then, as Joseph avers, God wished to show to Pharaoh that seven years of plenty were approaching, this announcement could hardly have been made plainer in the language of dreams than by showing to Pharaoh seven well-favoured kine coming up out of the bountiful river to feed on the meadow made richly green by its waters. If the king had been sacrificing to the river, such a sight, familiar as it was to the dwellers by the Nile, might well have been accepted by him as a promise of plenty in the land. But what agitated Pharaoh, and gave him the shuddering presentiment of evil which accompanies some dreams, was the sequel. "Behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill-favoured and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness: and the lean and the ill-favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: and when they had eaten them up it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill-favoured, as at the beginning,"-a picture which to the inspired dream-reader represented seven years of famine so grievous, that the preceding plenty should be swallowed up and not be known. A similar image occurred to a writer who, in describing a more recent famine in the same land, says: "The year presented itself as a monster whose wrath must annihilate all the resources of life and all the means of subsistence."

It tells in favour of the court magicians and wise men that not one of them offered an interpretation of dreams to which it would certainly not have been difficult to attach some tolerably feasible interpretation. Probably these men were as yet sincere devotees of astrology and occult science, and not the mere jugglers and charlatans their successors seem to have become. When men cannot make out the purpose of God regarding the future of the race, it is not wonderful that they should endeavour to catch the faintest, most broken echo of His voice to the world, wherever they can find it. Now there is a wide region, a borderland between the two worlds of spirit and of matter, in which are found a great many mysterious phenomena which cannot be explained by any known laws of nature, and through which men fancy they get nearer to the spiritual world. There are many singular and startling appearances, coincidences, forebodings, premonitions which men have always been attracted towards, and which they have considered as open ways of communication between God and man. There are dreams, visions, strange apprehensions, freaks of memory, and other mental phenomena, which, when all classed together, assorted, and skilfully applied to the reading of the future, once formed quite a science by itself. When men have no word from God to depend upon, no knowledge at all of where either the race or individuals are going to, they will eagerly grasp at anything that even seems to shed a ray of light on their future. We for the most part make light of that whole category of phenomena, because we have a more sure word of prophecy by which, as with a light in a dark place, we can tell where our next step should be, and what the end shall be. But invariably in heathen countries, where no guiding Spirit of God was believed in, and where the absence of His revealed will left numberless points of duty doubtful and all the future dark, there existed in lieu of this a class of persons who, under one name or other, undertook to satisfy the craving of men to see into the future, to forewarn them of danger, and advise them regarding matters of conduct and affairs of state.

At various points of the history of Gods revelation these professors of occult science appear. In each case a profound impression is made by the superior wisdom or power displayed by the "wise men" of God. But in reading the accounts we have of these collisions between the wisdom of God and that of the magicians, a slight feeling of uneasiness sometimes enters the mind. You may feel that these wonders of Joseph, Moses, and Daniel have a romantic air about them, and you feel, perhaps, a slight scruple in granting that God would lend Himself to such displays-displays so completely out oft date in our day. But we are to consider not only that there is nothing of the kind more certain than that dreams do sometimes even now impart most significant warning to men; but, also, that the time in which Joseph lived was the childhood of the world, when God had neither spoken much to men, nor could speak much, because as yet they had not learned His language, but were only being slowly taught it by signs suited to their capacity. If these men were to receive any knowledge beyond what their own unaided efforts could attain, they must be taught in a language they understood. They could not be dealt with as if they had already attained a knowledge and a capacity which could only be theirs many centuries after; they must be dealt with by signs and wonders which had perhaps little moral teaching in them, but yet gave evidence of Gods nearness and power such as they could and did understand. God thus stretched out His hand to men in the darkness, and let them feel His strength before they could look on His face and understand His nature.

It is the existence at the court of Pharaoh of this highly respected class of dream-interpreters and wise men, which lends significance to the conduct of Joseph when summoned into the royal presence. Such wisdom as he displayed in reading Pharaohs visions was looked upon as attainable by means within the reach of any man who had sufficient faculty for the science. And the first idea in the minds of the courtiers would probably have been, had Joseph not solemnly protested against it, that he was an adept where they were apprentices and bunglers, and that his success was due purely to professional skill. This was of course perfectly well known to Joseph, who for a number of years had been familiar with the ideas prevalent at the court of Pharaoh; and he might have argued that there could be no great harm in at least effecting his deliverance from an unjust imprisonment by allowing Pharaoh to suppose that it was to him he was indebted for the interpretation of his dreams. But his first word to Pharaoh is a self-renouncing exclamation: "Not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." Two years had elapsed since anything had occurred which looked the least like the fulfilment of his own dreams, or gave him any hope of release from prison; and now, when measuring himself with these courtiers and feeling able to take his place with the best of them, getting again a breath of free air and feeling once more the charm of life, and having an opening set before his young ambition, being so suddenly transferred from a place where his very existence seemed to be forgotten to a place where Pharaoh himself and all his court eyed him with the intensest interest and anxiety, it is significant that he should appear regardless of his own fate, but jealously careful of the glory of God. Considering how jealous men commonly are of their own reputation, and how impatiently eager to receive all the credit that is due to them for their own share in any good that is doing, and considering of what essential importance it seemed that Joseph should seize this opportunity of providing for his own safety and advancement, and should use this as the tide in his affairs that led to fortune, his words and bearing before Pharaoh undoubtedly disclose a deeply inwrought fidelity to God, and a magnanimous patience regarding his own personal interests..

For it is extremely unlikely that in proposing to Pharaoh to set a man over this important business of collecting corn to last through the years of famine, it presented itself to Joseph as a conceivable result that he should be the person appointed-he a Hebrew, a slave, a prisoner, cleaned but for the nonce, could not suppose that Pharaoh would pass over all those tried officers and ministers of state around him and fix upon a youth who was wholly untried, and who might, by his different race and religion, prove obnoxious to the people. Joseph may have expected to make interest enough with Pharaoh to secure his freedom, and possibly some subordinate berth where he could hopefully begin the world again; but his only allusion to himself is of a depreciatory kind, while his reference to God is marked with a profound conviction that this is Gods doing, and that to Him is due whatever is due. Well may the Hebrew race be proud of those men like Joseph and Daniel, who stood in the presence of foreign monarchs in a spirit of perfect fidelity to God, commanding the respect of all, and clothed with the dignity and simplicity which that fidelity imparted. It matters not to Joseph that there may perhaps be none in that land who can appreciate his fidelity to God or understand his motive. It matters not what he may lose by it, or what he could gain by falling in with the notions of those around him. He himself knows the real. state of the case, and will not act untruly to his God, even though for years he seems to have been forgotten by Him. With Daniel he says in spirit, "Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another. As for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but that the interpretation may be known to the king, and that thou mayest know the thoughts of thine heart. He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass." There is something particularly noble and worthy of admiration in a man thus standing alone and maintaining the fullest allegiance to God, without ostentation and with a quiet dignity and naturalness that show he has a great fund of strength behind.

That we do not misjudge Josephs character or ascribe to him qualities which were invisible to his contemporaries, is apparent from the circumstance that Pharaoh and his advisers, with little or no hesitation, agreed that to no man could they more safely entrust their country in this emergency. The mere personal charm of Joseph might have won over those experienced advisers of the crown to make compensation for his imprisonment by an unusually handsome reward, but no mere attractiveness of person and manner, nor even the unquestionable guilelessness of his bearing, could have induced them to put such an affair as this into his hands. Plainly they were impressed with Joseph; almost supernaturally impressed, and felt God through him. He stood before them as one mysteriously appearing in their emergency, sent out of unthought-of quarters to warn and save them. Happily there was as yet no jealousy of the God of the Hebrews, nor any exclusiveness on the part of the chosen people: Pharaoh and Joseph alike felt that there was one God over all and through all. And it was Josephs self-abnegating sympathy with the purposes of this Supreme God that made him a transparent medium, so that in his presence the Egyptians felt themselves in the presence of God. It is so always. Influence in the long run belongs to those who rid their minds of all private aims, and get close to the great centre in which all the race meets and is cared for. Men feel themselves safe with the unselfish, with persons in whom they meet principle, justice, truth, love, God. We are unattractive, useless, uninfluential, just because we are still childishly craving a private and selfish good. We know that a life which does not pour itself freely into the common stream of public good is lost in dry and sterile sands. We know that a life spent upon self is contemptible, barren, empty, yet how slowly do we come to the attitude of Joseph, who watched for the fulfilment of Gods purposes, and found his happiness in forwarding what God designed for the people.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

It came about

This phrase is used here to mark the beginning of a new part of the story. If your language has a way for doing this, you could consider using it here. (See: Introduction of a New Event)

at the end of two full years

Two years passed after Joseph correctly interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh's cupbearer and baker, who had been in prison with Joseph.

Behold, he stood

The word "behold" here marks the beginning of another event in the larger story. Your language may have a way of doing this. AT: "He was surprised because he was standing"

he stood

"Pharaoh was standing"

desirable and fat

"healthy and fat"

grazed in the reeds

"were eating the grass along the side of the river"

reeds

tall, thin grasses that grow in wet areas

Behold, seven other cows

The word "behold" here shows that Pharaoh was again surprised by what he saw.

undesirable and thin

"sick and thin"

bank of the river

"beside the river" or "riverside." This is the higher ground along the edge of a river.

translationWords

year

Pharaoh

dream

Nile River

cow

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

ויהי מקץ AND IT CAME TO PASS AT THE END — As the Targum renders it by מסוף “at the end” All forms of the noun קץ signify one end or the other.

על היאר BY THE RIVER — No other river is called יאר) except the Nile, because the whole country (Egypt) is full of artificially constructed canals (יאורים) and the Nile flows into them and fills them with water, since rain does not fall in Egypt as regularly as in other lands.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

BY THE ‘YE’OR’ (RIVER). With the exception of the Nile, none of the other rivers is called ye’or, a word signifying “canal,” because the entire country consists of artificially constructed canals, and the waters of the Nile flow into them. This is the language of Rashi.Onkelos however did translate the word ye’or here as “river,” but in the book of Exodus he translated al ye’oreihem as “on their canals,” as he had to distinguish between nahar and ye’or since they are both mentioned in the same verse: ‘al naharotham ve’al ye’oreihem’ (on their rivers and on their canals). Thus, according to Onkelos, all rivers are called ye’orim, with the large ones being called both n’haroth and ye’orim while those canals constructed by man are also called ye’orim. applies only to a natural river, while the word ye’or applies to both a natural river and a man-made canal. Thus we find that the Tigris, besides being called nahar, is also called ye’or, as it is written, I was by the side of the great ‘nahar’ (river), which is Tigris… and behold a man clothed in linen, and it is further written there: And, behold, there stood other two, the one on the bank of the ‘ye’or’ (river) on this side, and the other on the bank of the ‘ye’or’ on that side. And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the ‘ye’or’ (river)., 12:5-6. In my opinion the fact is as Onkelos said, and nahar are both terms for rivers. as both ye’or and nahar convey the same concept, both being an expression for orah (light). The rain, likewise, is called or (light), as it is said: He spreadeth ‘oro’ (His light) upon it; He spreadeth abroad the cloud of ‘oro’ (His lighting);, 37:11. and as Rabbi Yochanan said, “All verses in Elihu’s speech in the book of Job containing the word orah refer to the coming down of rain.” Perhaps this is because the rains are influenced by the luminaries, (light) on account of the small luminary (the moon), since its movements, by command of the Creator, cause the rain.” An identical explanation is also found in R’dak’s Sefer Hashorashim, under the root or. and the rivers which are formed by the rains are thus related to their first cause, (light), since the rain is caused by the movement of the luminaries, as explained above. the luminaries.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים, at the end of two years after the release of the cup bearer Pharaoh had given this banquet, following which he had the dream narrated here.

ופרעה חלם. He was dreaming that he was standing by the river. The word על as meaning “besides, close to,” occurs for instance, also in Numbers 2,20 ועלי מטה מנשה, “and beside him (the army of the tribe Ephrayim) camped the army of the tribe Menashe.” The meaning certainly could not be that Menashe was “above, over,” the tribe of Ephrayim, a more common meaning for the word על. G’d directs all these various apparently unrelated little incidents in mysterious ways in order to promote the realisation of His overall plan in historical developments, both of His people, and of mankind generally. Pharaoh’s dream was inspired by G’d in order that the prophecy to Avraham that before his descendants would take possession of the land of the Canaanites which He had promised them could come true. He had spoken of a period of 400 years parts of which would be harsh treatment of Avraham’s descendants as slaves. In order for this to come about, Avraham’s descendants had to be in Egypt. In order for them to go there voluntarily G’d had to orchestrate the famine. In order for Egypt not to perish during the famine Joseph had to interpret Pharaoh’s dream correctly and make the Egyptians indebted to himself and his family, thus reducing the number of years the Jews would do slave labour there. David details these steps of G’d’s השגחה in Psalms 105. When we look at Pharaoh’s dream with hindsight, we cannot fail to wonder why this dream was so difficult to interpret, and why the collective wisdom of all of Pharaoh’s wise men failed them. The answer is that G’d withheld their normal sagacity in order to bring Joseph into the picture. This concept of G’d interfering sometimes with the thought processes of human beings [not with their will which is inviolate they having been created in the image of G’d, i.e. with free will. Ed.] is described by the prophet Isaiah with the words משיב חכמים אחור ודעתם יסכל, “He turns sages back and makes nonsense of their knowledge.” (Isaiah 44,25)

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.