78 | Genesis 41:1
Pharaoh ’ s Dreams
When two full years had passed , Phar aoh
41 had a dream : He was stand ing by the Nile ,
2 when out of the riv er there came up sev en cows , sleek and fat , and they grazed among the reeds .
3
Af ter them , sev en oth er cows , ugly and gaunt , came up out of the Nile and stood be side those on the riv er bank . 4 And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the sev en sleek , fat cows . Then Phar aoh woke up .
5
He fell asleep again and had a sec ond dream : Sev en heads of grain , healthy and good , were grow ing on a sin gle stalk . 6 Af ter them , sev en oth er heads of grain sprout ed — thin and scorched by the east wind . 7 The thin heads of grain swal lowed up the sev en healthy , full heads . Then Phar aoh woke up ; it had been a dream .
8
In the morn ing his mind was trou bled , so he sent for all the ma gi cians and wise men of Egypt . Phar aoh told them his dreams , but no one could in ter pret them for him .
9
Then the chief cup bear er said to Phar aoh , “ Today I am re mind ed of my short com ings . 10 Phar aoh was once an gry with his ser vants , and he im prisoned me and the chief bak er in the house of the cap tain of the guard . 11 Each of us had a dream the same night , and each dream had a mean ing of its own . 12 Now a young He brew was there with us , a ser vant of the cap tain of the guard . We told him our dreams , and he in ter pret ed them for us , giv ing each man the in ter pre ta tion of his dream .
13
And things turned out ex act ly as he in ter pret ed them to us : I was re stored to my po si tion , and the oth er man was im paled .”
14
So Phar aoh sent for Jo seph , and he was quick ly brought from the dun geon . When he had shaved and changed his clothes , he came be fore Phar aoh .
15
Phar aoh said to Jo seph , “ I had a dream , and no one can in ter pret it . But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can in ter pret it .”
16
“ I can not do it ,” Jo seph re plied to Phar aoh , “ but God will give Phar aoh the an swer he de sires .”
17
Then Phar aoh said to Jo seph , “ In my dream I was stand ing on the bank of the Nile , 18 when out of the riv er there came up sev en cows , fat and sleek , and they grazed among the reeds . 19 Af ter them , sev en oth er cows came up — scraw ny and very ugly and lean . I had nev er seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt . 20 The lean , ugly cows ate up the sev en fat cows that came up first .
21
But even af ter they ate them , no one could tell that they had done so ; they looked just as ugly as be fore . Then I woke up .
22
“ In my dream I saw sev en heads of grain , full and good , grow ing on a sin gle stalk . 23 Af ter them , sev en oth er heads sprout ed — with ered and thin and scorched by the east wind . 24 The thin heads of grain swal lowed up the sev en good heads . I told this to the ma gi cians , but none of them could ex plain it to me .”
25
Then Jo seph said to Phar aoh , “ The dreams of Phar aoh are one and the same . God has re vealed to Phar aoh what he is about to do . 26 The sev en good cows are sev en years , and the sev en good heads of grain are sev en years ; it is one and the same dream . 27 The sev en lean , ugly cows that came up af ter ward are sev en years , and so are the sev en worth less heads of grain scorched by the east wind : They are sev en years of fam ine .
41:1 – 36 After being forgotten for two years , Joseph is finally released from prison ( compare note on 40:1 ). The chief cupbearer remembers Joseph ’ s ability to interpret dreams at the most opportune time . Joseph is called upon to interpret Pharaoh ’ s puzzling dreams and subsequently reveals their meaning . The section closes with Joseph awaiting the king ’ s reaction to the interpretation .
41:1 Nile The sustenance of the entire nation depended on the Nile . It flooded every year , providing millions of acres of arable land for the nation ’ s food . Egyptians viewed the pharaoh as the incarnation of a god ( Horus ) and as the maintainer of the divinely imposed order on earth . Any irregularity in the annual flooding of the Nile was taken as a sign of weakness or illegitimacy with respect to Pharaoh ’ s rule .
41:2 – 7 Pharaoh ’ s two dreams in this chapter echo Joseph ’ s pair of dreams ( 37:5 – 11 ) and the two dreams of the cupbearer and baker ( 40:5 – 19 ). His first dream features cows , which had a range of symbolic meanings in Egyptian religion . The Egyptian deity Isis , the mother of Horus , was depicted at times as a cow . Since the pharaoh was considered to be Horus incarnate , the cow symbolized the mother of the pharaoh and the pharaoh ’ s own fertility and dynastic line .
41:8 wise men The Hebrew term used here , chakham , occurs often in the OT ( see Da 2:12 – 14 ; 5:7 – 8 ). It refers to people in the king ’ s immediate circle who were either skilled in divination — discerning the will of deities based on using objects , omens or particular methods — or served as advisers .
41:14 – 57 References to various Egyptian practices in the Joseph story , especially in this passage , may help correlate the narrative with Egyptian history , thereby providing a chronological marker for Joseph , but the proposed correlations are disputed . This debate centers on whether or not elements of the Joseph story correlate with Egypt ’ s Hyksos period ( ca . 1700 – 1570 BC ), a time when Semites from Syria-Palestine ruled the eastern delta of Egypt . This debate has effects on the dating of the exodus ( see note on Ex 1:1 – 7 ; note on Ex 1:8 ; note on Ex 1:11 ).
41:14 shaved It is likely that both Joseph ’ s head and beard were shaved . Egyptians were generally clean shaven , though iconography of the Old Kingdom ( ca . 2575 – 2150 ) indicates that some males had beards or moustaches .
41:17 – 24 Pharaoh repeats his dreams to Joseph as he did with his magicians and wise men ( Ge 41:1 – 8 ). Only minor variations between the two accounts appear in the Hebrew text .