Genesis 41
TSK
And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.
And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.

there came.

Genesis 41:17-27 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood on the bank …

a meadow. Or, rather, on, or among the reeds or sedges; for so {achoo} is generally supposed to denote (see

Job 8:11 Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?

And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.
And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.
And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.

seven ears. A species of wheat, which grows in Egypt, bears, when perfect, seven ears on one stalk, as its natural conformation. it differs from ours in having a solid stem, or at least a stem full of pith, in order to yield sufficient nourishment and support to so great a weight as the ears which it bears.

rank. Heb. fat.

Deuteronomy 32:14 Butter of cows, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of …

And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.
And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.
And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

his spirit.

Genesis 40:6 And Joseph came in to them in the morning, and looked on them, and, …

Daniel 2:1-3 And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar …

Daniel 4:5,19 I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts on my bed and …

Daniel 5:6 Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled …

Daniel 7:28 Till now is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations …

Daniel 8:27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose …

Habakkuk 3:16 When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness …

the magicians of Egypt. The word here used {chartummim} may mean no more than interpreters of abstruse or difficult subjects; especially of dreams and visions, which formed a considerable part of the ancient pagan religion; and the Egyptian priests were the first who professed this art. The word may be of affinity with, or derived from, the Persian {chiradmand}, wise, learned, judicious, intelligent, from {chirad}, understanding, judgment, and {mand}, endowed with. They seem to have been such persons as Josephus calls sacred scribes; or professors of sacred learning.

Exodus 7:11,22 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the …

Exodus 8:7,18,19 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up …

Exodus 9:11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; …

Leviticus 19:31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, …

Leviticus 20:6 And the soul that turns after such as have familiar spirits, and …

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 When you are come into the land which the LORD your God gives you, …

Isaiah 8:19 And when they shall say to you, Seek to them that have familiar spirits, …

Isaiah 19:3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the middle thereof; and I will …

Isaiah 29:14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this …

Isaiah 47:12,13 Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your …

Daniel 1:20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired …

Daniel 2:2 Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, …

Daniel 4:7 Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the …

Daniel 5:7,11 The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, …

Acts 17:18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, …

the wise men.

Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod …

Acts 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was …

but there.

Genesis 40:8 And they said to him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter …

Job 5:12,13 He disappoints the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot …

Psalm 25:14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show …

Isaiah 19:11-13 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors …

Isaiah 29:14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this …

Daniel 2:4-11,27,28 Then spoke the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for …

Daniel 5:8 Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the …

1 Corinthians 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will …

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise …

Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day:
Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard's house, both me and the chief baker:
And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.
And 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.
And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.
Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.
And 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.
And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:
And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:
And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, 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. So I awoke.
And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:
And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:

withered. or, small. thin.

Genesis 41:6 And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung …

2 Kings 19:26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed …

Psalm 129:6,7 Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which wither before it grows up…

Hosea 8:7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it …

Hosea 9:16 Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: …

Hosea 13:15 Though he be fruitful among his brothers, an east wind shall come, …

blasted. All the mischief done to corn or fruit by blasting, smutting, mildew, etc. are attributed to the east wind. (See Parallel Passages.) In Egypt it is peculiarly destructive, because it comes through the parched deserts of Arabia, often destroying vast numbers of people. The destructive nature of the {Sam, Simoom, Smoom,} or {Samiel}, is mentioned by almost all travellers. When this pestilential wind advances, its approach is indicated by a redness in the air. The principal stream of the blast always moves in a line of about

Genesis 41:20 And the lean and the ill favored cows did eat up the first seven fat cows:

And 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.
And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.
And 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 seven years of famine.
This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.
Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:
And 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;
And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous.

the plenty. It is well known, that in Egypt there is scarcely any rain, the country depending for its fertility upon the overflowing of the Nile; and that the fertility is in proportion to the duration and quality of the overflow, in order to saturate the land and prepare for the seed. Pliny has given a scale, by which the plenty or dearth may ascertained; which may be considered as perfectly correct. The ordinary height of the inundations is

Genesis 41:16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give …

Genesis 41:12 And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the …

Genesis 41:13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored …

Genesis 41:14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily …

Genesis 41:16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give …

grievous. Heb. heavy.

1 Samuel 5:6 But the hand of the LORD was heavy on them of Ashdod, and he destroyed …

Isaiah 24:20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed …

And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God 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.
Let 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.
And let them gather 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.
And 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.
And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.
And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
Thou 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.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
And 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 about his neck;
And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
And 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.
And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

Zaphnath-paaneah. Which in Coptic signifies a revealer of secrets, or, the man to whom secrets are revealed. Jerome says this name signified in Egyptian, {Savatorem mundi,} the Saviour of the world; and {Psotem-phaneh,} in Coptic, is certainly salvation of the world, from [SOT,] for [soteria,] salvation, {em,} the sign of the genitive case, and [PHENEH], world. If this interpretation be correct, Pharaoh must have meant Egypt by the world, or which Joseph might be justly termed the Saviour. We know that the Romans called their empire {Universis Orbis-Orbis Terrarum,}, all the world: the Chinese say the same of their empire at the present day, and the phrase is used in the East: Nadir Shah is described on his coins as Conqueror of the World, i.e., Persia. See the same phraseology applied to Syria, Palestine, etc.

Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from …

Acts 11:28 And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the …

priest of. or, prince.

Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he …

Exodus 2:16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew …

2 Samuel 8:18 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over both the Cherethites and …

2 Samuel 20:26 And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David.

Genesis 46:20 And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, …

Ezekiel 30:17 The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword: and …

Aven.

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.
And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls.
And 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.
And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.
And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.
And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.
And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended.
And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
And when 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 storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.
And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge by R. A. Torrey [ca. 1880]
Expanded version courtesy INT Bible ©2013, Used by permission

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