And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river.
Genesis 41 opens with a date, not an event: two whole years have passed since the cupbearer walked free and left Joseph in prison. Then, in one night, the king of Egypt dreams — and God begins to move a forgotten prisoner toward a throne.
The verse marks a stretch of silence. Joseph had asked the cupbearer to remember him. The cupbearer forgot, and nothing in Joseph's life changed.
But he lay in irons a little longer. The word of the Lord tried him. God would work in His own way. If the chief butler forgot Joseph in his prosperity, God did not.
Kelly is quoting Psalm 105:19; the ESV reads, "the word of the LORD tested him." Another writer looks at those two years from Joseph's own side.
Two full years rolled by, and still Joseph lay in prison. It was a big test. It seemed as if he were forgotten, and might end his days there. He might have been tempted to say, "And is this the answer to my dreams? — hated by my brothers, sold as a slave, thrown into prison, and the one chance of being mentioned to Pharaoh has died out."
Joseph had already stood firm in Potiphar's house. The prison set a different test. Writers call it the harder one.
In the house of Potiphar he has borne a bright witness for God, he has overcome temptation, and endured persecution. In the prison of Pharaoh he must learn not only to witness for God, but to wait for God. This, as we well know, is one of the hardest lessons for the saint to learn. It is one thing to witness for God in the busy world; it is a very different thing to wait for God in the lonely prison. In fact it is impossible to nature.
Joseph had asked the cupbearer to speak for him to Pharaoh. That help never came.
Joseph must not only learn that the help of man is vain, but that God is his only resource... God has His time as well as His way to bring His purposes to pass.
Notice who dreams. Not the prisoner — the king. The chain of people God has used through Joseph's story reaches its last link here.
Joseph had probably hoped for release as soon as the butler returned to his post in Pharaoh's household. But two full years must pass before God's time is reached... Already God had used the king's captain, the king's jailer, and the king's butler; now He will use the king himself. Moreover, it must be in God's way. It will be "a dream, a vision of the night," by which He will trouble the spirit of Pharaoh and awaken the sleeping memory of Pharaoh's butler.
The dream puts Pharaoh at the river. Egypt's whole life depended on it, and only one man in the country could tell the king what God meant.
Egypt's palaces were very grand. Everything was the best. But why did such a mighty king need a prisoner, Joseph? Because God wanted to speak to Pharaoh. Only Joseph knew the true God, so he alone in all Egypt could help Pharaoh. In Pharaoh's dream he stood on the bank of the River Nile. In Egypt there is no rain. Without the Nile all Egypt would be dry like the desert... So the Egyptians did not worship the true God in heaven. They worshipped the River Nile.
Writers see a larger pattern in this gap: a delay between suffering and glory.
May we not see a forecast here? The sufferings of the Christ are to be followed by His glory in public display. But a time passes in between, in which He is hidden from the eyes of men... It was so in a small way with Joseph. He remained hidden and forgotten in the prison, and the affairs of Egypt moved on without him.
And when the delay ends, it ends fast.
Joseph's advancement and glory seemed to tarry long. All seemed failure and gloom, "Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him" (Ps. 105:19) — then at one mighty bound he leapt from the prison to the throne.
- Forgotten, not lost — the cupbearer forgot Joseph in his prosperity; God did not.
- Tried by the word — the word of the Lord tested Joseph, and the long wait was the test.
- Waiting, not just witnessing — standing firm in the busy world is one thing. Waiting for God in a lonely prison is harder, and impossible to nature.
- God's time and way — captain, jailer, butler, then the king himself. God stirred Pharaoh's sleep on His own schedule, not the butler's.
- Then, at a bound — one night's dream carried Joseph from the prison to the throne. So the hidden Christ waits for His public glory.
And behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fine-looking and fat-fleshed, and they fed in the reed-grass.
In his sleep, Pharaoh stands beside the Nile. He watches seven sleek, well-fed cows climb the bank and graze in the reed grass. It looks like an ordinary Egyptian scene. Yet this is God speaking, and the picture will empty a prison and feed a starving world.
Every detail belongs to the country where the dreamer lived. The word for the river points to one river only. The grazing ground is where Egyptian cattle went to feed.
But here in the chapter before us, how wild, strange, and ominous the double dream sent to wake the king! Yet the word used for the "river" points beyond question to the Nile. So does the marsh-grass on its bank, which cattle loved to browse.
The cattle were not chosen at random either.
Sheep were not popular in Egypt and cattle provided the flesh food, and grain gave them their bread. The river Nile was the basis of the prosperity of both.
God chose the one image that touched Egypt's confidence. The Nile never seemed to fail. Its sources lay too far away to trace. So the nation trusted the water instead of the God behind it.
Egypt had to depend too, but not so directly. Its river was its boast. The sources that fed it lay too far away for anyone to notice easily. This is a vivid picture of the world in its self-sufficiency and independence of God.
That habit did not die with Egypt. Writers see it wherever people trust something nearer than God.
This is like the world. They have no need of God. Their springs are all down here. Christians can say, "All my springs are in You." God is the source of all their joys. Their hopes all rest on Christ above. They look to heaven for everything. But the ungodly are not like this. Their resource is some "river." It is gold and stocks and houses and lands with some.
The dream was clear enough to disturb Pharaoh. No one in his court could explain it. That failure was not a one-off.
First God reveals what He is about to do; but even so man cannot profit by the revelation... as in the past, so now, the wise men of this world are at a total loss when they try to interpret the Word of God. So Pharaoh calls in the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men, only to find that no one can interpret his dreams. Man's pride in his own intellect blinds him to a simple fact: only God can interpret what God communicates.
The fat cows are the good news in the dream. Writers explain what they stood for, and why God sent the picture at all.
The seven cows meant seven years... The well-fed cows and the good ears of grain showed that there would be seven years of plenty through all the land of Egypt... God does things like this to wake people up. He wants them to realise that their blessing does not depend on circumstances, but on the God who brings about every circumstance.
The same writer reads the dream as a picture of the world's own history.
Seven years of plenty, then seven years of famine that will devour them up — such is the prophecy of Pharaoh's dream. Even now the world is enjoying its plentiful years, and it hardly believes the future so plainly foretold for it. Still, the time of famine is surely not far off. It will display the resources of Him whom men will then see as the only one able to meet its terrible demands.
The cows grazing by the Nile arrive at God's chosen moment. They are the last link in a chain of instruments He had been using.
The right time having come, the last instrument in the hand of God is ready to complete the work that leads to the exaltation of Joseph. Already God had used the king's captain, the king's jailer, and the king's butler; now He will use the king himself.
Writers find more in the river than Egypt's food supply.
The river Nile shows us God's provision for the needs of Egypt. It also reminds the Christian that God used Pharaoh's dream about the river to bring Joseph before us. Joseph is the man with God's mind, and a picture of the Saviour of the world.
- River — cattle and grain both depended on the Nile. God put His warning in the one image Egypt trusted most.
- Reliance — the river's distant sources let Egypt feel it did not need heaven. Every age finds its own springs to trust.
- Revelation — God spoke plainly enough to trouble a king. No trained mind in Egypt could read the message. Only God interprets what God sends.
- Reversal — the fat cows stand for seven good years, and they get eaten. Blessing rests on God, not on circumstances.
- Rescue — the dream was God's last instrument. It lifted Joseph out of prison to feed a starving world.
And behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, bad-looking and lean-fleshed, and stood by the kine on the bank of the river.
Pharaoh is dreaming. Seven fat cows have already come up out of the Nile. Now seven more climb out of the same river — gaunt and ugly — and stand right beside them on the bank. Why would God disturb an Egyptian king with cattle and a river? And why is the plenty shadowed by something so poor?
Both herds come up out of the same river. Egypt's whole life ran on the Nile, and one writer sees in that a picture of the world supplying itself and feeling no need of God.
Egypt had to be dependent too, but not so directly. Its river was its boast, and the sources of that supply were too far away to notice easily. Egypt is a vivid picture of the world in its self-sufficiency and independence of God. They still send scientific expeditions to explore the sources of their unfailing river, and for all their searching they have still not found God.
The river, the marsh grass, the cattle — the whole scene comes from Egyptian life. Yet the dream twists what it borrows.
The word for "river" points without question to the Nile. So does the marsh-grass on its bank, where cattle loved to browse. Dreams often confuse person or object, time and place. Here that confusion goes to the limit. First the ill-looking, lean cattle eat up the fine-looking, fat ones. Then the thin, scorched ears of wheat swallow the fat and good ears that grew on one stalk.
A dream like that demands an explanation.
The same writer explains why God sends both plenty and want. The lean years, he says, do a soul more good than the fat ones.
In a world of sin and suffering, of death and moral ruin and misery, He works both by extraordinary bounty and by the hard pinch of want. And He works for the good of souls more by the pain than by the prosperity. He does this so that in his distress a man's heart might consider why such trouble came from such a God.
Pharaoh saw the cows. Reading them was the problem.
First God reveals what He is about to do; but even so man cannot profit by the revelation. God will speak in a vision to Pharaoh, by writing on the wall in King Belshazzar's day, and by great plainness of speech in our day. But as in days gone by, so now, the wise men of this world are completely at a loss when they try to interpret the Word of God. So Pharaoh appeals to the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men, only to find "there was none to interpret" his dreams. Man's natural pride of intellect blinds him to a simple fact: only God can interpret what God communicates.
Joseph had been forgotten in prison. These cows came at God's chosen hour, not a day early.
God carries out His plans in His own time, by His own instruments, and in His own way. Joseph had probably expected to go free as soon as Pharaoh restored the butler to his post in the royal household. But two full years must pass before God's time arrives. The right moment has now come. The last instrument in God's hand is ready to complete the work that leads to Joseph's exaltation. God had already used the king's captain, the king's jailer, and the king's butler; now He will use the king himself.
One writer reads the dream as a prophecy the world has not yet lived through. The lean years, he says, are still ahead.
Seven years of plenty, then seven years of famine that swallow them up — such is the prophecy of Pharaoh's dream. Even now the world is enjoying its plentiful years, and it hardly believes its own plainly predicted future. Yet the time of famine is not far off. It will display the resources of the One who will then be seen as the only One able to meet its terrible demands.
- Same river, two herds. Both come out of the Nile. The river Egypt boasted in carries the famine as well as the plenty.
- Same river, strange picture. The dream uses Egypt's own scenery, then breaks nature's rules. No one could call it an ordinary night's sleep.
- Same river, no interpreter. Egypt's wisest men could see the picture but not read it. Only God can explain what God says.
- Same river, God's timing. Pharaoh, not the cattle, is the last instrument in God's hand — used to lift a forgotten prisoner out of prison at the hour God chose.
- Same river, coming famine. Plenty followed by want is God's pattern still. The lean years will prove that only One has resources enough for them.
And the kine that were bad-looking and lean-fleshed ate up the seven kine that were fine-looking and fat. And Pharaoh awoke.
God speaks to the king of Egypt in his sleep, in pictures the king cannot read. Cows eat cows, Pharaoh wakes, and the chapter now hangs on one question: who can tell him what it means?
The details are Egyptian — the Nile, the marsh grass on its bank. What happens in the dream breaks every law of nature.
But here in the chapter before us, how wild and strange and alarming is the double dream sent to wake the king! Yet the word for "river" points without question to the Nile, and so does the marsh grass on its bank where cattle loved to graze. Dreams often confuse what belongs to a person or an object, to time and place. But this dream goes to the very limit. First the ugly, lean cows eat up the fine-looking fat ones. Then the thin, scorched ears of wheat devour the fat and good ears that grew on one stalk.
The fat cows and the lean ones come up out of the same river.
Again the dreams were prophetic. God was revealing what He was about to bring on the land of Egypt. First come seven years of very great abundance. Then follow seven years of severe scarcity and famine. Both depend on the waters of the Nile. By the end of the seven years of famine, all the fatness of the good years would be gone. In the picture language of the dream, the seven lean cattle would be just as they were at the beginning.
Egypt lived off one river. One writer sees the same pattern in the world at large.
Egypt is a little strip of country on each side of the great river that flows through it. It owes its existence to that river alone... If the river only partly fails for a single year, the land is in distress. The world is like that too. The unbroken flow of God's mercies keeps it alive, when otherwise it could not exist. Yet for all that dependence, the world does not see what it depends on, any more than Egypt saw.
So why would God announce famine at all?
But that purpose was worthy of His goodness and compassion. This is a world of sin and suffering, of death and moral ruin and misery. In it He works both by uncommon generosity and by the hard pinch of want. For the good of souls He works more by the pain than by the prosperity. Then, in his anguish, a person may consider why such an affliction came from such a God. The two dreams taught in puzzling forms, but their aim was the same: abundance to the full, then the most abnormal consumption.
Egypt had its magicians and its wise men. Not one of them could read the dream.
First God reveals what He is about to do; but even so man cannot profit by the revelation... the wise men of this world are utterly at a loss in their efforts to interpret the Word of God. So Pharaoh appeals to the "magicians of Egypt and all the wise men" of the land. He finds no one who can interpret his dreams. Man's natural pride of intellect blinds him to a simple fact: only God can interpret messages from God.
God gave the meaning to one man only.
To whom did God give the key? To the humbled sufferer in the dungeon. The hour of his vindication was about to strike. In a single bound he would rise from the deepest dishonour, which he had never deserved, to the highest position a subject could fill... The abundance was not to be squandered in a wasteful and harmful way; the famine was to be relieved by a wise policy.
One writer reads the dream forward, taking Egypt's full years as a picture of our own time.
Pharaoh's dream foretells seven years of plenty, then seven years of famine that will devour them up. Even now the world is enjoying its plentiful years. It puts little faith in the future clearly foretold for it. Yet the time of famine is not far off. It will show the resources of Him who will then be seen as the only one able to meet its terrible demands.
- Sent — cows eating cows breaks every law of nature. This was no ordinary dream, but a message sent to wake a king.
- Shared — fat years and lean years rose out of the same Nile, and the lean cows ended as lean as they began.
- Swallowed — abundance to the full, then abnormal consumption. God teaches more by the pinch of want than by prosperity, so the sufferer asks why.
- Stumped — every expert in Egypt failed. Only God can interpret what God sends.
- Supplied — the key went to the man in the dungeon, and a wise policy met the years of want.
And he slept and dreamed the second time; and behold, seven ears of corn grew up on one stalk, fat and good.
Pharaoh has already woken once, shaken by cattle rising out of the Nile. Now he sleeps again, and a second picture comes: seven full ears of grain growing on one stalk. The repeat is the point. God says one thing twice to a king who does not know who is speaking to him.
The second dream is the same message in new pictures. Both came in one night, and both used what Egypt lived on.
Again dreams enter into the story, this time connected with Pharaoh himself. Pharaoh's dream came in duplicate. The general drift of both dreams was the same, and the fact that both happened in one night was very impressive. Sheep were not popular in Egypt; cattle provided their meat, and grain gave them their bread. The river Nile was the basis of the prosperity of both.
Cattle, grain and Egypt's whole food supply hung on one river. That dependence shaped what Egypt worshipped.
In Egypt there is no rain. Without the Nile all Egypt would be dry like the desert. The Nile has a great flood every year, which waters the land on both sides. The Egyptians always plant their crops where the flood water has been, and so get good crops. That is why the Egyptians did not worship the true God in heaven, but worshipped the River Nile.
The verse counts the ears before it describes them. The number itself carries meaning.
Seven is the familiar number which speaks of completeness and perfection. Seven days make a complete week. The seven fat and lean cattle of Pharaoh's dream, and the many sets of sevens in the book of Revelation, are examples of the same thing.
Pharaoh called in Egypt's best minds and got nothing back. The problem was not a shortage of intelligence.
First God reveals what He is about to do; but even so man cannot profit by the revelation. God speaks in a vision to Pharaoh. He writes on the wall in Belshazzar's day. He speaks with great plainness in our day. Yet now, as in past days, the wise men of this world are at a total loss when they try to interpret the Word of God. So Pharaoh appeals to the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. He finds that no one can interpret his dreams. Man's natural pride of intellect blinds him to a simple truth: only God can interpret what God has spoken.
The full ears come first, and the empty ones follow. One writer sees God at work in both halves.
In a world of sin and suffering, of death and moral ruin and misery, He works both by extraordinary generosity and by the hard pinch of want. For the good of souls He works more by the pain than by the prosperity. In his distress a man's heart may then ask why such trouble came from such a God. The two dreams were puzzling in form, but identical in aim: abundance to the full, followed by a devouring like nothing in nature.
The seven full ears stand for seven years of plenty. One writer sees them as a picture of our own day, and is careful about how far to press it.
These seven years of great abundance picture, if they do not typify, the present age of grace, and we are glad to live in it. "Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). And it will last until the coming of the Lord.
Another writer turns the same picture into a warning about how people treat this present supply.
In this day of grace the world is passing through its seven years of plenty, when the grace of God is handing out blessings by the handful. The people of the world may take no notice at all of the blessings grace brings to their door. They go on their way with no thought for the future.
- Doubled — the same message came twice in one night, first in cattle, then in grain. Pharaoh could not brush it off as a stray dream.
- Borrowed — God used Egypt's own pictures: the Nile, the herds, the harvest. These were the things Egypt trusted and worshipped.
- Locked — every expert in Egypt failed. Only God can explain what God has said.
- Ordered — plenty first, then want. God works through both, and does more good to souls through the pain.
- Now — the full ears picture a present season of grace. People can live in it and still ignore it, and it will not last forever.
And behold, seven ears, thin and parched with the east wind, sprung up after them.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the thin ears devoured the seven fat and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke; and behold, it was a dream.
The second dream ends like the first. What is thin and scorched eats what is full and good, and Pharaoh wakes up. The picture will not leave him, and the chapter now turns on one question: who can tell a king what God is saying to him?
Each dream in Joseph's story fits the person who receives it, and this one was shaped for an Egyptian ruler standing by his own river. One writer traces that fitness and then points out how far this vision pushes past anything nature could produce:
But here in this chapter, how wild and strange and alarming is the double dream sent to wake the king! Yet the word used for "river" points beyond question to the Nile, and so does the word for the reed-grass on its bank, which cattle loved to graze. Dreams often muddle person and object, time and place. Here that confusion is pushed as far as it will go. First the ugly, thin cattle eat up the fine, fat ones. Then the thin, scorched ears of wheat swallow the fat, good ears that grew on one stalk.
The thin ears were dried out by an east wind. That wind carries a settled meaning in Scripture:
The east wind was harmful and destructive to plants (Gen. 41:6, 23, 27) and dangerous to ships at sea (Ps. 48:7; Ezek. 27:26). It is a symbol of the withering power of God's judgments (Hosea 13:15).
Why send a king a vision of loss at all? The same writer ties the strangeness of the dream to God's purpose, and that purpose to His goodness:
Who that believes God's word can doubt that wonders so contrary to nature were all the more clearly of divine purpose? And that purpose was worthy of His goodness and compassion. In a world of sin and suffering, of death and moral ruin and misery, He works both by unusual plenty and by the hard pinch of need. For the good of souls He works more by the pain than by the prosperity. He does this so that in his distress a man's heart might ask why such trouble came from such a God.
Pharaoh wakes with the images still in him, and by morning he has sent for every expert he has. A commentator notes that the failure of those experts exposes something about human confidence:
God will speak in a vision to Pharaoh. He will speak by writing on the wall in Belshazzar's day, and by very plain speech in our own day. But now, as in days gone by, the wise men of this world fail completely when they try to interpret the Word of God. So Pharaoh calls for the "magicians of Egypt and all its wise men," only to find "there was none who could interpret" his dreams (v. 8). Man's natural pride of mind blinds him to the simple fact that only God can interpret what God says.
God was also working through the dream, as He had already worked through three other men:
God had already used the king's captain, the king's jailer, and the king's cupbearer. Now He will use the king himself. And it must be done in God's way. It will be "a dream, a vision of the night." By it He will trouble Pharaoh's spirit and wake up the sleeping memory of Pharaoh's cupbearer.
The dream came twice, and both halves ended the same way. One writer explains what the swallowing and the doubling meant:
At the end of the seven years of famine, all the fatness of the good years would be gone. In the picture language of the dream, the seven lean cattle would be just as they were at the start. God also gave Pharaoh the dream twice, so that he might realize the matter was settled, beyond any hope of being reversed, and that God would soon bring it to pass.
Several writers read the two sets of seven as a map of the world's own story. The plenty is now; the reckoning is not:
Seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine that will swallow them up — that is the prophecy of Pharaoh's dream. Even now the world is enjoying its years of plenty, and it hardly believes in the future plainly foretold for it. Yet the time of famine is certainly not far off. It will show the resources of Him who will then be seen as the only one able to meet its terrible demands.
- Sent — The dream was no accident of sleep. God shaped it for an Egyptian, and pushed it far past nature.
- Scorched — The wind that dried the ears is Scripture's picture of God's withering judgment.
- Stirred — God used a troubled king, and the king's trouble woke a cupbearer's memory of Joseph.
- Stumped — Every wise man in Egypt failed. Only God can interpret what God says.
- Settled — The dream came twice because the matter was fixed and near. A world enjoying its full years should count on the lean ones.