Genesis 41:2 Commentary and Bible Study

There is only one river in Egypt significant enough to be called ‘the river’ – the Nile. Pharoah is standing on the banks of the Nile, which irrigates that narrow tract of land alongside it, on which Egypt’s agriculture has always been dependant. The dream is given to the ruler of Egypt, who had unrivalled authority to bring about his will, authority which would be needed to take Joseph from prison, and exalt him to such a high position, and ensure he was allowed to implement his plan. The details of the first dream are clear enough. Two lots of seven cows from out of the river. The first seven are well-formed and plump, while the second are ugly and thin. In hindsight we can recognise the symbolism of the dream, but to have interpreted it with certainty before Pharoah would have been an extremely difficult task. The interpreter could not get the interpretation wrong without risking his life. Who could say that each animal represented a year, and who could say these were consecutive year? Wo could explain the bizarre behaviour of one cow eating another cow? The second dream also involved similar symbols – the two lots of seven are repeated, the features of the first seven and the second seven correspond, and the strange act of the second seven eating the first seven also occurs. But again, the interpretation is not obvious at all. In hindsight, once we are given the interpretation of the dream, the meaning of the symbols is clear enough, but to arrive at that meaning and to do so with complete certainty so that the interpretation could be delivered to a Pharoah, was another matter. The difficulty was made worse by the fact that the implementation of a plan to address this dire situation was also going to be very demanding and probably unwelcome. Who would believe that the required steps were really necessary.Pharoah must have woken in a cold sweat as one is inclined to do with frightening dreams. As with the butler and baker, the dreams are again accompanied by a powerful impression of their supreme importance, and yet their meaning was hidden. This left Pharoah with a desperate desire to find an interpretation. His spirit was troubled. God was speaking to Pharoah, and he made him to sense it, so that he could not ignore his dreams. The impression made on him was that his life and the future of his kingdom depended on understanding what the dreams meant, and yet no one could explain them to him. The magicians were called for and failed. It was strange for them to be unable to explain a dream: that was their trade. They were stuck no doubt because God confused their minds and they realised that they were out of their depth; they were awed by this communication from heaven. Some say that to remain silent could be a death sentence.