And Pharaoh said unto Joseph ,.... Relating both his dreams in a more ample manner, though to the same purpose, than before related: in my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river ; the river Nile, where he could have a full sight of what were after presented to his view. read more
And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine ,.... Cows or heifers; see Gill on Genesis 41:2 ; the account of them is the same here as there, and of the place where they fed, only the words are transposed. read more
And, behold, seven other kine ,.... Here some addition is made: these are said not only to be very ill favoured, and leanfleshed ; see Gill on Genesis 41:3 , but poor , thin, meagre, exhausted of their flesh and strength through some disease upon them, or want of food: and it follows, what was not before expressed: such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt, for badness ; so poor, so lean, and so ill favoured; for whatever might be seen in other countries, never were such... read more
And the lean and the ill favoured kine ,.... The same as previously described; See Gill on Genesis 41:4 . read more
And when they had eaten them up ,.... Or "were come into their bowels" F11 ותבאנה אל קרבנה "et venerunt ad interiora earum", Pagninus, Montanus; "in ventrem istarum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Tigurine version. , into their inward parts, their bellies, being swallowed and devoured by them: it could not be known that they had eaten them : or were in their bellies, they seemed never the fuller nor the fatter for them: but they were still ill favoured as... read more
And I saw in my dream ,.... Falling asleep again quickly, he dreamed a second time; and this dream being of a like kind with the former, and so small a space between them, they are represented as one, and this is the continuation of it: and, behold, seven ears , &c.; See Gill on Genesis 41:5 . read more
And, behold, seven ears withered ,.... Here a new epithet of the bad ears is given, and expressed by a word nowhere else used, which Ben Melech interprets, small, little, according to the use of the word in the Misnah; Aben Ezra, void, empty, such as had no grains of corn in them, nothing but husk or chaff, and observes that some render it images; for the word is so used in the Arabic language, and may signify that these ears were only mere shadows or images of ears, which had no substance... read more
And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears ,.... See Gill on Genesis 41:7 , and I told this unto the magicians ; just in the same manner as he had to Joseph: but there was none that could declare it unto me ; the meaning of it; what all this should signify or portend. read more
Seven kine, fat-fleshed - See Clarke on Genesis 41:2 ; (note). And observe farther, that the seven fat and the seven lean kine coming out of the same river plainly show, at once, the cause both of the plenty and the dearth. It is well known that there is scarcely any rain in Egypt; and that the country depends for its fertility on the overflowing of the Nile; and that the fertility is in proportion to the duration and quantity of the overflow. We may therefore safely conclude that the... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 41:17-32
Here, I. Pharaoh relates his dream. He dreamt that he stood upon the bank of the river Nile, and saw the kine, both the fat ones and the lean ones, come out of the river. For the kingdom of Egypt had no rain, as appears, Zech. 14:18; but the plenty of the year depended upon the overflowing of the river, and it was about one certain time of the year that it overflowed. If it rose to fifteen or sixteen cubits, there was plenty; if to twelve or thirteen only, or under, there was scarcity. See how... read more