Genesis 41:2 - Exposition

And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well-favored kine and fat-fleshed . According to Plutarch and Clement of Alexandria, the heifer was regarded by the ancient Egyptians as a symbol of the earth, agriculture, and the nourishment derived therefrom. It was therefore natural that the succession of seven prosperous years should be represented by seven thriving cows. That they appeared ascending from the river is explained by the circumstance that the Nile by its annual inundations is the cause of Egypt's fertility (cf. Havernick, 'Introd.,' 21). A hymn to the Nile, composed by Euna (according to the generality of Egyptologers a contemporary of Moses), and translated from a papyrus in the British Museum by Canon Cook (who ascribes to it an earlier date than the nineteenth dynasty), describes the Nile as "overflowing the gardens created by Ra giving life to all animals … watering the land without ceasing … Lover of food, bestower of corn … Bringer of food! Great Lord of provisions! Creator of all good things!"; And they fed in a meadow — בָּאָחוּ , ἐν τῷ Ἄχει, ( LXX .), literally, in the Nile or reed grass . The word Ge appears to be an Egyptian term descriptive of any herbage growing in a stream. It occurs only here and in Genesis 41:18 , and Job 8:11 .