CHAPTER XLI _Pharaoh's dream of the seven well-favoured and seven_ _ill-favoured kine_, 1-4. _His dream of the seven full and seven thin ears of corn_, 5-7. _The magicians and wise men applied to for the interpretation_ _of them, but could give no solution_, 8. _The chief butler recollects and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:2. _THERE CAME UP OUT OF THE RIVER SEVEN WELL-FAVOURED_ _KINE_] This must certainly refer to the _hippopotamus_ or river horse, as the circumstances of _coming up out of the river and_ _feeding in the field_ characterize that animal _alone_. The hippopotamus is the well-known inhabi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:6. _BLASTED WITH THE EAST WIND_] It has been very properly observed that all the mischief done to corn or fruit, by blasting, smutting, mildews, locusts, c., is attributed to the east wind. See Exodus 10:13; Exodus 14:21; Psalms 78:26; Ezekiel 17:10; Jonah 4:8. In Egypt it is pecul... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:8. _CALLED FOR ALL THE MAGICIANS_] חרטמים _chartummim_. The word here used may probably mean no more than _interpreters of_ _abstruse and difficult subjects_; and especially of the Egyptian _hieroglyphics_, an art which is now entirely lost. It is most likely that the term is Egypt... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:9. _I DO REMEMBER MY FAULTS_] It is not possible he could have _forgotten_ the circumstance to which he here alludes; it was too intimately connected with all that was dear to him, to permit him ever to forget it. But it was not _convenient_ for him to remember this before; and prob... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:14. _THEY BROUGHT HIM HASTILY OUT OF THE DUNGEON_] Pharaoh was in perplexity on account of his dreams; and when he heard of Joseph, he sent _immediately_ to get him brought before him. He _shaved_ himself - having let his beard grow all the time he was in prison, he now _trimmed_ it... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:16. IT IS _NOT IN ME, C._] בלעדי _biladai, without_ or _independently of me _- I am not essential to thy comfort, God himself has thee under his care. And _he will send thee_, or answer thee, _peace_ thou shalt have _prosperity_ (שלום shelom) howsoever ominous thy dreams may appear.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:18. _SEVEN KINE, FAT-FLESHED_] Genesis 41:2, Genesis 41:2. 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 Eg... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:21. _AND WHEN THEY HAD EATEN THEM UP, C._] Nothing can more powerfully mark the excess and severity of the famine than creatures of the beeve or of the hippopotamus kind eating each other, and yet without any effect remaining as lean and as wretched as they were before. A sense of w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:25. _GOD HATH SHOWED PHARAOH WHAT HE_ IS _ABOUT TO DO._] Joseph thus shows the Egyptian king that though the ordinary cause of plenty or want is the river Nile, yet its inundations are under the direction of God: the dreams are sent by him, not only to signify beforehand the _plenty... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:31. _THE PLENTY SHALL NOT BE KNOWN IN THE LAND BY REASON OF_ _THAT FAMINE FOLLOWING_] As Egypt depends for its fertility on the flowing of the Nile, and this flowing is not always equal, there must be a point to which it must rise to saturate the land sufficiently, in order to prod... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:33. _A MAN DISCREET AND WISE_] As it is impossible that Joseph could have foreseen his own elevation, consequently he gave this advice without any reference to himself. The counsel therefore was either immediately inspired by God, or was dictated by policy, prudence, and sound sense... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:34. _LET HIM APPOINT OFFICERS_] פקדים _pekidim_, visiters, overseers: translated by Ainsworth, _bishops_; see Genesis 39:1. _TAKE UP THE FIFTH PART OF THE LAND_] What is still called the _meery_, or that part of the _produce_ which is claimed by the king _by way of tax_. It is prob... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:35. _UNDER THE HAND OF PHARAOH_] To be completely at the disposal of the king.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:37. _THE THING WAS GOOD_] Pharaoh and his courtiers saw that the counsel was prudent, and should be carefully followed.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:38. _IN WHOM THE SPIRIT OF GOD_ is?] רוח אלהים _ruach Elohim,_ the identical words used Genesis 1:2; and certainly to be understood _here_ as in the preceding place. If the Egyptians were idolaters, they acknowledged Joseph's God; and it is not to be supposed that they only became... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:40. _ACCORDING UNTO THY WORD SHALL ALL MY PEOPLE BE RULED_] Literally, _At thy mouth shall all my people kiss_. In the eastern countries it is customary to kiss any thing that comes from a superior, and this is done by way of testifying respect and submission. In this sense the word... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:42. _AND PHARAOH TOOK OFF HIS RING-AND PUT IT UPON JOSEPH'S_ _HAND_] In this ring was probably set the _king's signet_, by which the royal instruments were sealed; and thus Joseph was constituted what we would call Lord Chancellor, or Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. _VESTURES OF FI... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:43. _HE MADE HIM TO RIDE IN THE SECOND CHARIOT_] That which usually followed the king's chariot in public ceremonies. _BOW THE KNEE_] אברך _abrech_, which we translate _bow the knee,_ and which we might as well translate any thing else, is probably an _Egyptian_ word, the signific... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:44. _I AM PHARAOH_] The same as if he had said, _I am the_ _king_; for _Pharaoh_ was the common title of the sovereigns of Egypt.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:45. _ZAPHNATH-PAANEAH_] The meaning of this title is as little known as that of _abrech_ in the preceding verse. Some translate it, _The revealer of secrets_; others, _The treasury of_ _glorious comfort_. St. _Jerome_ translates the whole verse in the most arbitrary manner. _Vertit... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:46. _JOSEPH_ WAS _THIRTY YEARS OLD_] As he was _seventeen_ years old when he was sold into Egypt, Genesis 37:2, and was now _thirty_, he must have been _thirteen_ years in slavery. _STOOD BEFORE PHARAOH_] This phrase always means admission to the immediate presence of the sovereign... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:47. _THE EARTH BROUGHT FORTH BY HANDFULS._] This probably refers principally to _rice_, as it grows in tufts, a great number of stalks proceeding from the same seed. In those years the Nile probably rose _sixteen_ cubits; Genesis 41:31, Genesis 41:31.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 41:50. _TWO SONS_] Whom he called by names expressive of God's particular and bountiful providence towards him. MANASSEH, מנשה _menashsheh_, signifies _forgetfulness_, from נשה _nashah_, to _forget_; and EPHRAIM, אפרים _ephrayim, fruitfulness_, from פרה _parah_, to be _fruitful_; and h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 54. _THE SEVEN YEARS OF DEARTH BEGAN TO COME_] Owing in Egypt to the Nile not rising more than _twelve_ or _thirteen_ cubits; (Genesis 41:31;) but there must have been other causes which affected other countries, not immediately dependent on the Nile, though remotely connected with Egypt and C... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 55. _WHEN ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT WAS FAMISHED_] As Pharaoh, by the advice of Joseph, had exacted a _fifth part_ of all the grain during the seven years of plenty, it is very likely that no more was left than what was merely necessary to supply the ordinary demand both in the way of home consump... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 56. _OVER ALL THE FACE OF THE EARTH_] The original, כל פני הארץ _col peney haarets_, should be translated, _all the face of_ that land, viz., _Egypt_, as it is explained at the end of the verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 57. _ALL COUNTRIES CAME INTO EGYPT - TO BUY_] As there had not been a sufficiency of rains, vapours, c., to swell the Nile, to effect a proper inundation in Egypt, the same cause would produce drought, and consequently scarcity, in all the _neighbouring_ countries and this may be all that is i... [ Continue Reading ]