Genesis 41.1-7-Pharaoh's Dreams

Tuesday December 19, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 41:1-7-Pharaoh’s Dreams

Lesson # 257

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 41:1.

This evening we will begin a study of Genesis 41, which records Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams and making a recommendation to him in light of these dreams, which results in Pharaoh promoting him to prime minister, second only to Pharaoh in Egypt.

Genesis 41 is divided into four sections: (1) Genesis 41:1-8: Pharaoh’s dreams and dilemma (2) Genesis 41:9-24: Joseph’s deliverance and Pharaoh sharing his dream with Joseph (3) Genesis 41:25-40: Joseph’s interpretation, plan and promotion (4) Genesis 41:41-57: Joseph’s rule according to the plan.

This evening we will study Genesis 41:1-7, which records Pharaoh of Egypt having two dreams.

This is the third pair of prophetic dreams that we have encountered in our study of the life of Joseph, which points to the providence of God indicating that the events in the life of Joseph were not by chance or fate but were ordained by God.

In Genesis 37:5-11, Joseph had two dreams, which predicted his rulership over his entire family.

In Genesis 40, Joseph interprets the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker and predicted that the former would be released and the latter executed.

In Genesis 41, we will see Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s two dreams and predicting seven years of great prosperity in Egypt and then seven years of famine.

Like Joseph’s dreams and the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker, Pharaoh’s dreams were prophetic in nature dealing with the future of the nation of Egypt and were revelation from God since Joseph was able to interpret them only with God’s help.

In Joseph’s own dreams God revealed to him the plan for his life whereas the second set of dreams of the cupbearer and baker established Joseph’s reputation and the third set of dreams brought the fulfillment of God’s plan for Joseph.

Pharaoh’s dreams mark the turning point in the life of Joseph.

Up to this point Joseph has been treated unjustly in that he was sold into slavery by his brothers and then Potiphar’s wife accused him of a crime he did not commit leading to his unjust imprisonment.

This was followed by Pharaoh’s cupbearer not fulfilling Joseph’s request to bring his case to the attention of Pharaoh, which resulted in Joseph spending two more years in prison.

However, in Genesis 41, we see the Lord intervening in the life of Joseph for his benefit by giving Pharaoh these two prophetic dreams that only Joseph could interpret with His help.

Pharaoh’s two prophetic dreams and the seven years of prosperity and famine demonstrate God’s sovereign control over the nations and the lives of individuals like Joseph and God’s sovereign care and protection over the nation of Israel, which would be preserved because of Joseph.

Genesis 41:1-7 recounts Pharaoh’s dreams in the third person and thus from the detached perspective of the narrator in order to give insight to the reader as to the psychological impact these dreams made on Pharaoh.

Genesis 41:1, “Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile.”

The phrase “at the end of two full years” refers to the elapse of two complete years since Pharaoh restored his cupbearer who failed to fulfill Joseph’s request to make Pharaoh aware of his situation.

During these two years, Joseph remained imprisoned in the house of the captain of the bodyguard who we know was Potiphar and continued to be prepared for a leadership position in Egypt that God would give him in fulfillment of His plan for Joseph’s life.

“Behold” is the interjection hinneh (hN@h!), which appears six times in Genesis 41:1-7 (41:1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7), linking the two dreams and drawing the reader in, letting him view Pharaoh’s dreams from his perspective.

Dreams were significant in the cultures of the ancient Middle East and were often considered to be divine revelation and in the days of the patriarchs, dreams were a common means of divine communication and were of a prophetic nature.

Pharaoh’s dreams were a revelation from God and were prophetic in nature, revealing to Pharaoh the economic life of Egypt for the next fourteen years.

The fact that the Nile River is the setting for Pharaoh’s dream is significant since this river was literally the lifeline of Egypt, the source of its economy and power and thus the source of Pharaoh’s power and is thus a symbol of Egypt wealth and power.

The name “Nile” is from the Greek word neilos and the Latin nilus meaning “dark blue” and the Hebrew term is yeor.

The ancient Egyptians deified it as Hapi because it was so essential to the life and prosperity of Egypt, however, it is known to modern Egyptians as El Bahr, “the sea” (cf. Nah 3:8).

The “Nile” is the longest river in the world and the father of African rivers, flowing more than 4,160 miles from central Africa north through the desert to a rich delta area on the Mediterranean Sea.

The source of the Nile is derived from two rivers: the Blue Nile from Ethiopia and the White Nile from Lake Victoria in central Africa.

From its principal source, Lake Victoria, in east central Africa, the Nile flows through Uganda, Sudan and Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea, a distance of 3,470 miles and from its remotest headstream in Burundi, the river is 4,160 miles long.

The river basin covers an area of more than 1,293,000 square miles and about one-tenth of the African continent.

The Blue Nile provides approximately twice as much water as the White Nile during the rainy season and this flood water, with the soil that it eroded, provided fertile top soil for the agriculture of northern Egypt.

Low flood levels usually meant a famine year, while a high flood level would result in a year of plenty.

The Aswan Dam and the High Dam now enable the modern nation of Egypt to control these floods and provide a more constant flow of water.

Egyptians had religious celebrations at the beginning of the annual flooding of the Nile.

The river was also one of the chief methods of transportation for the Egyptians.

The Nile delta produced papyrus which the Egyptians wove together to make household mats, baskets, sails for their boats, and paper.

The Nile supported a fishing industry as well, and ancient drawings show the Pharaohs hunting wild game in the thick undergrowth of the Nile Valley.

Genesis 41:2-4 records Pharaoh’s first dream.

Genesis 41:2, “And lo, from the Nile there came up seven cows, sleek and fat; and they grazed in the marsh grass.”

Genesis 41:3, “Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and gaunt, and they stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile.”

Genesis 41:4, “The ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.”

The fact that the cows came up out of the Nile is not unusual but would be familiar to Pharaoh since cows like to stand half-submerged in the Nile among its reeds to seek relief from the heat and insects and then come up out of the water for pasture.

In a religious sense, the cows in his dream would have impressed him since in ancient Egypt, the cow was the symbol of Isis, the goddess of the all-sustaining earth.

In Egyptian hieroglyphics, the cow represented the earth, agriculture, and food and the Nile, by its overflowing, was the source of the fertility of the land.

It is interesting that in the Egyptian “Book of the Dead,” the chief religious writing in Egypt, the god of vegetation and the nether world, Osiris, is represented as a great bull accompanied by seven cows.

Therefore, the seven cows were a part of his religious frame of reference and would get his attention.

The cows would also impress Pharaoh in an economic sense since they were abundant in Egypt and were important to its economy.

“Sleek” is the noun yapheh (hp#y*) (yaw-feh), which means, “beautiful” and the noun mar’eh (ha#r+m^), which means, “appearance” and thus, these first seven cows were “beautiful in appearance.”

These first seven cows are described in Genesis 41:2 and 18 as being “fat,” which translates the adjective bari’ (ayr!B) (baw-ree), “fat” and the noun basar (rcB*) (baw-sawr), “flesh, body,” and together they literally mean, “fat of flesh.”

In Genesis 41:3, “behold,” which is the interjection hinneh (hN@h!) prepares the reader for something unusual and further links this first dream with the second.

In Genesis 41:3, we see another seven cows coming up out of the Nile that are described as “ugly and gaunt.”

“Ugly” translates the adjective ra` (ur^) (raw), “bad” which is used in contrast with the noun yapheh (hp#y*) (yaw-feh), “beautiful” and it modifies the noun mar’eh (ha#r+m^), “appearance,” thus these seven cows were “ugly in appearance.”

“Gaunt” translates the adjective daq (qD^), “thin,” which is used in contrast with the adjective bari’ (ayr!B) (baw-ree), “fat” and it modifies the noun basar (rcB*) (baw-sawr), “flesh, body,” and together they literally mean, “thin of flesh.”

Therefore, the seven cows described in Genesis 41:3 and 19, which were ugly in appearance and thin and are in direct contrast to the first seven cows, which were beautiful and fat.

The first seven cows that were beautiful and fat would be symbolic of prosperity since fat cows are the direct result of abundant pastureland whereas the ugly and thin cows would be symbolic of famine since thin and ugly cows are the direct result of a lack of abundant pastureland

Then, something unusual and shocking took place where the ugly and thin cows consumed the beautiful fat cows.

We would expect the fatter beautiful cows to consume the thin and ugly ones but this is not the case indicating something unusual.

This shocking and unusual occurrence in his dream awoke Pharaoh.

Genesis 41:5-7 records Pharaoh’s second dream, which is “agricultural” and has the same meaning as his first dream, thus emphasizing the future fulfillment of these dreams (See Genesis 37:5-11; 41:25, 32).

The doubling of the dream emphasizes that what is spoken of in the dream, prosperity and famine, is firmly decided by God and will come to pass in Egypt.

An isolated dream might be misinterpreted but two dreams with the same meaning confirm the interpretation.

Genesis 41:5, “He fell asleep and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven ears of grain came up on a single stalk, plump and good.”

Genesis 41:6, “Then behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them.”

Genesis 41:7, “The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.”

“Ears of grain” is the noun shibboleth (tl#B)v!) (shib-bo-leth), which in Egypt would be wheat.

Egypt was famous in the ancient world not only for its cattle but also its wheat and was known as the breadbasket of the Roman Empire.

Like Pharaoh’s first dream that appealed to his Egyptian frame of reference, so this second dream would appeal to his Egyptian frame of reference since Egypt was known as the granary of the ancient world.

In Pharaoh’s second dream, he saw seven ears of grain, which would be wheat in Egypt, coming up on one stalk, plump and good.

Like the first seven cows, in Pharaoh’s first dream, these seven ears of grain were “fat” symbolizing prosperity and would further links this second dream with the first.

These first seven ears of grain are described as being “good,” which refers to the fact that they exceeded expectations of Egyptian farmers indicating an exceptional crop.

The fact that these seven ears of grain came up out of one stalk, fat and good, was an exceptional phenomenon symbolizing abundance.

In Genesis 41:6, “behold,” which is the interjection hinneh (hN@h!) prepares the reader for something unusual and further links this second dream with the first.

Like the second set of seven cows, in Pharaoh’s first dream, these second set of seven ears of grain were “thin” which further links this second dream with the first.

Like the thin cows in Pharaoh’s dream, the thin ears of grain would be symbolic of famine and a lack of abundance.

The “east wind” mentioned in Genesis 41:6 is called by Egyptians khamsin and refers to the wind that blew into Egypt from the Sahara Desert (See Hosea 13:15) in late spring and early fall and often brought famine since it withered vegetation (See Isaiah 40:7; Ezekiel 17:10).

Notice that unlike the first seven ears of grain, these last seven are not said to come upon a single stalk, thus implying that each grew on its own stalk.

In appearance, these seven ears of grain, which were thin and scorched by the east wind from the Sahara, are in direct contrast to the first ears of grain, which were plumb and good.

The first ears of grain that were plump and good would be symbolic of prosperity since plump ears of grain are the direct result of excellent weather conditions whereas the thin ears of grain would be symbolic of famine since thin ears of grains are the direct result of extremely bad weather conditions.

Then, just as in Pharaoh’s first dream, something unusual and shocking takes place in his second dream where the thin ears of grain swallowed up the plump and good ears of grain.

We would expect the fatter ears of grain to swallow up the thin ones but this is not the case indicating something unusual.

Just as in his first dream, this shocking and unusual occurrence in Pharaoh’s second dream disturbed him and awoke him.

The phrase “behold it was a dream” implies that the dream was so vivid that Pharaoh though it was really happening until he woke up.

The repetition of the same theme with different figures impressed and disturbed Pharaoh causing him to wonder of their meaning and spend the rest of the night sleepless awaiting sunrise.