WARNING: The text
used for my commentary is my own paraphrase and must not be
considered
“a translation” or authorative in any way. It is, in fact, simply my commentary.
Maps, when used, are from
BibleAtlas.org. Created
using BibleMapper 3.0.
Additional data from OpenBible.info. Source of Dates Used
בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית • B'resheet
(“In Beginning” or “At First”)
The First Book of Moses,
Commonly Called
Genesis
Blessed are You, O Lord our God,
King of the Universe,
Who has chosen us from all peoples
and given us His Torah.
Blessed are You, O Lord, Giver of the Torah.
(i) 1After two full years had
passed, Pharaoh had a dream: and Hinneh,[1] he was standing beside the Nile.
2Hinneh, seven
healthy and well-fed cows came up out of the Nile and began to
graze in the marsh grass.
3Hinneh, after
them, seven other sickly and gaunt cows came up out of the Nile
and stood alongside the other cows on the bank of the Nile.
4The sickly, gaunt cows
ate the seven healthy, well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.
5He fell back asleep
and dreamed a second time: and Hinneh, seven ears of
grain came up on a single stalk, plump and ripe.
6Hinneh, seven
other heads of grain, thin and scorched by the east wind,
sprouted up after them.
7The thin heads of grain
swallowed up the seven plup, ripe heads. Then Pharaoh awoke, and
Hinneh, it had been a dream.
8In the morning, his
spirit was troubled, so he ssummoned all the magicians[8] and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh
told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them
for him.
B. The Chief
Cupbearer remembers Yosef (41:9-15)
9Then
the chief cupbearer told Pharaoh, “Today I recall my failures.
10When Pharaoh was
angry with his servants, he put me and the chief baker in
custody in the house of the captain of the guard.
11One night we each
had a dream, and each dream had its own interpretation.
12There was with a young
Hebrew
there with us, a servant of the captain of the
guard. We told him our dreams and he interpreted them to us
individually.
13It happened just
as he had interpreted. I was restored to my office, and the
other man was hanged.”
14Then
Pharaoh sent for Yosef, and they quickly brought him out of
the dungeon. He shaved, changed his clothies, and came to Pharaoh.
(A:ii) 15Pharaoh said to Yosef, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it.
But I have heard
it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”
C. Yosef Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams (41:16-32)
16“I can’t
do it myself,” Yosef answered Pharaoh. “It is Elohim[GN]
Who will give Pharaoh a
favorable
answer.”
(S:ii) 17So Pharaoh said
to Yosef, “In my dream, Hinneh, I was standing on the bank of the Nile;
18and Hinneh,
seven well-fed and healthy-looking cows came up out of the river and
began grazing in the marsh grass.
19Hinneh,
then seven other ugly, sickly, and gaunt cows came up after them; I
have never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt.
20The gaunt, ugly
cows ate the first seven well-fed cows.
21When they had
eaten them, you couldn’t tell that they had eaten them; they were still
just as ugly. Then I woke up.
22I fell asleep and dreamed
again, and in my dream,
Hinneh, seven heads of grain sprouted up on one stalk,
plump and ripe.
23Then, Hinneh,
seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and scorched by the east
wind, sprouted after them.
24The thin heads of
grain swallowed the seven plump ones. I told this
to the magicians, but no one could explain it
to me.”
25Then
Yosef told Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams mean the same thing. Elohim[25]
has revealed to Pharoah what He is about to do.
26The seven good cows
are seven years; and the seven ripe heads of grain are seven
years. The dreams mean the same thing.
27The seven gaunt and
ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and also
the seven thin heads of grain scorched by the east wind; they
will be seven years of famine.
28It is just as I told Pharaoh. Elohim has shown Pharaoh what
He is about to do.
29Hinneh,
seven years of great abundance are coming throughout all the land of Egypt.
30Seven years of
famine will come after them, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt
will be forgotten. The famine will devastate the land.
31The
abundance in the land will not be remembered because of the famine
which follows; for it will be very severe.
32Since the dream
was repeated to Pharaoh, it means the matter has been
determined Elohim, and He will bring it about soon.
D. Pharaoh’s Plan (41:33-36)
33“So
now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man, and
set him over the land of Egypt.
34Let Pharaoh do
this: let him appoint overseers over the land and
take a fifth of Egypt’s harvest during
the seven years of abundance.
35Let them gather
all the excess food of these good years that are coming. Under
Pharaoh’s authority, store the grain
in the cities, and let
them preserve it for food.
36This food will
be used to supply the land during the seven years of famine that are
coming in the land of Egypt. Then the land won’t be wiped out by the famine.”
E. Yosef Made Viceroy Over Egypt (41:37-46)
37This
proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.
38So Pharaoh asked
his servants, “Can we find a man like this, a man who has the Spirit of Elohim
in him?”
(iii) 39Then Pharaoh said to Yosef, “Since Elohim
has shown you all of this, there is no one so discerning and
wise as you.
40You shall in charge of
my house, and all my people will subject to your command.
Only with regard to the throne I will be greater than you.”[40]41Pharaoh went on,
“Hinneh, I am putting you over all the land of Egypt.”
42Pharaoh removed
his signet ring[42] from his
finger, and put it on Yosef’s finger, clothed him in garments
of fine linen, and placed a gold chain around his neck.
43He had him ride
in his second chariot with servants calling out before him,
“Bow the knee!” So he placed him over all the land of Egypt.
44Pharaoh said to
Yosef, “I am Pharaoh, but in all the land of Egypt no one will be
able to lift up his hand or his foot without your permission.”
45Pharaoh named
Yosef Tzafnat-Pa‘neach.[45a]
He gave him Osnat,[45b] the daughter
of Poti-Fera cohen of On[45c] as
his wife. Yosef took charge over the land of Egypt.
46Yosef
was thirty years old[46] when he stood before Pharaoh king
of Egypt. Yosef went out from the presence of Pharaoh,
and took charge over all the land of Egypt.
F. Years of Plenty Begin
(41:47-49) [1686 BCE]
47During
the seven years of plenty the land produced abundantly.
48During those seven
years Yosef collected all the surplus food in the land of Egypt
and stored it in the cities. He stored the food in each city
from the fields around that city.
49Yosef stored in such
abundance — like the
grains of sand in the sea — that he stopped keeping track because it
was beyond counting.
G. Yosef’s Sons Born (41:50-52)
50Before
the first year of famine came Yosef had two sons whom Osnat,
the daughter of Poti-Fera cohen of On, bore to him.
51Yosef named his
firstborn
M’nashehManasseh, causing to forget,
[1685 BCE] saying
“Because Elohim has made me forget all my suffering at the hands of
my father’s household.”
52He named the second
EfrayimEphraim, “twice fruitful”,
[1683 BCE] saying “For Elohim has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
H. Years of Plenty End; Famine Begins
(41:53-57) [1679-1672 BCE]
(iv) 53The seven years of abundance
in the land of Egypt came to an end,
54and the seven years
of famine began, just as Yosef had said. Although there was famine
in every country, there was food throughout the land of Egypt .
55When extreme
hunger came to the
land of Egypt, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food,
and Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Yosef and do whatever he
tells you.”
56When the famine had
spread throughout the country, Yosef opened all the storehouses[56] and sold grain to the Egyptians,
because the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
57Every nation came to
to Yosef in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe
everywhere.
1. Moshe repeatedly
emphasizes his narrative with “Hinneh” — “Behold,” meaning
pay careful attention here because this is important!
[BACK]
8. Magicians: Hebrew
חַרְטֻמֵּ֥י (ḥar·ṭum·mê), an engraver, writer; by inference,
diviner, magician, astrologer, one possessed of occult knowledge.
[BACK]
25. It is particularly
important to translate “God” [הָאֱלֹהִ֛ים (hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm), literally
the God] as “Elohim” in this context.
Egypt had hundreds of “gods” and Pharaoh needed to know
that it was Yosef’s God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, Who was interpreting his dream for him.
[BACK]
40. In Egypt, Pharaoh was considered a god! So the
only one in all of Egypt with more power and authority than Yosef was their “god.”
[BACK]
42. The signet ring was literally
Pharaoh’s “signature.” It was not just a sign of his authority, but
also the tool to place Pharaoh’s seal on any official document.
[BACK]
45a. Tzafnat-Pa‘neach or
Zaphnath-paaneah is Egyptian and there is no Hebrew equivalent.
It may mean “treasury of the glorious rest.” “Josephus (Ant. ii.
91), Targum of Onkelos, and the Syriac rendered the name by
‘Revealer of Secrets’; and this was very generally accepted in
Christian tradition, the derivation being assumed to be from the
Hebrew root zâphan, ‘to conceal.’”
(Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)
“Canon Cook shows
that it means ‘food of life,’ or ‘food of the living.’ The LXX
have Psonthom-phanek, which Jerome, on the authority of the Jews
in Egypt, translates ‘saviour of the world.’ By ‘the world,’
would be meant the living, as in Canon Cook’s explanation,
which, in the sense of ‘he who feeds the world,’ or ‘the living,’
is the best exposition yet given.” (Ellicott's Commentary for
English Readers) Jerome’s interpretation becomes significant
when we consider Yosef as a type of
Yeshua.
[BACK]
45b. Osnat means “belonging to the goddess Neith.”
Neth was the goddess of war, wisdom, and hunting.
[BACK]
45c. Poti-pherah means “he whom Ra gave.”
“Ra (also given as Re) is the sun god of ancient Egypt. He is one of the oldest
deities in the Egyptian pantheon and was later merged with others such as Horus,
becoming Ra-Horakhty (the morning sun), Amun (as noonday sun), and Atum (the
evening sun) associated with primal life-giving energy.”
(WorldHistory.org, accessed Sept. 29,
2021) “On, known today as Heliopolis or Ain-Shams, was considered the first
Egyptian capital during the predynastic period and was the birthplace of the
first ancient Egyptian mythology. On was the place where creation itself was
believed to take place, the spot where life began, according to Egyptian myths.
On was the home of the first and the mightiest Egyptian god of all, Atum,
who was believed to have risen from the Benben stone in the great temple of
On to light up the dark and empty universe.”
(DailyNewsEgypt.com, accessed
Sept 29, 2021)
[BACK]
46. Yosef was 17 years old
(Gen 37:2) when Ya'akov designated him as heir (see the
note on Gen 37:3),
and his brothers sold him as a slave shortly thereafter, surely
not more than a year or two, so we can assume he was 18 or 19 years
old. He had served Potiphar for some
time, surely a few years before being made his chief steward. How
long afterward he was thrown into prison, we don’t know. He then had
to gain the trust of the captain of the guard before being made
supervisor over the prisoners, so he must have been in prison for a
fairly long time. It was then two years after
he interpreted the dreams of his fellow prisoners that that
Pharaoh had his dream. As Yosef was 30 years old when he
interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, he had been in Egypt for at least
eleven years at the time, and in prison for perhaps half of that
time.
[BACK]
56. “Ancient Egypt
had one of the most successful and stable agricultural economies
of the ancient world, and had both a system and facilities for
grain storage: larger granaries were attached to temples and
palaces, while smaller ones were dispersed within the town.
There were essentially two types, one with a circular base,
the other with a square or rectangular one. The circular
granaries were shaped like beehives and were some 5 meters
high and 2–3 meters in diameter. The grain was added through
a door in the top by men standing on ladders, and was removed
as needed from a similar door near the bottom. Very often these
beehive storehouses were in groups of five or six and placed
in a walled enclosure. The rectangular style of granary was
constructed on similar principles, and though the side walls
sloped gradually towards the top, where there was a flat roof,
they were never of a true pyramidal form.” (Wikipedia.org “Joseph’s Granaries”, accessed
27 September 2021)
See also “Archaeologists find silos and administration center from early Egyptian city”
from the University of Chicago News dated July 1, 2008.
[BACK]
Page originally posted on Wednesday, 29 September 2021
Page last updated on
Monday, 02 October 2023 12:52 PM
(Updates are generally minor formatting or editorial changes.
Major content changes are identified as "Revisions”) ANXIOUSLY WATCHING FOR MASHIACH’S RETURN,
SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAY. MARANA, TA!