Monday, April 3, 2017

Genesis 41:1-8 comments: Pharaoh's dream


1 ¶  And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. 2  And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow. 3  And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. 4  And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke. 5  And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good. 6  And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them. 7  And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. 8  And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

Two complete years have gone by and Pharaoh has this dream. This reminds one of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and his calling of all his wise men together to interpret it for him, although he insisted he couldn’t remember it, so they had to tell him the dream, as well.

Daniel 2:1 ¶  And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. 2  Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. 3  And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. 4  Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation. 5  The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. 6  But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.

Dreams are often disjointed things with actors and events that make no sense and seem like the extra stuff left over from what you thought about the day previous. It is almost as if the mind uses the film that lies on the proverbial cutting room floor in the old movie days and creates something surreal. The kind of sleep that allows you to dream is important for a successful sleep, we are told. But, occasionally, in cases mentioned in the Bible, some dreams are communications. These are communications from God and God also provides the interpreter of the dream. It is like the New Testament speaking in tongues, foreign languages. If there is no one in the assembly who can translate the speech does it serve a purpose from God and can it be from God? Paul says no. It is nothing more than confusion and God is not the author of confusion.

So, we have a dream that means something and we have need of someone to interpret it.

Here we have the definition of well favoured and ill favoured in the text as they are contrasted with fatfleshed and leanfleshed. Kine are cows, as is evident from the twenty or so verses in the Bible where the word is used. Do a word search on use a concordance to see.

And again, for corn, understand that it is a reference to a head of wheat in British English as it can refer to any type of grain. For example, look up the English “Corn Laws.”

John 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

No comments: