What is written above on the matter (in Gen. 40:23): YET THE CHIEF CUPBEARER DID NOT REMEMBER JOSEPH. R. Berekhyah the Priest said: YET THE CHIEF CUPBEARER DID NOT REMEMBER. He had been remembered, and he was married.⁷. 34, which is probably correct in rendering the last clause as follows: AND HIS BURDEN LIFTED. But (ibid.) HE FORGOT HIM. He had said outside: I will go and tell Pharaoh about him. Immediately: HE FORGOT HIM. Until the proper time had arrived for him to leave, the Holy One brought false charges against him in order to slander him. Thus it is stated (in Genesis 41:1): NOW IT CAME TO PASS AT THE END OF TWO FULL YEARS.

footnotes: ⁷ Cf. Codex Vaticanus Ebr

[(Genesis 41:1, cont.:) THAT PHARAOH DREAMED.] R. Hiyya bar Abba said: THAT PHARAOH DREAMED. Does a dead dog dream? In this case, he was granted prophetic dreams merely a short while for the sake of the righteous one.

(Genesis 41:1, cont.:) AND HERE HE WAS STANDING OVER THE NILE….⁸ The wicked ones establish themselves over their gods,⁹ but the righteous are secure over their Creator.¹⁰

footnotes: ⁸ A more idiomatic translation would be BY THE NILE, but the interpretation here requires this more literal rendering. ⁹ Like Pharaoh, who was standing over the divine Nile. ¹⁰ Cf. Gen. R. 89:4: “But, as for the righteous, their God establishes himself over them.”

(Gen. 41:2:) AND HERE WERE SEVEN COWS COMING UP FROM THE NILE … AND THEY GRAZED AMONG THE AHU. ¹¹ What is the meaning of AHU? Simply that, when the good years come, the people become brothers (ahin) to each other. But, when bad years come, the people become aliens (aherim) to their colleagues. For this reason it says (in Gen. 41:3): THEN HERE WERE SEVEN ALIEN (aherot) COWS.¹² What is the meaning of aherot? That the one group saw the other and turned away their faces from them.

footnotes: ¹¹ The word means “Nile grass.” ¹² The usual translation would be OTHER COWS.