ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים, at the end of two years after the release of the cup bearer Pharaoh had given this banquet, following which he had the dream narrated here.

ופרעה חלם. He was dreaming that he was standing by the river. The word על as meaning “besides, close to,” occurs for instance, also in Numbers 2,20 ועלי מטה מנשה, “and beside him (the army of the tribe Ephrayim) camped the army of the tribe Menashe.” The meaning certainly could not be that Menashe was “above, over,” the tribe of Ephrayim, a more common meaning for the word על. G’d directs all these various apparently unrelated little incidents in mysterious ways in order to promote the realisation of His overall plan in historical developments, both of His people, and of mankind generally. Pharaoh’s dream was inspired by G’d in order that the prophecy to Avraham that before his descendants would take possession of the land of the Canaanites which He had promised them could come true. He had spoken of a period of 400 years parts of which would be harsh treatment of Avraham’s descendants as slaves. In order for this to come about, Avraham’s descendants had to be in Egypt. In order for them to go there voluntarily G’d had to orchestrate the famine. In order for Egypt not to perish during the famine Joseph had to interpret Pharaoh’s dream correctly and make the Egyptians indebted to himself and his family, thus reducing the number of years the Jews would do slave labour there. David details these steps of G’d’s השגחה in Psalms 105. When we look at Pharaoh’s dream with hindsight, we cannot fail to wonder why this dream was so difficult to interpret, and why the collective wisdom of all of Pharaoh’s wise men failed them. The answer is that G’d withheld their normal sagacity in order to bring Joseph into the picture. This concept of G’d interfering sometimes with the thought processes of human beings [not with their will which is inviolate they having been created in the image of G’d, i.e. with free will. Ed.] is described by the prophet Isaiah with the words משיב חכמים אחור ודעתם יסכל, “He turns sages back and makes nonsense of their knowledge.” (Isaiah 44,25)

והנה מן היאור עולות שבע פרות, this was part of the interpretation, as in Egypt the river Nile rises annually above its embankment irrigating the farmland surrounding it. The cows both pull the ploughs and thresh the grain after it has been harvested. [thus far the dream reflected a well known reality in Egypt and it is difficult to see how the Egyptian wise men could have missed something so simple unless their eyes had been blinded by G’d. Ed.]

ותרעינה באחו, as they found plenty of grass near at hand.

ותעמדנה, this is the first unusual thing in the dream, that the hungry, lean cows instead of grazing as did the fat, satiated cows, were simply standing around, inactive, as if helpless. Joseph, of course, draws attention to the meaning of this phenomenon in his interpretation.

ותאכלנה, this is the explanation of the strange behaviour of the seven lean cows, i.e. that during the seven years of famine the seven good years of plenty would be absorbed as if they had never existed. No trace would remain of the seven good years.

ויקץ פרעה, he awoke briefly between the first dream and the second dream. Had the dreams been one continuous experience without Pharaoh waking up in between, he himself would have understood immediately that the scenario he saw in the second dream was closely related to the scenario he had seen in the first dream. Seeing that there were two separate dreams, this indicated to Joseph that the events foreshadowed would come to pass without delay. והנה חלום, the dream was complete. He did not dream any more during that night.

ויהי בבוקר ותפעם רוחו, his spirit was broken due to his profound worry about the meaning of this dream. Although he had dreamt in two stages having awoken in between the two sections, he was convinced that the message conveyed by what he had been shown was a single message, that the dream was a single dream containing two parts.

וישלח ויקרא, he summoned them by means of messengers.

ואין פותר אותם, none of the them could interpret. The word אותם does not refer to the dreams but is used as in 44,4 הם יצאו את העיר. “they had departed from the city.

את חטאי, even though it is not good manners for a person to mention the sins he had committed against his sovereign in his presence after the time had passed for forgiveness, in this instance the cup bearer excuses his mentioning these sins as he does so in the king’s interest.

אותי ואת שר האופים, even though he already mentioned אותי, I, etc., he repeated this again in the next verse when he spoke about אני והוא, “I and He.” The reason was because of the words he had spoken in the interval. We find a parallel example in Judges 9.19 ואם באמת ובתמים, where these words have been repeated even though the same speaker had used the identical words already in verse 16 in the same speech, on account of what he had been saying in the interval between then and now. Yet another parallel example to the syntax in our verse is found in Nechemyah 4,17 ואין אני ואחי ונערי, “neither I, my brothers, or servants, etc.,” and is repeated verbatim by the same speaker in chapter 5 verse 10 on account of all that he had said in the interval, though it was all part of the same assembly.

כפתרון חלומו, we already explained the meaning of this expression on 40,5.

נער, seeing that he performed personal valet duties for them in the prison he referred to him as a נער, [describing his function. Ed.] He added that Joseph was also עבד לשר הטבחים, he had been informed about Joseph’s immediate past before he was thrown into jail. He gave this information so that anyone enquiring about him would know the name of the person they were trying to locate.

איש כחלומו, the prefix ל is missing here in front of the word איש. The word איש has to be understood as if the cup-bearer had said: לאיש, meaning that each of the two received an interpretation tailored to his particular dream. One dream had been appropriate for a cup-bearer, the other for a baker. One dream dealt with a drink, the other with food, baked goods.

ויריצוהו מן הבור, they removed him from jail in haste seeing that Royal commands are always carried out promptly and as a matter of priority.

ויגלח ויחלף שמלותיו, admission to the presence of the king is conditional on both body and attire being in first class condition.

ויאמר..לאמר; people say that you understand the meanings of a dream and are able to interpret it correctly.

תשמע, this means the same here as “you will understand.” The root שמע appears meaning the same in Deuteronomy 28,49 גוי אשר לא תשמע לשונו, “a people whose language you do not understand.”

בלעדי, “I cannot do this based on my intelligence.

אלוקים יענה, G’d will provide the answer and thereby put Pharaoh’s mind at rest.” The meaning of the word יענה here is similar to Kohelet 5,19 מענה בשמחת לבו, “G’d provides him with the joy of his heart.” He will display goodwill and His concern with Pharaoh’s peace of mind. Or, Joseph may have meant that G’d will put in my mouth words which will provide Pharaoh with peace of mind. This would be analogous to Proverbs 16,1 ומה' מענה לשון, “but the answer of the tongue comes from G’d.”

וידבר, we have already written that when someone repeats something he has said previously he is apt to either add something to the previous version, or he is apt to omit something he had mentioned in the previous version. The speaker, generally, is concerned only with conveying the same meaning as he had conveyed the first time he said the same thing. The same is thing is true of someone relating a dream he had more than once.

ורקות בשר, with the letter ר instead of the letter ד the meaning is derived from רקק, as in רקיקי מצות, in Exodus 29,2 where it means “unleavened wafers.” [the author refers to the thinness of wafers describing the thinness of the flesh on these cows. Ed.]

הרקות , the ones mentioned as possessing only a thin layer of flesh as in verse 19.

ולא נודע, concerning this comment of Pharaoh’s narrative Joseph said in verse 31 that ולא יודע השבע that during the years of famine the abundance of food during the preceding 7 years will not even be something people could remember.

צנמות, a word which is understood based on our sages (Rashi, Ram’ban) quoting the expressionפת צנומה בקערה (Berachot 39, “dried bread placed in a dish to soak it in water.”) The interpretation of the dream is now perfectly clear.

ושבע הפרות הרקות, the word הרקות is again derived from רקיק, wafer, as on the previous occasions it was mentioned.

השבלים הרקות, here the word הרקות is derived from the word ריק, empty, as in והבור רק אין בו מים, “the pit was empty, it did not contain water.” (Genesis 37,24)

הקדים as if the Torah had written קדמאה, “the one previously mentioned in verse 25.” הגיד, “He showed Pharaoh in his dream,” instead of spelling it out to him.

ועל השנות, Joseph added the word פעמים, in order to make this more plain after he had used the expression השנות.

וחמש, he should confiscate one fifth of the harvest.

ויקבצו את כל אוכל השנים, concerning this tax of twenty percent of the harvest, Joseph suggested that the appointed officials should collect the food thus set aside by Pharaoh during the seven years of plenty and store it near various cities under Pharaoh’s direct supervision so that it would be at hand when the years of famine would commence. This would be independent of what private individuals would put in storage on their own account. If this advice were followed, each city would have a substantial hoard of grain near at hand when the famine would break out and there would not be any panic or undue profiteering.

לפקדון, as an insurance to have handy in time of need. Even though the people who had turned in that part of their harvest would in due course be forced to buy it back, this arrangement would be good for them as at least they would insure that when needed it would be available.

וייטב הדבר, Pharaoh approved of Joseph’s suggestion as did his ministers as they all understood that it was a wise and practical plan. They realised that it was very likely that Joseph’s interpretation of the dream was correct. They were furthermore very impressed by the chief of the cup-bearers who had told them how Joseph’s interpretation of both his and the chief baker’s dreams had come true. Moreover, Joseph had not claimed that the realisation of the dream would be in the distant future, but by seizing on the word והנה twice at the very beginning of Pharaoh’s dream and again in verse 29, he had made it plain that these predictions would come true in short order.

הנמצא כזה, the letter נ in the word הנמצא was directed at the people who were talking about the whole subject. Pharaoh said to the assembled advisers: “Joseph has made certain suggestions. Can we possibly find someone better qualified to put these suggestions into practice? He is clearly superior in wisdom and acumen to all our local experts, and this can only be due to the fact that he enjoys Divine inspiration.”

ישק, a word derived from נשק, arms, as per Onkelos.

רק הכסא אגדל ממך, in matters relating to the throne I will rank as superior to you.

ראה נתתי אותך, take note of the fact that I have empowered you as effective ruler over Egypt. [the author tells us that the word or root ראה does not need to be translated as “to see, either with the physical eye or even with the mental eye. Ed.] Pharaoh gave Joseph latitude to conduct the affairs of state according to whatever his wisdom dictated to him

ויסר, the ring which was the symbol of the supreme authority in Egypt and which was used to sign and thereby confirm any Royal decree in the country.

במרכבת המשנה, in the carriage reserved for the second highest official of the land.

אברך. The letter א in this word appears here in lieu of the letter ה and is part of the infinitive as in ונתון אותו, in other words: it is appropriate to bend one’s knee before this person and to raise him to be ruler over the land of Egypt. Alternatively, the meaning could be that the letter א refers to the respective person (anyone) announcing at the approach of Joseph’s coach that those who were still a distance away before he passed them should get down on their knees to pay their respects anticipating his passing. ונתון אותו, and everyone agreed that this person deserved to be given control of the whole land of Egypt.

אני פרעה, even though I am nominally king, without your permission לא ירים איש את ידו ואת רגלו, in all respects. [Joseph was appointed as absolute dictator, benevolent, of course. Ed.]

צפנת פענח, an Egyptian expression, similar to Nevuchadnezzar giving Daniel and his companions Chaldaic names when he appointed them to high office. (Daniel 1,7) Other commentators (Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Ram’ban) explain the name צפנת פענח as being Hebrew.

ויצא יוסף, he now proceeded to take the reins of government into his hands

ויצא יוסף מלפני פרעה, instead of remaining standing at Pharaoh’s side, like the other ministers, he left to set about doing his job.

ויעבר בכל ארץ מצרים, he did not travel for pleasure but in the course of his new duties he had to traverse the whole country. His task consisted primarily of supervising that his instructions were being carried out.

ותעש הארץ, the earth produced harvests לקמצים, even a single kernel produced many handfuls. [possibly by “kernel” the author refers to a kernel of seed. Ed.]

ויקבוץ את כל אוכל, we already explained this on verse 35.

ויתן אכל בערים, he built all the storage silos in the towns and not in the villages. The twenty percent of the harvest the farmers in the villages had to turn in, Joseph stored in the cities.

כחול הים, an exaggerated way of describing the abundance of grain.

וליוסף יולד, the singular mode used by the Torah in describing the birth of these two sons of Joseph suggests that they were twins. At least they were presumably born during the same night.

שנת הרעב, the first year of the famine; the Torah adds: בטרם תבא, for they were born during the last year of the 7 years of plenty. Joseph was 37 years old when they were born. They were therefore 19 years old when Yaakov died. My teachers (Taanit 11) explained that the wording “before the onset of the famine,” is meant to teach that a person must not engage in marital intercourse during years of famine.

אשר ילדה לו אסנת, this is to teach that Joseph did not have any additional wives, i.e. both of his sons were born by the same mother.

כי נשני, G’d granted me so much wealth and power that He enabled me to forget את כל עמלי, all the problems and setbacks I had experienced, and He has even made me forget all the members of my father’s household. [not including his father, of course. Ed.]

נשני, the vowel patach under the letter נ substitutes for the vowel chirik which we would normally expect in the transitive conjugation from the root נשה, as then it would have been nishani as in tzivani from the root צוה, “to command.” Some commentators do not accept that this vowel is a variant but claim that it is justified as the root of the word nashani in our verse is נשש. [compare Rash’bam’s comment. Ed.]

בארץ עניי, in the land which for me was first a land of poverty, oppression, mental anguish, and has now become the land in which my potential has come to fruition where G’d has granted me children, wealth and great honour.

אשר היה, a collective term, hence in the singular היה instead of the plural היו.

ובכל ארץ מצרים היה לחם, in all the countries bordering on the land of Egypt there was food seeing that everyone had amassed a private hoard. [the author may mean that the individual farmers sold their private hoards to foreigners, knowing that when they would run out they would qualify for the accumulated supply of the state, while in the meantime overcharging the people from the neighbouring countries. Ed.]

ותרעב, each one had used up his private hoard either by eating it or selling it. Besides, they could not store a great deal, having had to surrender twenty per cent of their annual harvests to Joseph’s officials.

ויצעק העם, they knew that Joseph had stored up their twenty percent contributions each year. They appealed to Pharaoh knowing that the food which had been stored was intended to be sold back to the people during the famine.

והרעב...ויפתח יוסף את כל אשר בהם, he now opened all the silos in which grain had been stored.

וישבר למצרים, first he sold grain only to the Egyptians until word had spread that there was food for sale in Egypt. Then he also sold to foreigners. The expression וישבר, vayishbor, is from the conjugation kal, and is used both as applicable to the seller and the buyer. Actually, the word shever means “breaking,” i.e. the grain, the harvest, is what “breaks” one’s hunger. Compare Psalms 104,11 ישברו פראים צמאם, “the wild asses slake their thirst, the word for “slaking,” being the word שבר. When it comes to the transaction, i.e. trading in victuals, especially grain, the seller gives something which will still the buyer’s hunger, i.e. break it, whereas the buyer at the same time is receiving something which breaks his hunger. Hence it is understandable why the same root is used to describe either buying or selling food, seeing both parties are concerned in dealing with someone’s hunger, putting an end to it, as it were. One party hands over the price, the other party receives payment, thus both seller and buyer are active in the transaction. The conjugation הפעיל however, is applicable only to the seller of food, not to the buyer, as in most instances this conjugation is used transitively. The word mashbir, or hamashbir, therefore refers to the seller, not to the buyer.

ויחזק הרעב, as foreign buyers appeared and the quantities sold to each had to be rationed in order to ensure that the supply would last, the famine was felt more strongly also by the local population, seeing the famine had been predicted to last for many years.

לשבור אל יוסף, the words have been inverted and mean the same as if the Torah had written באו אל יוסף לשבור, “they came to Joseph to trade in grain.”