THE DREAMS OF PHARAOH AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF JOSEPH 1. Pharaoh] It is believed that a dynasty of Asiatic (perhaps Bedouin) conquerors, known as the Hyksôs or Shepherd kings, were now in power in Egypt. Their rule lasted for 500 years, until 1700 or 1600 b.c., when a native Nubian dynasty from Thebe... [ Continue Reading ]
THE RIVER] Heb. _Yeor,_ i.e. the Nile. As is generally known, the fertility of Egypt depends entirely upon the amount of water which overflows the banks when the Nile is at its highest. Without that river the land would be a desert, the rainfall being extremely slight. In recent years great improve... [ Continue Reading ]
SEVEN EARS.. UPON ONE STALK] This many-eared wheat is still grown in Egypt. Specimens have been found in mummy cases of very early periods.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EAST WIND] the parching SE. wind from the desert; see on Exodus 10:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
MAGICIANS] RM 'sacred scribes.' They were the literary caste of Egypt, writing the hieroglyphics, or sacred writings, and learned in the interpretation of dreams and astrology. They attended at the Court of the Pharaohs, and their duty was 'to guide every act of the king's life, and to interpret the... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHAVED _himself_] so as to be ceremonially clean in Pharaoh's presence, a distinctively Egyptian trait. 'The Hebrews regarded their beard with peculiar pride, cultivated it with care, touched it at supplications, often swore by it, and deemed its mutilation an extreme ignominy: hence, in mourning... [ Continue Reading ]
Render, 'It is not I but God who will answer what will profit Pharaoh.'... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DREAM OF PHARAOH _is_ ONE] i.e. both dreams have the same significance. The narrative here is a striking fulfilment of the words in Genesis 39:2, 'The Lord was with Joseph.'... [ Continue Reading ]
Joseph's suggestion was that a fifth part of the corn crop should be required of the people for the next seven years to be stored up by the government; this would keep a quantity in the. country which would otherwise have been sold to other lands. The corn tax was already an important part of Egypti... [ Continue Reading ]
Pharaoh felt that Joseph's wisdom had a divine source.... [ Continue Reading ]
Pharaoh makes Joseph his grand vizier or prime minister, only reserving to himself the supreme authority.... [ Continue Reading ]
RING.. VESTURES.. CHAIN] 'The speculative mind of the Oriental invests everything with a symbolical significance '(Kalisch). The ring was Pharaoh's signet or seal, showing that Joseph was invested with full power as to edicts and commands. The king and the priestly order only wore the finest linen v... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CRIED] i.e. the grooms who ran before the chariot, as is done to the present day in Egypt. BOW THE KNEE] _Abrek,_ the word used here, is still the cry to the camel to kneel.... [ Continue Reading ]
The exaltation of Joseph, who was a Hebrew, is less remarkable if the Pharaohs of this period were themselves of Asiatic descent. See on Genesis 41:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
ZAPHNAPH-PAANEAH] meaning, perhaps, 'God, the Living One, has spoken.' It is a word of Egyptian origin, but not found earlier than the 9th cent. b.c. ASENATH] 'One belonging to the goddess Neith, the Egyptian Minerva, goddess of wisdom.' POTI-PHERAH] 'One given by Ra the sun-god.' ON] or Heliopolis,... [ Continue Reading ]
THIRTY YEARS OLD] he was seventeen when sold into Egypt (Genesis 37:2). 51, 52. MANASSEH] 'causing to forget.' EPHRAIM] 'fruitful.' The first name suggests that Joseph felt in his present prosperity compensation for his early trials.... [ Continue Reading ]
SEVEN YEARS OF DEARTH] A similar visitation took place between the years 1064-1071 a.d., and this also was caused through the failure of the Nile. There is a record on the monuments of a great famine in Egypt 3000 b.c. In Canaan such a scarcity would be due to insufficient rainfall.... [ Continue Reading ]
OVER ALL THE FACE OF THE EARTH] an expression for the countries near Egypt, such as Arabia, Palestine, and parts of Africa. AND JOSEPH OPENED ALL THE STOREHOUSES] Dr. Brugsch has discovered a tomb at El-Kab with an inscription which very possibly refers to this famine. Its occupant seems to have bee... [ Continue Reading ]