Genesis 41:2

 Genesis 41:2

 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.

a. NASB 1995: And lo, from the Nile there came up seven cows, sleek and fat; and they grazed in the marsh grass.  [New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.]

b. NKJV: Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow.  [Scripture quotations marked "NKJV" are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

c. Classic Amplified: And behold, there came up out of the river [Nile] seven well-favored cows, sleek and handsome and fat; and they grazed in the reed grass [in a marshy pasture].  [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: When Behold! Out of the River there emerged seven cows, of beautiful appearance ad robust flesh, and they were grazing in the marshland. [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ltd.]

e. ESV: And behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass.  [Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

f. Unless otherwise stated, all Greek and Hebrew definitions are from Blue Letter Bible

1. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.

a. [And] behold [Strong: 2009 hinnêh, hin-nay'; prolongation for H2005; lo!:—behold, lo, see.]

b. [there] came up [Strong: 5927 ʻâlâh, aw-law'; a primitive root; to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount); used in a great variety of senses, primary and secondary, literal and figurative:—arise (up), (cause to) ascend up, at once, break (the day) (up), bring (up), (cause to) burn, carry up, cast up, shew, climb (up), (cause to, make to) come (up), cut off, dawn, depart, exalt, excel, fall, fetch up, get up, (make to) go (away, up); grow (over) increase, lay, leap, levy, lift (self) up, light, (make) up, × mention, mount up, offer, make to pay, perfect, prefer, put (on), raise, recover, restore, (make to) rise (up), scale, set (up), shoot forth (up), (begin to) spring (up), stir up, take away (up), work.]

c. out [Strong: 4480 min, min; or מִנִּי minnîy; or מִנֵּי minnêy; (constructive plural) (Isaiah 30:11); for H4482; properly, a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses:—above, after, among, at, because of, by (reason of), from (among), in, × neither, × nor, (out) of, over, since, × then, through, × whether, with.]

d. [of the] river [Strong: 2975 yᵉʼôr, yeh-ore'; of Egyptian origin; a channel, e.g. a fosse, canal, shaft; specifically the Nile, as the one river of Egypt, including its collateral trenches; also the Tigris, as the main river of Assyria:—brook, flood, river, stream.]

e. seven [Strong: 7651 shebaʻ, sheh'-bah; or (masculine) (שִׁבְעָה shibʻâh); from H7650; a primitive cardinal number; seven (as the sacred full one); also (adverbially) seven times; by implication, a week; by extension, an indefinite number:—(+ by) seven(-fold),-s, (-teen, -teenth), -th, times).]

f. well [Strong: 3303 yâpheh, yaw-feh'; from H3302; beautiful (literally or figuratively):— beautiful, beauty, comely, fair(-est, one), goodly, pleasant, well.]

g. favored [Strong: 4758 marʼeh, mar-eh'; from H7200; a view (the act of seeing); also an appearance (the thing seen), whether (real) a shape (especially if handsome, comeliness; often plural the looks), or (mental) a vision:—× apparently, appearance(-reth), × as soon as beautiful(-ly), countenance, fair, favoured, form, goodly, to look (up) on (to), look(-eth), pattern, to see, seem, sight, visage, vision.]

h. kine [Strong: 6510 pârâh, paw-raw'; feminine of H6499; a heifer:—cow, heifer, kine.]

i. [and] fat-fleshed [Strong: 1277 bârîyʼ, baw-ree'; from H1254 (in the sense of H1262); fatted or plump:—fat ((fleshed), -ter), fed, firm, plenteous, rank.]

j. [Strong: 1320 bâsâr, baw-sawr'; from H1319; flesh (from its freshness); by extension, body, person; also (by euphemistically) the pudenda of a man:—body, (fat, lean) flesh(-ed), kin, (man-) kind, nakedness, self, skin.]

k. [and they] fed [Strong: 7462 râʻâh, raw-aw'; a primitive root; to tend a flock; i.e. pasture it; intransitively, to graze (literally or figuratively); generally to rule; by extension, to associate with (as a friend):—× break, companion, keep company with, devour, eat up, evil entreat, feed, use as a friend, make friendship with, herdman, keep (sheep) (-er), pastor, shearing house, shepherd, wander, waste.]

l.  [in a] meadow [Strong: 260 ʼâchûw, aw'-khoo; of uncertain (perhaps Egyptian) derivation; a bulrush or any marshy grass (particularly that along the Nile):—flag, meadow.]

1). Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers: Pharaoh dreamed.—After two years spent in the prison, the time has now come for Joseph’s elevation to power; and it is to be noticed that this was not brought about by those arts by which men usually attain to greatness, such as statesmanship, or military skill; nor was it by accident, but according to the Biblical rule, by the direct intervention of Providence. Just as centuries afterwards, Daniel rose to high office at Babylon by God making known to him the dream of Nebuchadnezzar; so here, the transplantation of Israel into Egypt is brought about by the revelation to Joseph of “what was to be hereafter.”

2). In accordance with his goodness, for God is a good and merciful God, God was giving Pharaoh a means of averting a disaster for Egypt through the dreams and giving Joseph the interpretation of the dreams. Henry Morris writes in his book The Genesis Record, it was not “for the purpose of embarrassing or dethroning the king of Egypt. As a matter of fact his own control over the country was destined to be strengthened by these events; but the underlying purpose of it all had to do rather with God’s plan for Israel. Therefore not only did God give Joseph the true interpretation of the dreams, but also an effective plan of action for Pharaoh.”

3). God giving dreams and their interpretation here is an example of the gifts of the Spirit, in particular, the word of wisdom, one of the gifts of the Spirit in operation. Kenneth E. Hagin writes in “Concerning Spiritual Gifts”: “The difference between the two gifts, the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom is that the revelation which the word of knowledge brings is always present tense or something which happened in the past. The word of wisdom always speaks of the future.” Here a 14 year plan to avert a disaster that would have come upon the known world. All the nations around Egypt suffered from this famine (Genesis 41:57), that was allowed by God to happen. He did not cause it, but in his goodness, mercy, and grace provided a means to endure through it.