Genesis 41:7

 Genesis 41:7

And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.

a. NASB 1995: The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.  [New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.]

b. NKJV: And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream.  [Scripture quotations marked "NKJV" are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

c. Classic Amplified: And the seven thin ears [of grain] devoured the seven plump and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.  [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: Then the seven thin ears swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears; Pharaoh awoke and behold! It had been a dream.  [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ltd.]

e. ESV: And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.  [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 the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.

a. [And the] seven…ears [Strong: 7641 shibbôl, shib-bole; or (feminine) שִׁבֹּלֶת shibbôleth; from the same as H7640; a stream (as flowing); also an ear of grain (as growing out); by analogy, a branch:—branch, channel, ear (of corn), (water-)flood, Shibboleth.]

b. thin [Strong: 1851 daq, dak; from H1854; crushed, i.e. (by implication) small or thin:—dwarf, lean(-fleshed), very little thing, small, thin.]

c. devoured [Strong: 1104 bâlaʻ, baw-lah'; a primitive root; to make away with (specifically by swallowing); generally, to destroy:—cover, destroy, devour, eat up, be at end, spend up, swallow down (up).]

d. [Strong: 853 'eth ayth apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of entity; properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely):--(as such unrepresented in English).]

e. [the] seven…ears [Strong: 7641 shibbôl, shib-bole; or (feminine) שִׁבֹּלֶת shibbôleth; from the same as H7640; a stream (as flowing); also an ear of grain (as growing out); by analogy, a branch:—branch, channel, ear (of corn), (water-)flood, Shibboleth.]

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

g. [and] full [ears] [Strong: 4392 mâlêʼ, maw-lay'; from H4390; full (literally or figuratively) or filling (literally); also (concretely) fulness; adverbially, fully:—× she that was with child, fill(-ed, -ed with), full(-ly), multitude, as is worth.]

h. [And] Pharaoh [Strong: 6547 Parʻôh, par-o'; of Egyptian derivation; Paroh, a general title of Egyptian kings:—Pharaoh.]

i. awoke [Strong: 3364 yâqats, yaw-kats'; a primitive root; to awake (intransitive):—(be) awake(-d).]

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

k. [it was a] dream [Strong: 2472 chălôwm, khal-ome'; or (shortened) חֲלֹם chălôm; from H2492; a dream:—dream(-er).]

1). 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.”

2). 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.