Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 41:5

And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.

5. a second time ] Here, as in Gen 37:9 and Gen 40:16, the duplication of the dream seems to place its significance beyond dispute. The resemblance of the dreams is found in (1) the number “seven”; (2) in the good products being consumed by the bad. The first dream was concerned with the sacred animal of Egypt; the second with Egypt’s chief source of wealth.

rank ] Heb. fat, i.e. rich and good.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Ears of corn are fit and proper resemblances of the thing here intended, both because the fertility of a land doth mainly consist in the abundance and goodness of these; and because ears of corn appearing to any in a dream, did, in the judgment of the Egyptian wise men, signify years, as Josephus notes.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And he slept, and dreamed the second time,…. He fell asleep again quickly, and dreamed another dream the same night, and to the same purpose, being much of the like kind with the former:

and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good; which were very uncommon even in those fruitful countries; though Dr. Shaw e observes of Barbary, which vied with Egypt for fruitfulness, that it sometimes happens that one stalk of wheat will bear two ears, while each of these ears will as often shoot out into a number of lesser ones, thereby affording a most plentiful increase.

e Travels, p. 137. Ed. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(5) Seven ears . . . upon one stalk.The wheat cultivated in Egypt is called triticum compositum, because it produces several ears upon the same stalk. The statement of Herodotus (ii. 36), that the Egyptians regarded it as disgraceful to feed upon wheat or barley, is disproved by the paintings in the temples, especially in the district of Thebes, which show that it was the main crop there, and its cultivation held in high honour. Maspero, Hist. Ancienne, p. 9, says, In spite of Herodotus, the usual food of the people was wheat and other cereals, which the soil of Egypt produces in abundance.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

‘And he slept and dreamed a second time, and behold, seven ears of corn came up on one stalk, fat and good, and behold, seven ears sprung up after them, thin and blasted with the east wind, and the thin ears swallowed up the seven fat and full ears. And Pharaoh woke up and behold it was a dream.’

Pharaoh’s second dream is of the growth of good sevenfold corn and then of the growth of thin and wind-blasted corn, and as can happen in dreams the thin corn swallowed up the good corn. Pharaoh clearly found himself very involved in this dream for ‘then he woke up and behold, it was a dream.’

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Gen 41:5 And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.

Ver. 5. And dreamed the second time. ] Divine dreams use to be repeated, and to take deep impression, as this did. Gen 41:8 “Pharaoh’s spirit was troubled”; Heb., behammered.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)