Genesis 41:8 - Exposition

And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; or, rather, his mind was agitated, ἐταράχθη ἡ χυχὴ αὐτοῦ ( LXX .), pavore perterritus (Vulgate), the ruach being the seat of the senses, affections, and emotions of various kinds (cf. Daniel 2:1 ; Daniel 4:5 , Daniel 4:19 )— and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt ,—the חַרְטֻמִּים , from חָרַט (unused), to engrave, whence חֶרֶט , a stylus (Gesenius), or from חוּר , to see or explain, and טוּם , to conceal, i.e. he who explains hidden or mysterious things (Kalisch), were sacred scribes, ἱερογραμματεῖς , belonging to the priestly caste, who were skilled in making and deciphering the hieroglyphics. Besides figuring in the Court of Pharaoh ( Exodus 7:11 , Exodus 7:22 ; Exodus 8:3 ; Exodus 14:15 ) in the time of Moses, they recur again at a later period in that of the Babylonian monarch Nebuchadnezzar ( Daniel 1:20 ; Daniel 2:2 )— and all the wise men thereof. The חֲכָמִים , from חָכַם , the primary idea of which is that of judging (Gesenius), were persons capable of judging, hence persons endowed with pre-eminent abilities for the prosecution of the ordinary business of life, the cultivation of the arts and sciences, the practice of divination, the interpreting of dreams, and other kindred occupations. They were the sages of the nation. And Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh. The magicians of Egypt were not so conceited as their Brethren in Babylon afterwards showed themselves to be, Daniel 2:4 (Lawson). That they could not explain the dream, though couched in the symbolical language of the time, was no doubt surprising; but "the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God" ( 1 Corinthians 2:11 ), and they to whom the Spirit doth reveal them ( 1 Corinthians 2:10 ).