Wisdom's Corner
The Seven Cows

In Genesis 41:1-37 you can read about the Pharaoh of Egypt having two dreams. In the first dream seven fat cows come up out of the Nile river.

Then seven thin cows come up and eat the fat cows. None of the wise men of Egypt could interpret the dream. Eventually Pharaoh calls for Joseph and Joseph is able to interpret the dream.

The Egyptians worshipped a goddess named Hathor. They believed Hathor ruled the waters and made them rise or fall as she pleased. They compared the Nile to a cow because they said the Nile nourished with its waters just like the cow nourished with milk. Thus they sometimes drew pictures of Hathor with a cow's head.

Their prayers to Hathor would often be addressed to "The Seven Great Hathors." She was supposed to sometimes turn herself into seven spirits who took the shape of seven beautiful cows. These cows had power to bring good or bad harvests.

So when Pharoah had the dream of seven fat cows coming up out of the river, his first thought would be of Hathor. However, he could not figure out who was represented by the seven thin cows. He also did not know what the thin cows eating the fat cows was supposed to mean. None of his wise men could figure this out either.

Joseph could interpret the dream because God gave him the knowledge to do so. And Joseph tells Pharaoh that it is God that is the one giving the answer. He also tells him that God is the one who gave him the dream.

I am glad that we have the Bible to tell us about the great things that God has done. Until next time, keep studying your Bible so that you can learn about our great God. And if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.

Mark McWhorter

Copyright 2002

Published by The Old Paths Bible School
(http://www.oldpaths.org)