From Dungeon to Throne: Genesis 41:1-40

When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream.

Two years. Seven hundred thirty days of waiting in darkness while the cupbearer enjoyed restored freedom and Joseph rotted in prison. Then Pharaoh dreamed.

He was standing by the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows.

Cows emerging from the Nile—Egypt's source of life. Fat cows devoured by thin ones. The image disturbed.