Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 8. Called for all the magicians] µymfrj chartummim. The word here used may probably mean no more than interpreters of abstruse and difficult subjects; and especially of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, an art which is now entirely lost. It is most likely that the term is Egyptian, and consequently its etymology must remain unknown to us. If Hebrew, Mr. Parkhurst's definition may be as good as any: "" frj cheret, a pen or instrument to write or draw with, and µatth[w tam, to perfect or accomplish; those who were perfect in drawing their sacred, astrological, and hieroglyphical figures or characters, and who, by means of them, pretended to extraordinary feats, among which was the interpretation of dreams. They seem to have been such persons as Josephus (Ant., lib. ii., c.9, s. 2) calls ierogrammateiv sacred scribes, or professors of sacred learning."" Wise men] hymkj chacameyha, the persons who, according to Porphyry, ""addicted themselves to the worship of God and the study of wisdom, passing their whole life in the contemplation of Divine things.
Contemplation of the stars, self-purification, arithmetic, and geometry, and singing hymns in honour of their gods, was their continual employment.""-See Dodd. It was probably among these that Pythagoras conversed, and from whom he borrowed that modest name by which he wished his countrymen to distinguish him, viz., filosofov, a philosopher, simply, a lover of wisdom.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-8 - The means of Joseph's being freed from prison were Pharaoh's dreams, a here related. Now that God no longer speaks to us in that way, it is n matter how little we either heed dreams, or tell them. The telling of foolish dreams can make no better than foolish talk. But these dream showed that they were sent of God; when he awoke, Pharaoh's spirit wa troubled.
Original Hebrew ויהי1961 בבקר1242 ותפעם6470 רוחו7307 וישׁלח7971 ויקרא7121 את853 כל3605 חרטמי2748 מצרים4714 ואת853 כל3605 חכמיה2450 ויספר5608 פרעה6547 להם את853 חלמו2472 ואין369 פותר6622 אותם853 לפרעה׃6547
