Why the Cow-Dream? A Tale of Alexander the Great Explains

Why cows? After all, grain was what this was all about – its abundance, followed by its scarcity. Why, then, is Pharaoh’s dream of the grain preceded by one about cows? 

The Yerushalmi (Bava Metzia 2:5) relates a fascinating story that suggests a solution to the Meshech Chochmah. Alexander the Great visited a far-off kingdom, to learn how others dispensed justice. He observed a court case presided over by the local king. One party sold a garbage dump to another, whereupon the buyer discovered treasure that had been hidden away in the dump. The buyer and seller disputed whether the sale included the hidden treasure, and turned to their monarch for a just resolution. He learned that the two litigants had unmarried children, and suggested they marry each other so that both sides would enjoy the treasure.

Alexander laughed, prompting his royal colleague to ask how Alexander would have ruled. Alexander said that he would have had both litigants killed, and kept the spoils for himself. The king asked whether the sun shone and the rain fell on Alexander’s kingdom. Alexander responded affirmatively. “Do you have small cattle?” asked the king. “You had better own cattle. You survive in the merit of your cattle, as is written, ‘You save man and animal!’”

The king meant to call Alexander to task for the ease with which he was willing to corrupt justice. Such a society, he argued, would surely not be sustained by G-d. It survived, he reasoned, because Hashem’s compassion reached the animals. He sustained them, and the humans among them came along for the ride. 

Pharaoh established himself as a deity. He fully played the role, staying aloof from the petty affairs of humanity and leaving hands-on leadership to layer upon layer of government bureaucracy. Such governments almost beg for miscarriages of justice, especially by the powerful who can act as they please without fear of consequences. Thus, it was acceptable for a defenceless foreigner like Yosef to be thrown into prison indefinitely and without recourse to justice, all because he had irritated a person in a position of power. 

Hashem’s message to Pharaoh with his dream of cows was the same as the king to Alexander: Justice has been so corrupted in your realm, that the primary focus of the good years will be the animals. They are the ones worth saving. If you expect real relief from the upcoming famine, you must first address the endemic corruption in your realm. The cow-dream came first to instruct Pharaoh that his first order of business was to make his subjects – not just their animals – worthy of Divine compassion.

Yosef jumps in with advice. “Let Pharaoh seek out a discerning and wise man.” 

Having a deity sit on the throne and absent himself from the pedestrian affairs of real people virtually ensured corruption. Egypt needs an ordinary human being to judge and guide its citizens, not a god-man whose sanctity prevents him from attending to the affairs of his realm, leaving it lawless and corrupt. 

Yosef continues: “Place him over the land of Egypt.” With an uncaring monarch on the throne, many a nobleman could trample upon the law and expect to get away without penalty. Yosef tells Pharaoh that the antidote to this is placing someone of authority over the entire land of Egypt, who will serve as the ultimate recourse for those who feel they were mistreated. 

Yosef’s position dictated the charges he levelled against his brothers. He accused them of being spies – a crime against the State, and therefore governed by extrajudicial policies. In this one area, he did not have to subscribe to any of the rules or protocols that he regularly managed with fairness and justice. 

Pharaoh fully buys into the arrangement. “I am Pharaoh. Without you no man may lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt” (Bereishis 41:44). Pharaoh would thus continue to live his guise as the river-god, and hold himself aloof from the everyday affairs of the realm. All those goings-on would be subject to the approval and oversight of his appointee, Yosef.