Genesis 41:30, commentary and pictures

The verse foretells that seven years of famine in Egypt will arise after seven years of great plenty. The years of plenty are years of extraordinary abundance, when everything grows in great abundance and field and garden and fruit and grain yield more plentifully than ever before. The coming famine will be so very grievous that all the former plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt and shall not be known. The famine shall consume the land.

The years of abundance are given in advance so that preparation can be made for the coming scarcity. The warning requires setting a discreet and wise man over Egypt to prepare. The preparation requires gathering a fifth part of the land during the plenteous years and laying up corn in the cities as store against the famine. God revealed the coming famine to Pharaoh and instructed Joseph to store food beforehand.

The message was God telling Pharaoh beforehand what He is about to do, given as one message in two dreams. The doubling and repetition of the warning to Pharaoh in two forms proves the thing is established by God and certain, and that God will shortly bring it to pass and it is near. What was foretold for Pharaoh's day was an event limited to a given time that was once only a matter of prophecy and was then fulfilled in accordance with the prediction. The exact fulfillment of that time period proves that the chronological portions of Scripture are as reliable as any other portion, giving reason to regard the chronological periods extending to the second coming of Christ as appointed times that will likewise be fulfilled. The fulfillment shows that predicted events often occur within a given time.

The warning led to storing food in Egypt, so provisions were available there when famine struck Canaan and other countries. The stored provisions later enabled Jacob's family to seek food in Egypt.