After two years Pharao had a dream. He thought he stood by the river,

And it cometh to pass, at the end of two years of days that Pharaoh is dreaming, and lo, he is standing by the River,

Now after two years had gone by, Pharaoh had a dream; and in his dream he was by the side of the Nile;

After two years, Pharaoh saw a dream. He thought himself to be standing above a river,

Verum fuit in fine duorum annorum dierum, Pharao somniavit, et ecce, stabat juxta flumen.

At the end of two full years [1] What anxiety oppressed the mind of the holy man during this time, each of us may conjecture from his own feeling; for we are so tender and effeminate, that we can scarcely bear to be put off for a short time. The Lord exercised his servant not only by a delay of long continuance, but also by another kind of temptation, because he took all human grounds of hope away from him: therefore Moses puts "years of days" for complete and full years. That we may better understand the invincible nature of his fortitude, we must also notice that winding course of divine providence, of which I have spoken, and by which Joseph was led about, till he rose into notice with the king. In the king's dream, this is worthy to be observed in the first place, that God sometimes deigns to present his oracles even to unbelieving and profane men. It was certainly a singular honor to be instructed concerning an event yet fourteen years future: for truly the will of God was manifested to Pharaoh, just as if he had been taught by the word, except that the interpretation of it was to be sought elsewhere. And although God designs his word especially for the Church, yet it ought not to be deemed absurd that he sometimes admits even aliens into his school, though for an inferior end. The doctrine which leads to the hope of eternal life belongs to the Church; while the children of this world are only taught, incidentally, concerning the state of the present life. If we observe this distinction, we shall not wonder that some oracles are common to profane and heathen men, though the Church possesses the spiritual doctrine of life, as the treasure of its own inheritance. That another dream succeeded to the former, arose from two causes; for God both designed to rouse the mind of Pharaoh to more diligent inquiry, and to add more light to a vision which was obscure. In short, he follows the same course in this dream which he does in his daily method of procedure; for he repeats a second time what he has before delivered, and sometimes inculcates still more frequently, not only that the doctrine may penetrate more deeply into men's hearts, and thus affect them the more; but also that he may render it more familiar to their minds. That by the second dream God designed to illustrate more fully what was obscure in the first, appears from this, that the figure used was more appropriate to the subject revealed. At first, Pharaoh saw fat cows devoured by lean ones. This did not so clearly prefigure the seven years' abundance, and as many years of want in corn and other seeds, as the vision of the ears of corn did: for the similitude, in the latter case, better agrees with the thing represented.

Footnotes

1 - In fine duorum annorum dierum "In the account of Pharaoh's dream, we are first struck with the use of the word 'chv, (Achu,) Nile grass, an Egyptian word for an Egyptian thing." A note on this passage adds, "Our translators have inaccurately rendered it meadow, (ver. 2,) the aquatic plants of the Nile, particularly those of the litus kind, were so valuable in Egypt, that they were reaped in as regular a harvest as the flax and corn." The writer proceeds, "In the next place, the seven poor and the seven fat kine attract our attention. The symbol of the cow is very peculiar and exclusively Egyptian. It is scarcely conceivable that a foreign inventor should have confined himself so closely to the peculiar Egyptian symbols. The circumstance that the kine come up out of the Nile, the fat and also the lean, has reference to the fact that Egypt owes all its fertility to this stream, and that famine succeeds as soon as it fails." -- Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 28. -- Ed

Two full years - שנתים ימים shenathayim yamim, two years of days, two complete solar revolutions, after the events mentioned in the preceding chapter.
The river - The Nile, the cause of the fertility of Egypt.

And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh (a) dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.
(a) This dream was not so much for Pharaoh, as is was a means to deliver Joseph and to provide for God's Church.

And it came to pass at the end of two full years,.... It is not a clear case, as Aben Ezra observes, from whence these years are to be reckoned, whether from the time of Joseph's being put into prison, or from the time that the chief butler was taken out of it; the latter seems more probable, and better connects this and the preceding chapter:
that Pharaoh dreamed, and, behold, he stood by the river; it seemed to him, in his dream, as if he stood near the river Nile, or some canal or flow of water cut out of that river.

The means of Joseph's being freed from prison were Pharaoh's dreams, as here related. Now that God no longer speaks to us in that way, it is no matter how little we either heed dreams, or tell them. The telling of foolish dreams can make no better than foolish talk. But these dreams showed that they were sent of God; when he awoke, Pharaoh's spirit was troubled.

PHARAOH'S DREAM. (Genesis. 41:1-24)
at the end of two full years--It is not certain whether these years are reckoned from the beginning of Joseph's imprisonment, or from the events described in the preceding chapter--most likely the latter. What a long time for Joseph to experience the sickness of hope deferred! But the time of his enlargement came when he had sufficiently learned the lessons of God designed for him; and the plans of Providence were matured.
Pharaoh dreamed--"Pharaoh," from an Egyptian word Phre, signifying the "sun," was the official title of the kings of that country. The prince, who occupied the throne of Egypt, was Aphophis, one of the Memphite kings, whose capital was On or Heliopolis, and who is universally acknowledged to have been a patriot king. Between the arrival of Abraham and the appearance of Joseph in that country, somewhat more than two centuries had elapsed. Kings sleep and dream, as well as their subjects. And this Pharaoh had two dreams in one night so singular and so similar, so distinct and so apparently significant, so coherent and vividly impressed on his memory, that his spirit was troubled.

Pharaoh's Dreams and Their Interpretation. - Two full years afterwards (ימים accus. "in days," as in Genesis 29:14) Pharaoh had a dream. He was standing by the Nile, and saw seven fine fat cows ascend from the Nile and feed in the Nile-grass (אחוּ an Egyptian word); and behind them seven others, ugly (according to Genesis 41:19, unparalleled in their ugliness), lean (בּשׂר דּקּות "thin in flesh," for which we find in Genesis 41:19 דּלּות "fallen away," and בּשׂר רקּות withered in flesh, fleshless), which placed themselves beside those fat ones on the brink of the Nile and devoured them, without there being any effect to show that they had eaten them. He then awoke, but fell asleep again and had a second, similar dream: seven fat (Genesis 41:22, full) and fine ears grew upon one blade, and were swallowed up by seven thin (Genesis 41:23, "and hardened") ones, which were blasted by the east wind (קדים i.e., the S.E. wind, Chamsin, from the desert of Arabia).