And when they had eaten them up, etc. - Nothing can more powerfully mark the excess and severity of the famine than creatures of the beeve or of the hippopotamus kind eating each other, and yet without any effect; remaining as lean and as wretched as they were before. A sense of want increases the appetite, and stimulates the digestive powers to unusual action; hence the concoction of the food becomes very rapid, and it is hurried through the intestines before its nutritive particles can be sufficiently absorbed; and thus, though much is eaten, very little nourishment is derived from it. And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favored, as at the beginning. A most nervous and physically correct description.

withered. or, small. thin.

Genesis 41:6 And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.

2 Kings 19:26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field...

Psalm 129:6,7 Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which wither before it grows up...

Hosea 8:7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it has no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield...

Hosea 9:16 Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yes, though they bring forth...

Hosea 13:15 Though he be fruitful among his brothers, an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness...

blasted. All the mischief done to corn or fruit by blasting, smutting, mildew, etc. are attributed to the east wind. (See Parallel Passages.) In Egypt it is peculiarly destructive, because it comes through the parched deserts of Arabia, often destroying vast numbers of people. The destructive nature of the {Sam, Simoom, Smoom,} or {Samiel}, is mentioned by almost all travellers. When this pestilential wind advances, its approach is indicated by a redness in the air. The principal stream of the blast always moves in a line of about

Genesis 41:20 And the lean and the ill favored cows did eat up the first seven fat cows:

yards in breadth, and

12 feet above the surface of the earth; but its parching influence pervades all places to a considerable distance. The only means of preservation from its noxious influence is to lie flat, with the face upon the ground, till the blast be over. Camels and other animals instinctively perceive its approach, and bury their mouths and nostrils in the ground. It rarely last more than seven or eight minutes, but so poisonous are its effects, that it instantly suffocates those who are unfortunate enough to inhale it.

The First Chaldaean Empire and the Hyksos in Egypt
Syria: the part played by it in the ancient world--Babylon and the first Chaldaean empire--The dominion of the Hyksos: Ahmosis. Some countries seem destined from their origin to become the battle-fields of the contending nations which environ them. Into such regions, and to their cost, neighbouring peoples come from century to century to settle their quarrels and bring to an issue the questions of supremacy which disturb their little corner of the world. The nations around are eager for the possession …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 4