“And it was at the end” (Bereishis 41,1)
The Ohr HaChaim points out that the loshon of our pasuk, vayehi, indicates pain and suffering, because now begins the Golus and the reason behind it. Although this Golus had been decreed many years before, it was not specifically decreed at that time that the exile would take place in Mitzrayim. Egypt is known as Kur HaBarzel – the purifying furnace that heats molten rock and removes impurities so that the strongest metal emerges. And as Tosafos (Shabbos 10b) and the Raavad (gloss to Rambam’s Hilchos Teshuva ch. 6) indicate, the Egyptians enslaved and subjugated the Jews more harshly than they were supposed to, as it says: “and they forced them to labor and they caused them to suffer.”
The Ohr HaChaim gives another reason why our pasuk uses a language indicating pain and suffering: it heralds the tidings of the upcoming famine. Hashem, so to speak, suffers with us, as Chazal say (Megilla 10b) regarding the pasuk in Shemos (14:20).
The Ohr HaChaim adds that this also hints to the suffering of Yosef HaTzaddik, who had to suffer to additional years in prison after interpreting the dream of the royal cupbearer – the sar hamashkim – because he was originally supposed to be freed two years earlier (Bereishis Rabba ch. 89) and because he asked the sar hamashkim to remember him and mention him – zechartani vehizkartani – for those two requests [that were improper for someone of Yosef’s spiritual stature to make], he was punished with two more years of imprisonment and suffering.
Chazal say (ibid) that Mikeitz means the end or keitz of the darkness. This alludes to the upcoming end of the dark one, the yetzer hora, who is known as keitz kol bossor – the end of all flesh. For he, the yetzer, caused the Tzaddik to suffer two more years. This is why Hashem prevented his freedom for two years, for that time was on Rosh HaShana, a time of zikoron, when Hashem remembers us (Rosh HaShana is called Yom HaZikoron) but because the yetzer caused Yosef to rely on the sar hamashkim and ask him to remember him and mention him – zechartani...vehizkartani (Bereishis 40:14) – for those two requests he spent two more years in prison, since Hashem held back his mention and memory for two Rosh HaShanas.
"Yosef answered Pharaoh, saying, 'This does not depend on me. But G-d may provide an answer concerning Pharaoh's peace." (Bereshis 41,16)
The word 'lemor/saying' here refers to Pharaoh's claim that Yosef claimed he only had to hear a dream and he already had its interpretation ready.
Yosef corrected the impression Pharaoh entertained about him by replying, "This does not depend on me." He explained that G-d knows the interpretations of dreams and informs certain human beings of this. The same had taken place when Yosef had told the chief butler and the chief baker of the bakers that the interpretations were G-d's, not his. He had invited those men to tell him their dreams in the hope that an interpretation could be found. He had never claimed an exclusive on that knowledge. This is also why he added: "G-d may provide the answer." He added the word 'peace' in order to warn Pharaoh not to take offence if perchance the interpretation would not be to his liking and would presage something unpleasant. He should not accuse Yosef on the basis of "the dreams follow the interpretation chosen by the mouth" (of the interpreter). Even if he were to come up with an interpretation that forecast trouble, he was only G-d's mouthpiece, the source was G-d.
Yosef may also have had something quite different in mind when he said: "G-d may provide an answer concerning Pharaoh's peace." He emphasized that in contrast with ordinary interpreters who are able to bend the meaning of the dream according to their choice, he, Yosef, could not do so. He could only relate the objective meaning of what Pharaoh had seen in his dream.
[Berachos 56 lists a variety of dreams and how the interpretation which seemed to contradict the impression left on the dreamer came true, thus proving that much depends on the person who interprets the dream.]
