What does the Torah mean when it writes "and behold it was a dream?"
Rashi: The dream was complete and required interpretation. 1
Ramban: After Pharaoh awoke, he remained in bed until the morning in anticipation of a continuation of the dream.
Rashbam: Until this point, Pharaoh thought that what he dreamt was actually happening (Ohr ha'Chayim
Because after the first half of the dream, Pharaoh felt that the dream was not yet finished. See Sifsei Chachamim.
Riva: [The bad ears merely covered the good ones.] This is less bizarre than cows eating cows. (Only after he awoke, he knew that it is a dream.)
Ramban and Seforno As is evident in Pasuk 22 .
This is unlike Moshav Zekenim wrote in the name of Bechor Shor (refer to 41:7:151:1), that the bad ears merely covered the good ones.
People do not dream about impossible matters. How could he dream that ears (of grain) swallowed ears?
Moshav Zekenim citing Bechor Shor: They did not actually swallow them, 1 rather, they covered 2 them, like it says "k'Vala Es ha'Kodesh" (Bamidbar 4:20).
Da'as Zekenim: The simple meaning is that they swallowed them. The Midrash is, they grew and covered them.
Only regarding the cows, it says that they ate them, and it was not known that they entered them, i.e. they remained thin. They must explain "Omed Al ha'Ye'or" like Redak, to mean near the river (PF).
