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 - due to its great clarity), but now he realized that it was a dream. 2
Ramban and Seforno: Pharaoh realized that both dreams were really only one. 3
Moshav Zekenim, 4 Da'as Zekenim, Rosh: After this dream, he realized that it is a dream, for ears cannot eat one another; animals can do so.
Because after the first half of the dream, Pharaoh felt that the dream was not yet finished. See Sifsei Chachamim. Also refer to 41:7:1.1:1.
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 41:22.
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" (41:1) like Radak, to mean near the river (PF).
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "Behold, it was a dream - ... a complete dream lay before him." Why was it complete only now?
Gur Aryeh: Pharaoh first awoke (41:4) when it was still nighttime, and he wished to sleep more. Now Pharaoh awoke in the morning, and he did not wish to sleep more. That made the dream complete.
Rashi writes: "Behold, it was a dream - ... A complete dream... which required interpreters." Why does Rashi add this?
Gur Aryeh: Otherwise, why is it relevant that "the dream was complete"? Rather, this comes to explain why Pharaoh called for interpreters only now, after the second dream.
