Read with Me
Genesis 46:28-34 (HCSB)
Now Jacob had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to prepare for his arrival at Goshen. When they came to the land of Goshen, Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. Joseph presented himself to him, threw his arms around him, and wept for a long time.
Then Israel said to Joseph, “At last I can die, now that I have seen your face and know you are still alive!”
Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and inform Pharaoh, telling him: My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. The men are shepherds; they also raise livestock. They have brought their sheep and cattle and all that they have. When Pharaoh addresses you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ you are to say, ‘Your servants, both we and our fathers, have raised livestock from our youth until now.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are abhorrent to Egyptians.”
Listen with Me
Twenty-two years after Joseph had been sold by his brothers to Ishmaelite traders, he was finally reunited with his father. For Jacob, this was a moment almost too good to be true. He had come to terms with the “fact” that Joseph was dead, and now here he was, not only alive, but dressed in fine clothes, riding in a chariot, and flanked by servants.
Pharaoh had graciously given Joseph’s family permission to live in the region of Goshen, the rich farming area in the lush Nile Delta. But now that his whole family had indeed arrived, that decision needed to be finalized. So, Joseph began prepping his brothers for their meeting with Pharaoh. He would ultimately select five of them to represent the family before the king (Genesis 47:2), but at this point, he wanted to make sure that everyone knew the proper “back story”. Since Egypt was the only place that had food in that whole region, refugees trying to enter the country were plentiful. The official policy was to sell those people food, then send them back to their own countries.
But Joseph had assured Pharaoh that his family would be no drain on the nation’s resources. They were shepherds and herdsmen who had come with their flocks and herds and were able to care for them. And since they were self-sufficient and would be living away from the cities of Egypt out in a rural area, they would not be seen as any kind of a threat, neither to Pharaoh, nor to the other people in the land.
Also, there was the fact that, even though the Egyptians ate the meat of both sheep and cows, they considered those who raised and tended the animals to be low class. Therefore, the majority of the people in the land would simply leave the Israelites alone to do a job that they themselves considered to be far beneath them.
Pray with Me
Father, Joseph really was filled with your godly wisdom. He knew Egyptian society so well that he was able to firmly establish his family in a favorable place without ruffling any feathers among the elites or incurring any charges of favoritism among those who might be jealous of Joseph’s power and authority. You simply helped him to orchestrate everything that was necessary to transplant Your chosen people into this new country that would serve as an incubator for them. How amazing are your works, O Lord! Amen.