That ye shall say, thy servants' trade hath been
about
cattle
Breeding, feeding, and selling them:
from our youth, even until now:
this had been their constant employment, they never followed any
other:
both we, [and] also our fathers;
their father, grandfather, and great grandfather, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, were all of the same occupation:
that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen;
Joseph instructed his brethren to be very particular in the
account of their occupation to Pharaoh, that it might be a
direction to him how to dispose of them, and where to settle
them, namely, in the land of Goshen; which was a country that
abounded with good pasture, and so the fittest place for them to
be fixed in: and besides this, Joseph had some other reasons for
placing them there, as that they might be near to him, who might
dwell at On or Heliopolis, to which place, or province, Goshen
belonged; and that being also the nearest part of the land to
Canaan, they might the more easily and sooner get away when there
was an occasion for it; as well as he was desirous they should
not be brought into the heart of the land, lest they should be
corrupted with the superstition, and idolatry, and vices of the
people; and being afar off, both from the court, and the body of
the people, might be less subject to their contempt and insults,
since it follows:
for every shepherd [is] an abomination unto the
Egyptians;
not because shepherds ate of the milk and flesh of the creatures
they fed, which the Egyptians abstained from; for the Egyptians
in those times did eat the flesh of slain beasts, see ( Genesis
43:16 Genesis
43:32 ) ; nor because they fed, and slew, and ate those
creatures, which the Egyptians worshipped as gods, as Jarchi; for
it does not appear that the Egyptians were so early worshippers
of such creatures; nor is this phrase, "every shepherd", to be
understood of any other than foreign shepherds; for one of the
three sorts of the people of Egypt, as distinct from, and under
the king, priests, and soldiers, according to Diodorus Siculus
F4, were shepherds, and were not
despised on that account; for, as the same writer says, all the
Egyptians were reckoned equally noble and honourable F5; and
such it is plain there were in Egypt, in the times of Joseph, see
( Genesis
47:6 Genesis
47:16 Genesis
47:17 ) ; and goat herds were had in esteem and honour by
those about Mendes, though swine herds were not F6:
wherefore this must be understood of foreign shepherds, the
Egyptians having been greatly distressed by such, who either came
out of Ethiopia, and lived by plunder and robbery F7, or out
of Phoenicia or Arabia; for, according to Manetho F8, it was
said that they were Arabians or Phoenicians who entered into
Egypt, burnt their cities and set up kings of their own, called
their Hycsi, or pastor kings: and therefore Joseph might the
rather fear his brethren and father's family would be the more
contemptible in that they came from Canaan, which was near to
Arabia and Phoenicia; but Dr. Lightfoot F9 is of
opinion, that the Egyptians, being plagued for Abraham's and
Sarah's sake, made a law, that for the future none should
converse with Hebrews, nor with foreign shepherds, so familiarly
as to eat or drink with them.
F4 Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 67.
F5 lbid. p. 83.
F6 Herodot. Euterpe, sive, l. 2. p. 46, 47.
F7 Gaulmin. Not. in Dfore Hayamim, p. 267.
F8 Apud Joseph. contr. Apion. l. 1. sect. 14.
F9 Works: vol. 1. p. 694.