Genesis
46:28 ¶ And he sent Judah before him
unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of
Goshen. 29 And Joseph made ready his
chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented
himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.
30 And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let
me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive. 31 And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto
his father’s house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My
brethren, and my father’s house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come
unto me; 32 And the men are shepherds,
for their trade hath been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks,
and their herds, and all that they have. 33
And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say,
What is your occupation? 34 That ye
shall say, Thy servants’ trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until
now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen;
for every shepherd is an abomination unto the
Egyptians.
Chapter 45, verse
10 told us that Goshen was close to where Joseph ruled from. It is commonly
understood that the New Kingdom period of ancient Egypt, the period of the
Egyptian Empire was from around the 16th century BC to the 11th
century BC. This marked the peak of Egypt’s power. It includes the time that
Egypt had hegemony over the land of Canaan which is important to understanding
Numbers 14:9 and various extra-Biblical documents from Canaan pleading for help
from the Egyptians. It was preceded by the Hyksos invasion and rule. I believe
that Joseph’s Pharaoh was from this time, that he was a Hyksos, and that is why
he was favorable to Joseph and his family. This is called Egypt’s Second
Intermediate Period. Of course, much of this is educated guesswork as the
Egyptians did not refer to any of their eras the way we refer to them and no
one ever called themselves, “the Hyksos.” These are all made-up terms by
scholars.
In any event,
Judah went first to meet Joseph and Jacob and the rest followed. Christ is the
first to rise from the dead never to physically die again, to be resurrected.
Judah is Christ’s physical ancestor. Here is more typology that is great
subject material for sermons. Joseph prepared himself to greet his father in
Goshen.
Joseph promised to
introduce them to Pharaoh. Here is more evidence for my view that the Pharaoh
of Joseph’s time was a Hyksos, of the so-called Shepherd-kings. To the
leadership Joseph’s family of herders would be welcome but to the Egyptians
they were an abomination. The land of Goshen separates their living from the
rest of Egypt.
The
word cattle includes all herd animals
not just beef cows as we use the word today.
Genesis
13:7 And there was a strife between the
herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite
and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.
Genesis
30:32 I will pass through all thy flock
to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the
brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and
of such shall be my hire.
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