By the end of Genesis 46, Joseph has engaged with his brothers, found them to be changed individuals, and successfully brought his family – including Jacob – to Egypt.
But there’s still work to do.
In preparing them to meet Pharaoh, he instructs them to tell Pharaoh that they are shepherds, and that that occupation goes back generations (“we and our fathers”). That wasn’t a lie; remember that Jacob served Laban for nearly 20 years as a very successful shepherd.
However, the reason that Joseph wanted Jacob to tell Pharaoh this was far more nuanced. Joseph knew that the Egyptians hated shepherds, so telling Pharaoh this would result in them being relocated to Goshen — an under-populated area that was nonetheless great for livestock. This occupation meant they would separated from the Egyptians and ensured their safety.
But back the train up a minute. Why did Egyptians hate shepherds to begin with?
There are several schools of thought on this. The most likely answer is that shepherds killed and ate animals that the Egyptians loved. Their pantheistic society worshipped a bunch of different gods, many of whom were characterized by animals.
Moses himself points this out. In Exodus 8:26, when Pharaoh tells Moses to sacrifice to God “inside the land,” Moses refuses. He tells Pharaoh that if he were, the Egyptians would surely these sacrifices as an abomination and stone them. Cleary, whatever hostilities there were between Egyptians and Shepherds was still intact 400 years in the future.
Culturally speaking, the Egyptians hated shepherds because they were typically associated with a nomadic, lower-class of people. The Nile is what the Egyptians valued and worshipped, so a body of people that moved from place to place had little use for a stationary river that only overflowed a few times a year. The Egyptians were an agrarian-based society and used these occasions for their crops.
This story says a lot about Joseph. Not only did he want to bring his family to Egypt, but he also recognized the unique challenges that he knew they would face. By telling them to inform Pharaoh that they were shepherds, he helped them successfully navigate a societal minefield that threatened to upend their time in Egypt before it even began.
