“³³So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴that you shall say, ’Your servants’ occupation has been with livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

– Genesis 46:33-34 (NKJV)

“So it shall be (Joseph is here not merely instructing, but effectually prophesying with the confidence of one who abides in the vine, has discerned The Lord’s will and is acting out of obedience), when (more evidence of absolute conviction: not “if” but “when“) Pharaoh calls you and says (no ‘perhaps’ or ‘maybe’ but simply “says” – let us be confident in the messages we deliver when we are in The Good, Acceptable and Perfect Will of God dear Friends!), ‘What is your occupation?’ (i.e. ‘Who or what are you?’ ‘What is your identity ?’) that you shall say, ‘Your servants‘ (Joseph teaches meekness, humility, submission to authority and servanthood like a True Christ-type) occupation has been with livestock from our youth (Proverbs 22:6a) even till now (Proverbs 22:6b) (oh how effortlessly the True Child of God is aligned with The Word of God in his speech, in his actions, in his thinking!), both we and also our fathers,’ (shepherding and being shepherded is and was and always will be the identity of God’s people; apart from the marriage covenant, this is perhaps God’s greatest revelatory earth-equivalent allegory of the manner in which The Kingdom and our relationship with Our Lord: Our Bridegroom-King, our Shepherd-King, functions; as is clearly manifest already here in Genesis, through to Psalm 23, John 10, Ezekiel 34 and Revelation and in many other countless Scriptural and present day expressions that I would again invite you to ponder, meditate upon, study and search out if you feel so led dear reader 🐏🐑) that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians (and last but not least, what has become for me personally perhaps the most affirming confirmatory mark of Acting in Accordance With The Kingdom Of God: persecution, i.e. the inevitable response from the kingdom of darkness at its being threatened).”