And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What [is] your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants [are] shepherds, both we, [and] also our fathers.
Ver. 3. What is your occupation?] That they had an occupation Pharaoh took for granted. God made Leviathan to play in the sea; Psa 104:26 but none to do so upon earth. Turks and Pagans will rise up in judgment against the idle. See Trapp on " Gen 46:33 " Periander made a law at Corinth, that whosoever could not prove that he lived by his honest labour, he should suffer as a thief. The apostle bids "him that stole steal no more, but labour with his hands the thing that is good," &c. Eph 4:28 Not to labour, then, with hand, or head, or both, is to steal. Every one must bring some honey into the common hive, unless he will be cast out as a drone. a "Thou idle and evil servant," saith our Saviour. Mat 25:26 To be idle, then, is to be evil; and he shall not but do naughtily that does nothing. God wills that men should earn their bread afore they eat it, 2Th 3:12 neither may they make religion a mask for idleness. Gen 47:11
a Ignavum fucos pecus, &c.