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;
And Joseph said ... I will go up, and show Pharaoh. It was a tribute of respect due to the king to apprise him of their arrival. And the instructions which he gave them were worthy of his character alike as an affectionate brother and a religious man.
His father's house. This phrase, used in distinction from "his brethren," must be considered as denoting the whole Israelite clan.
Verse 34. In the land of Goshen - [Septuagint, en gee Gesem Arabias.] This expression of the Greek translators seems to denote generally that part of the Delta which bordered on the eastern desert, and on only one part of which, at first, the Hebrews entered into possession (Drew, 'Scripture Lands').
For every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. This reason is assigned by Joseph for desiring to obtain a settlement for his father's house in a separate locality, in order that they might be kept away from much contact with the Egyptians, those manners and pursuits, above all, whose religion was very different from theirs. The hatred and contempt cherished by the old Egyptians for all classes of herdsmen was manifested by their ranking these in the lowest class of society, refusing to intermarry with them, forbidding them to enter the temples, and depicting them on the monuments as lean, sordid, wretched-looking creatures (Rawlinson's 'Herod.,' b. 2:, chapter 47:, 128,164). If, as some Egyptologers hold, from the thoroughly Egyptian character of the court in Joseph's time, that the shepherd kings had been expelled shortly before his arrival in that country, the vivid remembrance of their invasion would intensify the native feeling against shepherds. But those who consider Joseph's royal patron to have been Apepi or Aphophis, of the dynasty of Hyk-shos, or shepherd kings (see the note at Genesis 41:1-57), interpret Joseph's language in a very different way from our translators. [Some, taking tow`eebaah (H8441) to bear a double meaning, as anathema (G331) in Greek, and sacer in Latin, render it 'every shepherd is sacred unto the Egyptians' (cf. Exodus 8:26); and Savile ('Science and Revelation'), considering that tow`eebaah (H8441) frequently signifies 'idols,' and that in unpointed Hebrew the words ro`eeh ts'on, translated "shepherd," mean 'consecrated goats,' renders the clause 'every consecrated goat is an object of idolatry or worship with the Egyptians.']