The Boss tells Jacob, “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt.” Why would The boss tell Jacob to abstain from dread and dismay? What is there to be afraid of? (see Acts 7:6).

“Jacob sent Judah ahead of the caravan of migrants to meet up with Joseph to prepare for their arrival in Goshen.” (*What’s the ‘history‘ between Judah & Joseph? [see Genesis 37:26-27]. …I wonder what this collaboration experience was like for Joey & Judah??? Here we have 2 brothers prepping Goshen for the arrival 70 Jews, and one of those brothers has a history of selling the other brother into slavery and lying to his father about it; and the other brother has subsequently developed a very convincing disguise in order to conceal his identity – and he has recently been scheming some elaborate stuff in an effort to feel out the trustworthiness of the aforementioned slave trading brother …it’s like an Edmond Dantès / Baron Danglars situation!).

After Joe’s family arrives in Egypt, he coaches them for their meeting with the king of Egypt. For instance, Joey supplies them with lines; he says, “When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.” This is fascinating! It seems like Joe wants his family to be viewed as abominable in order that they might live in a set apart setting from the mainstream Egyptians, and one can’t help but wonder if there is something inescapably redemptive in the statement, “every shepherd in an abomination“? At any rate, that would make an interesting tattoo or t-shirt! *every shepherd in an abomination.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land!” The best of the land!?! So apparently, Goshen is where the abominable shepherds live, but it’s also THE BEST! #the best, and most abominable, land! That’s like The Fitz Traverse in Patagonia (super good, and super super rustic and risky)! Or perhaps you could say that Goshen is like Samaria! (at least in Jesus’ opinion! Samaria was THE BEST according to Jesus! …because Samaritans were genuinely hungry for the exposing emphasis of Jesus [see John 4:39-42, VRS Mark 5:17 and John 8:48], and Jesus chose to make Samaritans the heroes of His stories [see Luke 10:33; 17:16]).

Then Pharaoh and Jacob had some one-on-one time. And during that pow-wow between Pharaoh and Jacob, Pharaoh asked J-train, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life.” Few and evil have been the years of my life. Is this a cynical thing to say? Or is this an honest & stouthearted thing to say? …This the kind of thing that would show up in a novel like Lonesome Dove!

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Okay, switching gears …How did the King of Egypt end up monopolizing everything & everyone (money, livestock, homes, humans, and land)? …Joseph! Ole Joey drew up the contracts for everyone to surrender everything they owned (and even themselves as slaves) during the days of famine. …At the time, everyone was fairly eager to make this deal because they were so desperate to get the food that Joey had stored up; but later on it results in quite a lot of misery for quite a long time (e.g. 400 years of slavery for the Hebrews). And (at the same time)… this 4 centuries of slavery was the declared plan and promise from way back when God was hanging on earth with Abraham (see Acts 7:6).

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Okay, switching gears again …When Jacob was offering benefits to Joey’s Egyptian sons – Jacob says, “Your sons are now MINE!” And old Joe doesn’t seem to have a problem with that; however, Joe is extremely bothered by the fact that his father did not offer the primary benefits to the oldest son – Joey was displeased with his dad, and he tried to force his father to offer the best benefits to the oldest son. But Jacob refused to give the primary benefits to the oldest son (a.k.a. Jacob refused to operate in accordance with decorum and popular notions of sensibility, choosing instead to operate in the reckless, seemingly foolish/weak, ways of יַהוֶה).