Genesis 46:34 NKJV
that 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.”
There may be several reasons why a shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians, and I am not aware of them at all, but I can speak about my experiences at how the world reacts at my being a Lord’s shepherd of His flock.
Sometimes a shepherd is exposed to whatever the sheep go through, meaning that a shepherd will have to get his hands dirty while tending to the sheep. It could be that the Egyptians found the shepherd’s smelly. It could be that the shepherds lacked the table etiquette to dine with Egyptians, after all, like yesterday, after I spent a good part of 4 hours listening to a stranger’s problems, where I could feel the Lord’s compassion at all the misery, I was tired and the last thing on my mind was table manners, especially when there were messages on my phone from other flock that demanded my attention and energy.
In Proverbs 27:23, I am told to “Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, And attend to your herds.” Yes, while there is a difference between flocks and herds, while the care of God’s flock may not be appealing to a self-centric world, I find that there is no greater privilege or joy than working for the Lord, to see Him free the captives. Hallelujah!
Genesis 47:9-10 NKJV
And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” [10] So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
In Hebrews 11:13, talking about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we read that “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth,”
In John 17:11 our Lord Jesus, while praying, said “Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.”
We are indeed pilgrims in this world, but not of this world, kept through the grace extended towards us, by faith in Christ Jesus; kept by our Heavenly Father to be one with Him. As it says in Hebrews, there are times where I have seen people of Faith of whom the world is not worthy, but I know that my Father is not ashamed to be called their God.
Furthermore, who is Jacob to bless a King? (v10) Indeed, the inherent property of the Lord being with him make him a blessing to impart a blessing. The Lord promised Abraham in Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 48:19 NKJV
But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”
Jacob crossed his hands while blessing Joseph’s children. The principle that we read about in Matthew 19:30 where it says that “many who are first will be last, and the last first” is connected to this. There are several instances of this occurring in the Bible and I have seen this played out where because the elder brother decided not to take up his calling in God, the mantle was passed on to the younger one. Don’t let Jesus pass you by.