Every Shepherd is an Abomination

Day 16 – A Year in the Bible – Genesis 46-48

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GENESIS 46 – EVERY SHEPHERD IS AN ABOMINATION TO THE EGYPTIANS

In today’s passages in Genesis, we learn how the children of Israel (70 in all) got to Egypt. They were saved there and prospered there. They increased in numbers and grew into a great nation there, but they would also be enslaved there for 400 years!

Every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians. Shepherds or ministers today are fast becoming an abomination to this world, and yet as in Joseph’s day, being obedient to that call will be what protects, sustains, and grows the Kingdom of God.
And it shall come to pass, when Pharoah shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation? That ye shall say, Thy servants’ trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. – Genesis 46:33-34

God Spake Unto Israel in the Visions of the Night
And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him: his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. – Genesis 46:1-7

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GENESIS 47 – ISRAEL’S (JACOB’S) DEATH DRAWS NIGH

Joseph fed his family from the bread he had stored. Jesus commands us to feed others with the bread (the Word) we have stored in our hearts,
And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families. – Genesis 47:12

And the Time Drew Nigh that Israel Must Die
And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years. And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: but I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head. – Genesis 47:27-31

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GENESIS 48 – JACOB BLESSES JOSEPH’S SONS

Let My Name Be Named
And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. – Genesis 48:15-16

Ephraim – His Seed Shall Become a Multitude of Nations
And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. – Genesis 48:17-21