BRAGADAYJAH 151

Joseph’s next move was to introduce his father and his brothers to Pharaoh, since he was Pharaoh’s Minister and it would have been in bad taste not to do so. But before doing so, Joseph had a few wrinkles he had to iron out with his father and his brothers. When Israel moved, as has been seen before, he took all his belongings with him, including his sheep and his cattle. But it would seem that at the time, sheep were not welcomed in Egypt; for as we have seen in our time, sheep and cattle do not mix. So then, the keeping of sheep was taboo; Accordingly, Joseph gave his father and his brothers a heads up. He told them that when he introduces them to the Pharaoh, and he asks them what they did for a living, that they should just mention that you were skilled cattlemen; that you have been keeping cattle from your youth up, without any mention of sheep as sheep farmers were an abomination to the Egyptians. The Roman legist would aver that a statement which suppresses the truth is every much a lie, “suppressio veri, expressio falsi,” suppression of the truth is equivalent to a lie. But be that as it way, some would say that to say they kept cattle was indeed the truth. So we see that when Joseph presented his father and five of his brothers to the Pharaoh, he welcomed them, and did in fact asked them what they did for a living, to which they said, they were shepherds, the keeper of cattle. Then Israel spoke to the Pharaoh and told him that because of the famine they could find no pasture in the land of Canaan, and said they had moved to Goshen with all their flocks and wished to settle there. The Pharaoh was pleased with Israel’s request and consented that they should settle in the land of Goshen. Pharaoh even requested that Israel and his sons recommend some good cattlemen to him to attend to his own cattle. So it was settled that Israel and his sons and his household and his cattle and livestock, would settle in the land of Goshen in Egypt. More