“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.”
You should answer, your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did. Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians. The instruction to answer honestly — we are shepherds, as our fathers were — is the instruction that will produce the separation that allows the covenant family to settle in Goshen. The Egyptians' disdain for shepherds is the social mechanism that separates the covenant family from assimilation. The application: the cultural separation that protects the covenant community's distinctiveness sometimes comes from the host culture's prejudice rather than from the covenant community's preference.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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