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 trict of Goshen assigned to them. It is evident that in J the migration was resolved on without the invitation, or perhaps the knowledge, of the king.—32. for they were cattle-breeders] a more comprehensive category than shepherds. Gu. thinks that the representation made to Pharaoh cannot have been strictly true, or Joseph would not have made such a point of it; and we must at least suppose that he advises them to emphasise that side of their life which was most likely to gain the end in view. Unfortunately, while he bids them say they are cattle-breeders, they actually describe themselves as shepherds (47$3$), and yet Pharaoh would make them cattle-overseers (47$6b$). Some confusion of the two terms may be suspected, but as the text stands, nothing can be made of the distinction.—34. that ye may dwell, etc.] What motive in the mind of the king is appealed to is not quite clear. If the last clause—for every shepherd, etc.—be genuine, it was the Egyptian abhorrence of the class to which they belonged. But such a feeling would be more likely to exclude them from Egypt altogether than to procure their admission to the best pasture-land in the country, where Pharaoh's herds were kept (47$6b$). Moreover, while there is evidence that swine-herds (Her. ii. 47) and cow-*herds (Erman, LAE, 439 f.) were looked down on by the Egyptians, the statement that shepherds were held in special abhorrence has not been confirmed; and the clause ($34b$) is probably an interpolation suggested by 43$32$. See, further, on 47$3ff.$.—'''XLVII. 1-5a, 6b''' (J). Pharaoh grants the request.—1. and behold Goshen] It is evident that in this narrative Joseph relies on the fait accompli to procure a favourable response from Pharaoh. The idea that Pharaoh decided such matters in person may be naïve (Gu.); it is certainly a curious restriction of the absolute authority elsewhere assigned to Joseph.—2. he had taken five, etc.] On the

32. ] regarded as a gloss by Di. KS. Ho. Gu. al.—34. ] G .—] [E] (VST$O$) .—2. ] = 'from the totality of,' as