JOSEPH MEETS HIS FATHER JACOB.

Now when Judah told Joseph that their father Jacob had come down with all his company as far as the land of Goshen, Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Jacob his father to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. And his father Jacob was too much overcome with joy at first to speak unto him, but at length the good old man cried out and said unto him, "Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive." Little indeed did the aged Jacob think but a few short weeks before, that he should ever see his long lost son again, but God of his great goodness had willed that he should; and now he could greatly rejoice, for God had fulfilled his promises, and Joseph actually stood before him, face to face.

When they had somewhat recovered from the great joy of this meeting, Joseph began to think about where his father and brothers should live. And he said to

them, "I will go up and show Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren and my father's house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me; and the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle, and they have brought their flocks and herds and all that they have."

Joseph expected that when Pharaoh had heard this he would send for them and ask them himself what their occupation had been. And he told them to say the same as he had said, viz. that they had all been shepherds ever since they were young, and their forefathers had all been shepherds too. They were to do this in order that the king might let them live in the land of Goshen. Here they would be quite away from the heathen Egyptians, for all the Egyptians hate shepherds and will not live with them. The reason the Egyptians hate shepherds so much, is, that many years before Joseph was sold into Egypt, some men from Arabia, who called themselves shepherds, came and conquered the country, and cruelly oppressed the people for many years.

And it came to pass, just as Joseph had said. He went unto Pharaoh and told him that his father and his family were come unto him. Then Pharaoh spoke to

Joseph's brethren, and they answered just as Joseph had told them to do. They said moreover unto Pharaoh, "For to sojourn in the land are we come. The famine is so sore in the land of Canaan, that we have no pasture left for our flocks. Let thy servants, we pray thee, dwell in the land of Goshen." Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "The land of Egypt is before thee, let thy father and brethren dwell in the best of the land, in Goshen; and if you know any among them to be good active men, set them to look after and take care of my cattle."

Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh asked Jacob, "How old art thou?" And Jacob answered, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years; few and evil have the days of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their pilgrimage." Then Jacob again blessed Pharaoh and went out from before him.

After this Joseph placed his father and brethren in the rich land of Goshen, the best in the country of Egypt. It was also sometimes called the land of Rameses.