Why did Yosef find it necessary to tell his brothers to respond to Pharaoh’s question by informing him they were shepherds? After all, as we know from earlier in Sefer Bereishit, Yosef and his brothers indeed did work as shepherds.
We read in Parashat Vayigash of how Yaakov and his family moved from Canaan to Egypt, where they would be supported by Yosef during the famine that struck the region. The Torah relates that Yosef brought his brothers to meet Pharaoh, and that he gave them “instructions” before the meeting: “When Pharaoh calls you and asks, ‘What is your profession?’ you shall say, ‘Your servants [we] have been men of cattle from our youth until now – both us and our forefathers’” (46:33). Yosef then explained to his brothers why he wanted them to tell Pharaoh that they worked as shepherds: “so that you will live in the land of Goshen, as all shepherds are an abomination to Egypt.” It seems that Yosef specifically wanted his brothers to be seen as an “abomination” so they would be compelled to live specifically in the Goshen region.
We find several different explanations for Yosef’s strategy. Chizkuni suggests that Yosef here was protecting his own interests. Recalling how his brothers’ jealousy was triggered by something as trivial as a special garment, to the point where they sold him as a slave, Yosef feared that if they held positions in Pharaoh’s government, they would again be envious of his stature and conspire against him. He therefore wanted them to present themselves as something “abominable” in the eyes of the Egyptians so they could not rise to any positions of stature.
The Radak, however, explains differently, suggesting that Yosef was looking out for his brothers’ interests, not his. He feared that Pharaoh would enlist his brothers into his service, and thus for their own benefit he urged them to describe themselves as shepherds, which all but ensured that Pharaoh would not want them as servants.
Others, including Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, explain that Yosef foresaw his family’s extended stay in Egypt and knew that their isolation would prove vital for their survival in a foreign land. He therefore instructed his brothers to specifically highlight the quality that made them disliked so they would live separate and apart from Egyptian society and survive as a distinct people.
We might also suggest a different explanation, by first asking, why did Yosef find it necessary to tell his brothers to respond to Pharaoh’s question by informing him they were shepherds? After all, as we know from earlier in Sefer Bereishit, Yosef and his brothers indeed did work as shepherds. Wouldn’t they have thus told Pharaoh this if they were asked? The answer is that the brothers knew very well that “to’avat Mitzrayim kol ro’eh tzon” – the Egyptians despised shepherds. Yosef feared that his brothers might want to hide or distort the truth about their occupation while speaking to Pharaoh, in order to protect their reputation and standing, or perhaps to earn the king’s favor and respect. He thus urged them to speak the truth and divulge that they worked as shepherds. When Yosef concluded his instructions to his brothers by saying, “lema’an teishvu be-eretz Goshen,” this does not mean that his goal and objective was that they would live in Goshen, but rather that this would be the inevitable outcome. (The word lema’an, though normally translated as “in order that,” can also mean, “with the result that.”) Yosef was urging his brothers to tell the truth and not be tempted to mislead Pharaoh for the sake of avoiding the stigma associated with their profession.