What Does Genesis 43:32 Mean?

They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. The seating arrangement at the feast follows Egyptian cultural protocols: Joseph eats alone (as the prime minister: the highest-ranking person present); the Egyptian dining companions eat separately; and the Hebrew brothers eat at their own table. The separation is not a slight against the brothers; it is Egyptian cultural practice. Eating with foreigners: and especially with Hebrews (who kept different food customs, including shepherding practices that were abominable to Egyptians according to Genesis 46:34): was culturally unacceptable for Egyptians.

The three-table arrangement: Joseph alone, Egyptians together, Hebrews together: is the spatial representation of the social reality of the encounter. Joseph is in a liminal position: he is the Egyptian prime minister who is also a Hebrew, eating alone in a social space where his two identities cannot yet be reconciled publicly. The meal's seating is the visual image of the situation the revelation of Genesis 45 will resolve: the separation between Joseph and his brothers is maintained by the table arrangement, pending the moment when Joseph can say "I am your brother" and the separation ends.

The cultural detail that Hebrews eating with Egyptians is "an abomination to the Egyptians" is the same cultural distance that will characterize the family's eventual settlement in Goshen (Genesis 46:34: "every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians"). The brothers are being treated with full hospitality and full cultural consideration within the constraints that Egyptian social order permits. They are not demeaned by the separate table; they are accommodated as guests within the structure that Egyptian society defines for interactions with foreigners.