After the emotions of being told that Joseph is alive, Genesis 45:25-28, Israel, that is, Jacob, moves his family towards Egypt, and when he reaches Beersheba, where Abraham lived, Genesis 22:19, and where Isaac lived, Genesis 26:23-25, and so Israel offered the God of his father, Isaac, a sacrifice, Genesis 46:1.
God now speaks to Israel in a vision and calls him name twice and Israel responded, Genesis 46:2. Because he’s afraid, God reassures him that everything that happened, including the famine, was part of God’s plan to not only save their lives, Genesis 45:5, and preserve a remnant, Genesis 45:7, but also to make him into a great nation, Genesis 46:3 / Genesis 12:2 / Genesis 15:13-14 / Genesis 17:6 / Genesis 17:20 / Genesis 18:18 / Genesis 21:13-18.
Once in Egypt, they would stay there for four hundred years, which was part of God’s plan, Genesis 15:13-14. God promises that He will go to Egypt with him, and He will bring them back again, Genesis 46:4. Notice He says that Joseph’s own hand will close Israel’s eyes, which is an obvious reference to what Joseph would do when his father dies, Genesis 46:4.
Sarna, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This refers to a custom that Jews still practice. The eldest son or closest relative would gently close the eyes of the deceased.’
Jacob leaves Beersheba, and his sons took their father, their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him, Genesis 46:5 / Genesis 45:19 / Genesis 45:21.
And so, off they went, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan, Genesis 46:6. Jacob takes his sons, his grandsons, his daughters, and granddaughters, all his offspring, to Egypt, Genesis 46:7.
As we’ve mentioned before, genealogies are very important to the Jews as they trace their family lines. They were especially important if a Jew wanted to serve as a priest in the tabernacle or temple, because they had to be able to prove they originated from the tribe of Levi.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following concerning this genealogy.
‘Note that the two sons of Pharez, Hezron and Hamul, are given in Genesis 46:12. Therefore, we add Heron, Hamul, and Dinah, Genesis 46:15, for a total of 34 names. From these, we subtract Er and Onan, who died in Canaan, for a total of 32 names, but the text says the number of Leah’s family totalled 33 names, Genesis 46:15. The total, if Jacob is included, was 33; if Jacob was not included, the other was an unnamed daughter of Leah. Jacob had both a grandson, by Reuben, and a great-grandson, by Pharez, named Hezron, but it was the great-grandson by Pharez who was in the ancestry of Jesus, Luke 3:33. Kohath was in the ancestry of Moses, Exodus 6:16 / Exodus 6:20.’
Coffman continues in his commentary, saying the following concerning this genealogy.
‘Several things need to be said about this list. It does not include any of the daughters, except Dinah and Serah, despite the mention of Jacob’s daughters and his sons’ daughters in Genesis 46:7. The whole list is therefore contrived by the sacred narrator as a round number. It’s quite obvious also that some of the names in this list are of persons born after the entry into Egypt, as we may not suppose that Benjamin, described repeatedly as a ‘lad’ at this time, was suddenly a patriarch with ten children before the move to Egypt could be effected. The same appears to be true of Pharez.’
The number seventy seems to have been associated in a peculiar way with the nation of Israel ever since the time when seventy apparently became the founders of the nation.
1. Seventy nations of the world are listed in Genesis 10.
2. Seventy elders are mentioned in Numbers 11:16.
3. Seventy years of captivity in Babylon were the punishment of Judah, 2 Chronicles 36:21.
4. Seventy weeks were determined for Israel in which to finish the transgression, Daniel 9:24.
5. Seventy translators produced the Septuagint.
6. The Sanhedrin was composed of seventy members.
7. Jesus Christ himself sent out the ‘seventy’ witnesses of his kingdom, Luke 10:1.
8. ‘The days of our years are threescore and ten,’ Psalms 90:10.
The great intention, therefore, of this list is to show that there were seventy founders of the nation of Israel who went into Egypt. Notice in Acts 7:14, Stephen mentions that seventy-five people of Jacob’s family moved to Egypt.
Stephen refers to the Greek Septuagint, which included the five grandsons of Joseph, thus making the seventy-five people from whom the entire nation of Israel would be born in the land of Egypt, Genesis 46:27.
Thus, this account of ‘The Seventy’ serves the purpose of emphasising that the number is considered to be a sacred number by the Jews, and apparently so honoured by Jesus himself.
We can almost sense the anticipation between Joseph and Jacob. Jacob sends Judah to get directions, Genesis 46:28, and Joseph gets his chariot ready, Genesis 46:29.
What an emotional reunion this is between Joseph and his father, Jacob, as Joseph throws his arms around his father and cries for a long time, Genesis 46:29.
I can imagine there would be tears flowing for a long time from both of them. Israel, that is Jacob, now understands that God’s promise for him to become a great nation is being fulfilled, and so, he’s ready to die. Genesis 46:30.
Joseph says he will go and speak to Pharaoh and tells him his brothers and his father’s household have arrived, Genesis 46:31. He will tell Pharaoh that the men are shepherds, they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own, Genesis 46:32.
Joseph warns them that when Pharaoh asks what their jobs are, they are to tell him they are servants who have tended livestock from their boyhood, just as their fathers did, Genesis 46:34-35.
Joseph reassures them that if they tell Pharaoh this, they will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, because all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians, Genesis 46:35.
As I’ve mentioned a few times now, the Egyptians saw these Canaanite shepherds as ‘unclean’, the lowest of the low of society, hence why the Egyptians saw them as detestable and wouldn’t allow them anywhere near the centre of Egypt.
Goshen was located at the mouth of the River Nile, and it was the best place available, Genesis 45:10 / Genesis 47:11-12. God’s plan to get the house of Israel into Egypt was now fulfilled; all those dreams and famines were sent by God for this purpose.