Genesis 46 KJV
Jacob Goes to Egypt
Genesis Chapter 46: Jacob Goes to Egypt
The theophany at Beersheba frames the descent to Egypt as a deliberate reversal of earlier patriarchal refusals to settle there, with God explicitly invoking the command 'fear not' that echoes Abraham's covenantal encounters while promising Jacob's transformation into a 'great nation' precisely in a foreign land.
1nd Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.
2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.
3 And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation:
4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.
5 And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
6 And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him:
7 His sons, and his sonsโ sons with him, his daughters, and his sonsโ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.
8 And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacobโs firstborn.
9 And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.
10 And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.
11 And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
12 And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.
13 And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron.
14 And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel.
15 These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three.
16 And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli.
17 And the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel.
18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.
19 The sons of Rachel Jacobโs wife; Joseph, and Benjamin.
20 And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.
21 And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.
22 These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.
23 And the sons of Dan; Hushim.
24 And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem.
25 These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven.
26 All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacobโs sonsโ wives, all the souls were threescore and six;
27 And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.
28 And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.
29 And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.
30 And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.
31 And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his fatherโs house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my fatherโs house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me;
32 And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.
33 And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation?
34 That ye shall say, Thy servantsโ trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
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Did You Know?
The theophany at Beersheba frames the descent to Egypt as a deliberate reversal of earlier patriarchal refusals to settle there, with God explicitly invoking the command 'fear not' that echoes Abraham's covenantal encounters while promising Jacob's transformation into a 'great nation' precisely in a foreign land.
Judah's dispatch ahead to Joseph to 'direct' the way into Goshen constitutes the first narrative instance of his intermediary leadership, subtly positioning the tribe that will later receive the scepter over its brothers as the one orchestrating Israel's settlement.
The genealogy's inclusion of Serah daughter of Asher, alongside only a handful of other named women, stands out as an anomaly that later Jewish interpretive traditions exploited to associate her with miraculous longevity or even the identification of the 'maid' who confirmed Joseph's identity.
Joseph's instruction that his brothers declare their occupation as shepherds exploits Egyptian cultural disdain for that profession to secure isolation in Goshen, thereby preserving Israel's ethnic and cultic distinctiveness while fulfilling the land-promise trajectory begun in Genesis 15.
Jacob's demand to be buried with his fathers, voiced immediately upon reunion, functions as an embodied confession that the Egyptian sojourn remains temporary, anchoring the entire migration within the irreversible patriarchal commitment to Canaanite burial and thus to the land covenant.
Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain 1. Israel took his journey with all that he had โ that is, his household; for in compliance with Pharaoh's recommendation, he left his heavy furniture behind. In contemplating a stโฆ
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Genesis 46 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: Sacrifice at beer-sheba; Immigration to Egypt; Arrival in Egypt.
Sacrifice at beer-sheba v1-4
1. Israel took his journey with all that he had โ that is, his household; for in compliance with Pharaoh's recommendation, he left his heavy furniture behind. In contemplating a step so important as that of leaving Canaan, which at his time of life he might never revisit, so pious a patriarch would ask the guidance and counsel of God. With all his anxiety to see Joseph, he would rather have died in Canaan without that highest of earthly gratifications than leave it without the consciousness of carrying the divine blessing along with him. came to Beer-sheba โ That place, which was in his direct route to Egypt, had been a favorite encampment of Abraham (Ge 21:33) and Isaac (Ge 26:25), and was memorable for their experience of the divine goodness; and Jacob seems to have deferred his public devotions till he had reached a spot so consecrated by covenant to his own God and the God of his fathers. 2. God spake unto Israel โ Here is a virtual renewal of the covenant and an assurance of its blessings. Moreover, here is an answer on the chief subject of Jacob's prayer and a removal of any doubt as to the course he was meditating. At first the prospect of paying a personal visit to Joseph had been viewed with unmingled joy. But, on calmer consideration, many difficulties appeared to lie in the way. He may have remembered the prophecy to Abraham that his posterity was to be afflicted in Egypt and also that his father had been expressly told not to go [Ge 15:13; 26:2]; he may have feared the contamination of idolatry to his family and their forgetfulness of the land of promise. These doubts were removed by the answer of the oracle, and an assurance given him of great and increasing prosperity. 3. I will there make of thee a great nation โ How truly this promise was fulfilled, appears in the fact that the seventy souls who went down into Egypt increased [Ex 1:5-7], in the space of two hundred fifteen years, to one hundred eighty thousand. 4. I will also surely bring thee up again โ As Jacob could not expect to live till the former promise was realized, he must have seen that the latter was to be accomplished only to his posterity. To himself it was literally verified in the removal of his remains to Canaan; but, in the large and liberal sense of the words, it was made good only on the establishment of Israel in the land of promise. Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes โ shall perform the last office of filial piety; and this implied that he should henceforth enjoy, without interruption, the society of that favorite son.
Immigration to Egypt v5-27
5. And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba โ to cross the border and settle in Egypt. However refreshed and invigorated in spirit by the religious services at Beer-sheba, he was now borne down by the infirmities of advanced age; and, therefore, his sons undertook all the trouble and toil of the arrangements, while the enfeebled old patriarch, with the wives and children, was conveyed by slow and leisurely stages in the Egyptian vehicles sent for their accommodation. 6. goods, which they had gotten in the land โ not furniture, but substance โ precious things. 7. daughters โ As Dinah was his only daughter, this must mean daughters-in-law. all his seed brought he with him โ Though disabled by age from active superintendence, yet, as the venerable sheik of the tribe, he was looked upon as their common head and consulted in every step. 8-27. all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten โ Strictly speaking, there were only sixty-six went to Egypt; but to these add Joseph and his two sons, and Jacob the head of the clan, and the whole number amounts to seventy. In the speech of Stephen (Ac 7:14) the number is stated to be seventy-five; but as that estimate includes five sons of Ephraim and Manasseh (1Ch 7:14-20), born in Egypt, the two accounts coincide.
Arrival in Egypt v28-34
28. he sent Judah before him unto Joseph โ This precautionary measure was obviously proper for apprising the king of the entrance of so large a company within his territories; moreover, it was necessary in order to receive instruction from Joseph as to the locale of their future settlement. 29, 30. Joseph made ready his chariot โ The difference between chariot and wagon was not only in the lighter and more elegant construction of the former, but in the one being drawn by horses and the other by oxen. Being a public man in Egypt, Joseph was required to appear everywhere in an equipage suitable to his dignity; and, therefore, it was not owing either to pride or ostentatious parade that he drove his carriage, while his father's family were accommodated only in rude and humble wagons. presented himself unto him โ in an attitude of filial reverence (compare Ex 22:17). The interview was a most affecting one โ the happiness of the delighted father was now at its height; and life having no higher charms, he could, in the very spirit of the aged Simeon, have departed in peace [Lu 2:25, 29]. 31-34. Joseph said,... I will go up, and show Pharaoh โ It was a tribute of respect due to the king to inform him of their arrival. And the instructions which he gave them were worthy of his character alike as an affectionate brother and a religious man.