United Commentaries

Gen.45.16-47.12

This section is transitional, as the family moved from Canaan to Goshen, where they would live for the next four centuries.

Gen.46.1-4

God reassured Jacob about his move to Egypt.

Gen.46.1

set out for Egypt: A little over 200 years earlier, Abraham had similarly gone down into Egypt during a famine in Canaan (12:10), and God had protected him there.

Jacob’s first stop was at Beersheba, where Abraham had sacrificed to the Lord and worshiped him after settling his land and water rights with the Philistines (21:31-33). This was where Isaac had lived, and where Jacob had lived before he fled from Esau’s anger (28:10).

all his possessions: See 46:5-7.

Gen.46.2-4

In a night vision, the Lord repeated his promise to go with Jacob and make his family into a great nation in Egypt. The same God who led the family into Egypt promised to bring them out of Egypt to live once again in the land of Canaan.

Gen.46.4

You will die: He would have a peaceful death, surrounded by his family and many blessings from God (49:33).

Gen.46.8-27

This genealogy of the sons of Jacob shows that all the tribes of Israel went together to the land of Egypt; they would all leave together as well (see the book of Exodus).

Gen.46.20

On: See study note on 41:45.

Gen.46.26

The total number . . . was sixty-six: This is the number of those who traveled with Jacob to Egypt, excluding his sons’ wives, the servants, and others attached to the household. It also omits Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Jacob.

Gen.46.27

The total seventy includes Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Jacob. Seventy is also a symbolic number for perfection or completion (see “Symbolic Numbers” Theme Note). From these seventy (i.e., all Israel) would grow the nation of Israel that would bless the seventy nations (i.e., all the nations) of the world (see study note on Gen 10:2-32; cp. 12:3).

Gen.46.28-34

Jacob finally saw his son Joseph again; their reunion was overwhelmingly joyful.

Gen.46.29

Joseph . . . embraced his father and wept: Joseph was seventeen when he had last seen his father (37:2); now he was thirty-nine.

Gen.46.30

Jacob was satisfied just to see his beloved son alive—the firstborn of his chosen wife Rachel and the designated family leader (see study note on 48:5-7; see also 1 Chr 5:1-2). More than just a family reunion, this was confirmation that God’s plan was intact.

Gen.46.34

In contrast to the syncretistic Canaanites, who would have absorbed the Israelites had they stayed in Canaan, Egyptians detested Semitic shepherds out of a sense of ethnic superiority and observed a strict segregation (see 43:32). When Jacob’s family settled in Egypt, this separation would allow the people to grow into a great nation without losing their identity.