Genesis 46

Chapter context

What is happening in Genesis 46?

creationfallcovenantpromise

Genesis 46 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as the Joseph narrative and Israel’s descent into Egypt. Genesis opens the whole Bible with creation, fall, flood, Babel, and the long patriarchal story that carries the reader from Eden to Egypt. Read this chapter with the wider themes of creation, fall, and covenant in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ And 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 sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ 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, Jacob’s 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 Jacob’s 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 Jacob’s sons’ 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 father’s house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father’s 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 servants’ 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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Glossary

Beersheba Place v. 1, 5: Well of the oath, or well of seven, a well dug by Abraham, and so named because he and Abimelech here entered into a compact ( Gen. 21:31 ). On re-opening it, Isaac gave it the same name ( Gen. 26:31-33 ). Modern identification: Tel Beer Sheva.
Egypt Place v. 1, 3-8, 20, 26-27: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Isaac Person v. 1: Laughter. (1) Israel, or the kingdom of the ten tribes ( Amos 7:9 , 16). (2. ) The only son of Abraham by Sarah. He was the longest lived of the three patriarchs ( Gen. 21:1-3 ).
Canaan Place v. 6, 12, 31: Biblical region. Modern identification: Canaan.
Reuben Person v. 8-9: Behold a son!, the eldest son of Jacob and Leah ( Gen. 29:32 ). His sinful conduct, referred to in Gen. 35:22 , brought down upon him his dying father’s malediction (48:4).
Carmi Person v. 9: Vine-dresser. (1. ) The last named of the four sons of Reuben ( Gen. 46:9 ). (2. ) A descendant of Judah ( 1 Chr. 4:1 ). He is elsewhere (2:18) called Caleb (q. v. ). (3. ) The son of Zimri, and the father of Achan.
Phallu Person v. 9: Separated, the second son of Reuben ( Gen. 46:9 ).
Jachin Person v. 10: Firm. (1. ) The fourth son of Simeon ( Gen. 46:10 ), called also Jarib ( 1 Chr. 4:24 ). (2. ) The head of one of the courses (the twenty-first) of priests ( 1 Chr. 24:17 ).
Ohad Person v. 10: United, or power, the third son of Simeon ( Gen. 46:10 ).
Simeon Person v. 10: Hearing. (1. ) The second son of Jacob by Leah ( Gen. 29:33 ). He was associated with Levi in the terrible act of vengeance against Hamor and the Shechemites (34:25, 26).
Zohar Person v. 10: Brightness. (1. ) The father of Ephron the Hittite ( Gen. 23:8 ). (2. ) One of the sons of Simeon ( Gen. 46:10 ; Ex. 6:15 ).
Kohath Person v. 11: Assembly, the second son of Levi, and father of Amram ( Gen. 46:11 ). He came down to Egypt with Jacob, and lived to the age of one hundred and thirty-three years ( Ex. 6:18 ).
Levi Person v. 11: Adhesion. (1. ) The third son of Jacob by Leah. The origin of the name is found in Leah’s words ( Gen. 29:34 ).
Merari Person v. 11: Sad; bitter, the youngest son of Levi, born before the descent of Jacob into Egypt, and one of the seventy who accompanied him thither ( Gen. 46:11 ; Ex. 6:16 ).
Hamul Person v. 12: Spared, one of the sons of Pharez, son of Judah ( 1 Chr. 2:5 ). His descendants are called Hamulites ( Num. 26:21 ).
Shelah Person v. 12: Petition. (1. ) Judah’s third son ( Gen. 38:2 , 5, 11, 14). (2. ) A son of Arphaxad ( 1 Chr. 1:18 ).
Tola Person v. 13: A scarlet worm. (1. ) Eldest son of Issachar ( Gen. 46:13 ). (2. ) A judge of the tribe of Issachar who “judged” Israel twenty-three years ( Judg. 10:1 , 2), when he died, and was buried in Shamir. He was succeeded by Jair.
Zebulun Person v. 14: Dwelling, the sixth and youngest son of Jacob and Leah ( Gen. 30:20 ). Little is known of his personal history. He had three sons (46:14).
Dinah Person v. 15: Judged; vindicated, daughter of Jacob by Leah, and sister of Simeon and Levi ( Gen. 30:21 ). She was seduced by Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite chief, when Jacob’s camp was in the neighbourhood of Shechem.
Leah Person v. 15, 18: Weary, the eldest daughter of Laban, and sister of Rachel ( Gen. 29:16 ). Jacob took her to wife through a deceit of her father ( Gen. 29:23 ). She was “tender-eyed” (17).
Paddan-aram Place v. 15: A plain, occurring only in Gen. 48:7 , where it designates Padan-aram. Modern identification: Harran.
Gad Person v. 16: Fortune; luck. (1. ) Jacob’s seventh son, by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, and the brother of Asher ( Gen. 30:11-13 ; 46:16 , 18). In the Authorized Version of 30:11 the words, “A troop cometh: and she called,” etc.
Beriah Person v. 17: A gift, or in evil. (1. ) One of Asher’s four sons, and father of Heber ( Gen. 46:17 ). (2. ) A son of Ephraim.
Heber Person v. 17: Passing over. (1. ) Son of Beriah and grandson of Asher ( Gen. 46:17 ; 1 Chr. 7:31 , 32). (2. ) The Kenite ( Judg. 4:11 , 17; 5:24), a descendant of Hobab. His wife Jael received Sisera.
Serah Person v. 17: Abundance; princess, the daughter of Asher and grand-daughter of Jacob ( Gen. 46:17 ); called also Sarah ( Num. 26:46 ; R. V., “Serah”).
Zilpah Person v. 18: Drooping, Leah’s handmaid, and the mother of Gad and Asher ( Gen. 30:9-13 ).
Benjamin Person v. 19, 21: Son of my right hand. (1. ) The younger son of Jacob by Rachel ( Gen. 35:18 ). His birth took place at Ephrath, on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, at a short distance from the latter place.
Rachel Person v. 19, 22, 25: Ewe, “the daughter”, “the somewhat petulant, peevish, and self-willed though beautiful younger daughter” of Laban, and one of Jacob’s wives ( Gen. 29:6 , 28).
Asenath Person v. 20: An Egyptian name, meaning “gift of the sun-god”, daughter of Potipherah, priest of On or Heliopolis, wife of Joseph ( Gen. 41:45 ). She was the mother of Manasseh and Ephraim (50-52; 46:20).
Heliopolis Place v. 20: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Potipherah Person v. 20: A priest of On, whose daughter Asenath became Joseph’s wife ( Gen. 41:45 ).
Becher Tribe v. 21: First-born; a youth, the second son of Benjamin ( Gen. 46:21 ), who came down to Egypt with Jacob.
Gera Person v. 21: Grain. (1. ) The son of Bela and grandson of Benjamin ( 1 Chr. 8:3 , 5, 7). (2. ) The father of Ehud the judge ( Judg. 3:15 ). (3. ) The father of Shimei, who so grossly abused David ( 2 Sam. 16:5 ; 19:16 , 18).
Naphtali Person v. 24: My wrestling, the fifth son of Jacob. His mother was Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid ( Gen. 30:8 ). When Jacob went down into Egypt, Naphtali had four sons ( Gen. 46:24 ). Little is known of him as an individual.
Goshen Place v. 28-29, 34: (1. ) A district in Egypt where Jacob and his family settled, and in which they remained till the Exodus ( Gen. 45:10 ; 46:28 , 29, 31, etc. ). Modern identification: Qantir.