Genesis 46

           Israel begins his journey to Egypt, stopping along the way at Beer-sheba to offer “…sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.” (v.1) (Genesis 21:33, 26:33, 28:10) God visits Israel that night in a dream, calling out his name, “Jacob, Jacob.” Jacob answers, “Here am I.” (v.2) God tells Israel not to be afraid to go down into Egypt, because it’s there that God will make of him a great nation. Abraham had gone to Egypt against God’s will, and God had forbidden Isaac to go there as well. (Genesis 26:2) So it’s reasonable that Jacob would have had some trepidation about going to Egypt, even though he was bidden by the son he thought he had lost long ago. But God reassures him, telling him, “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.” (v.4) That last phrase means that Jacob, now an old man full of years, would die in peace in Egypt, contrary to what he had once believed. (Genesis 37:35) Also, when God says He “…will also surely bring thee up again…”, He is referring to Jacob’s seed, the children of Israel, not Jacob himself.
          Jacob arises the next morning, refreshed and in good spirits, and continues his journey with all his sons, their wives and his grandchildren in the caravan that had been provided by Pharaoh. They also have with them all their livestock and their household goods with which God had blessed them in Canaan. (v.5-7)
 
          Verses 8-27: The phrase “children of Israel” appears for the first time here in Genesis. This genealogy lists a total of sixty-six (v.26), and then Moses adds to that four more: Jacob, Joseph and Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. (v.27) (Exodus 1:5, Deuteronomy 10:22) But Moses doesn’t list the wives of Jacob’s sons and grandsons (v.26), so the actual number of souls that migrated to Egypt was probably closer to a hundred or a hundred and twenty all together.
 
             Verse 29-34: Joseph’s reunion with his father is an emotional one. (v.29) Israel is prepared to die in peace now that he has seen his favored son yet alive. (Luke 2:29-30) Joseph then tells his brothers that Pharaoh will want to see them in his court, and that, when he asks them their occupation, they are to be honest and say that they are shepherds. This will ensure that the Egyptians will leave the children of Israel alone in the valley of Goshen since the Egyptians possessed a cultural prejudice and hatred of Asiatic shepherds, as noted in my commentary on chapter 43. Once again, the providence of God is evident here, for the isolation of this valley, as well as its abundance of grazing pastures for livestock, will allow His chosen people to blossom and flourish into a nation that will number as the stars of heaven. (Genesis 15:5)