Genesis 46
1So Israel set out with all that he had, and when he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2And that night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob!” He said. “Here I am,” replied Jacob.
3“I am God,” He said, “the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 4I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will surely bring you back. And Joseph’s own hands will close your eyes.”
Genesis 46:3–4 Commentary
Entering Egypt Under Divine Covenant Guarantee:
God answers him in a night vision, confirming that going down to Egypt is not an abandonment of the covenant but a vital step within it: “I will make you a great nation there.” Multiple nations, in fact, would eventually descend from Jacob, reiterating the covenant promises previously sworn to Abraham twenty-nine chapters earlier (Genesis 17:4–6), reaffirmed to Isaac eighteen chapters back (Genesis 28:3), and renewed to Jacob eleven chapters ago at Bethel (Genesis 35:11). God promises to go down into Egypt with him and surely bring his descendants back up again, adding a tender personal comfort: Joseph himself will close his father’s eyes at death. Israel enters the land of famine under absolute divine protection.
5Then Jacob departed from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel took their father Jacob in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him, along with their children and wives. 6They also took the livestock and possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt.
7Jacob took with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons, and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.
8Now these are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.
9The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
10The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.
11The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
12The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.
Genesis 46:11–12 Commentary
Levi’s Line Recorded Before the Priesthood:
Levi’s descendants are cataloged here long before that tribe is separated for priestly service. Even then, once the wilderness Tabernacle was established over four centuries later in the book of Numbers, only Aaron’s specific line — the Kohanim — would serve as consecrated priests, while the remaining Levites handled the transport, assembly, and sacred maintenance of the Tabernacle (Numbers 3–4). Judah’s sons Er and Onan are listed among the dead, their wickedness and judgment having already occurred eight chapters earlier back in Genesis 38:7–10.
13The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Job, and Shimron.
14The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.
15These are the sons of Leah born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. The total number of sons and daughters was thirty-three.
16The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.
17The children of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.
18These are the sons of Jacob born to Zilpah—whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all.
19The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
20Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.
21The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.
22These are the sons of Rachel born to Jacob—fourteen in all.
23The son of Dan: Hushim.
24The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
25These are the sons of Jacob born to Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel—seven in all.
26All those belonging to Jacob who came to Egypt—his direct descendants, besides the wives of Jacob’s sons—numbered sixty-six persons.
27And with the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt were seventy in all.
Genesis 46:27 Commentary
Stephen’s Seventy-Five and the Septuagint:
The Hebrew text records that seventy members of Jacob’s house entered Egypt, a total that Exodus repeats verbatim over four centuries later (Exodus 1:5). Yet nearly two millennia later before the Sanhedrin, Stephen declared that seventy-five came down in Acts 7:14. This is no error, nor are these extra names forgotten wives. The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) adds five specific grandsons and great-grandsons of Joseph in Genesis 46:20—Machir and Gilead through Manasseh, and Shuthelah, Tahan, and Eran through Ephraim. The Hebrew census counted only Joseph’s two immediate sons, while the Greek tradition tallied his expanding Egyptian household. Addressing a Greek-speaking audience, Stephen cited the translation they knew. Crucially, the Dead Sea Scrolls manuscript of Exodus 1:5 (4QExodᵇ) also reads seventy-five, confirming that Stephen relied on an authentic, ancient Hebrew textual tradition.
28Now Jacob had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When Jacob’s family arrived in the land of Goshen, 29Joseph prepared his chariot and went there to meet his father Israel. Joseph presented himself to him, embraced him, and wept profusely.
30Then Israel said to Joseph, “Finally I can die, now that I have seen your face and know that you are still alive!”
31Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and inform Pharaoh: ‘My brothers and my father’s household from the land of Canaan have come to me. 32The men are shepherds; they raise livestock, and they have brought their flocks and herds and all that they own.’
33When Pharaoh summons you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’
34you are to say, ‘Your servants have raised livestock ever since our youth—both we and our fathers.’ Then all of you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”
Genesis 46:31–34 Commentary
Joseph Coaches His Family for Pharaoh:
Joseph meticulously coaches his brothers before their royal audience with Pharaoh, instructing them to openly identify as lifelong shepherds. In Genesis 46:34, he explains his strategic goal: "so that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians." Joseph leverages Egypt's religious caste prejudice to secure fertile Goshen, keeping Israel physically and spiritually separated from pagan corruption.
Egypt’s Prejudice Becomes God’s Preservation:
Israel was called to multiply into a distinct holy nation, which required remaining insulated from Egypt’s seductive culture and pervasive idolatry. Had they been welcomed into the sophisticated court circles of Memphis or Thebes, they would have assimilated within two generations. Instead, what Egypt viewed as contemptible became God’s protective barrier, keeping Israel culturally and geographically quarantined in Goshen all the way until the Exodus.
Genesis 46:1 Commentary
Sacrificial Worship Long Preceded Sinai:
Jacob pauses to offer sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac at Beersheba, shattering the modern myth that sacrificial worship was invented over four centuries later at Mount Sinai. Over four centuries before Aaron ever put on a priestly ephod, the patriarchs were building altars and approaching the Almighty through blood atonement. Sacrificial worship wasn't a temporary Levitical invention; it was the unchanging covenant language ordained from Abel's altar onward.
Consulting God at Beersheba Before Egypt:
Jacob does not simply pack his household into Pharaoh’s wagons and rush toward Egypt. He halts first at Beersheba, the sacred border ground where Abraham and Isaac had built altars before him, refusing to cross the frontier until he confirms that God endorses the journey.