-- And the sons of Naphtali Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem.
Genesis 46 records the household that went down into Egypt. Verse 24 gives four names from one small branch of the family, and nothing more is said about them. So why does God write down men no one remembers?
These four names sit inside a larger count. One writer treats the whole list as a record book kept by God, and says why it exists:
It is God's register of Jacob and his house: "seventy" souls counting Jacob, and Joseph with his two sons; "sixty-six" without them… The time was near when they would exchange the life of a family for the life of a people. In Genesis that family had already grown into twelve families… Scripture shows the interest God took in recording things that are small in man's eyes. Man's nature delights in what it counts great in its own eyes and before the world.
The same writer notes that this list falls at a humbling moment for the family, and God still records it:
The listing of the family is a moving sight at this point in the story of Jacob's house. No human being can boast. Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. Yet God takes pleasure in recording their names. He does it early and late in the Old Testament, and at last in the final book of the New Testament — but with variations that teach us something. For the Bible is not only God's word; it is a deeply moral book.
Lists like this hold puzzles. Numbers do not always add up, and the same man can be named one way here and another way elsewhere. One writer says to read them on their own terms:
If we truly want to avoid serious mistakes and understand Scripture rightly, we must read the family lists by their own aim, not by modern ideas. On their face they plainly hold difficulties. No forger or compiler would have left them there; he would have taken great care to avoid them. The writer, on the other hand, knew details that we may not. He simply says what he knows to be true, without stopping to clear the difficulties up.
One of those variations touches this verse. Shillem, the fourth son, "is called Shallum in 1 Chronicles 7:13" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
Naphtali was not born to Jacob's wives but to Bilhah, Rachel's servant. Yet the register has no second class. One writer sees purpose in the order of another list of the same twelve names:
At the start of this chapter the names of the sons of Jacob, called Israel, are listed — and not in order. The aim, I think, is to present them all to us, with no distinction, as objects of God's purposes in grace.
A list like this looks ahead. Some in it are entered as heads of families still to come:
Judah's offspring, and Benjamin's too, were inserted here as the heads of future families. We see this confirmed by the list in Numbers 26, which names the separate families of the tribes of Israel when Moses and Eleazar were told to count the whole assembly… So the huge increase during the stay in Egypt stood out all the more, despite the cruel and murderous oppression that marked its later part.
Their father got his name from a family struggle. Rachel named him, and the name records her fight with her sister:
Bilhah also had a second son, and Rachel named him Naphtali, meaning "my wrestling," because of her wrestling with her sister Leah. All this struggle pictures the struggle of Romans 7. Trying to put down the evil passions of our hearts by our own effort only stirs them up.
The name follows the tribe down the centuries, and it gets an answer. The struggler ends up sitting in darkness — and that is where the Saviour comes:
Now it was only "the way of the sea," as if swallowed up in its waters. Naphtali, the struggler, sat struggling no more, in darkness that was truly the "shadow of death." But this does not stop the Saviour of sinners. There in the darkness was the very place for light to spring up. Now a Dweller had come to Zebulun, One in whom God Himself could dwell with man. And to Naphtali had come more than a struggler — a glorious Conqueror, the woman's Seed.
- Named — this verse belongs to God's register of Jacob's house. Scripture shows the interest God took in recording what men count small.
- Kept — the list holds difficulties no forger would have left; read it by its own aim, not by modern ideas.
- Graced — Bilhah's sons were born to a servant, not a wife, yet the list makes no distinction: all are objects of God's purposes in grace.
- Multiplied — names in this list stand as heads of families still to come. The later count in Numbers 26 shows how far Israel grew in Egypt, despite cruel oppression.
- Lightened — the name Naphtali means "my wrestling"; where the struggler sat in darkness, light sprang up and a glorious Conqueror came.
-- These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter; and she bore these to Jacob all the souls were seven.
This verse closes the smallest group in the list of Jacob's household going down into Egypt: Bilhah's two sons and their children, seven people. Why does Scripture count so carefully, and why do a servant's sons stand beside the sons of Jacob's wives?
One commentator reads this list as a count made by God Himself, taken as a household was about to become a nation.
It is God's register of Jacob and his house. There are "seventy" souls including Jacob, and Joseph with his two sons; "sixty-six" without these… The time was near when they would stop living as a family — already grown in Genesis into twelve families — and live as a people… Scripture shows the interest God took in recording things that are little in man's eyes. Nature delights in what it counts great in its own eyes and before the world.
Seven out of seventy is a footnote by human reckoning. God writes the names down anyway.
We are told now the names of all the household of Jacob, who came with him, showing that our great God is interested in each person, not only in nations or great companies.
Rachel, not Bilhah, gave these two sons their names.
When a boy was born, Rachel said that God had given her a son. She named him Dan, meaning "judge." Bilhah had a second son too. Rachel named him Naphtali, meaning "my wrestling," because she was wrestling with her sister Leah.
So these names come out of a quarrel between sisters. Yet they stay in the list, and in the nation.
The names Rachel gave the sons of Bilhah expressed the state of her soul, and her attitude toward her sister. Dan and Naphtali do not speak of grace, but of satisfaction at winning points in a quarrel… But God has a prerogative of His own. Every wrong has its effect among men and its judgment before Him. Even so, He causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, the called according to purpose.
Bilhah was a servant, so people might expect her sons to hold a lower rank. One commentator, writing on a later list of these same names, sees no such difference.
At the start of this chapter the names of the sons of Jacob, called Israel, appear — and not in order. The aim, I think, is to present them all to us, without distinction, as objects of God's purposes in grace.
Another writer compares this with Abraham's household.
It is also remarkable that the sons of the maids do not take a separate or inferior place here. Unlike Ishmael in the story of Abraham, they are blessed together with the other sons of Jacob. God said of Ishmael that the son of the servant woman must never be an heir with the son of the free woman… Jacob's twelve sons give a complete picture of God's earthly people.
Dan brings one son, Hushim; Naphtali brings four.
Fifth son of Jacob, and first of Bilhah, Rachel's maid… Scripture records little about him: Genesis 46:23 names only one son. The tribe of Dan, however, grew large: at the exodus there were 62,700 fighting men, more than every tribe except Judah.
One commentator finds meaning even in the spelling of that one name, which appears later as Shuham.
The natural inference is that Shuham and Hushim are the same name, with the letters swapped around. But the swap itself must have a meaning. The earlier name means "hastening," while the later one means "depression, humiliation."
Seventy is the starting point, not the finish.
Here we see grace in its first workings. A nation's small beginning lies in the seventy souls who came into Egypt with Jacob, set against their marvellous and unstoppable increase. Even the slavery they were heading into had already been promised to them. What seemed most against them was really the promise working out for them.
- Counted. The list is God's own register of a household about to become a nation. He writes down what men would call too small to write down.
- Named. Dan means "judge" and Naphtali "my wrestling" — names that came out of a rivalry between sisters, not out of faith.
- Kept. God overrules that wrong, causing all things to work together for good to those who love Him.
- Included. Bilhah was a servant, yet her seven carry no lower rank — unlike Ishmael, who got no share with the son of the free woman.
- Multiplied. Dan arrives with one son. His tribe leaves Egypt with 62,700 fighting men. The small beginning was the promise already at work.