All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own descendants, not including Jacob's sons' wives, were sixty-six persons in all.
The closing count of Jacob's household reads like dry bookkeeping. Yet God is registering one family just before it becomes a nation. The verse also raises a well-known puzzle. Scripture elsewhere gives the number as seventy, and Stephen's speech in Acts gives seventy-five.
What "souls" Means Here
Older versions read "souls" here where the ESV reads "persons." The word can mean the undying part of a man, but Scripture also uses it to count people one by one.
Morrish Bible DictionarySoul is often used for the moral undying part of man's being. It is also used sometimes to mean the person: as in "all the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt," Gen. 46:26, and "eight souls" saved in the ark, 1 Peter 3:20.
The Force of "Belonging to Jacob"
Two totals sit side by side in this chapter: sixty-six here, seventy in the next verse. The wording of the verse itself explains the gap.
William KellyThere is really no question of truth here, but of purpose and manner of speech. The original history speaks of 66 (v. 26) and 70 (v. 27). Even in verse 26 the Hebrew strictly means "belong to," rather than with Jacob. The 70 are his house, including more.
Sixty-Six, Seventy, Seventy-Five
Three numbers are given for this move to Egypt. They are three different counts, not three rival claims. The largest comes from the Septuagint, the old Greek version of the Old Testament.
William KellyIt is God's register of Jacob and his house. It gives "seventy" souls including Jacob, and Joseph with his two sons, and "sixty-six" without these. The Septuagint quoted by Stephen speaks of seventy-five. That is because it adds Manasseh's son Machir and grandson Gilead, and Ephraim's two sons, Shuthelah and Tahan, with Shuthelah's son, Eran or Edom.
Writers differ on how fully the seventy-five can be broken down. One weighs who might belong in it, then leaves the rest alone. (Older versions render this verse's "his own descendants" as "came out of his loins.")
H H SnellNotice, however, that in this count of seventy-five Joseph and his sons may not be included. If so, it leaves room for nine more of Jacob's "kindred." And kindred is certainly not the same thought as those who "came out of his loins." We do not offer any positive solution of the difficulty. Nor is it necessary to prove exactly how the list of seventy-five was made up. If we had been told that two of his sons' wives had died, it would be made clear, but we are not told, and must be silent.
Care, Not Carelessness, in the List
The chapter is not careless. It takes trouble to show who is not in the total.
H H SnellIf we turn to Genesis 46, we find a complete list of those who made up the sixty-six and went with Jacob into Egypt. The account is so accurate that it names two men who had died, only to show that they were not in the list.
Reading a Genealogy on Its Own Terms
These lists leave their difficulties standing in the text. That tells us something about who wrote them.
William KellyIf we honestly want to avoid serious mistakes and understand Scripture rightly, we must read the genealogies according to their aim. We must not read them by modern ideas. On the face of them they plainly present difficulties. No forger or compiler would have left such difficulties; he would have avoided them with all care. The writer, on the other hand, knew details that we might not. He simply states what he knows to be true, without stopping to clear them up.
That aim shapes what goes into this chapter's list.
J. N. DarbyOn the whole the purpose of the statement in Genesis 46 is clearly to give Jacob's family. So some are mentioned who did not go down to Egypt... Take the saying, "Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven." It takes up the general fact to show the marvellous increase.
A Small Number Worth Recording
Each person is named, and God takes note of what looks trivial to men.
William KellyScripture reveals the interest God took in recording things little in man's eyes. Nature revels in what it counts great in its own eyes and before the world.
A nation starts here with a number small enough to write down.
Numerical Bible NotesHere we see grace in its first workings. A nation had a small beginning in the seventy souls that came into Egypt with Jacob. Set that against their remarkable and unstoppable increase. Even the bondage they come into had already been promised them. What seemed most against them was really the working out of promise for them.
Summary
- Souls counted. "Souls" in the older versions simply means people — sixty-six of them, each one on God's register.
- Souls belonging. The Hebrew means those who belonged to Jacob. So one move to Egypt can be counted as sixty-six, seventy, or seventy-five without contradiction.
- Souls recorded. The list leaves out the wives. It even names two sons who had died, to show they are not in the total.
- Souls read rightly. Read a genealogy for its aim, not by modern rules. The difficulties left in it are a mark of honesty, not error.
- Souls multiplied. Seventy people went down; a nation came out. Grace starts small, and God had promised even the slavery ahead.