Now these are the names of the descendants of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. Reuben, Jacob's firstborn,
The story stops at the border of Egypt for a list of names — Jacob, his sons, and their sons. Why does Scripture give room to a plain roll of names, and what is God doing with these seventy people?
A Register Kept by God
This is not a family's own paperwork. One commentator reads it as a register God Himself keeps.
William KellyThis 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 one family — already grown in Genesis into twelve families — for the life of a people… Scripture shows the interest God took in recording what looks small to men. Human nature delights in what it counts great in its own eyes and before the world.
The Aim of the List
Lists like this one have long been a target for critics. One commentator answers them by asking how a genealogy should be read.
William KellyIf we truly want to avoid serious mistakes and understand Scripture rightly, we must read the genealogies by their own aim, not by modern ideas. It is plain on the face of them that they contain difficulties. No forger or compiler would have left these; he would have taken every care to avoid them. The writer, though, knew details that we may not. He states plainly what he knows to be true, without stopping to clear the difficulties up.
So what is the aim here? Another writer answers that the chapter sets out the whole household.
J. N. DarbyOn the whole, the purpose of the statement in Genesis 46 is plainly to give Jacob's family. So it mentions some who did not go down to Egypt. Hezron and Hamul are brought into the verse on purpose — not in the list of sons, but as linked with them. The saying, "Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven," takes up the general fact to show the amazing increase.
Sixty-Six, Seventy, Seventy-Five
Three totals attach to this one group: two in the chapter itself, and a third when Stephen retells the story in the book of Acts. One writer asks what each number counts.
The Bible TreasuryThe question is not really about truth, but about purpose and way of speaking. The original history itself speaks of 66 (verse 26) and 70 (verse 27). Even in verse 26 the Hebrew strictly means "belong to," not "with Jacob." The 70 are his house, and that takes in more. The old Greek translation, which Stephen quotes, adds five more, though they were born in Egypt. It follows the well known custom of treating parent and children as one.
One short note settles who is counted in the thirty-three:
J. N. DarbyDinah is not counted in the thirty-three; Er and Onan are.
The Order of the Names
The names fall into groups, mother by mother. One writer sees two things at work in that order.
H. L. RossierHere again we find the natural order, but arranged by the wives. God has the upper hand in everything that concerns the family of promise. At the same time, Leah and Rachel each reap the fruit of their own self-will.
Why They Went to Egypt
Why did Jacob's family leave the promised land at all? A famine and a crime lie on the surface. One writer looks beneath them.
Edward DennettThe immediate cause of their going down to Egypt was the famine. But by the famine, as by the wickedness of Jacob's sons in selling their brother to the Ishmaelites (Gen. 37:28), God was simply carrying out His own purposes. Long before this He had said to Abram, "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs… and afterward they shall come out with great possessions." (Gen. 15:13-14.) It fills us with wonder to think that whatever men do, even in wickedness and open rebellion, God bends it to establish His own counsels of grace and love.
A Family Becoming a People
Egypt looks like exile. Seen from the end, it is where a household grew into a nation.
William KellyEgypt was the nursery God provided for the chosen race while it grew from one great family — the sons and grandsons of one father — into a people meant for their inheritance. God sheltered them in mercy for a time, so that they would grow all the more under hardship when it came.
Egypt would later mean slavery.
Numerical Bible NotesEven the slavery they were coming into had already been promised them. What seemed most against them was in fact the working out of promise for them.
Summary
- Register. The names are God's own record of Jacob's house — proof of the interest He takes in what looks small to people.
- Aim. Read a genealogy by the purpose it serves. Here the aim is to give Jacob's family, so it names some who did not go down to Egypt.
- Numbers. Sixty-six, seventy and seventy-five are not rival totals but different reckonings of the same household.
- Order. The list groups the sons by their mothers. God keeps the upper hand in the family of promise, and Leah and Rachel reap what their own wills sowed.
- Increase. Famine, a brother's betrayal, even the slavery ahead — all carried out a promise made to Abram. Egypt became the nursery where seventy souls grew into a nation.