[And He Walks With Me] Genesis 46

1-4        Beer-sheba was generally considered the southern border of Canaan. Abraham offered sacrifices there in 21:33. Isaac also had an encounter with the Lord at Beer-sheba in 26:23-25. Now, Jacob did the same.

The last time Jacob left the Promised Land, he had a vision of a ladder connecting heaven and earth, and God promised to bring him back (28:15)and make him into a nation. Now, as he prepares to leave again, he has another encounter from God in which God reiterated these promises.

16-18        Zilpah’s sons and grandsons were listed here even though she was not given as a wife to Jacob until after Rachel first had children. The reason for this order would seem to be that Zilpah’s children were legally considered Leah’s because Zilpah was Leah’s maidservant. Even so, the children of a maidservant/concubine were considered second-class children.

8-27        This record of Jacob’s descendants is tailored to reach seventy, which in semitic cultures represented abundant blessing. To reach this number, the list excludes all but two daughters: Dinah (15) and Serah (17).

10        Interestingly, Ohad does not appear in similar lists of Jacob’s descendants in Numbers 26:12 or 1 Chronicles 4:24.

15        The number thirty-three does not add up. The list thus far identifies thirty-five people, including Jacob. It may be that this total excludes Jacob and Ohad (see note on vs 10), or it could be skipping Er and Onan, who are mentioned in vs 12 but died in Canaan (38:7 and 38:10, respectively).

17        Serah is mentioned without explanation. She also appears without explanation in Numbers 26:46. This is curious because she does not appear anywhere else in Scripture. Because there are only 69 men named in this genealogy, but vs 27 counts seventy persons, some scholars believe Serah is the seventieth person, while others count Jacob himself as the seventieth. According to the midrash, a rabbinical exegesis of biblical texts, she was known for her great beauty and wisdom. She is said to have helped her brothers break the news to Jacob that Joseph was alive and ruling in Egypt. She is also said to have entered the Garden of Eden alive and later returned to identify Moses as the one who would deliver Israel from slavery in Egypt. She then left Egypt with Israel and entered Erez, Israel. Another Jewish tradition suggests she was still alive during King David’s lifetime and equates her with the wise woman of 2 Samuel 20:14-22.^[113]

23-25        As with Zilpah’s children, Bilhah’s children were considered Rachel’s from a legal standpoint. Therefore, their position at the end of the list.

27        On the one hand, a household of seventy persons was profoundly blessed. In semitic cultures, this number represented completion.^[114] On the other hand, a household of seventy persons was far from the nation as numerous as the stars in the sky (15:5; 22:17; 26:4), the sand on the seashore (22:17), or the dust of the earth (28:14). As large as his household was, Jacob was still a long way from claiming the promise God had given to Abraham, Isaac, and even Jacob himself.

Interestingly, the Septuagint (LXX) includes five sons and grandsons of Manasseh and Ephraim. This gave a total of seventy-five in Jacob’s household, a number which Stephen would cite during his message to the Sanhedrin in Acts 7:14.

31-34        The land of Goshen was a godsend for Israel. Its fertile soil provided ample pastures for Israel’s livestock, and its isolation from the rest of Egypt protected the nascent nation’s spiritual state from being influenced by the pagan Egyptians.^[115]

32        By confirming that they were shepherds and also [raised] livestock, Jacob would reassure Pharaoh that he and his family had no hostile intentions toward Egypt. Also, given that the Egyptians disdained shepherds and their work, it guaranteed there was little to no risk of intermarriage with the pagan Egyptians.^[116]

34        The source of the Egyptians’ disdain for shepherds is difficult to explain. Scholars have speculated that it could be because of their association with foreigners, their low societal status, or their association with sheep and goats, which were considered by Egyptians to be inferior animals which threatened farmland.^[117]

[113] Kadari, n.d.

[114] Sproul 2016, Genesis 46:27

[115] Sproul 2016, Genesis 46:28-47:31

[116] Sproul 2016, Genesis 46:32

[117] Keener and Walton 2016, Genesis 46:34