In our study of Genesis chapter forty six, we see a great family reunion as the house of Isra'el is united in the land of Egypt.
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Isra'el took everything he owned with him on his journey. He arrived at Be'er-Sheva and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Yitz'chak. In a vision at night God called to Isra'el, "Ya'akov! Ya'akov!" He answered, "Here I am. He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Don't be afraid to go down to Egypt. It is there that I will make you into a great nation. Not only will I go down with you to Egypt; but I will also bring you back here again, after Yosef has closed your eyes."
In the last chapter, we saw that the family of Isra'el were unified in their call to be a blessing to the nations. Now, the household of Isra'el is on their way to Egypt and they stop at the last major city in Canaan which is Be'er-Sheva. There, Isra'el worshipped God and received a revelation that night where the covenant with Avraham was once again confirmed and Ya'akov was assured that God would be with them in Egypt. It was also confirmed that Ya'akov would die in Egypt but his body would be brought back to the promised land.
So Ya'akov left Be'er-Sheva; the sons of Isra'el brought Ya'akov their father, their little ones and their wives in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry them. They took their cattle and their possessions which they had acquired in the land of Kena'an and arrived in Egypt, Ya'akov and all his descendants with him - his sons, grandsons, daughters, granddaughters and all his descendants he brought with him into Egypt.
All of the household of Isra'el arrived safely in Egypt with their possessions and what follows is a listing of them by name.
These are the names of Isra'el's children who came into Egypt, Ya'akov and his sons: Re'uven Ya'akov's firstborn; and the sons of Re'uven - Hanokh, Pallu, Hetzron and Karmi. The sons of Shim'on: Y'mu'el, Yamin, Ohad, Yakhin, Tzochar and Sha'ul the son of a Kena'ani woman. The sons of Levi: Gershon, K'hat and M'rari. The sons of Y'hudah: 'Er, Onan, Shelah, Peretz and Zerach; but 'Er and Onan died in the land of Kena'an. The sons of Peretz were Hetzron and Hamul. The sons of Yissakhar: Tola, Puvah, Yov and Shimron. The sons of Z'vulun: Sered, Elon and Yachle'el. These were the children of Le'ah whom she bore to Ya'akov in Paddan-Aram, with his daughter Dinah. In sum, his sons and daughters numbered thirty-three.
We see that there are thirty three descendants of Leah listed but two of them died before they left Canaan.
The sons of Gad: Tzifyon, Haggi, Shuni, Etzbon, 'Eri, Arodi and Ar'eli. The children of Asher: Yimnah, Yishvah, Yishvi, B'ri'ah, and their sister Serach. The sons of B'ri'ah were Hever and Malki'el. These were the children of Zilpah, whom Lavan gave to Le'ah his daughter; she bore them to Ya'akov - sixteen people.
Here we see the sixteen descendants from Zilpah who was the maid servant of Le'ah and became a wife of Ya'akov.
The sons of Rachel Ya'akov's wife: Yosef and Binyamin. To Yosef in the land of Egypt were born M'nasheh and Efrayim, whom Osnat the daughter of Poti-Fera priest of On bore to him. The sons of Binyamin: Bela, Bekher, Ashbel, Gera, Na'aman, Echi, Rosh, Mupim, Hupim and Ard. These were the children of Rachel who were born to Ya'akov - in sum, fourteen people.
Next are listed the fourteen descendants of Rachel with two of them being born in Egypt.
The sons of Dan: Hushim. The sons of Naftali: Yachtze'el, Guni, Yetzer and Shillem. These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Lavan gave to Rachel his daughter; she bore them to Ya'akov - in sum, seven people.
Finally, we see the seven descendants from Bihah who had been the maid servant of Rachel but became a wife of Ya'akov.
All the people belonging to Ya'akov coming into Egypt, his direct descendants (not counting Ya'akov's sons' wives), totaled sixty-six. The sons of Yosef, born to him in Egypt, were two in number. Thus all the people in Ya'akov's family who entered Egypt numbered seventy.
Here, we see the number 70 given as the number in the family at this time but there appears to be a contradiction between this number and the number 75 give by Stephen in Acts 7. The number that Stephen was quoting was based on the Dead Sea Scrolls which were not available at the time the Masoretic text was compiled. In these scrolls, it says that Yosef had a total of nine sons in Egypt but only two are listed here. When you add the nine to the sixty six, you get the actual total of 75.
Ya'akov sent Y'hudah ahead of him to Yosef, so that the latter might guide him on the road to Goshen; thus they arrived in the land of Goshen. Yosef prepared his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet Isra'el his father. He presented himself to him, embraced him and wept on his neck for a long time. Then Isra'el said to Yosef, "Now I can die, because I have seen your face and seen that you are still alive."
With the reunion between Isra'el and Yosef we see that Isra'el is content and prepared to die. Why was this so important to Isra'el? He knew that the covenant promises were to be passed on to Yosef and, with him still alive, he was confident that God's promises were true and he was ready to rest in those promises.
Yosef said to his brothers and his father's family, "I'm going up to tell Pharaoh. I'll say to him, 'My brothers and my father's family, who were in the land of Kena'an, have come to me. The men are shepherds and keepers of livestock; they have brought their flocks, their herds and all their possessions.' Now when Pharaoh summons you and asks, 'What is your occupation?' tell him, 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth until now, both we and our ancestors.' This will ensure that you will live in the land of Goshen - for any shepherd is abhorrent to the Egyptians."
Here, we see that, although the family of Israel is in Egypt (the nations), there is to be a separation between them and the rest of the people who do not worship God.