Divine Planning and Completeness
Genesis 46:8–27 (NASB95)
8Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. 9The sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi. 10The sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. 11The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12The sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13The sons of Issachar: Tola and Puvvah and Iob and Shimron. 14The sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel. 15These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, with his daughter Dinah; all his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three. 16The sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli. 17The sons of Asher: Imnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah and their sister Serah. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. 18These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah; and she bore to Jacob these sixteen persons. 19The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 20Now to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. 21The sons of Benjamin: Bela and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard. 22These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob; there were fourteen persons in all. 23The sons of Dan: Hushim. 24The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel and Guni and Jezer and Shillem. 25These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, and she bore these to Jacob; there were seven persons in all. 26All the persons belonging to Jacob, who came to Egypt, his direct descendants, not including the wives of Jacob’s sons, were sixty-six persons in all, 27and the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt were two; all the persons of the house of Jacob, who came to Egypt, were seventy.
Commentary – Divine Planning and Completeness
I won’t say much on these verses. But here are a few thoughts. Seventy might seem like a very round and specific number. It is likely that this number was used to signify completeness. It is ten times seven, the Torah number that represents completion, divinity, and Creation (how many days where there in the creative account?). What is the point? Jacob going to Egypt is a Divine plan. Everyone went, no one was left behind. And God is about to form them into something new, to create something new. What is the new creation? The nation of Israel. As I stated yesterday, these verses are directly preparing us for the story in the book of Exodus.
These verse’s also talk about Joseph’s sons but list them as part of Jacob’s household. This is important, but we will come back to this point when we get to chapter forty-eight of Genesis.
What about some thoughts on application…One simple thought, a thought we have encountered numerous times in Genesis. God is control even when things make no sense and even seem out of control. That is the way the story appears at the moment: out of control. Why would God send His people to Egypt just to become slaves? Let’s keep going as we finish up Genesis and move into Exodus and see how the story turns out. What we will learn is that Israel had the privilege of being used by God to make a universally important point. I can’t wait to study Exodus with you!
Blessings, Ryan Goodnight