Jamieson, Fausset & Brown :: Commentary on Genesis 46

The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis

Commentary by ROBERT JAMIESON

CHAPTER 46

      1. Israel took his journey with all that he had--that is, his household; for in compliance with Pharaoh's recommendation, he left his heavy furniture behind. In contemplating a step so important as that of leaving Canaan, which at his time of life he might never revisit, so pious a patriarch would ask the guidance and counsel of God. With all his anxiety to see Joseph, he would rather have died in Canaan without that highest of earthly gratifications than leave it without the consciousness of carrying the divine blessing along with him.
      came to Beer-sheba--That place, which was in his direct route to Egypt, had been a favorite encampment of Abraham ( Gen 21:33 ) and Isaac ( Gen 26:25 ), and was memorable for their experience of the divine goodness; and Jacob seems to have deferred his public devotions till he had reached a spot so consecrated by covenant to his own God and the God of his fathers.

      2. God spake unto Israel--Here is a virtual renewal of the covenant and an assurance of its blessings. Moreover, here is an answer on the chief subject of Jacob's prayer and a removal of any doubt as to the course he was meditating. At first the prospect of paying a personal visit to Joseph had been viewed with unmingled joy. But, on calmer consideration, many difficulties appeared to lie in the way. He may have remembered the prophecy to Abraham that his posterity was to be afflicted in Egypt and also that his father had been expressly told not to go [ Gen 15:13 26:2 ]; he may have feared the contamination of idolatry to his family and their forgetfulness of the land of promise. These doubts were removed by the answer of the oracle, and an assurance given him of great and increasing prosperity.

      3. I will there make of thee a great nation--How truly this promise was fulfilled, appears in the fact that the seventy souls who went down into Egypt increased [ Exd 1:5-7 ], in the space of two hundred fifteen years, to one hundred eighty thousand.

      4. I will also surely bring thee up again--As Jacob could not expect to live till the former promise was realized, he must have seen that the latter was to be accomplished only to his posterity. To himself it was literally verified in the removal of his remains to Canaan; but, in the large and liberal sense of the words, it was made good only on the establishment of Israel in the land of promise.
      Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes--shall perform the last office of filial piety; and this implied that he should henceforth enjoy, without interruption, the society of that favorite son.

      Gen 46:5-27. IMMIGRATION TO EGYPT.

      5. And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba--to cross the border and settle in Egypt. However refreshed and invigorated in spirit by the religious services at Beer-sheba, he was now borne down by the infirmities of advanced age; and, therefore, his sons undertook all the trouble and toil of the arrangements, while the enfeebled old patriarch, with the wives and children, was conveyed by slow and leisurely stages in the Egyptian vehicles sent for their accommodation.

      6. goods, which they had gotten in the land--not furniture, but substance--precious things.

      7. daughters--As Dinah was his only daughter, this must mean daughters-in-law.
      all his seed brought he with him--Though disabled by age from active superintendence, yet, as the venerable sheik of the tribe, he was looked upon as their common head and consulted in every step.

      8-27. all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten--Strictly speaking, there were only sixty-six went to Egypt; but to these add Joseph and his two sons, and Jacob the head of the clan, and the whole number amounts to seventy. In the speech of Stephen ( Act 7:14 ) the number is stated to be seventy-five; but as that estimate includes five sons of Ephraim and Manasseh ( 1Ch 7:14-20 ), born in Egypt, the two accounts coincide.

      Gen 46:28-34. ARRIVAL IN EGYPT.

      28. he sent Judah before him unto Joseph--This precautionary measure was obviously proper for apprising the king of the entrance of so large a company within his territories; moreover, it was necessary in order to receive instruction from Joseph as to the locale of their future settlement.

      29, 30. Joseph made ready his chariot--The difference between chariot and wagon was not only in the lighter and more elegant construction of the former, but in the one being drawn by horses and the other by oxen. Being a public man in Egypt, Joseph was required to appear everywhere in an equipage suitable to his dignity; and, therefore, it was not owing either to pride or ostentatious parade that he drove his carriage, while his father's family were accommodated only in rude and humble wagons.
      presented himself unto him--in an attitude of filial reverence (compare Exd 22:17 ). The interview was a most affecting one--the happiness of the delighted father was now at its height; and life having no higher charms, he could, in the very spirit of the aged Simeon, have departed in peace [ Luk 2:25, 29 ].

      31-34. Joseph said,. . . I will go up, and show Pharaoh--It was a tribute of respect due to the king to inform him of their arrival. And the instructions which he gave them were worthy of his character alike as an affectionate brother and a religious man.