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EMIGRATION TO EGYPT

Chapter 46

Now Jacob was afraid to leave the land of Canaan, the land of his fathers, that God had promised them, and to emigrate with his entire family to Egypt. He already was one hundred and thirty years old, he was sovereign in his land and to go to Egypt meant going to an unknown land, ruled by a powerful Pharaoh. However, this seemed the right decision, and he departed taking with him everything he owned.

While passing through Beersheba (Chapters 21:33-22:1,19; 26:33, 28:10), the last place before leaving Canaan, he stopped to offer sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

God again appeared to him in visions of the night, approving his journey to Egypt, informing him that there He would make him a great nation (Exodus 1:7). In his omniscience, God would bring Jacob and his descent into a fertile land where they could be isolated during four centuries from the  idolatrous people surrounding them, and be protected by the Egyptian Pharaohs.

God promised to accompany him to Egypt, and to raise him up again: a promise fulfilled to his descendants after four centuries. God promised that Jacob would die in the presence of his son Joseph, and this was also fulfilled, and his body was taken back to Canaan and buried there.

Comforted and now sure that he was doing God's will, Jacob went on his journey, using the carts which Pharaoh had sent him.

As Jacob had spent his life in three locations, we can say that each place represents a level of spiritual life:

1. Haran, Jacob arrived here with empty hands, fleeing from his father's house.He was the man of God walking after his own understanding, avoiding the consequences of his mistakes.When he left he was running away from his father in law, and afraid of meeting his brother Esau.

2. Canaan: He struggled to get in, but he was God's man struggling with his own strength.The LORD smote him physically, and he had to face heartbreaks with the evil behaviour of his children.

3. Egypt: this time he was not fleeing because of his mistakes, nor walking confidently in his strength, but he was the man of God walking by faith. He left his country and took everything he owned to a foreign land because this was the plan of God, and God was with him.

They are phases of Christian life through which many of us pass: there was that time when we knew the Gospel of Christ, and turned to Him. There followed a period of struggle when we thought we could succeed in life using our own strength, which may have lasted for many years. Then the time came to really grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and to begin to walk by faith.

Jacob took with him to Egypt all his descendants, as well as his livestock and assets acquired in the land of Canaan. Then we find a list of his children and grandchildren who came with him, important to Jews because they indicate the origins of their tribes, and also because we find the genealogy that leads us to Jesus Christ, and is followed throughout by the rest of the Bible.

We have in this chapter a list of 70 descendants of Jacob, including twelve sons, one daughter, fifty three grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, as well as his ten daughters in law, who were not his descendants (Asenath appears in Acts 7:14).

As they didn´t know the land (and probably did not have a map), to be sure they were going to the right place Jacob sent Judah to go and check with Joseph how to get there. A vast flock of sheep, cows, goats and camels could not go along missing their way!

Finally they all arrived, without any problems it seems, at the land of Goshen which Joseph had appointed for them. At that time it was a very fertile plain, the best part of the land (chapter 47:6,11), east of the Nile, where Pharaoh kept his cattle (chapter 47:6). Pharaoh Rameses built his city there, with his name, and the area was therefore called “the land of Rameses” at  the time of Moses (chapter 47:11).

Joseph went in his magnificent chariot to meet his father, and then there was a very emotional meeting between them. Jacob said he was now fully satisfied, no longer needing to live.

Joseph later told them all he would meet with Pharaoh to announce the arrival of his family, with all their belongings. Pharaoh had told them to leave everything behind because he would give them everything they needed. When announcing their arrival to him, Joseph would explain that  they had brought all their possessions (and there were many), making him see  that they were not poor refugees who would be dependent on his support: all they needed was pasture, for they were shepherds and herdsmen.

If this Pharaoh was really a descendant of Semitic nomads, as many think, he would have sympathy for the family of Jacob. The Egyptians, however, abhorred shepherds, and they would be very glad to see them away from their cities, in a remote area like the land of Goshen. So Joseph told his brothers to make it clear, when they spoke with Pharaoh, that their occupation had always been with livestock, like their fathers.

R David Jones

1 So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2 Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, "Jacob, Jacob!" And he said, "Here I am."
3 So He said, "I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there.
4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes."
5 Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
6 So they took their livestock and their goods, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him.
7 His sons and his sons' sons, his daughters and his sons' daughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.
8 Now these were the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: Reuben was Jacob's firstborn.
9 The sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
10 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.
11 The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
12 The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
13 The sons of Issachar were Tola, Puvah, Job, and Shimron.
14 The sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.
15 These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Padan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the persons, his sons and his daughters, were thirty-three.
16 The sons of Gad were Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.
17 The sons of Asher were Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui, Beriah, and Serah, their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel.
18 These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob: sixteen persons.
19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife, were Joseph and Benjamin.
20 And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him.
21 The sons of Benjamin were Belah, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.
22 These were the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: fourteen persons in all.
23 The son of Dan was Hushim.
24 The sons of Naphtali were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob: seven persons in all.
26 All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, besides Jacob's sons' wives, were sixty-six persons in all.
27 And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.
28 Then he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out before him the way to Goshen. And they came to the land of Goshen.
29 So Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; and he presented himself to him, and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while.
30 And Israel said to Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive."
31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, "I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, 'My brothers and those of my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.
32 And the men are shepherds, for their occupation has been to feed livestock; and they have brought their flocks, their herds, and all that they have.'
33 So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, 'What is your occupation?'
34 that you shall say, 'Your servants' occupation has been with livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,' that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians."

Genesis, chapter 46.