Gen 46 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Gen 46:1-4: 46:1-4 God reassured Jacob about his move to Egypt. 46:1 set out for Egypt: A little over 200 years earlier, Abraham had similarly gone down into Egypt during a famine in Canaan (12:10 ), and God had protected him there. • Jacob’s first stop was at Beersheba, where Abraham had sacrificed to the Lord and worshiped him after settling his land and water rights with the Philistines (21:31-33 ). This was where Isaac had lived, and where Jacob had lived before he fled from Esau’s anger (28:10 ). • all his possessions: See 46:5-7 .

Summary for Gen 46:1-4: 46:1-4 ^a God reassured Jacob about his move to Egypt. 46:1 ^b set out for Egypt: A little over 200 years earlier, Abraham had similarly gone down into Egypt during a famine in Canaan (12:10 ^c), and God had protected him there.

• Jacob’s first stop was at Beersheba, where Abraham had sacrificed to the Lord and worshiped him after settling his land and water rights with the Philistines (21:31-33 ^d). This was where Isaac had lived, and where Jacob had lived before he fled from Esau’s anger (28:10 ^e).

• all his possessions: See 46:5-7 ^f.
Summary for Gen 46:2-4: 46:2-4 ^g In a night vision, the Lord repeated his promise to go with Jacob and make his family into a great nation in Egypt. The same God who led the family into Egypt promised to bring them out of Egypt to live once again in the land of Canaan.
46:4 ^h You will die: He would have a peaceful death, surrounded by his family and many blessings from God (49:33 ⁱ).
Summary for Gen 46:8-27: 46:8-27 ^j This genealogy of the sons of Jacob shows that all the tribes of Israel went together to the land of Egypt; they would all leave together as well (see the book of Exodus).
46:20 ^k On: See study note on 41:45.
46:26 ^l The total number ... was sixty-six: This is the number of those who traveled with Jacob to Egypt, excluding his sons’ wives, the servants, and others attached to the household. It also omits Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Jacob.
46:27 ^m The total seventy includes Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Jacob. Seventy is also a symbolic number for perfection or completion (see thematic note for Symbolic Numbers at end of chapter). From these seventy (i.e., all Israel) would grow the nation of Israel that would bless the seventy nations (i.e., all the nations) of the world (see study note on Gen 10:2-32; cp. 12:3 ⁿ).
Summary for Gen 46:28-34: 46:28-34 ^o Jacob finally saw his son Joseph again; their reunion was overwhelmingly joyful.
46:29 ^p Joseph ... embraced his father and wept: Joseph was seventeen when he had last seen his father (37:2 ^q); now he was thirty-nine.
46:30 ^r Jacob was satisfied just to see his beloved son alive—the firstborn of his chosen wife Rachel and the designated family leader (see study note on 48:5-7; see also 1 Chr 5:1-2 ^s). More than just a family reunion, this was confirmation that God’s plan was intact.
46:34 ^t In contrast to the syncretistic Canaanites, who would have absorbed the Israelites had they stayed in Canaan, Egyptians detested Semitic shepherds out of a sense of ethnic superiority and observed a strict segregation (see 43:32 ^u). When Jacob’s family settled in Egypt, this separation would allow the people to grow into a great nation without losing their identity.

Thematic note: Symbolic Numbers
Numbers used in Scripture have often inspired wild speculation. An understanding of the symbolism of numbers in the ancient world can help ground our interpretation. Such symbolism, however, is not rigid or exact, so great care must be exercised when numbers are used in interpretation, so as not to push fanciful predictions about future events.
The number one can refer to God’s oneness (Deut 6:4 ^v; Gal 3:20 ^w; Jas 2:19 ^x). Two is the minimum number required to give a legitimate witness (Deut 17:6 ^y; Rev 11:3 ^z), and three can imply divine representation (Gen 18:1-2 ^aa; 2 Cor 13:14 ^ab; Rev 1:4-5 ^ac). Four can stand for the known world, represented in Revelation by living creatures, horsemen, winds, and angels (Rev 4:6-8 ^ad; 6:1-8 ^ae; 7:1 ^af) and in Genesis ^ag by four rivers (Gen 2:10-14 ^ah). When three and four are added to make seven, they represent perfection or divine fulfillment, indicating that God and the world are in harmony. The multiplication of three by four yields twelve, the number associated with God’s people (Gen 35:22-26 ^ai; Exod 24:4 ^aj; 28:21 ^ak; Num 17:2 ^al; Josh 4:3-8 ^am; 1 Kgs 18:31 ^an; Matt 10:1-4 ^ao; 19:28 ^ap; Jas 1:1 ^aq; Rev 12:1 ^ar; 21:12–22:2 ^as. The number five and its multiples, such as ten, represent human completeness (e.g., five fingers per hand); and six carries a negative sense or implication of evil, being neither humanly complete (five) nor divinely complete (seven).
Multiples of ten (e.g., forty) are a symbolic way to indicate many, whereas three sixes (666) imply supreme evil (Rev 13:18 ^at). One thousand is regarded as the foundational large number; 12,000 indicates a large number of God’s people (Rev 7:5-8 ^au); and 144,000 represents the complete people of God (Rev 7:4 ^av; 14:1 ^aw). The number 10,000 and its multiples are probably best transliterated from Greek as myriads, since they really mean “a huge number” rather than a precise count.
While some of the numbers in the Bible have symbolic meanings, using numbers to speculate on the time of Christ’s return or of the end of the world is highly dubious—only God possesses that knowledge (Mark 13:32 ^ax). God did not intend for the symbolic numbers in Revelation to help us predict the future; rather, their symbolic meanings help to explain the significance of the visions. Because the numbers are symbolic, sometimes when we translate them into contemporary sizes, distances, and numbers for our ease of reading, it can result in the loss of theological significance. The use of these symbolic numbers can illuminate a vision’s relationship to the world or to the people of God.

Passages for Further Study
Gen 2:2-3 ^ay; 4:15 ^az; 15:13 ^ba; 41:53-54 ^bb; Exod 20:6 ^bc; 25:31-37 ^bd; 32:15 ^be; Lev 16:14 ^bf; 23:16 ^bg; 2 Sam 24:13 ^bh; 1 Kgs 4:26 ^bi; 17:21 ^bj; 18:31 ^bk, 43-44 ^bl; Job 1:2 ^bm; Ps 90:4 ^bn; Jer 15:3 ^bo; 49:36 ^bp; Ezek 14:21 ^bq; Dan 4:16 ^br, 23-25 ^bs; 7:3 ^bt, 17 ^bu, 24 ^bv; Zech 4:2 ^bw; 6:1 ^bx; Matt 10:1-5 ^by; 12:40 ^bz; 18:21-22 ^ca; Mark 6:7 ^cb; Luke 15:8 ^cc; Acts 6:3 ^cd; 10:16 ^ce; 1 Cor 8:6 ^cf; Eph 4:4-6 ^cg; 2 Pet 3:8 ^ch; Rev 1:16 ^ci; 2:10 ^cj; 4:4 ^ck; 6:1 ^cl; 7:1 ^cm, 4-8 ^cn; 12:1 ^co, 3 ^cp; 13:1 ^cq; 17:3-14 ^cr; 20:2-7 ^cs; 21:12-21 ^ct