These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter ,.... To be her maid, when she was married to Jacob, by whom he had Gad and Asher: and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls ; not that Zilpah bare sixteen children to Jacob, for she bore but two; but the children and grandchildren of these two with them made sixteen. read more
The sons Rachel, Jacob's wife ,.... The wife of his affection and choice, his principal wife, yea, his only lawful wife; Zilpah and Bilhah were his concubines, and as for Leah, she was imposed and forced upon him: Joseph and Benjamin ; the first was in Egypt already, the other now went down with Jacob. read more
And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim ,.... And therefore not to be reckoned with those that went down with Jacob thither; for which reason the clause, "in the land of Egypt", is inserted, see Genesis 41:50 , which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On, bare unto him ; here again the Targum of Jonathan makes Asenath to be the daughter of Dinah, who it says was educated in the house of Potipherah prince of Tanis; See Gill on Genesis 41:50 . read more
And the sons of Benjamin ,.... The second son of Jacob by his wife Rachel; whose sons were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh , Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard ; in all one hundred and ten. It is a difficulty to account for it, that Benjamin, Jacob's youngest son, often called a lad at this time, and generally supposed to be about twenty three or four years of age, should have so many sons: some think he had more wives than one, which is not likely, since we... read more
These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob ,.... That is, sons and grandsons: all the souls were fourteen ; two sons, Joseph and Benjamin; twelve grandsons, two of Joseph's, and ten of Benjamin's. read more
And the sons of Dan, Hushim. He had but one son, wherefore the plural is put for the singular, see Genesis 46:7 ; Aben Ezra thinks he had two sons, and that one of them was dead, and therefore not mentioned; but the other way best accounts for the expression; though, as Schmidt observes, the plural may be indefinitely put, and the sense be this, as for the sons of Dan, there was only one, whose name was Hushim. Dan was a son of Jacob by Bilhah, Rachel's maid, as the following was another. read more
And the sons of Naphtali, Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem. The last is called Shallum in 1 Chronicles 7:13 . read more
These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter ,.... To be her maid, when she was married to Jacob: and she bare these unto Jacob, all the souls were seven ; not that she bare seven sons to Jacob, she bore but two, Dan and Naphtali; but the children of these with them made seven, one of Dan's, and four of Naphtali's, who went down with Jacob into Egypt. read more
All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt ,.... These are in parcels before mentioned, but here they are brought to a sum total; and by this phrase are excluded those that died before, as Er and Onan, and those that were in Egypt before, as Joseph and his two sons; and I should think also all that were born in Egypt afterwards, even while Jacob was living: those reckoned are only such: which came out of his loins : such as were his seed and offspring. This is observed for the sake of... read more
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John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 46:17
And the sons of Asher ,.... Another son of Jacob by Leah's maid Zilpah, whose sons were: Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister ; who is called Sarah, Numbers 26:46 , and by the Septuagint here. She seems to have been a person of some note, being so particularly remarked in both places: and the sons of Beriah, Heber and Malchiel ; this Beriah seems to be the youngest son of Asher, and yet had two sons; who, as the Targum of Jonathan adds, went down into... read more