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
Unto Joseph - were born Manasseh and Ephraim - There is a remarkable addition here in the Septuagint, which must be noticed: Εγενοντο δε υἱοι Μανασση, οὑς ετεκεν αυτῳ ἡ παλλακη ἡ Συρα, τον Μαχιρ· Μαχιρ δε εγεννησε τον Γαλααδ. Υἱοι δε Εφραιμ αδελφου Μανασσῃ, Σουταλααμ και Τααμ. Υἱοι δε Σουταλααμ, Εδεμ· These were the sons of Manasseh whom his Syrian concubine bore unto him: Machir; and Machir begat Galaad. The sons of Ephraim, Manasseh's brother, were Sutalaam and Taam; and the sons... read more
The descent of Jacob and his family into Egypt. I. THE DEPARTURE FROM CANAAN ( Genesis 46:1-7 ). 1. The journey to Beersheba . Distant from Hebron somewhere over twenty miles, Beersheba lay directly in the way to Egypt. Yet doubtless the chief motive for halting at "the well of the oath" consisted in the fact that it had been, so to speak, consecrated by the previous encampments of Abraham and Isaac, by the altars they had there erected, and the revelations they had there... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 46:5-27
Old Jacob is here flitting. Little did he think of ever leaving Canaan; he expected, no doubt, to die in his nest, and to leave his seed in actual possession of the promised land: but Providence orders it otherwise. Note, Those that think themselves well settled may yet be unsettled in a little time. Even old people, who think of no other removal than that to the grave (which Jacob had much upon his heart, Gen. 37:35; 42:38), sometimes live to see great changes in their family. It is good to... read more