Genesis 46

This is a pivotal chapter in the history of the Chosen People. It relates the transfer of the entire nation into Egypt, fulfilling, in part, the prophecy of God to Abraham:

"Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance." (Genesis 15:13,14)

We have already noted the dangers which threatened the destruction of Israel had God permitted them to remain in Canaan. And this entire last section of Genesis, called the [~toledowth] of Jacob, relates in the most thrilling and exciting manner imaginable just how God brought about the removal of Israel to Egypt, where, with an environment providentially prescribed, they would become in time the mighty nation that God had promised Abraham. Of course, the story of Joseph was a primary element in the chain of events culminating right here in the migration of Israel into Egypt.

THE MIGRATION OF ISRAEL INTO EGYPT

There is a spiritual glory in the Holy Bible which bears its own witness of truth and inspiration, but it is a profound fact that the carnal man is as blind as an owl at noon to that glorious illumination which radiates the soul of the humblest believer in Christ. As an apostle said, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged" (1 Corinthians 2:14). What does the "natural man" see in this chapter? He sees a hodge-podge of several elements put together haphazardly without any particular design, such various elements being "analyzed" by Simpson as "E, J, EJ, P, R, Jr, Er, Pr, and Rje ... !"[1] Many of the most brilliant scholars of our age have sounded the warning that, "There are no adequate grounds (for supposing multiple sources); there are no essential conflicts or repetitions here, and consequently there is no substantial basis for the assignment of the material to multiple sources."[2] Also, Leupold said:

"Critics claim that overlapping of J and P at this point can be proved, but we assert that nobody can prove anything of the sort. There is no overlapping; criticism is making unwarranted assertions which a straightforward interpretation of the text proves entirely untenable."[3]

The shining light that always emanates from the Word of God is especially visible in this chapter, in the theophany appearing to Israel at Beersheba, the miracle of God's protecting the covenant people from death, the provision made for them in Goshen, and in the matter of Judah becoming a forerunner for God's people upon their entry into Egypt, suggesting the fact that the Great Forerunner, even Jesus Christ our Lord, performs a similar, but far more glorious service for the Greater Israel of which the Old Israel was only a type. "Whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us" (Hebrews 6:20). These facts, not alleged multiple sources, are the burden of this chapter. Thoses alleged sources do not exist. This chapter (and all the Bible) was preserved by Almighty God and handed down through history, not the alleged "sources." The Bible exists; they do not. It is absolutely immaterial, incompetent, and irrelevant as to whether or not Moses, the sacred author of Genesis, ever saw or even heard of any of the imaginary documents that so vividly appear in the hallucinations of critics. All such things are of no importance whatever. The Son of God referred to the Holy Scriptures as "The Word of God" (John 10:35). Therefore, as the Word of God, we receive it, and we believe it!