Genesis 46:8-27

THE SEVENTY

Here we shall vary our usual procedure of recording the sacred text and present the list of names in outline form for greater clarity:

THE NAMES OF THE FAMILY OF LEAH

Note also that two sons of Pharez, Hezron and Hamul are given in Genesis 46:12. Therefore, we add Heron, Hamul, and Dinah (Genesis 46:15) for a total of 34 names. From these we subtract Er and Onan (who died in Canaan) for a total of 32 names, but the text says the number of Leah's family totaled 33 names (Genesis 46:15). The total, if Jacob is included, was 33, if Jacob was not included, the other was an unnamed daughter of Leah.

It really makes no difference at all, for this whole list is a "round number" anyway.

Jacob had both a grandson (by Reuben) and a great-grandson (by Pharez) named Hezron, but it was the great-grandson by Pharez who was in the ancestry of Jesus (Luke 3:33). Kohath was in the ancestry of Moses (Exodus 6:16,20).

THE NAMES OF THE FAMILY OF ZILPAH; LEAH'S MAID

The total of these names is 16 (Genesis 46:18).

THE NAMES OF THE FAMILY OF RACHEL

The total of these is given as 14 souls in Genesis 46:22.

THE NAMES OF THE FAMILY OF BILHAH; RACHEL'S MAID

The total of seven is given in Genesis 46:25. The grand total is SEVENTY.

Several things need to be said about this list. It does not include any of the daughters, except Dinah and Serah, despite the mention of Jacob's daughters, and his sons' daughters in Genesis 46:7. The whole list is therefore contrived by the sacred narrator as a round number. It is quite obvious also that some of the names in this list are of persons born AFTER the entry into Egypt, as we may not suppose that Benjamin, described repeatedly as a "lad" at this time, was suddenly a patriarch with ten children before the move to Egypt could be effected. The same appears to be true of Pharez. Thus, this enumeration of "The Seventy" serves the purposes of emphasizing that number considered to be a sacred number by the Jews, and apparently so honored by Jesus himself.

SEVENTY

"The number seventy seems to have been associated in a peculiar way with the nation of Israel ever since the time when seventy apparently became the founders of the nation."[6]

1. Seventy nations of the world are listed in Genesis 10.[7]
   
2. Seventy elders are mentioned in Numbers 11:16.
   
3. Seventy years of captivity in Babylon were the punishment of Judah (2 Chronicles 36:21).
   
4. Seventy weeks were determined for Israel in which to finish the transgression (Daniel 9:24).
   
5. Seventy translators produced the Septuagint.
   
6. The Sanhedrin was composed of seventy members.
   
7. Jesus Christ himself sent out the "seventy" witnesses of his kingdom.
   
8. "The days of our years are threescore and ten" (Psalms 90:10).
   

The great intention, therefore, of this list is to show that there were seventy founders of the nation of Israel who went into Egypt.

Perhaps we should also notice the quibble often raised regarding the statement of Stephen in Acts 7:14, that "Seventy-five souls went down into Egypt." As a matter of fact, the total number probably ran well over a hundred or so. Just how Stephen figured it, we do not know, but it is generally thought that he was merely quoting from the LXX, which gives five sons of Joseph not mentioned in our version. He might have been counting the wives, or the wives who consented to go to Egypt, or some of the unmentioned daughters. The quibble is inconsequential. What is intended by the use of the number "seventy" in this passage is to show that, "God had done a complete divine work upon Israel, in taking them down into Egypt."[8]