Genesis 45:11

(11) Thy household.—As the famine had lasted only two years, and as Jacob had preserved his flocks and herds, so probably he had lost few or none of the large number of men-servants and women-servants who belonged to him. He would thus go down to Egypt as head of a large tribe, who would be called Israelites after him, just as the Ishmaelites, to whom Joseph was sold (Genesis 37:25), bore Ishmael’s name, not because they were lineally descended from him, but because he had made them subject to his authority and that of his race. In Genesis 45:18 Joseph speaks of “their households,” showing that each of the patriarchs had now his own body of dependants, besides the still larger clan which belonged to Jacob.