Genesis 46:8-27 - Homilies By J.f. Montgomery

The beginning of the nation.

"The souls of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt were threescore and ten." The number seventy became afterwards a symbolic number among the Israelites- as in the seventy elders of Moses, the seventy of the Sanhedrim, the seventy of the Alexandrian version of the Scriptures, the seventy disciples of the Lord, the seventy heathen nations of the world according to the Jews. There may be something in the combination of numbers. Seventy is 7 × 10. Ten is the symbol of the complete development of humanity. Seven of perfection. Therefore seventy may symbolize the elect people of God as the hope of humanity—Israel in Egypt. In the twelve patriarchs and seventy souls we certainly see the foreshadowing of the Savior's appointments in the beginning of the Christian Church. The small number of Israel in the midst of the great multitude of Egypt is a great encouragement to faith. "Who hath despised the day of small things?"— R .