Genesis 46:8-27

THE MUSTER-ROLL OF ISRAEL, Genesis 46:8-27.

“There is a painstaking minuteness in the dates and statistics of this history, which stands in wonderful contrast with the round numbers and vague statements of mythical narratives. The numerical and statistical difficulties so much dwelt on by Colenso and others, mostly arise from an ignorant or perverse misapprehension of the antique style of the author, which must present real difficulties even to candour and learning. This list of names is not a full census of the whole family of Israel, since none of the wives are mentioned anywhere; nor of Israel’s descendants, since only two female descendants occur in it; nor is it intended to give simply all the grandsons of Jacob who were born in Canaan, for, as his sons migrated in the prime of life, it is wholly improbable that no children were born to them in Egypt, where it is said that Israel was ‘fruitful and increased abundantly;’ while the list of Numbers xxvi, gives us no new names. This is simply a list of the heads of tribes, and of the grandsons and great-grandsons who became heads of independent tribal families, whether born in Canaan or in Egypt. Five of the grandsons here mentioned are missing from the list in Numbers, probably because their families became extinct; two of the grandsons of this list appear there as great-grandsons, an unimportant variation, when it is seen that they appear only as heads of families, and not in their personal relation; while the two women had some special historical importance Dinah, as Jacob’s daughter who was connected with the slaughter of the Shechemites, (Genesis 34:0,) although he may have had other daughters, (Genesis 46:9,) and Sarah, or Serah, daughter of Asher, as historically conspicuous alone among all the granddaughters, for reasons that are unrecorded. Only the two sons of Joseph who became heads of tribes are mentioned, although he probably had other children. Genesis 48:5-6. The sacred number seventy was thus made up from sixty-seven male descendants, who were heads of tribes and of tribal families, two female descendants, and Jacob himself. The author groups them in four lists: thirty-two descendants of Leah, to whom he adds Jacob himself, without mentioning it, (although implied in the expression of Genesis 46:8, ‘Jacob and his sons,’) making thirty-three; fourteen descendants of Rachel; sixteen of Zilpah; and seven of Bilhah making seventy in all. They are again grouped as sixty-six of the Canaan family, three of the Egyptian, and Jacob himself. Genesis 46:26-27. Yet inattention to the Hebrew idiom will lead the careless or captious reader to suspect discrepancies in the narrative, as when it is said (Genesis 46:27) that ‘all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt,’ were threescore and ten, although Joseph and his two sons had just been mentioned as necessary to complete the number. See the same statement in Deuteronomy 10:22. Also it is said in Genesis 46:15, ‘all the souls of his sons and his daughters,’ although only one daughter is mentioned, and Jacob himself must be included with the descendants of Leah to make the number thirty-three. So it is no discrepancy when it is made probable from the ages of Joseph and Benjamin, that some of their sons were born after the descent into Egypt. St. Stephen, following the Septuagint Old Testament, calls the number seventy-five, which number the Septuagint makes up by reckoning in five other heads of families not mentioned in the Hebrew.” Newhall.

A comparison of this family record of Jacob and his sons with that of the census in the time of Moses (Numbers 26:0) will help illustrate the peculiarities of Hebrew genealogies. For the convenience of the reader, we present these lists in parallel columns, and also select from the genealogies of 1 Chronicles 2-8 the corresponding names, so far as they appear there. For convenience of reference, we have placed the corresponding names opposite each other, but the student will note the different order in which the names stand in the different lists as they appear in the several chapters.