Genesis 46 - Introduction
_GOD APPEARS TO JACOB AT BEERSHEBA. THE DESCENDANTS OF JACOB ARE ENUMERATED. HE SENDS HIS SON JUDAH BEFORE HIM INTO GOSHEN, AND IS MET BY JOSEPH._ _Before Christ 1705._... [ Continue Reading ]
_GOD APPEARS TO JACOB AT BEERSHEBA. THE DESCENDANTS OF JACOB ARE ENUMERATED. HE SENDS HIS SON JUDAH BEFORE HIM INTO GOSHEN, AND IS MET BY JOSEPH._ _Before Christ 1705._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ISRAEL CAME TO BEER-SHEBA, &C.— Though this was in his way from Hebron, as it lay in the most southerly parts of Canaan; yet he probably made choice of it, the rather, as both Abraham and Isaac had consecrated the place, and there received favourable answers from God. See ch. Genesis 21:33.Genes... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SPAKE UNTO ISRAEL IN THE VISIONS OF THE NIGHT— Probably the next night after he had offered his sacrifices. Those who desire to keep up communion with God, shall find that it never fails on his side. If we speak to him as we ought, he will certainly answer us. God called him by his name, by... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM GOD, THE GOD OF THY FATHER— That is, I am what thou ownest me to be: thou shalt find me a God of divine wisdom and power engaged for thee; and thou shalt find me "the God of thy father," true to the covenant made with him. _FEAR NOT TO GO DOWN INTO AEGYPT_— Which he might well have done, withou... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL GO DOWN WITH THEE INTO AEGYPT— Those who go where God sends them, shall certainly have God with them. _And I will also surely bring thee up again._—Whatever low and darksome valley we are called into, we may be confident, if God go down with us, he will surely bring us up again to glory. _JO... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS DAUGHTERS— As he had only one daughter, we must suppose that his daughters-in-law are here meant; see ch. Genesis 37:35. Bishop Warburton, according to his usual manner, observes, that "the promise God had made to Abraham, to give his posterity the land of Canaan, could not be performed till tha... [ Continue Reading ]
JACOB AND HIS SONS— Jacob himself is to be reckoned in the number of those who went into AEgypt, as in Genesis 46:10 _the sons of Simeon_ include Simeon, with his sons; and so of the other patriarchs.... [ Continue Reading ]
JACHIN— 1 Chronicles 4:24 he is called _Jarib._ The same is to be observed of several others here named, it being common to give different names to the same person, and to pronounce the same name differently.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SONS OF PHAREZ WERE HEZRON, &C.— As Pharez could not be above ten years old when Jacob went into AEgypt, I approve of St. Augustine's interpretation of the words _came into AEgypt,_ Genesis 46:8 which he supposes to include the whole time that Jacob lived in AEgypt, which was seventeen years; du... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE BE THE SONS OF LEAH, &C.— That is, the sons, together with their offspring, as the context plainly shews. When it is said, _all the souls were thirty-three,_ Jacob is plainly reckoned among the number.... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO JOSEPH IN THE LAND OF AEGYPT WERE BORN MANASSEH AND EPHRAIM, &C.— Here the LXX adds: _"Manasseh had sons, whom his concubine, a Syrian, bore: Machir. And Machir begat Gilead. The sons of Ephraim, Manasseh's brother: Sutalaam and Taam, and the sons of Sutalaam, Edom."_ None of this is _in the He... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE SOULS—WHICH CAME INTO AEGYPT, WERE THREESCORE AND TEN— In the former verse, all the souls which _came with Jacob into AEgypt,_ and _out of his loins,_ we are told, were threescore and six; add to these Jacob himself, Joseph and his two sons, and you have the number of threescore and ten. Con... [ Continue Reading ]
SENT JUDAH—TO DIRECT HIS FACE UNTO GOSHEN— Judah, having acted a principal part in this transaction, was dismissed to Joseph, to inform him of his father's arrival, and, as it is in the Hebrew, _to prepare before him Goshen,_ or _in Goshen, i.e._. according to Onkelos, _to prepare a place for his re... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY SHEPHERD IS AN ABOMINATION, &C.— Various reasons have been assigned by the learned why shepherds were held in abomination by the AEgyptians. There are so many proofs that shepherds, in general, were not abominable to the AEgyptians, that the expression, it is thought by some, should be taken i... [ Continue Reading ]