Genesis 46:13

46:5-27 We have here a particular account of Jacob's family. Though the fulfilling of promises is always sure, yet it is often slow. It was now 215 years since God had promised Abraham to make of him a great nation, ch. 12:2; yet that branch of his seed, to which the promise was made sure, had only increased to seventy, of whom this particular account is kept, to show the power of God in making these seventy become a vast multitude.

And the sons of Issachar, Tola, and Phuvah; and Job, and Shimron. The first of these was the father of a numerous race in the days of David, their number was 22,600; See Gill on 1 Chronicles 7:2 ; the second is called Puah, and the third Jashub, and the fourth Shimrom, 1 Chronicles 7:1 ; and were all the heads of families, as appears from the places referred to.

13 . As in Numbers 26:20 f. Tola ] The judge of this name in Jdg 10:1 is also “the son of Puah,” and of the tribe of Issachar, a resemblance which can hardly be accidental. Puvah … Iob ] In 1 Chronicles 7:1 , Puah, Jashub . See Numbers 26:23-24 . Observe that Iob (= Yôb ) is a different name from Job (= ’Iyyôb ) in Job 1:1 ff.

8-27. all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten—Strictly speaking, there were only sixty-six went to Egypt; but to these add Joseph and his two sons, and Jacob the head of the clan, and the whole number amounts to seventy. In the speech of Stephen (Ac 7:14) the number is stated to be seventy-five; but as that estimate includes five sons of Ephraim and Manasseh (1Ch 7:14-20), born in Egypt, the two accounts coincide.

Verse 13. - And the sons of Issachar; Tola , - "Worm, Scarlet" (Gesenius) - and Phuvah , - "Mouth"? (Gesenius) - and Job , - perhaps an incorrect reading for Jashub ("Turning Oneself"), as in Numbers 26:24 ; 1 Chronicles 7:1 (Gesenius), which the LXX. adopts - and Shimron , - "Watch" (Gesenius). Genesis 46:13

The sons of Leah and their descendants are here enumerated. Reuben has four sons, who appear without variation in the other two lists Numbers 26:5-6 ; 1 Chronicles 5:3 . Of the six sons of Simon, Ohad appears in the other lists, and Nemuel and Zerah appear as colloquial variations of Jemuel and Zohar. Such diversities in oral language are usual to this day in the East and elsewhere. "Son of a Kenaanitess." This implies that intermarriage with the Kenaanites was the exception to the rule in the family of Jacob. Wives might have been obtained from Hebrew, Aramaic, or at all events Shemite tribes who were living in their vicinity. The three sons of Levi are common to all the lists, with the slight variation of Gershom for Gershon. The sons of Judah are also unvaried. We are here reminded that Er and Onon died in the land of Kenaan Genesis 46:12 , and of course did not come down into Egypt. The extraordinary circumstances of Judah's family are recorded in Genesis 38 :In order that Hezron and Hamul may have been born at the arrival of Jacob's household in Egypt, Judah's and Perez's first sons must have been born in the fourteenth year of their respective fathers. For the discussion of this matter see the remarks on that chapter. The four sons of Issakar occur in the other lists, with the variation of Jashub for Job. The three sons of Zebulun recur in the book of Numbers; but in the list of Chronicles no mention is made of his posterity. Dinah does not appear in the other lists.

The descendants of Leah are in all thirty-two; six sons, one daughter, twenty-three grandsons, and two great grandsons. "All the souls, his sons and his daughters, were thirty and three." Here "all the souls" include Jacob himself, and "his sons and his daughters" are to be understood as a specification of what is included besides himself.

The size of Jacob's family, which was to grow into a great nation, is given here, with evident allusion to the fulfilment of the divine promise with which he went into Egypt. The list of names includes not merely the "sons of Israel" in the stricter sense; but, as is added immediately afterwards, "Jacob and his sons," or, as the closing formula expresses it ( Genesis 46:27 ), "all the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt" (הבּאה for בּאה אשׁר, Ges. 109), including the patriarch himself, and Joseph with his two sons, who were born before Jacob's arrival in Egypt. If we reckon these, the house of Jacob consisted of 70 souls; and apart from these, of 66, besides his sons' wives. The sons are arranged according to the four mothers. Of Leah there are given 6 sons, 23 grandsons, 2-great-grandsons (sons of Pharez, whereas Er and Onan, the sons of Judah who died in Canaan, are not reckoned), and 1 daughter, Dinah, who remained unmarried, and was therefore an independent member of the house of Jacob; in all, therefore, 6 + 23 + 2 + 1 equals 32, or with Jacob, 33 souls. Of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, there are mentioned 2 sons, 11 grandsons, 2-great-grandsons, and 1 daughter (who is reckoned like Dinah, both here and Numbers 26:46 , for some special reason, which is not particularly described); in all, 2 + 11 + 2 + 1 equals 16 souls.

Of Rachel, "Jacob's (favourite) wife," 2 sons and 12 grandsons are named, of whom, according to Numbers 26:40 , two were great-grandsons, equals 14 souls; and of Rachel's maid Bilhah, 2 sons and 5 grandsons equals 7 souls. The whole number therefore was 33 + 16 + 14 + 7 equals 70. (Note: Instead of the number 70 given here, Exodus 1:5, and Deuteronomy 10:22, Stephen speaks of 75 (Acts 7:14), according to the lxx, which has the number 75 both here and Exodus 1:5, on account of the words which follow the names of Manasseh and Ephraim in Genesis 46:20 : ἐγένοντο δὲ οἱοὶ Μανασσῆ, οὓς ἔτεκεν αὐτῷ ἡ παλλακῆ ἡ Σύρα, τοὺ Μαχίρ· Μαχὶρ δὲ ἐγέννησε τὸν Γαλαάδ, υίοὶ δὲ Ἐφραΐ́μ ἀδελφοῦ Μανασσῆ Σουταλαὰμ καὶ Ταάμ. υίοὶ δὲ Σουταλαάμ. Ἐδώμ: and which are interpolated by conjecture from Genesis 1:23, and Numbers 26:29, Numbers 26:35, and Numbers 26:36 (33, 39, and 40), these three grandsons and two great-grandsons of Joseph being reckoned in.) The wives of Jacob's sons are neither mentioned by name nor reckoned, because the families of Israel were not founded by them, but by their husbands alone. Nor is their parentage given either here or anywhere else.