The Book of Genesis, Chapter 46

This chapter is solely dedicated to Jacob/Israel going to Egypt, with his whole clan. The whole 12 tribes of Israel go to Egypt. Yes, the tribes of Israel live in Egypt. This is the precursor to the Israelites becoming slaves in Egypt & Moses “freeing” them. I hope you enjoy the read!

So Jacob/Israel set out on the trip to Egypt with all that he had, including his family. When they reached Beersheba, Jacob/Israel offered sacrifices to “the God of his father, Isaac.” (I’ve always found this phrase interesting.) God spoke to Israel/Jacob in a vision at night (Now this is intriguing to me because it’s not a dream. It’s a vision that happened at night. Implying that Jacob/Israel was not sleeping when this happened. Dreaming means that you’re asleep, even if it’s taking a nap.)

God told Jacob/Israel not to be afraid to go to Egypt, that he’d be with Jacob/Israel while he was in Egypt. God also told him that he would bring Jacob/Israel & that Joseph’s own hand would close Jacob’s eyes. (Like when we close someone’s eyes after they die.)

Jacob/Israel left Beersheba. Israel/Jacob’s sons put Jacob/Israel, their kids, & their wives into the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport them all. They took everything they owned. They then headed for Egypt. They took everyone too – sons, daughters, grandkids. In total, there was 70-75 people in the group (It says in Acts 7:14 that there was 75, in Genesis 46:27 it says 70.). (You can check out Genesis 46:8-27 for the full list of names of everyone that went along for the trip!)

Now Jacob/Israel sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph, so Judah could get directions to Goshen. When they got to Goshen, Joseph had a chariot waiting for himself so he could go there & meet up with Israel/Jacob, his dad. As soon as Jacob/Israel saw Joseph, he threw his arms around him & wept for a long time. Then Jacob/Israel said that he was “ready to die…” Since he saw that Joseph was alive.

Joseph then told his dad & brothers that he was going to go talk to Pharaoh. He was going to tell Pharaoh that his family was here & that they were all shepherds. Then they’ll let us settle there because shepherds are detestable to Egyptians.