Genesis 46:5 - Meaning and Application

Old Jacob is here moving away. He had little reason to expect that he would ever leave Canaan. He probably thought he would die at home and leave his descendants in actual possession of the promised land. But Providence ordered things differently. People who think they are well settled may be unsettled very soon. Even older people, who think only of dying and going to the grave, as Jacob often did (Genesis 37:35; Genesis 42:38), sometimes live to see major changes in their family. It is wise to be ready, not only for death, but for whatever may happen before death.

Notice how Jacob was carried. He was not taken in a chariot, though chariots were used then, but in a wagon (Genesis 46:5). Jacob was known as a plain man, not someone who cared for show or splendor. His son rode in a chariot (Genesis 41:43), but a wagon was enough for him.

Also notice what he took with him. He brought his possessions, his cattle and goods (Genesis 46:6), so that he would not be entirely dependent on Pharaoh for his living, and so no one could later say that they came to Egypt as beggars. He also brought his family, all his descendants (Genesis 46:7). It is likely they had lived together in one household with their father, and so when he went, they all went. They may have been all the more willing because, although they had heard that Canaan had been promised to them, they still did not own any part of it.

Here we get a full list of Jacob’s family, including his grandsons, most of whom are later named as heads of the tribes of Israel. See Numbers 26:5 and following. Bishop Patrick notes that Issachar named his first son Tola, which means a worm. He likely did this because the child was very small and weak at birth, like a worm, and did not seem likely to live. Yet from him came a very large family (1 Chronicles 7:2). Life and death do not follow human guesses.

The total number who went down to Egypt was sixty-six (Genesis 46:26). Add Joseph and his two sons, who were already there, and Jacob himself, the head of the family, and the number comes to seventy (Genesis 46:27). The Septuagint gives seventy-five, and Stephen follows that reading (Acts 7:14). The reason for that difference is left to the scholars. But we should notice two things.

First, heads of families should care for everyone under their roof, and provide for both body and soul. When Jacob moved to a land of plenty, he would not leave any of his children behind to struggle in a dry land. Second, God’s promises always come true, but often slowly. It was already 215 years since God promised Abraham that he would become a great nation (Genesis 12:2). Yet the family line that carried that promise had grown only to seventy people. That careful count was kept so that God’s power would be seen more clearly when he later multiplied them into a vast nation in Egypt. When God chooses, even a small family can become a thousand (Isaiah 60:22).