Departure of Jacob and his family into Egypt - Jacob's Interview with Pharaoh - His last Illness and

command to be buried in Canaan - Adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh among the Sons of Israel

(GENESIS 46-48)

A DIFFICULT path lay before the patriarch Jacob. As yet he had had no direct intimation from God that he

should remove with his family to Egypt. But, on the other hand, God's dealings with Joseph, the invitation of

Pharaoh, and the famine in Canaan served to point it out as the period of which God had spoken to Abram

(Genesis 15:13), when his seed should leave Canaan, and become strangers and enslaved in a land that was

not theirs. He knew that two things must take place before the return of Israel to, and their final possession

of the promised land. "The iniquity of the Amorites" must be "full," and the family of Israel must have

grown into a nation. The former was still future, and as for the latter it is easy to see that any further stay in

Canaan would have been hindering and not helpful to it. For at the time Canaan was divided among

numerous independent tribes, with one or more of whom the sons of Jacob, as they increased in numbers,

must either have coalesced or entered into warfare. Still more dangerous to their religion would have been

their continuance among and intercourse with the Canaanites. It was quite otherwise in Egypt. Thither they

went professedly as sojourners, and for a temporary purpose. The circumstance that they were shepherds,

and as such "an abomination to the Egyptians," kept them separate, alike politically, religiously, and

socially, from the rest of the people, and, indeed, caused them to be placed in a district by themselves. Yet

"the land of Goshen" was the best for the increase of their substance in flocks and herds. These may be

designated as the outward reasons for their removal into Egypt at that time; the higher and spiritual bearings

of the event have already been stated.

The assurance which Jacob needed for his comfort was granted him, as he reached Beersheba, the southern

boundary of the promised land. There the patriarch offered "sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac," and

there the faithful Lord spake to him "in the visions of the night." His words gave Jacob this fourfold

assurance, that God was the covenant-God, and that Jacob need not fear to go down into Egypt; that God

would there make of him a great nation, in other words, that the transformation from the family to the nation

should take place in Egypt; that God would go down with him; and, lastly, that He would surely bring him

up again. And each of these four assurances was introduced by an emphatic I, to indicate the personal and

direct source of all these blessings. Thus strengthened, Israel pursued his journey in confidence of spirit.

As so often in Scripture, a very important lesson is conveyed to us in this connection, though in a manner

to escape superficial observation. It has been repeatedly remarked, that the Bible does not furnish the

history of individuals as such, but gives that of the kingdom of God. This appears most clearly in the list,

which is introduced at this stage, of "the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt." Manifestly,

it is not to be taken as literally the catalogue of those who companied with Jacob on his journey to Egypt.

For one thing, some of them, such as Joseph himself, and his sons Ephraim and Manasseh, and their

children, if at the time they had any, were already in Egypt. Then, some of the grandsons and great-

grandsons of Jacob, mentioned in this catalogue, must have been born after the sons of Jacob came into

Egypt; while, on the other hand, there must have been others who are not mentioned, since it is impossible

to imagine that all the families of those whose further descendants are not named became extinct. But if the

principle is kept in view, that only what concerns the kingdom of God is recorded, then all becomes plain.

We now regard this not as a biographical list, but as a genealogical table, drawn up with a special object in

view. That object is, to enumerate first the ancestors of the tribes of Israel, and then such of their

descendants as founded the separate and distinct "families" in each tribe. Accordingly this genealogical

table contains, besides the names of such descendants of Jacob as literally went with him into Egypt, also

those of such as became "heads of houses." This appears quite clearly from a comparison with Numbers 26,

where the "families" of Israel are specially enumerated. Among their founders not one single name appears

that had not been previously given in the earlier table. Certain names, however, have dropped out in the