CHAPTER 46

(1706 B.C.)

EGYPT

¹And Israel took his journey with all that he had (by the Holy Spirit using here the name Israel, this tells us that Jacob moves forward with a renewed confidence and Faith in God, Who had originally changed his name; in other words, he is now in the direct center of the Perfect Will of God, which alone God can bless), and came to Beer-sheba, and offered Sacrifices (these Sacrifices epitomized God, Who would become flesh and dwell with men, and thereby go to the Cross, offering Himself up as a Sacrifice, which alone could atone for the sin of man) unto the God of his father Isaac (this stipulates that what God had given to Abraham had been passed down to Isaac, and now is passed down to Jacob; in other words, the Vision is the same).

²And God spoke unto Israel in the visions of the night (once again, by the use of the name Israel, such signifies Faith on the part of Jacob), and said, Jacob, Jacob (why the use of both names by the Lord of Israel and Jacob? When we look at this Verse, we are looking at Sanctification in both its positional and conditional form. The spiritual position of Jacob was that of perfect Sanctification, as it is with all Believers; however, our spiritual condition is not necessarily up to our spiritual position. In fact, it is the Work of the Holy Spirit, Who strives throughout our lives to bring our condition up to our position. He can only do such as our Faith is anchored firmly in Christ and the Cross, which then gives Him latitude to work). And he said, Here am I (Jacobs Faith was now such that he could hear the Word of the Lord).

³And He said, I am God (in the Hebrew, I am the El, the Mighty One), the God of your father (the same Message that God gave to Isaac, He also gives to Jacob; in brief, it refers to God becoming flesh, dwelling with man, and dying on a Cross, in order that man might be redeemed; Angels could not redeem man because they were of another creation; so God would have to redeem man, and would have to do so by becoming man, with Redemption being carried out by the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, going to the Cross, where there, and there alone, Redemption could be effected [Gen. 3:15; Rom. 5:1; 6:3-14; I Cor. 1:17-18, 1:17-21, 1:17-23; 2:2; Eph. 2:13-18; Col. 2:14-15]): fear not to go down into Egypt (Jacob did fear to go down into Egypt, simply because his father Isaac had been forbidden by God to go there); for I will there make of you a great nation (the Lords plans are far bigger than we can even dare to think; He will now use Egypt to further His purposes):

⁴I will go down with you into Egypt (this is not the idea of a local deity following them when they changed their abodes, and thereby confined to the district in which they happen, for the time being, to reside, but a metaphorical expression for the efficiency and completeness of the Divine protection Kalisch); and I will also surely bring you up again (this has a twofold meaning, in that Jacob would be brought back to Canaan for burial and, as well, that the nation which would come from his loins would, as well, be brought back): and Joseph shall put his hand upon your eyes (he had never thought to see Joseph; however, the Lord here assures him that he will not only see his son, but that Joseph will be with him when he dies).

⁵And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba (Jacob was 130 years old at the time, and this event was 215 years after the call of Abraham; Jacob now truly rises up in Faith, and because he has heard from Heaven): and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him (the name Israel is again used by the Holy Spirit, signifying Jacobs Faith; the principle of Faith was the only commodity, so to speak, which would propel Jacob nearer to the Lord).

⁶And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him (a spiritual threshold is now being crossed; even though it will be some 255 years before Israel will actually possess the Promise, as it regards the land of Canaan, great strides are now being made):

⁷His sons, and his sons sons with him, his daughters, and his sons daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.

JACOBS FAMILY

⁸And these are the names of the Children of Israel (the Holy Spirit once again uses the Faith name of Jacob, Israel), which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacobs firstborn.

⁹And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.

¹⁰And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.

¹¹And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹²And the sons of Judah (the Tribe from which our Lord would come [49:10]); Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.

¹³And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job (this is the same Job of the Book which bears his name), and Shimron.

¹⁴And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel.

¹⁵These be the sons of Leah, which she bore unto Jacob in Padan-aram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.

¹⁶And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷And the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel.

¹⁸These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bore unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.

¹⁹The sons of Rachel, Jacobs wife; Joseph, and Benjamin.

²⁰And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bore unto him.

²¹And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.

²²These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.

²³And the sons of Dan; Hushim.

²⁴And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem.

²⁵These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bore these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven.

²⁶All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacobs sons wives, all the souls were sixty-six;

²⁷And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt (but nevertheless were Israelites), were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were seventy.

²⁸And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen (we see here that the Tribe of Judah is taking the lead, the Tribe, as stated, from which our Lord would come).

JOSEPH AND JACOB

²⁹And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him (the translation here tells us little; however, in the Hebrew such terminology is commonly used of the appearance of God or His Angels; it is employed here in this manner to indicate the glory in which Joseph came to meet Jacob; this meeting is symbolic of the great meeting which will take place in the near future of the Second Coming, when our Heavenly Joseph will present Himself to Israel [Zech. 13:6]); and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while (however, they were tears of joy, just as it will be at the Second Coming, when Jesus and Jacob will meet in Grace).

³⁰And Israel (Faith) said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are yet alive (national Israel doesnt yet know it or believe it, but Jesus is yet alive).

³¹And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his fathers house, I will go up, and show Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my fathers house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me (one of the greatest moments in human history will be when Israel finally comes to Christ);

³²And the men are shepherds, for their trade has been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.

³³And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation?

³⁴That you shall say, Your servants trade has been about cattle from our youth even until now (the word cattle stood for heifers, oxen, sheep, goats, etc.), both we, and also our fa thers: that you may dwell in the land of Goshen (the most fertile part of Egypt, at least as it referred to the grazing of cattle and sheep); for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians (the word abomination, as used here, refers to the fact that there was some type of religious connotation to the attitude of Egyptians towards shepherds; at any rate, Joseph does not attempt to conceal from Pharaoh the low caste of shepherds, his brothers, but he trusts in God that what was an abomination to the Egyptians will be made, by the Grace of God, acceptable; and so it was).