Genesis 46:7

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) His daughters.—See Note on Genesis 37:35.

Benson Commentary

Genesis 46:7. All his seed — It is probable they continued to live together in common with their father, and therefore when he went, they all went; which, perhaps, they were the more willing to do, because, though they had heard that the land of Canaan was promised them, yet, to this day, they had none of it in possession. We have here a particular account of the names of Jacob’s family; his sons’ sons, most of whom are afterward mentioned as heads of houses in the several tribes. See Numbers 26:5, &c, The daughters mentioned seem to have been daughters-in-law. The whole number that went down into Egypt were sixty-six, to which add Joseph and his two sons, who were there before, and Jacob himself, the head of the family, and you have the number of seventy. It was now two hundred and fifteen years since God had promised Abraham to make of him a great nation, Genesis 41:2; and yet that branch of his seed, on which the promise was entailed, was as yet increased but to seventy, of which this particular account is kept, that the power of God in multiplying these seventy to so vast a multitude, even in Egypt, may be more illustrious. When he pleases, a little one shall become a thousand.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The descent into Egypt is now described. "His daughters, and his sons' daughters." In the following list only one daughter of Jacob is mentioned, Dinah, and only one son's daughter, Serah. It is possible, but not probable, that there were more daughters than these at the time in his family. But even if there were no others, the plural is adopted in order to correspond with the general form of classification, from which the one daughter and the one granddaughter are merely accidental deviations. The same principle applies to the sons of Dan Gen 46:23, and to other instances in Scripture 1 Chronicles 2:8, 1 Chronicles 2:42.

Verse 8-27

The list given here of the family of Jacob as it came down into Egypt is not to be identified with a list of their descendants two hundred and fifty years after, contained in Numbers 26, or with another list constructed after the captivity, and referring to certain of their descendants in and after the times of the monarchy. Nor is this the place to mark out or investigate the grounds of the diversities from the present which these later lists exhibit. Our proper business here is to examine into the nature and import of this ancient and original list of the family of Jacob. It purports to be a list of the names of the sons of Israel, "who went into Mizraim." This phrase implies that the sons of Israel actually went down into Egypt; and this is accordingly historically true of all his immediate sons, Joseph having gone thither about twenty-two years before the others. And the word "sons" is to be understood here in its strict sense, as we find it in the immediate context Genesis 46:7 distinguished from sons' sons and other descendants.

"Jacob and his sons." From this expression we perceive the progenitor is to be included with the sons among those who descended to Egypt. This also is historically exact. For the sake of clearness it is proper here to state the approximate ages of these heads of Israel at the time of the descent. Jacob himself was 130 years of age Genesis 47:9. Joseph was in his thirtieth year when he stood before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams and receive his commission as governor-general of Egypt, Genesis 41:46. At the end of the second year of the famine nine full years were added to his life. He was therefore, we may suppose, 39 years old when Jacob arrived in Egypt, and born when his father was 91. As we conceive that he was born in the fifteenth year of Jacob's sojourn in Padan-aram, and Reuben in the eighth, we infer that Reuben was at the time of the descent into Egypt seven years older than Joseph, or 46, Simon 45, Leviticus 44, Judah 43, Dan about 43, Naphtali about 42, Gad about 42, Asher about 41, Issakar about 41, Zebulun about 40, Dinah about 39, Benjamin about 26. "Jacob's first-born Reuben." This refers to the order of nature, without implying that the rights of first-birth were to be secured to Reuben 1 Chronicles 5:1-2.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. daughters—As Dinah was his only daughter, this must mean daughters-in-law.

all his seed brought he with him—Though disabled by age from active superintendence, yet, as the venerable sheik of the tribe, he was looked upon as their common head and consulted in every step.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

His daughters; either his daughter Dinah, the plural number for the singular, as Genesis 46:23 21:7 Numbers 26:8, or Dinah and her daughters; for grandchildren are commonly called their grandfather’s children, or sons or daughters; or his daughters-in-law, his son’s wives.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

His sons, and his sons' sons with him,.... His eleven sons, and their sons, his grandchildren:

and his daughters; his own daughter Dinah, and his daughters in law, the wives of his sons; for these came with him into Egypt, as appears from Genesis 46:5; though the plural may be put for the singular, as in Genesis 46:23,

and his sons' daughters; and mention is made of Sarah the daughter of Asher, Genesis 46:17; Jarchi adds, Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, but it is certain she was born in Egypt, Numbers 26:59,

and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt; left none behind him in Canaan, son or daughter; no mention is made of servants, though no doubt many came along with him: the design of the historian is to give an account of Jacob's children, who they were, and their number, when they came into Egypt, that the increase of them might be observed.

Geneva Study Bible

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Genesis 46:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Strengthened by this promise, Jacob went into Egypt with children and children's children, his sons driving their aged father together with their wives and children in the carriages sent by Pharaoh, and taking their flocks with all the possessions that they had acquired in Canaan.

(Note: Such a scene as this, with the emigrants taking their goods laden upon asses, and even two children in panniers upon an ass's back, may be seen depicted upon a tomb at Beni Hassan, which might represent the immigration of Israel, although it cannot be directly connected with it. (See the particulars in Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses.))