Genesis 46:1-27
So Israel Took His Journey
Introduction: The past many stories which were focused on Joseph showed us pictures of the time from Jesus’ death, all the way through the church age and to the point in history where Israel would again be revived as a people, and that God’s Spirit would then be poured out on them.
They showed us a woven tapestry which spanned over 2000 years of history, clearly demonstrating that there was a plan for the world during Israel’s time of exile and that there is a plan to keep Israel safe during the time of the tribulation.
Now with today’s verses, we will see the beginning of how God will use this group of people to bring the message of redemption to the entire world. Jacob will move to Egypt and in this move, the list of those who accompany him will actually show us a picture of the macro plan of the treasure they have brought to the world, the oracles of God, the Bible.
A listing of seventy people will be used to show us the divine perfection of God working in the created order to bring to the world the fullness of His message. And it is through this message that the world will hear about and come to know the Messiah.
Text Verse: But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.” Romans 10:18
Paul, speaking about the Jewish people, asked as to whether they had not heard the message of salvation found in Christ. His answer was, “Of course they have” and he cited three sets of verses from the three portions of the Old Testament to show that they, of all people, should know.
Old Testament and New, it is all about the work of Jesus Christ. God has given us this word to show us Jesus. And the reason He did this is because Jesus reveals who God is. Without the Bible then, we cannot know Jesus and in turn we cannot know God. So let’s come to know God through His Son Jesus, and through the Bible which tells us of Him. And… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.
I. Visions of the Night (verses 1, 2)
So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba,
“So Israel.” In this chapter, the name Israel and the name Jacob will be used back and forth numerous times, sometimes even in the same sentence. There is Israel who struggles with God and there is Jacob the man of flesh and in need of his God. It is Israel who takes his journey and heads out.
As tent dwellers, this wouldn’t be the great challenge we think of in a move today. Everything could be rolled up and moved in no time. And with the carts of Egypt, the traveling would be all the easier. The first leg of the journey from Hebron where he lived to Beersheba would be 26.5 miles according to Google Maps.
Beersheba is used synonymously many times in the Bible with the extreme border of the land of Israel. In 1 Samuel 3:20, when speaking of Samuel’s notoriety, it says, “And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord.
Dan is the northernmost point and Beersheba is the last large town prior to heading into Egypt. It was given it’s name at the time of Abraham when he made a treaty with Abimelech, King of Gerar. When they made the treaty, Abraham set seven ewe lambs off to the side as a confirmation of the covenant.
Because of this, the name of the place was given. Beer is “well” and sheba means both “oath” and also “seven.” And so this place is the “well of the seven,” or “the well of the oath.” Abraham and later Isaac both dwelt in this spot and Isaac also made an oath with Abimelech there.
1 (con’t) and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
Adam Clarke says of this verse, “Prayers and provender never hinder any man’s journey. He who would travel safely must take God with him.” This is the case in all things, be it a new business, seeking out a job, getting married, or any other thing that we can do of major importance in our life. LIFE APP
In the case of Jacob who had travelled many long miles in his days, both within and without the borders of Canaan, he knew that his prayers and petitions would be heard and attended to by God. This is especially so because the Lord God had appeared to Abraham and spoken these words of Genesis 15 to him –
“Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Genesis 15:12 -16
God spoke of a time when Abraham’s descendants would leave the land of Canaan, but that they also would eventually be brought back into it. And the reason was given, “because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
In His mercy, God allowed the inhabitants of the land to continue on despite their rejection of Him. Only when their iniquity was complete and there was no remedy left, would they then be judged. LIFE APP
Like the promise to Abraham concerning his descendants, God spoke to Isaac the same thing and He did so at Beersheba – the exact spot where Jacob now offered his sacrifices. In Genesis 26, we saw this account –
“Then he went up from there to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.” Genesis 26:23-25
And so here, at this same place with so much family history connected to their God, he sacrifices. And there were probably several reasons for doing so. First, he wanted to give thanks for the restoration of his beloved son Joseph and for the great, even exalted position he held.
Secondly he wanted to petition Him for his favor concerning the journey he had begun. And thirdly, it was to commit himself and his family to the covenant which had continued now for 215 years. In the same spot which held so much covenant history, and after the giving of his sacrifices as he prepares to leave his homeland, God appears to him once again…
2 Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!”
In one verse the man is called Israel by the Bible and Jacob by God who wrote the Bible. Though the Bible calls him Israel, God at the time He spoke calls him Jacob. Why would this be? Jacob has lived in a scared and faithless manner for many years and so God comes to Him on this level to pacify and comfort him.
And he does it in a way seen frequently in the Bible. He calls his name not once, but twice, “Jacob, Jacob.” The first time God is recorded as having done this was in Genesis 22. When Abraham was just about to plunge the knife into his son Isaac, the Lord called out “Abraham, Abraham.”
Now again in His reassuring way, He calls out to the chosen son to let him know that all will be ok. And He does it in a vision. The word in Hebrew is marot, the plural of “glass.” As one looks into a piece of glass or into a shiny piece of metal to see a reflection of himself, this is how Jacob sees God, not directly, but as in a mirror.
It is reflective, pun intended, with how Paul speaks about our own understanding of spiritual matters. In 1 Corinthians 13, he says, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” 1 Corinthians 13:11, 12
This is how Jacob now perceives God, in a vision of the night.
God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night
As through a piece of glass or in a shiny mirror
He was there to tell Jacob that all would be alright
To not fret or fear, and to not feel any terror
2 (con’t) And he said, “Here I am.”
Jacob responds with the word hineni, “Here I am.” In an interesting set of parallels, Jacob speaks this phase only two times. The first was in chapter 31 when God spoke to him and told him to return to Canaan after being away many years. And now this time when he is leaving Canaan for what will be many long years in Egypt.
And equally as interesting, is that his son Joseph responded with this exact same term, hineni, when Jacob asked him to go see how his brothers were doing in the fields with the flocks. That was the last time he ever saw him, but it was the very thing that precipitated the move he is now making to Egypt.
And finally, the last time the word hineni will be used in exactly this manner, is when Moses is called to be the one to return Israel to Canaan in Exodus 3. It is an amazing set of parallels which show purpose and intent in the use of this word, hineni concerning the movement of the covenant people in and out of Canaan.
Jacob calls out in response to God, acknowledging the vision he has been given. “Here I am.”
Here I am, responding to Your word
Speak to me and Your servant will pay heed
I will hearken to You my great and awesome Lord
Here I am Lord, speak in this, my time of need
II. All Things Have Worked Together For Good (verses 3, 4)
3 So He said, “I am God, the God of your father;
In reply to Jacob’s words, “Here I am,” God speaks directly to him.
anokhi ha’el elohe abikha – “I, the God, the God of your father.” The reason why he speaks this way is because of what it said in verse 1. Jacob “offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.”
Why did he do this? The reason is that when Isaac was alive there was also a famine, but God forbid him to go to Egypt. Instead he was told to live in the land of the Philistines in Gerar. At that time in Genesis 26, it says that the Lord, Jehovah appeared to Isaac. And so all are being tied together.
The Lord is God. He is “the God.” He is the all-sufficient protector and the one who is transcendent over time, over His creation, and it is He who monitors His covenant. All are tied into One. Jacob may have wanted to make sure that his leaving Canaan wasn’t forbidden like it was for his father and so now the God speaks to him.
3(con’t) do not fear to go down to Egypt,
Because of God’s command to his father Isaac to not go down to Egypt, he may have feared leaving the land without divine approval. But there are other reasons why he may have been fearful. The first is the prophecy that was given to Abraham about their bondage and affliction.
He may also have feared that living out of the promised land would lead them to lose their promised inheritance or even forget that it was, in fact, their promised inheritance. He may have feared that it would lead them to idolatry which was taking over Egypt. Because of these and maybe other reasons, he would need the assurance and direction from God to make the move. LIFE APP
3(con’t) for I will make of you a great nation there.
Whatever worries he had are dispelled in this verse, and even a blessing is pronounced. In Genesis 35, he was already told this –
“Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. 12 The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.” Genesis 35:11, 12
Now Jacob can connect the dots. He was already promised this, but now he knows that the promise will be fulfilled in Egypt! It must have been to him like the ending of a mystery novel. Suddenly all of the trials he had faced, all of the sadness at the loss of Joseph, all of the times of weakness and lacking faith, and even the things he feared now were wholly a part of what God was doing.
The fears, the sadness, the times of weakness – all of it was completely unfounded. God had worked it all out for the fulfillment of the promises and that time was now at hand. It must have been an amazing rush of relief and awe that filled him at this moment. It isn’t that despite going to Egypt the promises will be fulfilled, but because of going to Egypt they will come about.
4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again;
In this verse, the “I” is emphatic. God will absolutely be with him in Egypt and God will absolutely bring Israel back up again. There is no chance of him or them being left alone in a darkened valley. As a way of stressing what He will do, God says v’anoki alalkha gam aloh – “and I will bring you up, also, bringing you up.”
God will be with Jacob, God will bring up Israel. As the Bible states, so history records. The words were fulfilled in a great and mighty way. One important thing to realize is that by having been given these promises by “the God of your father” meaning Isaac, it excludes any other claim on the Land of Canaan by anyone else, including the church.
We in the church are descendants of Abraham by faith, but the same is never said about Isaac. Because the God of Isaac has promised the land to Israel, it can only belong to Israel, not anyone else. Their unfaithfulness in later years and through two exiles does not negate God’s faithfulness to His word.
4 (con’t) and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.”
To put one’s hands on another’s eyes means to be with them at death and close the eyes of the dead person. God has promised that not only will the family be safe and reconciled to Joseph, but that Joseph himself, the leader of the greatest nation on earth and his beloved son, would personally attend to him at death.
Nowadays strangers, maybe a doctor or a nurse, does this. But then it was considered an honor bestowed upon the most beloved. It is to Joseph that this honor will fall some day in the future. In death, Jacob will be with his beloved son.
And for the Christian, no matter what our life is like, no matter where we are, or what trials we face, there is no fear in the valley of the shadow of death. We are now in, and will never be separated from, the presence of Christ. He will be there to put His hand on our eyes and to lift them again in the glory of His presence.
To Egypt do not fear to go down
For I will make of you a great nation there
Have no fears or sadness, do not weep nor frown
I will be with you and dote upon you with tender care
This is how the Lord treats His child
Though we often miss the fact that He is there with us
Because of trials which may be severe or mild
But He is faithfully at our side; He is the Lord Jesus
III. Departing Canaan (verses 5-7)
5 Then Jacob arose from Beersheba;
The night has ended, the visions are over, and Jacob the man now prepares to leave the land of promise for the last time. He has put his trust fully in the God who called him, carried him, and now has promised to be with him and his family during the times ahead.
Borders, real or imagined, cannot contain the God whose Spirit runs to and fro throughout the world. Though Canaan and his inheritance will be behind him when he leaves Beersheba, the Lord will always be at Jacob’s side. LIFE APP
5 (con’t) and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
The carts which were sent by Pharaoh are put to good use for those who needed them. Jacob once walked alone out of Canaan to Mesopotamia. About 20 years later, he walked back to Canaan with four wives, numerous children, and many flocks and slaves.
Now, at least two of his wives are dead, but he has more children and grandchildren with him, and they are conducted in royal fashion using the royal carts of Pharaoh.
6 So they took their livestock and their goods, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him.
There is nothing in this verse which is disobedient to what Pharaoh said in chapter 45. There, when speaking to Joseph concerning the move, he said this –
“Now you are commanded—do this: Take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives; bring your father and come. 20 Also do not be concerned about your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.” Genesis 45:19, 20
Now in this verse it says that they brought their goods which they had acquired in Canaan. Pharaoh didn’t tell them they couldn’t bring their goods; only that they shouldn’t be concerned about them. Whatever they could bring would be fine, but whatever they lacked or left behind would be made up in Egypt.
With their departing, other than Abraham’s short journey out of Canaan to Egypt during another famine, there has been a continuous presence of this family in the land for over 200 years. Abraham first moved into Canaan in the year 2084AM and it is now the year 2298/9AM or the 215th year since the promise was made to Abraham.
From this date, Israel will spend another 215 years in Egypt before they are brought out by Moses and led to Mt. Sinai to receive the law. Thus it is exactly 430 years from the promise to the law as Paul notes in Galatians 3:17. It will be a time of great increase in number of the people of Israel.
7 His sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.
Starting in the next verse, the names of these sons, and daughters, and sons’ daughters will be given. In all, it will only mention 1 daughter, but he certainly had more as is evidenced here and elsewhere. And in all, it will only list 70 recorded people who descended from him who went to Egypt.
However, others also went with him. The names of the wives of the sons aren’t listed and there would have been many servants, possibly in the thousands. Whatever the number, it will be exceedingly small compared to the 603,550 fighting-aged men, plus women, children, and others who will leave Egypt in just 215 years. They will surely become the “great nation” God promised.
IV. The Family of Israel (verses 10-27)
Now these were the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn. 9 The sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. 11 The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12 The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13 The sons of Issachar were Tola, Puvah, Job, and Shimron. 14 The sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Padan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the persons, his sons and his daughters, were thirty-three.
16 The sons of Gad were Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17 The sons of Asher were Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui, Beriah, and Serah, their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel. 18 These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob: sixteen persons.
19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife, were Joseph and Benjamin. 20 And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. 21 The sons of Benjamin were Belah, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22 These were the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: fourteen persons in all.
23 The son of Dan was Hushim. 24 The sons of Naphtali were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob: seven persons in all.
26 All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all. 27 And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.
Imagine this… in the 215 years since Abraham came to Canaan until this point, there are only 70 names given of those in the covenant line. In the same amount of time, just 215 years from this, there will be over 600,000 fighting-aged males. These, along with all the others probably numbered between 2 and 3 million.
God has the ability to make great, and to reduce to nothing, as is evidenced here and throughout the rest of redemptive history. The church started with one Man. He added 12 disciples and called them His apostles. It grew exponentially to have become a number surely in the billions when He resurrects us to eternal life. God can, and He will, accomplish the marvelous in and through His people.
Although I’m not going to go into any great detail concerning these 20 verses, there are a few things to mention. The first is that out of all four of his wives, only Rachel is actually called his wife in this list. She was the wife of choice, the others were wives by circumstance.
Then there is a problem with the numbering which confuses almost everyone. First, verse 26 says “sixty-six persons in all.” Then verse 27 says “All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.” And finally, in Acts 7, we read this –
“Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-fivepeople. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers.” Acts 7:14, 15
So there are three different numbers to deal with – 66, 70, and 75. For the first number, 66, we are told “all those who are ‘with’ Jacob.” So Jacob, Joseph, and his two sons aren’t counted. That almost resolves the total of 70.
But in the listing of Leah’s offspring, there are only 32 names mentioned even though it says 33. The 33rd wasn’t born yet. She is Jochebed, the daughter of Levi and the mother of Moses and Aaron. She is named in Numbers 26:59.
Finally, in Acts, Stephen says “Jacob and all his relatives.” This then implies counting the unnamed wives of the sons, and it leaves out Joseph and his family who are already in Egypt and who, as Stephen says, “sent for them.” The reason for saying all this is not to bore you with numbers, but to show that the Bible is not in error.
The importance of the number 70 in this Old Testament account is that the names given here are identified after the exodus as the chiefs of the divisions of Israel. Israel is God’s instrument for His redemptive works among humanity leading up to the Messiah. And all of humanity is derived from the 70 names contained in the Table of Nations recorded in Genesis 10.
In other words, the 70 names in Genesis 10, which correspond to everyone on earth, are to be given the oracles of God through the 70 names recorded in this chapter in the covenant people of Israel. This is explained in Deuteronomy 32:8, which says –
“When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations,
When He separated the sons of Adam,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
According to the number of the children of Israel.”
Seven is the number of spiritual perfection. It is the sum of 3, the divine number, and 4, the number for creation. Ten is the number for completeness. Thus, as those who are noted as Israel and who have gone to Egypt, God’s divine plans (3) are being worked out in His created world (4) in their fullness (10) through these 70 people.
This isn’t just an arbitrary list of names and numbers, but a prophetic plan and symbolic structure of what God is doing in the history of man’s redemption. The same applies to the seven churches of revelation. During the church age, while Israel has been under God’s punishment, those seven churches represent God’s working in His plan of redemption.
God bestowed grace on Adam after the fall and kept a select line of people through the years until Noah, who again received grace in the eyes of the Lord. After the flood, God gave an overall structure of redemption as laid out in the Bible in the account of Noah.
After that, He called Abraham and made a covenant of grace to the world, declaring him righteous by faith. Through the chosen line of Abraham’s seed, He has refined what He will do in the future, giving us pictures of everything that is coming.
These pictures are what we have seen in all of the sermons since that time. The entire scope and structure of redemption has been seen in these many stories. Now as these pictures have been realized, Jacob and Israel are going to Egypt to begin this long and meticulous plan, preparing Israel for their role.
This is the reason why the list here is divided into two sections of 66 and then 70. Those 66 names reflect the 66 books of the Bible which is the transmission of that spiritual message by the whole – reflected in the 70 people.
In verse 10 a person named Shaul is mentioned. But unlike any other person in the list, it says this about him “Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.” Others in the list were born of Canaanite women, but it doesn’t mention them that way. Why? Because it wants to highlight that he is a son of Simeon, “He who hears.”
What it’s telling us is that “He who hears” isn’t just someone of pure Hebrew descent, but anyone who holds to the transmission of God’s message, represented by these people. In other words, people like Luke, who was a Gentile and yet he authored two of the 66 books of the Bible. We are given these clues in this otherwise seemingly tedious list of names.
Speaking of the base numbers, 6 and 7, EW Bullinger shows in his book on the numbers of the Bible that they show a “combining and contrasting what is human and what is spiritual.” In other words, we can see in these two lists the mystery of the compilation of the Bible. The 66 books were written by God through man.
About this book, which testifies to the grace of God, Albert Barnes says that it is “with the most perfect exactitude to the benign reign of grace already realized in the children of God, and yet to be extended to all the sons and daughters of Adam.” It all testifies to the work of the Messiah; it testifies to the grace of Jesus Christ.
What seems arbitrary isn’t. What seems confusing is because we are looking at individual trees and not the forest. If we can keep in mind the macro-structures of the Bible, we can more clearly see what is going on in the individual details and why things are listed.
Of all of the macro structures, there is one overall theme which is that there is a God and we were separated from Him. In order to repair that breech He has a plan to fix that, and the plan is centered on grace in the giving of His Son, Jesus Christ. If we can always keep that in mind, then every other detail becomes understandable.
And despite the complexity of some of the details, the simplicity of the grace can be summed up in just a few simple sentences. Let me explain to you about the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord…
Closing Verse: Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude. Deuteronomy 10:22
Next Week: Genesis 46:28-34 (A Glorious Reunion) (115th Genesis Sermon)
The Lord has you exactly where He wants you and He has a good plan and purpose for you. Call on Him and let Him do marvelous things for you and through you.
The Journey to Egypt
So Israel took his journey with all that he had
And came to Beersheba and sacrifices he offered
To the God of his father Isaac, the God of his dad
Is to whom his sacrifices were proffered
Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night
And said, “Jacob, Jacob!”
And he said, “Here I am. Now I am filled with delight
So He said, “I am God, the God of your father
Do not fear to go down to Egypt, let it be no bother
For I will make of you a great nation there
In fulfillment of the vow to Abraham I did swear
I will go down with you to Egypt, I so apprise
And I will also surely bring you up again
And Joseph will put his hand on your eyes
Then Jacob arose from Beersheba
And the sons of Israel carried
Their father Jacob, their little ones
And their wives that they had married
In the carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry him
In these is how he transported them
So they took their livestock and their things
Which they had acquired in Canaan the land
And went to Egypt, as the story rings
Jacob and all his descendants with him, just as planned
His sons and his sons’ sons whom on his knees he taught
His daughters and his sons’ daughters
And all his descendants with him to Egypt he brought
Now these were the names of the children of Israel
Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: which Genesis does tell
Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn
The sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi
These sons his crown did adorn
The sons of Simeon were…
Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar too
And Shaul, as the Bible does refer
He, a Canaanite woman did come thru
The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari
Kind of nice to have a name that rhymes with Ferrari
The sons of Judah were Er, Onan
And Shelah, Perez, and Zerah too
(But Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan)
So with three sons he had to make do
The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul
Being named in the Bible must be kind of cool
The sons of Issachar were
Tola, Puvah, Job, and Shimron, these four
The sons of Zebulun were for sure
Sered, Elon, and Jahleel, only three and no more
These were the sons of Leah
Whom she bore to Jacob in Padan Aram, we see
With his daughter Dinah
All the persons, his sons and his daughters, were thirty-three
The sons of Gad were Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni
And Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli
The sons of Asher were Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui, Beriah
And Serah, their sister
And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel
That makes eight names to remember there, mister
These were the sons of Zilpah
Whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter
And these she bore to Jacob: sixteen persons
Quite a brood that he brought her
The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife
Were Joseph and Benjamin
Rachel was the love of Jacob’s life
And to Joseph in the land of Egypt
Were born Manasseh and Ephraim
Whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On
Bore to him and which made his eyes gleam
The sons of Benjamin were Belah, Becher, Ashbel
Names that to pronounce are hard
And also Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard
These were the sons of Rachel, Jacob’s beloved doll
Who were born to Jacob: fourteen persons in all
The son of Dan was Hushim
The sons of Naphtali were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem
These were the sons of Bilhah, as we do recall
Whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter
And she bore these to Jacob: seven persons in all
All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt
Who came from his body through his long haul
Besides Jacob’s sons’ wives
Were sixty-six persons in all
And the sons of Joseph who were born
To him in Egypt were persons two
All the persons of the house of Jacob
Who went to Egypt were seventy, quite a crew
Lists which seem tedious need extra attention and care
Because many important treasures are actually hidden there
To read the Bible is both an honor and a delight
An honor because it is God’s word given to us
But it also reveals that all will be alright
Because of the work of our Lord Jesus
Where we are lost in sin, with no hope at all
God reaches out to us with an offer exceedingly great
If we simply trust in the work of Jesus and on Him call
He will seal us with His Spirit for a wondrous date
He will glorify us and then for all eternity
We will behold His glory there upon the glassy sea
Thank You O God for the precious gift of life
Through Jesus is ended all our enmity and strife
Hallelujah and Amen…
