The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Genesis 46:1: “And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.”
Slow down at the turning point
Genesis 46:33: “And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation?”
Keep this word trail visible
sons, Jacob, Egypt, Joseph, souls, Israel
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Genesis 46:1-4
Stopping at Beersheba
Start with the route marker at Beersheba, the southern edge of Canaan, where Abraham and Isaac had worshipped (21:33; 26:23-25). Jacob offers sacrifices "unto the God of his father Isaac" before leaving the land. Then God speaks: "Jacob, Jacob", and he answers, "Here am I". Teach the four promises of 46:3-4 one by one. This step comes first because the journey into Egypt is only safe to make on God's word. Connect it to 15:13-14, where God told Abraham his descendants would be strangers in a foreign land and come out again.
Genesis 46:5-7
The whole household moves
Read the departure. Notice the wagons Pharaoh sent and the list: cattle, goods, sons, grandsons, daughters, granddaughters, "all his seed". Explain that the repetition stresses completeness. Nothing and no one of Jacob's line is left in Canaan. This short step is the hinge between promise and list. It shows the family leaving the promised land, which makes the promise of return in 46:4 all the more important to hold on to.
Genesis 46:8-27
A family record, mother by mother
Do not read every name aloud in a short session. Show the structure: Leah's sons and grandsons (thirty-three with Dinah), Zilpah's (sixteen), Rachel's (fourteen), Bilhah's (seven). Point out the details that make it a family record: the Canaanite mother of Shaul (46:10), Er and Onan who died, Dinah and Serah. Then explain the sixty-six and the seventy. Mention that Acts 7:14 gives seventy-five, following the Greek Old Testament, and say honestly that different counting is involved rather than inventing extra travellers.
Genesis 46:28-30
Father and son
Slow down for the reunion. Judah goes ahead; Joseph prepares his chariot and goes to meet his father. Explain that "presented himself unto him" (46:29) is the language of appearing before someone of honour, so Joseph, lord of Egypt, comes to his father as a son. Then the long embrace and Jacob's words. Do not let the arithmetic of the list crowd this out. For twenty-two years Jacob believed this son was dead.
Genesis 46:31-34
Shepherds in Goshen
Read Joseph's plan for the audience with Pharaoh. Explain the Egyptian dislike of shepherds as a fact of culture reported by Genesis. Joseph turns it to the family's advantage: by stating their trade honestly, they will be given Goshen, good pasture apart from Egyptian cities. End here because it sets up chapter 47. The household that came as refugees is about to be given a place to live and grow, just as God said in 46:3.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"Going to Egypt was a mistake; God's people should never have left Canaan."
God himself tells Jacob, "fear not to go down into Egypt" (46:3) and promises to go with him. Egypt is where the family grows into a nation (Exodus 1:7). It is also where they will later be enslaved, but that was foretold in 15:13 and is followed by deliverance. The journey is within God's plan, with a promised return.
"Genesis says seventy and Acts says seventy-five, so the Bible contradicts itself."
Stephen in Acts 7:14 follows the Greek Old Testament, which includes some of Joseph's descendants in its count. Genesis 46:26-27 explains its own categories, and different categories produce different totals. Say plainly that the numbers count differently, and avoid both panic and invented harmonies.
"The genealogy is just a list of men."
It names Dinah (46:15) and Serah (46:17) and counts mothers by name: Leah, Zilpah, Rachel, Bilhah. It notes a Canaanite mother and records sons who died. It is a record of the household of Israel with real people in it. Encourage learners to notice the names rather than skim them.
"Jacob said 'let me die' because he had given up on life."
"Now let me die, since I have seen thy face" (46:30) is the language of fulfilment, not despair. The deepest grief of his life has been undone. In fact Jacob lives seventeen more years (47:28). Read it as an old man's joy, the same sense as Simeon's words in Luke 2:29-30.
Learning objectives
- Identify the assurances given at Beersheba.
- Explain why going to Egypt is not disobedience in this passage.
- Distinguish the counting categories behind sixty-six and seventy.
- Locate named women within the household genealogy.
- Describe Judah's advance role and Joseph's reunion with Jacob.
- Explain the connection between the household's occupation and Goshen.
Teacher preparation
- Read Genesis 26:2 and 45:9–11; prepare to distinguish an earlier command to Isaac from the specific assurance now given to Jacob.
- Arrange the genealogy under Leah, Zilpah, Rachel, and Bilhah, while marking Er and Onan as having died in Canaan.
- Write 66 and 70 with their stated categories from 46:26–27. Do not present the genealogy as an uncomplicated passenger count.
- Prepare the usual reconciliation: sixty-six traveling descendants, plus Jacob, Joseph, and Joseph's two sons, yields seventy; distinguish this explanation from an enumerated sentence in the text.
- Read Exodus 1:1–7 and Acts 7:14. Note the latter's seventy-five honestly rather than inventing five unnamed travelers to remove the difference.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Identify the assurances of presence, nationhood, return, and Joseph's attendance in Genesis 46:3–4, followed by the household's movement in 46:5–7.
Scripture-supported
Compare Genesis 46:27 with Exodus 1:5: both KJV passages give seventy in recalling Jacob's household, while Joseph is already in Egypt.
Strong inference
Infer care for family identity from the naming of generations, mothers, Dinah, and Serah in Genesis 46:8–25; the migration is not described merely as an anonymous crowd.
Possible or traditional reading
Distinguish the differing totals in Genesis 46:27 and Acts 7:14 from proposed resolutions requiring evidence.
Limit
State that Genesis 46:26 excludes the sons' wives from its sixty-six and 46:20 already places Joseph's sons in Egypt; not every person listed is boarding a wagon together.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. What does God promise Jacob at the last named stopping place before Egypt?
What a good answer contains
Four things in 46:3-4. "fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation"; "I will go down with thee into Egypt"; "I will also surely bring thee up again"; and "Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes", meaning Joseph will be with him at his death. A good answer keeps them distinct: growth, presence, return and comfort. A weak answer lumps them into a general reassurance and misses that God promises to bring them back.
Show teacher guidance
Use 46:1–4: national growth there, accompanying presence, return, and Joseph's hand upon his eyes. Keep the assurances distinct.
2. Why would applying Isaac's earlier prohibition against Egypt misread this journey?
What a good answer contains
Because God spoke differently to different people at different times. To Isaac God said, "Go not down into Egypt" (26:2), during an earlier famine. To Jacob God says, "fear not to go down into Egypt" (46:3). A good answer sees that each instruction is tied to its moment and its hearer, and that Jacob waits at Beersheba and sacrifices before going (46:1), as if seeking a word. A weak answer turns 26:2 into a rule that Egypt is always forbidden.
Show teacher guidance
Compare 26:2 with 46:3–4. Identify different recipients and explicit directions rather than declaring Egypt always forbidden.
3. How do Genesis 46:26–27 distinguish the sixty-six from the seventy?
What a good answer contains
The sixty-six are "All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives" (46:26). The seventy are "all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt" (46:27). The usual reckoning adds Jacob himself, Joseph, and Joseph's two sons born in Egypt. A good answer explains that the two numbers count different groups. A weak answer adds the wives to reach seventy, which 46:26 excludes.
Show teacher guidance
Read 46:26–27 and explain the usual addition of Jacob, Joseph, and Joseph's two sons. Do not add the sons' wives to manufacture the total.
4. Which details in Jacob's genealogy prevent calling it a list of seventy traveling men?
What a good answer contains
Dinah, a daughter, is named in 46:15, and Serah, a granddaughter, in 46:17. Er and Onan "died in the land of Canaan" (46:12), yet are listed. Manasseh and Ephraim "were born" to Joseph "in the land of Egypt" (46:20), so they did not travel. A good answer sees that the list is a family record of the house of Jacob, not a passenger list of men on wagons. It records who belongs, including women and the dead.
Show teacher guidance
Locate Dinah in 46:15, Serah in 46:17, the deaths in 46:12, and Joseph's sons already in Egypt in 46:20.
5. What do Judah and Joseph each do as the family approaches Goshen?
What a good answer contains
"And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen" (46:28): Judah goes ahead to prepare the way. Then "Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father" and "fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while" (46:29). Jacob says, "Now let me die, since I have seen thy face" (46:30). A good answer gives the reunion its full weight and notes that Judah, once the one who sold Joseph, now leads the family to him.
Show teacher guidance
Read 46:28–30: Judah goes ahead, and Joseph prepares his chariot and meets his father with prolonged weeping. Do not skip the embrace for arithmetic.
6. Why does Joseph prepare the brothers to identify themselves as cattle keepers?
What a good answer contains
So that they will be settled apart in Goshen. Joseph tells them to say, "Thy servants' trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now" (46:34), "that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians". A good answer sees that telling the truth about their work keeps them together and separate from Egyptian society, protecting their identity. A weak answer suggests Joseph was hiding what they did; he tells them to say it plainly.
Show teacher guidance
Use 46:31–34: their occupation and Egyptian aversion to shepherds explain the intended settlement in Goshen. Do not invent a different trade for them.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Ask learners to distinguish a command given in one situation from guidance explicitly given in another, using Isaac and Jacob's contrasting directions.
Relationships and community
Plan a fictional household relocation that preserves relationships and livelihood rather than treating people as cargo.
Count people without erasing them
Annotate a small section of the genealogy with mothers, named women, and location notes; distinguish counting categories from personal worth.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
At Beersheba
Read 46:1-4. Ask question one and write the four promises on the board.
Different words for different times
Read 26:2 beside 46:3. Ask question two and take confusion one.
The household
Read 46:5-7 and skim 46:8-27 by mothers. Ask questions three and four. Take confusion two.
The reunion
Read 46:28-30. Ask question five and take confusion four.
Shepherds in Goshen
Read 46:31-34. Ask question six.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line, and pray.
90 minutes
Leaving home
Ask the group about a move that changed their family. Then read 45:28 and 46:1.
God speaks at night
Read 46:1-4. Ask question one. Read 15:13-14 and 28:15 and connect the promises.
Isaac and Jacob
Read 26:1-3 and 46:3. Ask question two and take confusion one.
Counting the house of Jacob
Read 46:5-27. Sort names under the four mothers. Ask questions three and four and take confusions two and three. Read Exodus 1:1-5.
Father and son
Read 46:28-30. Ask question five. Take confusion four and read Luke 2:29-30.
A place for shepherds
Read 46:31-34. Ask question six.
Application
In pairs, plan a fictional family move that keeps relationships and livelihood together, and list one promise of God that travels with them.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line, and pray.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Use toy wagons and family name cards. Let children load the wagons with sons, daughters and animals. Tell how God said, do not be afraid, I will go with you. Then show Joseph's chariot meeting Jacob and the long hug. Keep the numbers simple: many people, one family.
Youth
Create a chart: who travelled, who was already in Egypt, who had died. Let them find the women named. Treat the seventy and seventy-five as an honest question about counting. Then discuss what it means that God promised to go with Jacob into an unknown place.
Adults
Discuss migration, identity and God's presence beyond the promised land. Give time to the numbering questions and to the reunion. Consider how the family's honest description of their trade protected them in a foreign culture, and what that says about keeping identity in a new place.
One to one
Read 46:1-4 together. If the person is facing a move, a new job or another unknown, let God's word to Jacob, fear not, I will go with you, be heard for them. Then read the reunion and ask what they hope God will restore in their own life.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Genesis 46:1-34
The passage in brief
In Genesis 46 Jacob sets out for Egypt with his whole family. At Beersheba God speaks to him at night: do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, I will make you a great nation there, I will go with you and I will bring you back. The chapter lists the family of Jacob who came into Egypt, seventy in all. Joseph rides out to meet his father, and they embrace and weep. Joseph prepares his brothers to tell Pharaoh they are shepherds.
A verse to keep
And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.
Genesis 46:3-4 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What four promises does God make to Jacob in 46:3-4?
Which people in the family list did not travel to Egypt in the wagons?
What does Jacob say when he sees Joseph in 46:30?
This week
Before a new step this week, stop and ask God for his word, as Jacob did at Beersheba.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
