Notes 67: Jacob and his sons set out for Egypt (46:1-27)

SYNOPSIS: Jacob/Israel stops along the way to make sacrifices to the God of his father at Beersheba. God, appearing to Jacob in a vision, tells him not to worry, because God will accompany him to Egypt and make his descendants a great people. "I will be there with you, I will bring you home when you die, and Joseph's hand will close your eyes." And so they all came to Egypt: seventy people in all (they are listed), with all their livestock and belongings.

• Text of the passage (in Nawat)

This passage actually has two parts. The first tells of the journey of Jacob and his sons from their home in Canaan to Egypt. The second part lists all the people (or at least the menfolk) who made the move, and who, together with Joseph and his sons, constitute Jacob's family: altogether, seventy souls. This part of the passage reads like a brief genealogy, without listing wives and daughters, and without any mention of anyone's age so that, unlike the standard tol'dot passages, no conclusions can be drawn about absolute chronology. An exception concerning the mention of wives is that Jacob's progeny is organised into four sections according to whether their mother was Leah, Zilpah, Rachel or Bilhah.

The first part of the passage, which tells how Jacob undertakes the journey to Egypt, is a last look back in the direction of the patriarchal era which is now effectively coming to a close. The business of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan is now done. Abraham and Isaac are in their graves at Machpelah, where Jacob too will be brought back and buried one day, but for now he must bid farewell to them and to his home (presumably around Hebron). One last stop in Canaan is made at the southern sanctuary of Beersheba, once frequented by his father Isaac. There, God appears to Jacob in a night vision one more time and speaks to him, as in days gone by, repeating familiar words of reassurance: I am the God of your father; don't be afraid; I will make a great nation out of you. And God adds two new promises: I will accompany you to Egypt, and when your time comes to die I will make sure your body is returned to Canaan and your son Joseph is there to put you to rest.

46:1 wayyissa‛ yisra'el
We can't know for certain where Jacob set out from, but we may like to think that he had been living at Hebron, which is where the family had mostly resided since Abraham established his home in Mamre. This is also the last place where it is mentioned that he was dwelling (37:14): wayyómer lo lekh na r'e et sh'lom axékha w'et sh'lom hattzon wahashivéni davar wayyishlaxéhu me‛émeq xevron wayyavo sh'khéma.

wayyavo b'éra sháva‛ wayyizbax z'vaxim
Beersheba was a fitting place for Jacob's last farewell in life to the land of his birth. Located on the southbound road from Canaan in the direction of Egypt, some 25 miles south of Hebron, it had figured prominently in the comings and goings of all three patriarchs.

46:3 anokhi ha'el elohe avíkha
This must be read as an apposition: ha'el, elohe avíkha '(the) El, your father's God' or rather 'your father's God, El.' Treating el and elohim as if it were the same word creates an unnecessary conundrum for translators here; clearly they are not! This is not the only place where El takes the definite article: see 31:13 anokhi ha'el bet el and my note on it.

al tira
'Do not be afraid.' We often find these words spoken by God when he appears to the story's characters. God often makes such appearances in times of distress, in which case al tira can be construed to mean "don't worry, it's going to be alright", but the same words also occur when there is not such a context, so we should consider the idea that perhaps they refer to the commotion caused to characters by the simple fact of having God appear to them. In 15:1 he told Abram: al tira avram anokhi magen lakh etc. and in 26:24 he told Isaac: al tira ki itt'kha anokhi uverakhtíkha etc. But in the present instance God specifies what it is that Jacob should not be afraid of: al tira mer'da mitzráyma 'Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt.' The refrain "I am God, don't be afraid" seems to have been so firmly established that it shows up perhaps in the Christian gospels of Luke (ch. 1), where God's angel announces himself to Zacharias with the words μη φοβου, and later in the chapter says the same thing to Mary.

46:8 w'élle sh'mot b'ne yisra'el
'Israel's (i.e. Jacob's) sons/children' or 'the children of Israel, the Israelites'? The collocation b'ne yisra'el has already occurred prior to this in the latter sense in 32:33 (‛al ken lo yokh'lu v'ne yisra'el et gid hannashe), and in the former in 42:5 (wayyavo'u b'ne yisra'el lishbor b'tokh habba'im) and most recently in 45:21 (wayya‛asu khen b'ne yisra'el wayyitten lahem yosef ‛agalot). Except for Dinah and Serah (v. 17), only males are listed.

46:12 wayyámot ‛er w'onan b'éretz k'ná‛an
'Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan' in accordance with the story of Tamar (ch. 38).

46:23 uv'ne dan xushim
'Dan's sons were: Hushim.' Sic!