Study From the Book of Genesis,46

Today we study chapter 46 of the Book of Genesis. There is one biblical principle and its lesson which I believe it is useful in biblical counselling.

Jacob’s journey to Egypt began a four-hundred-year sojourn from the Promised Land of Canaan. Jacob entered Egypt with his twelve sons, including Joseph. Jacob’s descendants would leave Egypt as a small nation. Jacob went to the site that was so important to both his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac, Beersheba.  Jacob worshipped God at Beersheba, and consecrated his family to the Lord before he left the Promised Land.

God appeared to Israel or Jacob for the seventh time. The fact that the names are used interchangeably indicates that the earlier negative connections of the name of Jacob have faded.  God forbidden Isaac in Ch. 26 to go to Egypt, and Isaac’s father Abraham had had an unpleasant experience in Egypt. Now God agreed that Jacob to go there. The number of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt was 70, excluding the wives of Jacob’s sons. Out of this family God would bring a great nation. Again, God renewed His promises to Jacob.

The listing of the family of Jacob is not only a remarkable historical document, but also a source of pride. From this family would come the whole nation of Israel-God’s people who would enter the Promised Land according to His premise. The order of the sons of Jacob is given according to their birth mothers.

Joseph’s leadership ability accomplished his gaols by maintaining a genuinely attitude to those in authority.  By skills in making suggestion and by acknowledging of the customs of the Egyptians, Joseph by saying that his family were shepherds, the occupation  that was not been liked by the Egyptians, God used the racial and ethnic prejudice of the Egyptians as a way of preserving the ethnic and spiritual identity of His own people.

Structure:

Verses 1- 27: Jacob’s journey to Egypt.

Verses 28-34; Jacob settles in Goshen.

Principle 75 verse 46:4: ----” I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you again---”

Lesson 75: Israel or Jacob found strength to do even a difficult task once he heard God’s promise.  For God’s Word is an immovable anchor in times of storms.2/8/2026.