The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Fear not” it comes from the Hebrew Word “yare” which means “to fear.”
God gives Jacob permission to do something he never expected, leave the promised land. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Genesis 46.
On his way to Egypt, Jacob stops at Beersheba to offer sacrifices, and God speaks to him in a vision at night, telling him, “Fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation.” The Hebrew word for fear is “yare.” God promises to go with Jacob, and to eventually bring his descendants back out of Egypt as well.
The chapter then lists the members of Jacob’s family who travel to Egypt, seventy people in total, including sons, grandsons, and Joseph’s own two sons born there, Manasseh and Ephraim. Judah is sent ahead to arrange the meeting, and when Jacob and Joseph finally see each other again, Joseph falls on his father’s neck and weeps for a long time.
Jacob says, “Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.” Joseph arranges for the family to settle in Goshen, a fertile region well suited for their flocks and separate from the general Egyptian population.
It is also worth pausing on the sheer size of the list recorded here, seventy people in total making this journey together. What began as one man called out of Ur has become, within a few generations, an entire extended family entering Egypt. The promise God made to Abraham, that his descendants would become a great nation, is visibly, steadily taking shape.
Leaving the promised land could have felt like abandoning God’s plan, but God Himself told Jacob to go, promising His presence would go with him. Sometimes following God means leaving familiar territory entirely, trusting that His presence matters more than the location we are in.
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