Jacob (aka Israel) has a vision in Beersheba after making some sacrifices. God tells him that he will have a lot of descendants in Egypt and that all will be well. After recitation of the genealogy, Jacob and Joseph have a tearful reunion and Joseph plans on introducing everyone to Pharaoh. Since the Egyptians viewed shepherds as "an abomination," he instructs his family to tell Pharaoh that their trade is cattle.
In the King James Version of this chapter, God calls out "Jacob! Jacob!" In a previous chapter, God told Jacob that he would be calling him Israel. The Israel/Jacob names are interchanged quite a bit and can get confusing.
An Unbelievable Population Explosion! The total number of Jacob's descendants in Egypt were 70, not counting wives. In just four generations, this will leap to an astounding 600,000 adult males (Exodus 12:37).
As the skeptics annotated bible points out, there are some discrepancies in the genealogy recited in this chapter.
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