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Genesis 46 Bible study: I will go down with you
At Beersheba God told Jacob, "Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt... I will go down with you," and promised to make him a great nation and bring him up again. All the souls of the house of Jacob in Egypt numbered seventy. Joseph fell on his father's neck, and Jacob said, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face."
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“He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph’s hand will close your eyes.””
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“The LORD told Isaac not to go down to Egypt, but told Jacob not to be afraid to go.”
Is that in Genesis 46, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
"Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt"
On the way, Israel stops at Beersheba and offers sacrifices "to the God of his father, Isaac" (46:1). That night God calls, "Jacob, Jacob!", and says, "Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph’s hand will close your eyes" (46:2-4). God had once told Isaac, "Don’t go down into Egypt" (26:2). Now he tells Jacob to go, and promises to go with him.
Where it leads to Jesus
Out of Egypt
Genesis 46:4leads toMatthew 2:15
This link is an interpretation. God promises Jacob, "I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again" (46:4). Readers take that bringing up as Jacob's own burial in Canaan (50:13), as his descendants' exodus (Exodus 3:8), or as both. Hosea looks back on Israel's coming out of Egypt: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt" (Hosea 11:1). Matthew says those words were "fulfilled" in Jesus, who was taken into Egypt as a child and stayed there "until the death of Herod" (Matthew 2:14-15). Matthew quotes Hosea, not Genesis 46; reaching back to this chapter is a reading, not something the New Testament states.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Genesis 46
That was a taste
The rest of Genesis 46 is waiting in Favor
- Seventy names
- "Now let me die"
- "Every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians"
- Down with you, and up again
- Two lines in the list
- 14 questions as you read
- 5 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Genesis 46 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
יָרַדyaradsay ya-RAD
"Come or go down, descend" (Brown-Driver-Briggs), which lists going down "from Palestine to Egypt" as one of its uses. God tells Jacob, "Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt... I will go down with you" (46:3-4). The verb runs all through Joseph's story: Joseph "was brought down to Egypt" (39:1), the brothers "went down" to buy grain (42:3), and Jacob had said he would "go down to Sheol" (37:35). Earlier in Genesis God is the one who goes down: "The LORD came down to see the city and the tower" (11:5); "I will go down now, and see" (18:21).
For your group
Genesis 46 Bible study questions
- 1God didn't tell Jacob Egypt would be easy; he said, "I will go down with you." Why might that be enough?
- 2Most of the seventy names are never mentioned again in Genesis. Why do you think the Bible records them?
- 3Jacob said, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face." What reunion or answered prayer has meant that much to you?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Genesis 46 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home