Israel's Household Moves to Egypt

Genesis 46:1–47:31

After Joseph's revelation, Jacob (also called Israel) must make a major decision: leave Canaan and move the covenant family into Egypt. God appears at Beersheba and reassures him that this descent is part of divine purpose, not abandonment. The narrative records names and numbers of those who come, then shows settlement in Goshen and Joseph's famine policy across Egypt. The section ends with Jacob making Joseph swear to bury him in Canaan, preserving covenant memory even while living in exile.

The Journey and Divine Reassurance

Jacob sets out with all that he has. He comes to Beersheba and offers sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God appears to Jacob in a vision and says: "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes."

God reassures Jacob that this descent is part of divine purpose, not abandonment. The covenant promise continues even in Egypt.

Jacob takes his sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters, and all his offspring with him to Egypt. The narrative records the names and numbers of those who come. The genealogy confirms that this migration is not a side note but a major covenant-family transition. Seventy persons of the house of Jacob come to Egypt.

Settlement in Goshen

Joseph goes up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. He presents himself to him and falls on his neck and weeps on his neck a good while. Israel says to Joseph: "Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive."

Joseph says to his brothers and to his father's household: "I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, 'My brothers and my father's household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. The men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.'"

Joseph presents five of his brothers before Pharaoh. Pharaoh asks them: "What is your occupation?" They say: "Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were." Pharaoh says to Joseph: "Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen."

Goshen functions as protected distinct space within Egypt. The covenant household now has protected space inside a foreign empire.

Joseph brings his father Jacob and presents him before Pharaoh. Jacob blesses Pharaoh. The text does not record the exact words of the blessing, but the act itself is significant. A patriarch blesses a king. Jacob, the covenant bearer, pronounces blessing on the ruler of Egypt. The blessing is an act of honor and spiritual authority.

Pharaoh asks Jacob: "How many are the days of the years of your life?" Jacob says: "The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning."

Jacob's answer is striking. He is 130 years old, yet he describes his life as "few and evil." He has lived longer than his fathers Abraham and Isaac, yet he speaks of his days as brief and difficult. This is not bitterness but realism. Jacob's life has been marked by struggle—deception, exile, family conflict, loss. He has seen much sorrow. Yet he has also seen God's faithfulness. His assessment is honest, not despairing.

Jacob blesses Pharaoh again and goes out from his presence. The double blessing—before and after the conversation—frames the encounter with spiritual significance. Joseph settles his father and his brothers and gives them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. Joseph sustains his father and his brothers and all his father's household with bread, according to the number of their dependents.

Joseph's Famine Policy

The famine is severe, and there is no food in all the land, for the famine is very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languish by reason of the famine. The people cry to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh directs them to Joseph: "Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do."

Joseph's famine management unfolds in stages, each one progressively consolidating resources and power.

First Stage: Money

Joseph collects all the money that is found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that the people buy. Joseph brings the money into Pharaoh's house. The people spend their wealth to survive. As long as they have money, they can buy grain. Joseph accumulates their wealth for Pharaoh.

Second Stage: Livestock

When the money fails, all the Egyptians come to Joseph and say: "Give us food. Why should we die before you? For our money is gone." Joseph says: "Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone."

They bring their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gives them food in exchange for their horses, their flocks, their herds, and their donkeys. He sustains them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. The people trade their animals—their wealth in livestock—for survival. Joseph acquires their herds for Pharaoh.

Third Stage: Land and Servitude

When that year is ended, they come to him the next year and say: "We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord's. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh."

The people have exhausted their resources. They offer themselves and their land. Joseph buys all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sell their fields, because the famine is severe upon them. The land becomes Pharaoh's. As for the people, he makes them servants from one end of Egypt to the other. Only the land of the priests he does not buy, for the priests have a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and live on the allowance that Pharaoh gives them.

By the end of the famine, Pharaoh owns all the land and all the people are his servants. Joseph has transformed Egypt's economic structure. The people are no longer landowners; they are tenant farmers working Pharaoh's land, giving one-fifth of their produce to Pharaoh and keeping four-fifths for themselves.

Modern interpreters debate Joseph's economic policy. Some see it as wise stewardship that preserves life during crisis. Others note the troubling consolidation of power and the reduction of free people to servitude. The text clearly presents him as preserving life during severe crisis while consolidating state power. Commentators often note the tension in this section: Egypt is both refuge and future place of oppression, showing that providence can include ambiguous settings. Joseph saves Egypt and his family, yet his policies create the conditions for future enslavement of the Israelites.

Jacob's Burial Request

Jacob lives in the land of Egypt seventeen years. The days of Jacob, the years of his life, are 147 years. When the time drew near that Israel must die, he calls his son Joseph and says: "If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal loyally and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place."

Joseph says: "I will do as you have said." Jacob says: "Swear to me." Joseph swears to him. Then Israel bows himself upon the head of his bed.

Jacob's insistence on Canaan burial is an act of faith in covenant promise beyond immediate geography. Calvin reads this as a powerful statement: even though Jacob lives in Egypt, his hope is fixed on the promised land. His burial in Canaan will be a testimony to the covenant promise that continues beyond his death.

What to Notice

Jacob and Israel are used interchangeably. Both names refer to the same patriarch. The name change from Jacob to Israel, which happened earlier, is now fully integrated into the narrative.
Genealogical detail underscores the full-family event. The listing of names and numbers shows that this is not just Joseph moving to Egypt; it is the entire covenant family relocating. The genealogy gives weight to the migration.
Goshen is protected distinct space. The family is not scattered throughout Egypt; they are given a specific region where they can maintain their identity and way of life as shepherds.
Burial requests keep future hope tied to the promised land. Jacob's insistence on being buried in Canaan, not Egypt, shows that his ultimate hope is in the covenant promise. Even in exile, the family's identity is tied to the promised land.