Genesis 46:1-25

¹ So Israel set out with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and there offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

² And God spoke to Israel in visions at night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he responded, “Here I am.”

³ Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will set you up as a large nation.

⁴ 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.”

⁵ Then Jacob left from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

⁶ They also took their cattle and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his children with him,

⁷ his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters. He brought all his children with him into Egypt.

⁸ Here are the names of the descendants of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn,

⁹ and the sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

¹⁰ The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.

¹¹ The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹² The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan); and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

¹³ The sons of Issachar were Tola, Puvah, Yob, and Shimron.

¹⁴ The sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

¹⁵ These are the sons of Leah, whom she gave birth to for Jacob in Paddan-aram, together with his daughter Dinah; all the souls of his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three.

¹⁶ The sons of Gad were Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷ The sons of Asher were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, with Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel.

¹⁸ These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob- sixteen souls.

¹⁹ The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife were Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁰ And Manasseh and Ephraim were given birth to for Joseph in the land of Egypt, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On, gave birth to for him.

²¹ And the sons of Benjamin were Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

²² These are the sons of Rachel, who were given birth to for Jacob- fourteen souls in all. ²³ The sons of Dan were Hushim.[1]

²⁴ The sons of Naphtali were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

²⁵ These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to Rachel his daughter, and these she gave birth to for Jacob- seven persons in all.

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a joyous call

As he nears the end of his life, Jacob gets another missionary call. After all this time, he is told to pack up and go to a foreign land to represent his God to a different people. But the LORD of Israel is gracious and merciful. Jacob is not asked to desert his children and grandchildren. He gets to take them all with him. That is not usually how the missionary call works. Usually, we have to leave someone behind, and – let me tell you – that is hard. So Jacob could add to the joys he experienced at the end of his life a joyous call – not to leave his family, but to share his mission with them.

LORD, whatever you call us to do, we will do. You are our greatest joy, and we will follow you anywhere. But we are comforted by this story to know that you will not ask us to leave our loved ones unless your mission demands it.

[1] This is a literal rendering of the MT version in Hebrew. Perhaps the original was “The son of Dan was Hashum.”