And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem.
The four named here are Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem, the sons of Naphtali. They stand in the family list connected with Jacob's journey to Egypt, in the closing chapters of Genesis, the Book of Beginnings. Those closing chapters record the rest of the story of Joseph and his brethren, Israel's journey to Egypt and reception by Joseph and Pharaoh, Jacob's prophetic blessing upon Joseph's sons and his own sons, and Jacob's death and burial. They form the historical account of the origin of the twelve tribes of Israel and their sojourn in Egypt.
The list is of Jacob's sons and grandsons who went to Egypt, and it does not include everyone in Jacob's company. Wives and daughters were additional and unnumbered. The four are among sixty-eight men counted among the seventy souls who went down into Egypt. The women outnumbered the men because many men had more than one wife, the seventy-five in Acts 7 includes Joseph and his family, and counting only the men helps explain the great increase of the Israelites.
God in providence directed Israel to go into Egypt, even though no Scripture states in those words that God sent His children there. He sent them with a twofold purpose, that His own people might be preserved from famine and tried, and that Egypt might constantly have before them representatives of the truth of God. The preservation of Jacob and his descendants on the journey shows God's care for the preservation of the progenitors of the promised Seed. As part of Joseph's history, the verse shows that God can guide people to the purpose He intends for them, even by a winding route.
The four named here are Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem, the sons of Naphtali. They stand in the family list connected with Jacob's journey to Egypt, in the closing chapters of Genesis, the Book of Beginnings. Those closing chapters record the rest of the story of Joseph and his brethren, Israel's journey to Egypt and reception by Joseph and Pharaoh, Jacob's prophetic blessing upon Joseph's sons and his own sons, and Jacob's death and burial. They form the historical account of the origin of the twelve tribes of Israel and their sojourn in Egypt.
The list is of Jacob's sons and grandsons who went to Egypt, and it does not include everyone in Jacob's company. Wives and daughters were additional and unnumbered. The four are among sixty-eight men counted among the seventy souls who went down into Egypt. The women outnumbered the men because many men had more than one wife, the seventy-five in Acts 7 includes Joseph and his family, and counting only the men helps explain the great increase of the Israelites.
God in providence directed Israel to go into Egypt, even though no Scripture states in those words that God sent His children there. He sent them with a twofold purpose, that His own people might be preserved from famine and tried, and that Egypt might constantly have before them representatives of the truth of God. The preservation of Jacob and his descendants on the journey shows God's care for the preservation of the progenitors of the promised Seed. As part of Joseph's history, the verse shows that God can guide people to the purpose He intends for them, even by a winding route.