Genesis 46:28 All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own descendants, not including Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all. And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two. All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.
The total number of males of this clan was 70. There were 66, plus Jacob himself, Joseph, and his two sons. This large family would become a nation of perhaps more than two million over the next 400 years.
i. Like many great works of God, Israel had a slow beginning.
· From the time God called Abraham, it took at least 25 years to add one son – Isaac.
· It took Isaac 60 years to add another son of Israel – Jacob.
· It took 50 or 60 years for Jacob to add 12 sons and one daughter.
· But in 430 years, Israel would leave Egypt with 600,000 men.
· It took this family 215 years to grow from one to 70, but in another 430 years they grew to two million or more.
ii. In Acts 7:14, Stephen said that there were 75 who went into Egypt. This is because Stephen quoted from the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, which says 75. The number in the Septuagint is not wrong, just arrived at in a different way, specifically adding five more sons (or grandsons) of Joseph born in Egypt.
Only God knows the beginning from the end. He is the author and finisher of His plans and purposes for all of mankind. In and through Him that which seems impossible is made possible and that which seems certain is made not to be. It does not matter what man contrives or attempts, God is in control no matter what the circumstance.
