Genesis 46:1-7
God’s presence and promises sustain His people when they step into uncertain transitions.
1 Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac.
2 God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.”
3 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.
4 I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph’s hand will close your eyes.”
5 Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
6 They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt—Jacob, and all his offspring with him,
7 his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and he brought all his offspring with him into Egypt.
God’s presence and promises sustain His people when they step into uncertain transitions.
To record Jacob’s journey toward Egypt, God’s reassuring revelation, and the reaffirmation of covenant promises in the midst of transition.
God Reassures Israel on the Way to Egypt, the Family Descends in Promise, and Joseph Meets His Father Again
As Israel descends into Egypt with his whole household, God reassures him with covenant promises, preserves the family line intact, and turns the feared descent into the ordained path of future nationhood and present preservation.