Sunday Sermonette: Useless factoids

Genesis 46 is kind of a strange object. Why do we need this enumeration of male descendants, most of whose names we will never see again and who have no individually identifiable role in the plot? Remember that this entire story is fiction, made up nearly 2,000 years after it supposedly happened. I'll get to that.

 So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
² And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!”
“Here I am,” he replied.

Sometimes the man is named Israel and sometimes he's named Jacob, seemingly at random.

³ “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. ⁴ I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”

As we know, God is lying. He will not make Israel a great nation in Egypt, they will be enslaved there. Hmm.

⁵ Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel’s sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. ⁶ So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan. ⁷ Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.

⁸ These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt:

Reuben the firstborn of Jacob.

⁹ The sons of Reuben:

Hanok, Pallu, Hezron and Karmi.

¹⁰ The sons of Simeon:

Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.

¹¹ The sons of Levi:

Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

¹² The sons of Judah:

Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan).

The sons of Perez:

Hezron and Hamul.

¹³ The sons of Issachar:

Tola, Puah,^[a] Jashub^[b] and Shimron.

¹⁴ The sons of Zebulun:

Sered, Elon and Jahleel.

¹⁵ These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram,^[c] besides his daughter Dinah. These sons and daughters of his were thirty-three in all.

Actually, if you count them, there are 32. Just sayin'.

¹⁶ The sons of Gad:

Zephon,^[d] Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi and Areli.

¹⁷ The sons of Asher:

Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah.

Their sister was Serah.

The sons of Beriah:

Heber and Malkiel.

¹⁸ These were the children born to Jacob by Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all.

¹⁹ The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel:

Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰ In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.^[e]

²¹ The sons of Benjamin:

Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard.

Wow that's weird! Two weeks ago Benjamin was a little boy. Now he has ten sons.

²² These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob—fourteen in all.

²³ The son of Dan:

Hushim.

²⁴ The sons of Naphtali:

Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem.

²⁵ These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel—seven in all.

²⁶ All those who went to Egypt with Jacob—those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons’ wives—numbered sixty-six persons. ²⁷ With the two sons^[f] who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventy^[g] in all.

²⁸ Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, ²⁹ Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father^[h] and wept for a long time.

The name Goshen does not occur anywhere but here. It does not correspond to any known place name in any language. It is odd that Pharaoh would give some of his best land to these strangers, but we don't know where it was.

³⁰ Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”
³¹ Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. ³² The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ ³³ When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴ you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”

This is evidently supposed to be the explanation. Goshen must be a fairly remote part of Pharaoh's domain, where he can offload the detestable shepherds. It is true that the ancient Egyptians were largely vegetarian, although it is not as far as I know established that they had any taboo about herding or meat eating. Most early agriculturists ate a plant-based diet simply because it's more efficient to consume grain directly than to feed it to animals. So this makes some sense: if Pharaoh had land suitable for grazing he might have wanted to establish some shepherds there. However,  there is no evidence of Hebrew presence in Egypt, and indeed the archaeological evidence is clear that they inhabited Canaan continuously.

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 46:13 Samaritan Pentateuch and Syriac (see also 1 Chron. 7:1); Masoretic Text Puvah
2. Genesis 46:13 Samaritan Pentateuch and some Septuagint manuscripts (see also Num. 26:24 and 1 Chron. 7:1); Masoretic Text Iob
3. Genesis 46:15 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
4. Genesis 46:16 Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint (see also Num. 26:15); Masoretic Text Ziphion
5. Genesis 46:20 That is, Heliopolis
6. Genesis 46:27 Hebrew; Septuagint the nine children