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How many?
31
Acts 7:14 X Genesis 46:26 X Genesis 46:27
Again, we need only pay close attention to each context, and the precise wording of the text. The three verses give us three different numbers: 75, 66 and 70, respectively. I will begin with the smallest number, which is in Genesis 46:26: “All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, besides Jacob's sons' wives, were sixty-six persons in all.” The crucial datum is ‘from his body’, so who were they? Reuben + four sons = 5, Simeon + six sons = 7, Levi + three sons = 4, Judah + five sons + 6, Issachar + four sons = 5, Zebulun + three sons = 4, that add up to 31, but we must include Dinah to get the total of 32 from Leah. Gad + seven sons = 8, Asher + six sons + 7, but we must add a daughter (mentioned in the record) to get the total of 16 from Zilpah. Joseph + two sons = 3, Benjamin + ten sons = 11, that add up to 14 from Rachel. Dan + one son = 2, Naphtali + four sons = 5, that add up to 7 from Bilhah. The grand total ‘from his body’ is 69. But of course Joseph and his two sons were already in Egypt, so that leaves 66 who ‘went with Jacob to Egypt’. Genesis 46:27 says, “All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.” This includes Joseph and Jacob himself, so there is no discrepancy. But what about Acts 7:14? “Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people.” The 75 presumably refers to ‘all his relatives’, which excludes Jacob and of course Joseph. I take it that nine wives came to Egypt (the wives are mentioned in Genesis 46:26), the other two having died before the migration. (If we include Jacob, there would be eight wives.)

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© 2016 Wilbur N. Pickering, ThM, PhD