Bereshit 46:8-27 records a list of people in Yaakov’s family, which shows us the growth of Yaakov’s family. However, the genealogical list raises several questions.
One, 46:15 records that Lea had 33 descendants, and while there are 33 men listed as children or grandchildren of Lea, two of them, Er and Onan are dead, 46:12, which brings the list to 31. 46:15 refers to the daughters of Yaakov as well, which means that Dina could be included in the list, but adding Dina only brings the list to 32, who are the 33?
There are two standard answers to this difficulty. Rashi and Radak (on 46:15) quote the Talmud (Baba Batra 123b) that Yokheved, Moshe’s mother, was born upon the entry of the family to Egypt, and her birth would give 33 descendants to Lea. The problem with this approach is that the number of descendants is based on the list of names, and she is not mentioned in the list.
Ibn Ezra (on 46:27) strongly doubts that Yokheved was born during the trip, and he argues that Yaakov should be counted as the 33rd member of Lea’s group. However, this is also problematic since 46:15 refers to the 33 descendants of Lea as the Yaakov’s sons and daughters which excludes Yaakov from being part of the list.
A second question in the list of Lea’s descendants is that by two of Yehuda's grandchildren, Hetzron and Hamul, 46:12 records that “they will be” instead of stating their names as occurs for all the other people in the list.
A third question is that there is a chronological problem with the listing of Hetzron and Hamul. Their father was Peretz, and his parents were Yehuda and Tamar. The story of Yehuda and Tamar is recorded in chapter 38, which is recorded after Yosef was sold to Egypt. We know that 22 years elapsed from the sale of Yosef until the family went to Egypt: Yosef was at least 17 (37:2) when he was sold to Egypt, he was 30 when he became the effective ruler of Egypt (41:46), and there were seven good years and two bad years until the family were reunited, 45:6. This means that all the events of chapter 38, the births of Er, Onan, their marriages to Tamar, the birth of Peretz, and the births of Hetzron and Hamul had to occur in those 22 years.
It seems impossible for there to have been enough time within the 22 years for Hetzron and Hamul to have been born. Ibn Ezra (on 38:1) argues that the story of Yehuda and Tamar occurred before the sale of Yosef, and the Torah does not follow the chronological order of events. This is a common approach of Ibn Ezra, but then one must explain why the story of Yehuda and Tamar was inserted in the midst of the story of Yosef. Cassuto (1973, p. 33) points out that Ibn Ezra cannot be correct since 38:1 records that the events of chapter 38 occurred at the time of the sale of Yosef.
Cassuto (1973, pp. 34-40) argues that the wording of 46:15, “they will be” means that Hetzron and Hamul were not born before the descent into Egypt. Cassuto argues that Hetzron and Hamul were born many years later after the family came to Egypt. Yet if they were not alive at the time of the descent into Egypt why are they mentioned in the list of chapter 46? Cassuto notes that a theme of the story of Yehuda and Tamar is that of yibbum, that a dead brother’s name will not be forgotten, Devarim 25:6, and thus the two sons of Yehuda, Er and Onan died, who died had to be replaced. They were not replaced by the births of Peretz and his brother Zeveh, 38:27-30, since they were also sons of Yehuda. Instead Hetzron and Hamul, Yehuda’s grandchildren were considered as “the replacements” for Er and Onan. Thus, Cassuto argues that even though Hetzron and Hamul were not alive during the family’s descent into Egypt, they are included in the list since they were destined to be born once Er and Onan died. Thus, 46:15 records that “they will be,” since they had yet been born. (Note this is similar to Binyamin being considered as having been born in Paddan Aram, when he really was born in Israel, 35:26.) Similarly, if the idea of yibbum is to remember the dead brothers, then Er and Onan are also mentioned to keep their memory alive, and they are to be counted in the list of 33. However, if one counts Dinah, as implied by 46:15, then there seems to be 34 descendants of Lea and not 33. We have gone from the problem of missing one descendent for Lea to having one “extra” descendant of Lea.
A fourth question concerning the list is that within the sons of Shimon, 46:10 records that Shaul was the son of a Canaanite woman. Why only for Shaul are we told of his mother? Rashi (based on Bereshit Rabbah 80:11) explains that Shaul was the daughter of Dina and Shekhem, and Shimon married her and raised Shaul as his son. Yet, this is difficult not only since Shimon would have married his sister, but also 46:10 records that Shaul was the son of a Canaanite woman and Dina was not a Canaanite. Thus Bereshit Rabbah 80:11 quotes opinions that Dina was considered as a Canaanite woman since she acted in their manner or because she was buried in Canaan. These answers are difficult.
Ibn Ezra (on 46:10) explains that only Shimon took a Canaanite wife as the other sons of Yaakov married women from Egypt, Aram, and other surrounding areas. However, 38:2 records that Yehuda also married a Canaanite woman.
The Talmud (Pesachim 50a) argues that after Avraham did not allow Yitzhak to marry a Canaanite and similarly Yitzhak for Yaakov, then Yehuda would not have married a Canaanite wife. Thus, the Talmud explains that Canaan in 38:2 refers to a trader. However, R. Nehemiah (Bereshit Rabbah 84:21) states that the sons of Yaakov did marry Canaanite women and this is the simple explanation of the 38:2 and 46:10 (see Ramban and Ibn Ezra on 38:2).
I understand that the treaty between Yaakov and Lavan, 51:44-54, broke the bonds between the two sides of Terah’s family, and then there would have been no reason why Canaanite women were any worse than women from other nationalities. Yet, if the sons of Yaakov married Canaanite women, why is Shaul signaled out as being the son of a Canaanite woman?
My guess is that Shaul was adopted by Shimon, as implied in Rashi’s explanation. Maybe, Shimon married Shaul’s mother, and Shaul was a son from a previous marriage. Shaul grew up in Shimon’s household, but he was not a biological descendent of Yaakov. If this is true, then he was also not a descendant of Lea, and he should be removed from the list of her descendants. This leaves us with 33 descendants for Lea counting Er, Onan, Hetzron and Hamul, and Dina, but not Shaul.
46:27 records that there were 70 people in the house of Yaakov when the family went to Egypt. This 70 is derived from 33 descendants of Lea (46:15) plus 16 descendants from Zilpa (46:18) plus 14 descendants from Rahel (46:22) plus 7 descendants from Bilha (46:25). Yet, according to my reckoning, the 70 cannot simply be the addition of the four groups since I counted Er and Onan within the descendants of Lea, but they were dead when the family went to Egypt. The answer is that 46:27 refers to the house of Yaakov and not to his progeny. Thus, I would add Yaakov and Shaul as they were both part of Yaakov’s household, but they were not descendants of Yaakov. Note, Efrayim and Menashe, Yosef’ sons, are included in the list of 70 even though they lived their whole lives in Egypt since they were associated with the family. 46:27 presents the number of people associated with the family when the family went into Egypt while 46:26 lists how many members of the family actually made the trip to Egypt.
46:26 records that there were 66 descendants of Yaakov who came to Egypt with him. If one starts from 70 then one has to exclude four people from the list. Rashi explains that the 66 excludes Yosef, Menashe and Efrayim, who were already in Egypt and Yokheved who was born upon their entry into Egypt. It seems clear from 46:27 that Menashe and Efrayim should be excluded from the 66, but I think Yosef is part of the 66 since he also went down to Egypt. Yosef went to Egypt before the rest of the family, but their traveling to Egypt was due to him, and thus he was part of the family’s descent into Egypt. Also, as mentioned above, I do not think that Yokheved was ever part of my original list. I would subtract Yaakov and Shaul from the list of 70 since they were not descendants of Yaakov and 46:26 refers to Yaakov’s descendants. Thus, my list of 66 is 31 from Lea, excluding Er, Onan, and Shaul but including Dina, 16 from Zilpa, 12 from Rahel excluding Menashe and Efrayim and 7 from Bilha.
The list of 70 is referred to twice again in the Torah. Shemot 1:5 refers to the progeny of Yaakov as being 70. This 70 is not the same 70 in Bereshit 26:47 since Bereshit 26:47 refers to the house of Yaakov and not necessarily to his descendants. The reference to Yaakov’s progeny in Shemot 1:5 means that Er and Onan must be counted since they were his progeny even if they died before the family came to Egypt. Thus, Shemot 1:5 is not referring to the people who came to Egypt since this criterion is not mentioned in the verse. (Shemot 1:1, which refers to the descent into Egypt, only refers to the sons of Yaakov, as indicated in verses 1:2-4.) I would count the 70 of Shemot 1:5 as consisting of 33 from Lea, including Er, Onan, Hetzron, Hamul and Dina but not Shaul, 16 from Zilpa, 14 from Rahel and 7 from Bilha.
The second reference to the 70 people is in Devarim 10:22, which records that Moshe told the generation of the desert that with 70 people their forefathers went to Egypt. This verse refers to the descent into Egypt but not to the progeny of Yaakov. I would understand this verse as similar to 46:27, that there were 70 people associated with the family or forefathers, when the family or forefathers went down into Egypt. This excludes Er and Onan, but includes Yaakov, Shaul, Efrayim and Menashe.
Bibliography:
Cassuto, Umberto (1883-1951), 1973, Biblical and Oriental Studies, vol. 1, Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
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