Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 46:27
And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, [were] two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, [were] threescore and ten.
27. threescore and ten ] LXX gives “threescore and fifteen,” which is followed in Act 7:14. The additional five persons were the three grandsons and two great-grandsons born to Joseph in Egypt. Cf. Gen 50:23; Num 26:28 ff.
The number “seventy” being a sacred number is secured, though at the cost of some adjustment.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He doth not say,
which came with Jacob into Egypt, because some of them came thither before him, and others with him, some in their persons, and some in their parents. As for the difficulty arising from comparing this place with Act 7:14, it will be more fit to speak of it when we come to that place.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the sons of Joseph, which were born in Egypt, [were] two souls,…. Ephraim and Manasseh; which is observed to show that they do not come into the above reckoning, but are to be taken into another that follows:
all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, [were] threescore and ten; here it may be observed, the phrase is varied; it is not said, “all the souls which came out of the loins of Jacob”, but “all the souls of the house” or family of Jacob; all that that consisted of, and takes in Jacob himself, the head of his house or family; nor is it said, “which came with Jacob into Egypt”, as before, but “which came into Egypt”; not which came with him thither, but yet were there by some means or another, as Joseph and his two sons; Joseph by being brought down, and sold there, and his two sons by being born there; if therefore Jacob, Joseph, and his two sons, are added to the above number of sixty six, it will make seventy; as for the account of Stephen, making the number seventy five, [See comments on Ac 7:14].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
27. All the souls threescore and ten It accorded with Hebrew spirit and custom to so frame a register of honoured names as to have them sum up a definite and significant number . So Matthew’s genealogy of our Lord is arranged into three groups of fourteen names each, (Mat 1:17,) and yet this could be done only by omitting several important names . The compiler of this list of Jacob’s sons might, by another process equally correct, have made it number sixty-nine by omitting Jacob himself, or a lesser number by omitting some of the grandchildren, or have made it exceed seventy by adding the names of Jacob’s wives: he purposely arranged it so as to make it number seventy souls . The descendants of Noah, as registered in chap . 10, amount to seventy . The seventy elders of Israel (Num 11:16) and the seventy disciples chosen by Jesus (Luk 10:1) show a peculiar regard for this mystic number . It is not improbable that the arrangement of genealogical lists was made up to round numbers, and, where possible, to a sacred number, that the whole might be the more easily and correctly transmitted by oral tradition .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 46:27. All the soulswhich came into AEgypt, were threescore and ten In the former verse, all the souls which came with Jacob into AEgypt, and out of his loins, we are told, were threescore and six; add to these Jacob himself, Joseph and his two sons, and you have the number of threescore and ten. Concerning the difference in calculation in this verse and in Act 7:14 the authors of the Universal History observe, “That it may be accounted for in this manner:St. Stephen follows the first number of Moses, viz. sixty-six, out of which he excludes Jacob and Joseph and his two sons; to which he adds nine of their wives; for Judah’s wife was already dead; and Benjamin is supposed to be still unmarried, and Joseph’s wife out of the case: so that if we add these nine wives, who, though not of Jacob’s blood, yet belonged to his family and to Joseph’s kindred, (which is the expression St. Stephen makes use of,) to the number of sixty-six, it will amount to seventy-five.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 46:27 And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, [were] two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, [were] threescore and ten.
Ver. 27. Threescore and ten. ] St Stephen reckons seventy-five. Act 7:14 And so the Greek translateth here, which Stephen seemeth to follow; as doth likewise St Luke for Cainan; Luk 3:36 that translation being then received, and they not willing to alter it. The Jews say, that these seventy souls were as much as all the seventy nations of the world. And Moses tells them, that whereas their fathers went down into Egypt with seventy souls, now Jehovah had made them “as the stars of heaven for multitude.” Deu 10:22
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
threescore and ten. 7 x 10. See App-10. These seventy (Exo 1:5. Rth 4:11) are in contrast with the seventy nations of Genesis 10, and in correspondence with the seventy elders (Exo 24:1. Num 11:16).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
threescore and ten: Threescore and six were before mentioned – Gen 46:26, so that Joseph and his two sons, together with Jacob himself, complete the seventy persons here enumerated; and the number in Gen 46:15, Gen 46:18, Gen 46:22, and Gen 46:25, amount to that number. The addition of five persons in the LXX in Gen 46:20, was either the cause or the consequence of another difference here; for in that version the number is seventy-five – Gen 46:15, Gen 46:18, Gen 46:22, Gen 46:25. Exo 1:5, Exo 24:1, Deu 10:22, Act 7:14
Reciprocal: Gen 49:22 – a fruitful Num 1:40 – General Num 11:16 – seventy Deu 26:5 – a few