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No.23. A Threefold Computation
(Gen. 46: 26, 27 and Acts 7: 14).
pp. 156, 157
On three occasions the Scriptures speak of the number of souls that entered Egypt,
"66 souls" (Gen. 46: 26); "70 souls" (Gen. 46: 27; Deut. 10: 22); and "75 souls"
(Acts 7: 14). Confusion may exist in the minds of the casual reader, but there is
nothing but absolute accuracy in the Divine record.
"All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides
Jacob's son's wives, all the souls were threescore and six" (Gen. 46: 26).
All the difficulty vanishes in connection with these three sets of numbers 66, 70 and
75, when the records are examined and each computation would pass the most scrupulous
audit. The lowest number 66, is the sum of all the souls that came "with" Jacob into
Egypt, which came out of his loins, "besides" Jacob's son's wives.
The second number 70, refers to a different method of computation.
"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" (Gen. 46: 27).
Here we have the addition of the two sons of Joseph, the addition of Jacob himself, for
it does not here say that this number "came with Jacob" and the addition too of Joseph,
for he was already in Egypt.
The third reference is found in the speech of Stephen, where he said:
"Jacob and all his kindred threescore and fifteen souls" (Acts 7: 14).
As Stephen was appointed to oversee the affairs of the "Grecian" members of the
church, he would naturally use the Septuagint, or ancient Greek translation of the O.T.,
and in that version there is an addition at Gen. 46: 20 which reads:
"And there were born unto Manasseh and Ephraim, whom his concubine the
Aramitess bare him, Machir; and Machir begat Gilead. And the sons of Ephraim the
brother of Manasseh were Shuthelah, Tahath and the sons of Shuthelan, Edem (or Bered
or Becher)."
These names are actually found in the Authorized Version of Numb. 26: 29, 35 and
I Chron. 7: 14, 20. It will be seen that Edem, Berech and Bered are names that are
interchangeable. Before tabulating this threefold list, we present the summary for
clearness sake.
The sons of Leah (Gen. 46: 8-15), omitting Er and Onan, who died in the land of
Canaan, amount to 31, to which must be added the one daughter Dinah, making 32 in all.