Genesis 46:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Consider how the faithful individual journeyed with a sense of peace, having been granted the certainty of the divine promise.

Jacob rose from the oath-box, and his sons gathered their father Israel, along with his belongings and wives, into the chariots that Joseph had sent for him. Jacob, along with his entire lineage—his sons, grandsons, daughters, and granddaughters—journeyed together into Egypt. "And the sons of Israel lifted up their father," signifying they bore him, an elderly man, along with "his possessions" (in Hebrew, "with his children") and his wives into the chariots, while they themselves traveled partly on foot, accompanied by their flocks and some on donkeys. The term "daughters" refers to the wives of Jacob’s sons, as he only had one daughter, Dinah (Genesis 46:15). "All the seed" encompasses everyone, including Joseph and his sons, and Jacob himself, culminating in a total of seventy-five souls who were settled in Egypt, as detailed in the following count (Gen. 46:27).