look at the phrase the "sons of Israel." Now we saw that phrase over and over in the book of Exodus, but this is the last time in the five books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, the so-called the Pentateuch. This is the last time in the Pentateuch that the phrase "sons of Israel" will mean Jacob's immediate family. From now on it will refer to the people of God as a whole, collectively. Notice also that interesting number seventy. Seventy. This is the number of the sons of Jacob given in Genesis 46 that went down to Egypt. But it's interesting that the order of the sons' names are not given in the birth order. They are given according to their mother, Leah, Rachel, the concubines. This is the order that we saw in Genesis 35. Now you may be interested to know that in Acts 7:14 Stephen speaks of seventy-five going down into Egypt. And you think, oops. This says seventy, Stephen said seventy-five. But Stephen is most likely referencing the Greek translation, and the Greek translation of Genesis 46 says, "Seventy-five went down." You get that number by adding to the patriarchs some of the wives and daughters-in-law who went down into the land. But seventy is often a symbolic number for completeness in the Old Testament. Do you remember that the number of nations descended from Noah's sons was seventy when we looked at Genesis 10 together? And so this is a number for completeness. The whole of Israel had gone down into Egypt.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Bible descrepancy?
from Ligon Duncan, in his sermon on Exodus 1
look at the phrase the "sons of Israel." Now we saw that phrase over and over in the book of Exodus, but this is the last time in the five books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, the so-called the Pentateuch. This is the last time in the Pentateuch that the phrase "sons of Israel" will mean Jacob's immediate family. From now on it will refer to the people of God as a whole, collectively. Notice also that interesting number seventy. Seventy. This is the number of the sons of Jacob given in Genesis 46 that went down to Egypt. But it's interesting that the order of the sons' names are not given in the birth order. They are given according to their mother, Leah, Rachel, the concubines. This is the order that we saw in Genesis 35. Now you may be interested to know that in Acts 7:14 Stephen speaks of seventy-five going down into Egypt. And you think, oops. This says seventy, Stephen said seventy-five. But Stephen is most likely referencing the Greek translation, and the Greek translation of Genesis 46 says, "Seventy-five went down." You get that number by adding to the patriarchs some of the wives and daughters-in-law who went down into the land. But seventy is often a symbolic number for completeness in the Old Testament. Do you remember that the number of nations descended from Noah's sons was seventy when we looked at Genesis 10 together? And so this is a number for completeness. The whole of Israel had gone down into Egypt.
look at the phrase the "sons of Israel." Now we saw that phrase over and over in the book of Exodus, but this is the last time in the five books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, the so-called the Pentateuch. This is the last time in the Pentateuch that the phrase "sons of Israel" will mean Jacob's immediate family. From now on it will refer to the people of God as a whole, collectively. Notice also that interesting number seventy. Seventy. This is the number of the sons of Jacob given in Genesis 46 that went down to Egypt. But it's interesting that the order of the sons' names are not given in the birth order. They are given according to their mother, Leah, Rachel, the concubines. This is the order that we saw in Genesis 35. Now you may be interested to know that in Acts 7:14 Stephen speaks of seventy-five going down into Egypt. And you think, oops. This says seventy, Stephen said seventy-five. But Stephen is most likely referencing the Greek translation, and the Greek translation of Genesis 46 says, "Seventy-five went down." You get that number by adding to the patriarchs some of the wives and daughters-in-law who went down into the land. But seventy is often a symbolic number for completeness in the Old Testament. Do you remember that the number of nations descended from Noah's sons was seventy when we looked at Genesis 10 together? And so this is a number for completeness. The whole of Israel had gone down into Egypt.
