33 Children of Le’ah
Hello! I was reading 46:8-15 and I keep being tripped up by the math. When I count out the children through Leah, I count either 34, if I include the two dead sons of Y’hudah, or 32, if I don’t include them … I can’t figure out how to make 33 work. Perhaps I do count the dead sons, but not Dinah? Only I don’t see how that works, since we count other daughters under other wives counts. And we need 33 to work, because that is how we add up to 70 with 16, 14 and 7 for the others. It probably isn’t too important but it bugs me every time I read this section! Any insights would be awesome!
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3 Comments
March 25, 2019 at 2:41 pm /
Consider, Exo 2:1 ASV And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.; The un-named person is in the womb when they went down into Egypt. Exo_6:20 And Amram took him Jochebed his father’s sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years..
Which brings the next conundrum, Levi went down, then daughter Jochebed, Moses, how long were they in Egypt?
January 29, 2019 at 11:46 pm /
I noticed the same thing and have intended to go back to it to look over more thoroughly. Seeing your question, I went back and recounted everyone.
That 33 must include Jacob and Dinah but not Er and Onan. In verse 15 it says (in NKJV) “All the persons, his sons and his daughters, were thirty-three.” When I count all the children and grandchildren, excluding Judah’s 2 dead sons, but including Joseph and his sons, it totals 69. Add Jacob and it totals 70.
In verse 26 it says, “All the persons who went WITH Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all.” So, if we subtract Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh from the 70 total we end up with 66 who went to Egypt along with Jacob. You’ll notice, though, that Joseph and his sons are listed in Rachel’s family, totaling 14 persons.
If we add up the totals from each grouping within the family: 33 + 16 + 14 + 7 = 70. Jacob must be counted in there somewhere. Since the first group of 33 is the only one who is 1 short, when Dinah is counted but not Judah’s 2 sons, I would have to conclude that Jacob is numbered in that first group.
January 30, 2019 at 9:17 pm /
Oh, that is such an interesting thought! I had never considered that … now that you point that out, it makes a ton of sense! Thank you!!
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