Comments on: How many descendants did Jacob have?

By: ezekiel

ezekiel — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:05:43 +0000

I believe number 34 (Dinah) is the problem. In every genealogy given in the Bible, females are only seldom mentioned. Look at Christ’s genealogy. He has nearly 50 forefathers but 5 “foremothers”.

Dinah was simply not included when Jacob was said to have had 70 descendants.

By: Errancy

Errancy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:39:37 +0000

It does look like the key should be in Leah’s section of the genealogy (Genesis 46:8-15), where 34 names are listed but the count is given as 33. Whether it’s Shaul or Dinah that’s included on the list but excluded from the count I’m not sure.

By: WisdomLover

WisdomLover — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:08:34 +0000

Two responses seem possible here:

1) 70 is approximately equal to 71.

2) Among Jacob’s grandchildren, only Shaul (number 12 in the full list) and the sons of Joseph include a special notation about their mother. There was obviously nothing shameful in the birth of Joseph’s sons. There may have been in Shaul’s birth. He might have been a bastard by the Canaanite woman. He might not have been counted in the total for Exodus for that reason.