"How many were in Jacob’s family when they came into Egypt?" (Alleged Contradiction #E8078)
Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen [75] souls.
Acts 7:14
These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three.
Genesis 46:15
All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six [66]; and 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 [70].
Genesis 46:26-27
And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.
Exodus 1:5
Response
33 is the number of “all the souls of [Jacob’s] sons and his daughters” “which [Leah] bare unto Jacob in Padanaram,” which was earlier than when they came into Egypt (Genesis 46:15). 66 is the number that came into Egypt minus Jacob and his four sons’ wives, as Genesis 46:26-27 clearly states. 70 includes the four wives. 75 includes Jacob himself, Er, Onan, Ephraim, and Mannaseh (“all [Joseph’s] kindred”). 1
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Sources
Ruckman, P. S. (1980). Problem Texts. Pensacola, Fla.: Pensacola Bible Institute.
Notes
- Ruckman, 1980, p. 25 ↩