Recently there was a comment on the blog that got me curious about the name list of the Descendents of Israel. Hence I decided to list the names in a table and do a calculation of the people listed in Genesis chapter 46. The counting of the children born from each of Jacobs 4 wives could be verified easily. But I think the difficulty lies in the following verses
“All the persons of the house of Jacob
who went to Egypt were seventy.” – Moses (Gen 46:27)
12 Sons + 1 Daughter + 53 Grand Children + 4 Great Grandchildren = 70
Interestingly, I believe that when all the house of Jacob was used. Even the children who had passed away in Canaan are included in the number.
“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” – Moses (Gen 46:26).
I believed the numbers are derived as follows
70 – Er (Died in Canaan ) – Onan(Died in Canaan)- Ephraim (Living In Egypt)-Manasseh (Living In Egypt)
Just to share the chart since it was already completed
A Summary of all the names and the numbers in Gen 46
A PDF version can be downloaded here: Gen 46 Numbers
The Hesitant Prize Fighter 
January 23, 2016 at 11:40 am
First, thank you so much for the time lines of bible characters and events. I found them very helpful!
I have a question about the the age of Judah when Tamar born his twin sons. When Judah went to Egypt with Jacob’s entire family, he was probably 43ish, a few years older than Joseph of 40, knowing that he was the 4th son of Leah. Judah’s two older sons died after marrying Tamar. Let’s assume Judah had his 1st son at 18, which was kind of young for people in his time. And the 2nd at 19, and the 3rd one Shelah at 22 – i am kind of gustimating his age according to Genesis 38:18 where says “wait for Shelah to grow up”. So when Judah’s oldest son was married, again assuming he was 18, Judah was probably 36. So by the time his twin sons were born from Tamar, Judah was likely to be close to his 40th. In other words, Perez was only a little kid when the extended family moved to Egypt. But according to Genesis 46:12, Perez already had two sons of his own… I don’t quite get it here. I would appreciate some insight from you on this. Thank you and God bless!
January 23, 2016 at 6:30 pm
Hi Yinmei
Thank you for your comments.
I have to admit. The best way to find the answer is to Ask Judah direct when we see him in heaven 😉
As I have shared a few times among the comments. There is indeed a lack of information. The story of Judah and Tamar is a side story which I believe God wanted Moses to record it because we know that the Messiah will come from the line of Judah. (though I guess Moses must be baffled when he was told to record it.)
I tried to do a guesstimate just like you did. Since Judah was the fourth sons (10 month for pregnancy). The earliest possible year of his birth is likely when Jacob is 74. (since the maid servants have not join into the family of Jacob yet). By the time Jacob entered Egypt, he was 130. 56 years have passed. He should be roughly 56 years old when he entered Egypt
We know the wife Shua is a Canannite, so Judah should have met her after Jacob returns to Cannaan (Estimated at age 90). He should be around 16 or 18
Assuming if he had Er and Onan immediately after marriage.. Let say they are born shortly after Jacobs return to Canaan. They should marry Tamar when Jacob is around 108 (Assuming most ppeople are considered marraigable material at 18) I would say they would have passed away when Jacob is around 110. (20 more year to go before he enter Egypts.
We do not know when Shua died, or when Judah had sexual relation with Tamar. I am thinking that the grandsons of Judah is most likely Toddlers when they move to Egypt. 20 years is more than sufficient time for that to happen.
But of course, this calcution rest on 2 main assumption
1. Most people get married at the age of 18.