Strengthened and encouraged by the divine promises again vouchsafed to him in the nightly vision, Jacob went into Egypt, accompanied by his children and grandchildren.

 Many commentators have drawn attention to a tomb picture from Beni Hasan in Egypt, as a parallel to Jacob’s migration to Egypt. This picture, already described in connection with Abraham’s earlier journey to Egypt (see on ch. 12:10), depicts the arrival of Semites in the Nile valley in the 19th century B.C., at the time of the Twelfth Dynasty. This would be at least two centuries before Jacob’s journey to Egypt, and the picture therefore cannot be taken as a contemporary illustration of the event under discussion. It is, nevertheless, important to an understanding of Jacob’s migration, because it shows Semitic men and women with their goods loaded upon asses and their children in wicker baskets on the backs of asses. It shows their colorful dress, and the style of their garments, shoes, weapons, and even a musical instrument, a lyre (see p. 160).