And then came Joseph. There is a curious statement made about Jacob in Genesis 37 that is somewhat obscured in the translation into English. It says there:
The obscure, or curious, statement pivots on the word "generations" or "genealogy," as it might say in your Bible. Both of them are correct translations; but the word in the Hebrew indicates "history" or "account." Some Bibles translate that as "This is the history (or, the account) of Jacob." The phrase is used a number of times for others; and, after it is used, there immediately follows a rundown of the family and a sketchy outline of a few significant occasions in the family's history.
With Isaac, the phrase is used to indicate the beginning of his dynasty, and that it began with the births of Jacob and Esau "in the land." But with Jacob, all of his children—with the exception of Benjamin—were born outside "the land." They were born in Syria. So, the phrase regarding Jacob and his history is withheld until after he re-entered "the land of inheritance" and actually began living in it. Then, Joseph is named and nobody else. It is as if Jacob's story does not begin until they are "in the land." And then, instead of naming all of the children, only one is named. It is an indication that, even though Jacob remains the head of the family, Joseph—and, we are going to find out, to a lesser extent, Judah—is going to be the moving principle in the following history. So, it is almost as if God says, "Well, here the history of Jacob begins and here the history of Jacob ends." (Not quite, but almost.)
