Genesis 46:7 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

His daughters— As he had only one daughter, we must suppose that his daughters-in-law are here meant; see ch. Genesis 37:35. Bishop Warburton, according to his usual manner, observes, that "the promise God had made to Abraham, to give his posterity the land of Canaan, could not be performed till that family was grown strong enough to take and keep possession of it. In the mean time, therefore, they were necessitated to reside among idolaters, and to reside unmixed: but whoever examines their history will see that the Israelites ever had a violent propensity to join themselves to Gentile nations, and to practise their manners. God, therefore, in his infinite wisdom, brought them into AEgypt, and kept them there during this period, the only place where they could remain for so long a time safe, and unconfounded with the natives; the ancient AEgyptians being, by numerous institutions, forbidden all fellowship with strangers, and bearing, besides, a particular aversion to the profession of the Israelites, who were shepherds. Thus the natural dispositions of the Israelites, which in AEgypt occasioned their superstitions, and in consequence the necessity of a burdensome ritual, would, in any other country, have absorbed them into Gentilism, and confounded them with idolaters. From the Israelites going into AEgypt, arises a new occasion to adore the footsteps of Eternal Wisdom, in his dispensations to his chosen people." Divine Legation, vol. 3: p. 415.