Genesis 46: Israel Moves to Egypt
Jacob moves his family and possessions to Beersheba, offers sacrifice to God who assures him that it is His will he go to Egypt and promises he will come back again. About 70 family members plus wives, servants, flocks and possessions came to the pasture-land of Goshen in Egypt where Joseph met them and reunited with his father. They settled in Goshen, away from the Egyptians who abhorred shepherds anyway.
God appears to Jacob but in all those years He never told him that Joseph was alive (Coffman). He does not take away all our uncertainties if life and doesn’t explain His plans but He promises to take care of us . “Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment?” Matthew 6:25).
God had ordained that Israel would increase in a foreign land and prophesied their return to their own land. It is a long story that covers over 400 years and yet it all comes to pass. Those who believe the Bible must believe there is a God who knows and acts on those who have faith in Him. The only alternative is that uninspired men wrote the Bible and inserted explanatory events to make it seem that there was a foreknowledge of events. If one falls into the latter camp, then nothing is sacred in the biblical record and nothing can be taken on faith as any of it could just be a matter of coincidence, falsehood, or accident. It is, in fact, easier for me to just take the word as inspired truth, then no fabrication or contriving is necessary.