So Israel set out with all that was his, and he came to Beer-sheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac’s [house]. God called to Israel in a vision by night: “Jacob! Jacob!” He answered, “Here.” “I am God, the God of your father’s [house]. Fear not to go down to Egypt, for I will make you there into a great nation. I Myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I Myself will also bring you back; and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.” So Jacob set out from Beer-sheba. The sons of Israel put their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to transport him;

If my father touches me, I shall appear to him as a trickster and bring upon myself a curse, not a blessing.”

Jacob answered Laban, saying, “I was afraid because I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.

Jacob was greatly frightened; in his anxiety, he divided the people with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps,

Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my fighters are few in number, so that if they unite against me and attack me, I and my house will be destroyed.”

אל תירא…כי לגוי גדול אשימך שם "Do not be afraid…for I will make you into a great nation there." What precisely was Jacob afraid of when he set out to go to Egypt? If it was the fear of ushering in exile for his family, how did G'd's assurance alleviate that fear? If, on the other hand, G'd meant to console him that there would be no exile there, history teaches that Jacob's family became enslaved and suffered persecution and hard labour in Egypt! Besides, how did the announcement that Jacob would become a great nation while in Egypt console him over what he was afraid of? Why could he not develop into a great nation in any other place but Egypt? Furthermore, why did G'd add the letter ל and said לגוי גדול אשימך, instead of merely בי גוי גדול אשימך?

יהוה had appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land which I point out to you. Reside in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; I will assign all these lands to you and to your heirs, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your heirs as numerous as the stars of heaven, and assign to your heirs all these lands, so that all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your heirs— inasmuch as Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge: My commandments, My laws, and My teachings.”

I am … God of your father. I am the God who told your father not to go to Egypt (26:2), yet I am telling you to go. There I will make you into a great nation. Whereas if you remain here your offspring will intermarry with the Canaanites. This will not happen in Egypt because the populace will not even eat with the Hebrews; see 43:32

אל תירא מרדה מצרימה, “do not fear descending to Egypt;” no one in the Bible had ever been told by G-d not to be afraid, unless he had already been afraid. Yaakov’s reasoning for being fearful was his knowledge that being strangers in a foreign land and being slaves which had been decreed already in the lifetime of his grandfather Avraham would most likely commence now that he was moving to Egypt. G-d answered him that although He had warned his father and grandfather of this, He appeared to him in order to give him reassurance. He hinted that although he was correct in assuming that the warning would soon be fulfilled, but by the same token, the promise made to all the three patriarchs that they would develop into a great nation, came closer to its fulfillment.

(5) So Jacob set out from Beer-sheba. The sons of Israel put their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to transport him;

(29) Joseph ordered his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel; he presented himself to him and, embracing him around the neck, he wept on his neck a good while. (30) Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die, having seen for myself that you are still alive.”

But you,Have no fear, My servant Jacob—declares GOD—
Be not dismayed, O Israel!I will deliver you from far away,Your folk from their land of captivity.And Jacob shall again have calmAnd quiet with none to trouble him;For I am with you to deliver you—declares GOD.
I will make an end of all the nationsAmong which I have dispersed you;But I will not make an end of you!I will not leave you unpunished,But will chastise you in measure.

But you,Have no fear, My servant Jacob,Be not dismayed, O Israel!I will deliver you from far away,Your folk from their land of captivity;And Jacob again shall have calmAnd quiet, with none to trouble him.But you, have no fear,My servant Jacob—declares GOD—
For I am with you.I will make an end of all the nationsAmong which I have banished you,But I will not make an end of you!I will not leave you unpunished,But I will chastise you in measure.