John Calvin Commentary Genesis 46:5

"And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him." — Genesis 46:5 (ASV)

And Jacob rose up. By using the words “rose up,” Moses seems to indicate that Jacob received new vigor from the vision. For although the former promises were not forgotten, the addition of this recent reminder came very opportunely, so that he, bearing the land of Canaan in his heart, might endure his absence from it with composure.

When it is said that he took with him all that he had acquired or possessed in the land of Canaan, it is probable that his servants and handmaids accompanied his cattle. However, on his departure, no mention is made of them. Indeed, a little later, when Moses enumerates the heads of each tribe, he says that only seventy souls came with him.

If anyone were to suggest that Jacob had been compelled to liberate his slaves because of the famine, or that he lost them through some misfortune unknown to us, this conjecture is unsatisfactory. For it is most incredible that he, who had been an industrious head of a household and had abounded in God’s earthly blessings, should have become so entirely destitute that not even one little servant remained to him.

It is more probable that when the children of Israel were themselves engaged in servile tasks, they were then deprived of their servants in Egypt; or, at least, a sufficient number was not left to them to inspire them with confidence in any enterprise. And although, in the account of their deliverance, Moses is silent about their servants, yet it may be easily gathered from other passages that they did not depart without servants.