And all persons that were direct offspring of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.
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Cassiodorus Senator
AD 585
The expression “their souls” must be interpreted as meaning the men whom he is known to have slain in that calamity. The words of Exodus attest that the soul stands for the whole person, as we have said: “So all the souls that came out of Jacob’s thigh were seventy.” This expression is the result of the figure of synecdoche, which signifies the whole from the part.
Scripture often substitutes “souls” for men, as in Exodus: “There went down to Egypt seventyfive souls.” The whole man is to be understood from his better part.
