"The eternal God is thy dwelling-place, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27). Jacob came to Egypt to find his son alive — the son he had grieved for twenty-two years — and beneath the whole impossible reunion were the everlasting arms, the permanent divine support that had been there all along (Genesis 37:1).
Moses arrived, centuries later, to ask a question the rabbis found worth pursuing: which came first — the dwelling place or God? Moses's prayer supplies the answer: "O Lord, You have been our refuge in every generation" (Psalm 90:1). Not "You will be" or "You became" — You have been. Before the world had dwelling places, before the patriarchs settled their tents, before the first generation needed refuge, God was already there. God never preceded creation because God preceded everything, including time itself.
Jacob "dwelt" in Egypt — the same Hebrew word used for dwelling securely, for settling in peace. But Egypt was not the Promised Land. The security Jacob found there was temporary, a grace period before the long slavery. The rabbis read this dwelling as a warning: when Israel dwells too securely in exile, it forgets where its real home is. The everlasting arms are always beneath you. That doesn't mean you've arrived at the right place.