The events surrounding the birth of Joseph to Jacob and Rachel, although not directly adding to the determination of the overall chronology, serves the role of supporting and verifying the correct compilation of the period Creation to Exodus. The "standard view" of the birth of Joseph argues that Jacob was 91 years old when he fathered Joseph. The age of Jacob when he meets Pharaoh 130 Gen 47:9 Less Prior Years of Joseph - Years of famine before Jacob enters Egypt 2 Gen 45:6 - Years of plenty before Jacob enters Egypt 7 Gen 41:53 - Age of Joseph when he explains Pharaoh's dream 30 39 Gen 41:46 --- Presumed age of Jacob when Joseph is born 91 Joseph was born 14 years after Jacob departed to find a wife in Padan Aram, refer Gen 30:25-43, 31:41. If Jacob was indeed 91 years old when Joseph was born, then Jacob would have been 77 years old when he departed for Padan Aram. The age of Jacob when he departed for Padan Aram is important, because this is when a 'father' of Esau (and Jacob) died! Gen 27:41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob". Since Isaac lived until 180 years of age (Gen 35:28) and Jacob was born when Isaac was 60 years old (Gen 25:26), Isaac would not have died until Jacob reached 120 years of age. This makes it very apparent that the father of Esau (the father who had died) was not Isaac. [NB: Isaac lived decades after this event. Isaac's death is recorded in Gen 35:27-29. Isaac died when Jacob was about 120 years old. Note that it was only about 10 years later (refer Gen 47:9) that Jacob and descendants entered Egypt. ] As previously mentioned, in the Hebrew language, any male ancestor can be called 'father'. In respect to the death of Esau's father mentioned in Gen 27:41 it is not clear from Scripture exactly which ancestor of Esau died at this time. The immediate ancestors, such as Abraham (who died when Jacob was 15) and Terah (who died 25 years before Jacob was born) are not options, so more distant ancestors have to be considered. A biblically important ancestor who did die about this time is; *** SHEM *** Shem died 500 years after fathering his son Arphaxad shortly after the Flood. Gen 11:10 This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. :11 After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. Although not initially apparent the death of Shem is the event which caused Isaac to pass on the birthright promises. It must have seemed to many living at that time that Shem was never going to die, as Shem had outlived many of his descendants. Hence, Shem finally dying would have been an event which would have caused many to consider their own mortality. However, identifying the 'father' as Shem requires Jacob to be younger at this point in time than the standard view would suggest. There is an area of ambiguity in the Hebrew which would make Jacob younger upon the death of this 'father' and also result in a more youthful Jacob fathering Joseph. The ambiguity can be found in the following section of Scripture; Gen 41:46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. In Hebrew a persons age is expressed in a number of ways. A common expression is used in this case, ie 'a son of thirty years'. The word 'son' in Hebrew is actually the Strong's Ref 1121, meaning 'build'. The word in this context places emphasis upon a son's role as builder of the family name. Although it is common to view this term in respect to the building of one's father's family it is also commonly used in respect to a person's role in building one's wider family. A clear example of this is encountered in 1 Samuel 13:1 talking about King Saul. A literal translation reads as follows; 1Sam 13:1 A son of a year Saul when he became king .... The text makes it clear Saul was not one year old, yet on the surface this verse appears to be stating he was. This verse is actually stating that Saul was crowned king in the first year since being called by God. Saul became king in the same year he was anointed by God as commander over God's inheritance (1 Sam 10:1). Another verse which shows that the translation 'son' is not always accurate is Gen 37:3. Gen 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. ... This rendering implies Joseph was born many years after his older brothers. This was not the case. His oldest brother Reuben was born after the start of the 2nd period of 7 years, then after the birth of several more brothers Joseph was finally born near the end of this 7 year period. The context of Gen 37:3 is that Joseph is seventeen and had just brought a bad report to Jacob concerning some of his brothers (possibly something concerning how they were dealing with Jacob's flock). This action showed to Jacob that Joseph had his father's best interests at heart. Showed that Joseph would act to build the family. Prior to this event Reuben had lost the firstborn right having slept with Bilhah, Gen 35:22. Jacob decided to transfer the rights of the firstborn to Rachel's first son, Joseph. In Jacob's old age Joseph became the firstborn and therefore the 'builder' of the family. The verse should have been rendered; Gen 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the builder of his old age. ... | So returning to Gen 41:46 we have the question of whether it had been 30 years since Joseph was born or was it 30 years since Joseph was called by God. Joseph was 17 years old when his dreams started (Gen 37:2), therefore if it had been 30 years since his calling he would have been 47 years old when he was called to Pharaoh's presence. |  |
[ NB: There is one line of reasoning which argues against Joseph being about 47 years old at this time. When Joseph had interpreted the dreams of the butler and the baker he is described as 'young' i.e. a 'lad'. Gen 41:12 Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; ... This would indicate Joseph was 30 years old or younger at that time. Yet we have Gen 41:1 apparently stating only two full years passed after this, before Joseph was called to interpret Pharaoh's dreams. So what is the solution? One could question the accuracy of the two year period mentioned in Gen 41:1, but it seems somewhat unlikely that 17 or more years had passed since Joseph explained the dreams of the butler and baker. If Joseph had indeed been much older when he interpreted the butler's dream then the 'young' reference of Genesis 41:12 must be saying something else? The Hebrew rendered 'young' is  . This is the normal translation of these Hebrew letters and corresponds to Strong's Ref H5288. However, there are other possible meanings and renderings. (Recall that the received Hebrew text only shows consonants.)  So rather than the butler saying 'a young Hebrew man', the butler may have been describing 'a protesting Hebrew man'. In other words someone who was declaring his innocence and was seeking his freedom. Gen 40:14 "But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. :15 For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon." Translators provided a reasonable rendering, especially given the surface meaning of Gen 41:46 ('a son of thirty years'), but may have inadvertently further mislead those trying to better understand biblical chronology. ] The proposed new arrangement means Joseph's age would have been 17 years older than the standard view would indicate. - Revised View - The age of Jacob when he meets Pharaoh 130 Less Prior Years of Joseph - Years of famine before Jacob enters Egypt 2 - Years of plenty before Jacob enters Egypt 7 - Age of Joseph when he explains Pharaoh's dream 47 56 --- Age of Jacob when Joseph is born ** 74 ** Less The 14 years since Jacob fled from Esau 14 --- Age of Jacob when he departed for Padan Aram 60 | FURTHER EVIDENCE OF A YOUNGER JACOB Another verse which suggests Jacob, when he left for Padan Aram, was younger than commonly thought is Gen 28:9. Gen 28:9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had. This verse advises that when Esau sort a wife from the family of Ishmael, that Ishmael was still alive. Ishmael lived to be 137 years old, Gen 25:17. Most chronologies have Jacob being about 91 years when Joseph was born and therefore about 77 years old when he first departed for Padan Aram. If Jacob was 77 years old, when he left for Padan Aram, how old would Ishmael have been? - Ishmael was 14 yrs older than Isaac. (100 yrs Gen 17:17 - 86 yrs Gen 16:16) - Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob and Esau are born Gen 25:26. - Esau marries Mahalath after Jacob leaves for Padan Aram. If Jacob departs at 77 years old, then Ishmael at that time would have already died! If Ishmael was still alive he would be 14 + 60 + 77 = 151 yrs old. (As mentioned above, Ishmael died at 137 years of age.) So for Ishmael to be alive when Esau seeks a wife of Ishmael's bloodline then Jacob must be at least 14 years younger than is commonly thought. Hence reducing the age of Jacob, when he departs for Padan Aram, down from 77 years to 60 years of age allows Ishmael to be still be alive when Esau visits him. |
Also consider; | JACOB'S SONS - Their Birth Order |
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