Smoodock's Blog

Scholars are aware of time developments in the final record of the Book of Genesis, as that relates to the ages of Jacob’s sons, especially Joseph’s and Judah’s ages, which, taken together, also establish the ages of the other ten brothers. The reason their ages are so important is that they place parameters around the final events in the Record of the Generations of Isaac (Genesis 25:19) and the beginning events of the Record of the Generations of Jacob (Genesis 37:2). We cannot know the order of the events that transpire in chapters 34 and 35 (the final events of the “Generations of Isaac”) and chapters 37 and 38 (the beginning events of the “Generations of Jacob”) without coming to a fair understanding of the ages of Joseph and Judah, especially Judah.

Jacob was 130 years of age, when he appeared before Pharaoh. Nine years earlier, Joseph appeared before Pharaoh at 30 years of age, meaning Jacob would have been 121 years old when Joseph was released from prison in Egypt. This was one year after Isaac’s death.[1] Therefore, everything in chapters 34, 35, 37 and 38 take place in 21 to 23 years.[2]

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the preferred age for a male to marry was 18 years old (Marriage Laws),[3] and this was so from ancient times. How soon this was so after the patriarchs’ marriages would be conjecture. However, Isaac did marry considerably younger than Abraham. Could we assume Jacob’s sons married at an even younger ages? The text at Genesis 34:16 implies at least some of the brothers were not only married but, also, had families of their own, which, taking Joseph’s age into consideration (Genesis 37:2), indicates that Jacob’s sons married very young by comparison to Jacob and Isaac, for there is no more than six years difference between Reuben and Joseph. Moreover, Dinah is but eleven years old, when she was defiled, and discussion is carried on in Genesis 34 to marry her to Shechem. So, even at 11 years of age for a female doesn’t seem to be a concern. Therefore, marriage at 18 for at least some of Jacob’s sons doesn’t seem off the mark for this time period.

If Joseph was sold into Egypt at age 17, as seems to be the case (Genesis 37:2, 28, 36), Judah would have been 20 years old at that time, for he is only three years older than Joseph. When Joseph dreamed his dreams (Genesis 37:9-10), his mother, Rachel, must have still been alive, for his dream included her bowing to him. Moreover, since the eleven stars also bow to Joseph in the dream, Rachel must have been pregnant in Genesis 37:9-10. Therefore, Joseph was sold into Egypt prior to the defilement of Dinah (Genesis 34), because Rachel died after fleeing Shechem, because Jacob feared the Canaanites would take vengeance upon him and his family over what Simeon and Levi had done to the males in the city of Shechem. Rachel died on that journey, giving birth to Benjamin (Genesis 35:16-17). Thus, the first time Joseph saw his brother, Benjamin, was when he was brought to Egypt.

As for the events of Genesis 38, if we presume Judah’s marriage and that of his son, Er, took place, when they were 18 years old, Joseph would have been 15 years old, when Judah married his wife, and 16, when Er was born, 17 at the birth of Onan. So, Joseph knew Judah’s first two sons before he was sold into Egypt. At age 18, Er married Tamar, 17 years after Joseph was sold into Egypt, or 5 years into the good harvest seasons (Joseph is 34 and Judah is 37 years old). It would take about one to two years for Shelah to become of age to marry. Add to this one more year for Tamar to be convinced that Judah had no intention to give Shelah to her for a husband. Therefore, she would become pregnant with Judah’s twins about one year into the famine season (Joseph would be 37 and Judah 40). Just after the birth of her sons, Joseph brought his entire family into Egypt, which included Tamar and her sons (Joseph is 38 and Judah 41).

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[1] Isaac was 180 years old at his death (Genesis 35:28-29), Jacob was 60 years younger that Isaac (Genesis 25:26). Therefore, Jacob was 120 years of age when his father died.

[2] That is 21 years from the time Joseph was sold into Egypt (Genesis 37:2, 36), but 23 years after Judah married his Canaanite wife (Genesis 34:1), culminating in the ninth year of Pharaoh’s dream of 7 years of good harvests and 7 years of famine (Genesis 45:26).

[3] No matter what age we assume them to be when they marry, logic demands that their ages must be young, if the events of Genesis 34, 35, 37 and 38 are to occur within a 23-year period. Age 18 is the oldest Judah and Er could have been, when they married, if events are to transpire correctly, without contradiction, younger ages work, but older ages do not.