Age of Jacob When Joseph Was Born

How old was Jacob when Joseph was born?

74 (http://www.sacredcalendar.info/AnnoMundi.html)

The age of Jacob at the birth of Joseph requires a calculation of 130-2-7-30-17=74. This is necessary because the Bible does not explicitly tell the age of Jacob when Joseph was born. You can take the age of Jacob when he stood before pharaoh (Genesis 47:9). Subtract the number of years of famine before Jacob came to Egypt (Genesis 45:6). Subtract the number of years of plenty (Genesis 41:53), minus the number of years before Joseph interpreted the pharaoh's dream (Genesis 41:46. Subtract the number of years before which God first called Joseph by giving him a dream of his future (Genesis 37:2). This formula will obtain Jacob's true age when Joseph was born.

And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. Genesis 47:9.
And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years. Genesis 47:28.
For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. Genesis 45:6.
And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. Genesis 41:53.
And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. Genesis 41:46.
These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad waswith the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. Genesis 37:2

91 years (https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100102103929AAET7Yy)

We know from the Bible data that Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born (Gen. 21:5). Next we know that Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob was born (Gen. 25:26). The age of Jacob when Joseph was born we derive as follows. We know that Jacob died at age 147 (Gen. 47:28), further do we know that Joseph was 30 years old when Pharaoh elevated him to second in power in Egypt (Gen. 41:46). Right at that time when Joseph was 30 years of age the 7 years of plenty began (Gen. 41:47) and Joseph harvested and stored the grain. This was followed by the 7 years of drought during which Jacob and his family moved to Egypt when he was 130 years old (Gen. 47:9). Calculation: (147 (Gen. 47:9) - 17 (Gen. 47:28)= 130). The year Jacob moved to Egypt was after the 2nd year in the drought (Gen. 45:6) before Jacob moved his whole family to Goshen. That would make the age of Joseph 39 when he met his father again and 56 years of age (39 + 17 = 56) when his father Jacob died. Joseph died when he was 110 years old (Gen. 50:22). Therefore Jacob was, 147 - 17 - 39 = 91 years of age when Joseph was born.

77 years (https://sites.google.com/site/calendarstudies/genesis-28-9)

Genesis 28:6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;

Genesis 28:7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;

Genesis 28:8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;

Genesis 28:9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.

The verses above give an account of events right after Isaac blesses Jacob. Recall that Jacob, the younger brother of Esau, took the blessing meant for Esau, Jacob's eldest son. As a result, Esau was very angry and had determined to kill his brother in revenge. However Rebekah learned of Esau's plan and encouraged Jacob to flee to her brother Laban in Haran (Padanaram). Rebekah also got the support of Jacob's father Isaac by reminding him how unhappy they were with Esau's Canaanite wives (Genesis 26:35), and how it would be better for Jacob to find a wife in the land of Haran instead (Genesis 27:46). Now it was at this time that verse 8 indicates that Esau, possibly in an attempt to regain favor with his father and upon learning that his parents were unhappy with the Canaanite wives he had, decides to go to take a wife of Abraham's son Ishmael, his father's brother. One might suspect Esau figured if he married into the family of Abraham's descendants, that this would satisfy his parents. In any case, we learn that Esau goes to Ishmael, and arranges to marry Ishmael's daughter Mahalath.

So why is this important? First, recall from Genesis 25:17 that Ishmael lived to be 137 years old. Also, Ishmael was 14 years older than Isaac being born when Abraham was 86 years old (Genesis 16:16), while Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old (Genesis 21:5). Further, we know Jacob and Esau were born to Isaac when he was 60 years old (Genesis 25:26). From these various ages we can determine that in the year Ishmael died (at 137 years old), Isaac who was 14 years younger, was 123 years old. And since Jacob and Esau were born when Isaac was 60 years old, then in the year Ishmael died they would both have been 63 years old. This means that the oldest Esau could have been when he went to visit Ishmael to marry his daughter Mahalath was 63 years old, and similarly, the oldest Jacob could have been when he left for Padanaram (Haran) was also 63 years old. Thus, we have established that the oldest Jacob could have been when he left his parents to go to Haran was 63 years old.

Note:

The Bible said Joseph was born after Jacob served Laban 14 years (before he served him additional 6 years) -

And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. Genesis 30:25-27.

Genesis 31:38 Now I was with you twenty years. Your ewes and your she-goats have not failed to bear, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. I did not bring to you the mangled; I replaced it. From my hand you exacted it, that stolen by day and that stolen by night. I was there; by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night. And my sleep fled from my eyes. Now I have been twenty years in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock. And you have changed my wages ten times. Genesis 31:38-41

Thus, Joseph was born when Jacob was 63 + 14 = 77 years old.

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