Timeline of Jacob's Life

A table showing Jacob's age at various events in his life.

Event	Jacob's Age
Esau married two Canaanite women	40
Jacob flees Esau & Betrothal to Rachel	77
End of Leah's 7 years & Marriage to Leah & Rachel	84
End of Rachel's 7 years & Birth of Joseph	91
Jacob leaves Laban	97
Joseph is sold by his brothers	108
Joseph is brought before Pharaoh & Beginning of the 7 years of plenty	121
Beginning of the 7 years of famine	128
Jacob stands before Pharaoh	130
Jacob dies	147

My first thought on laying this out was "Why did Jacob wait so long to find a wife?" Evidently, like his mother Rebekah, he knew the Canaanite women were unacceptable, but he wasn't willing to strike out on his own without direction from his parents.

My second thought was "Jacob was 77 years old when he fell in love with Rachel," and she returned his love! People were longer lived, so he remained healthy and virile much later than men do today, but women also married young. Rachel was likely between 15 and 25, probably somewhere in the middle.

And my third thought was "All 6 of Leah's sons were born between when Jacob was 84 and 91. Could Leah really have had 6 children in just 7 years?" But my mother had 5 children in 5 years, so why not? Breastfeeding tends to suppress fertility, naturally spacing children out every couple of years, but it doesn't always work that way.

Things that make you go "hmm."

Thematic Connections: Jacob and Laban vs Israel and Egypt

The Flood, Sodom, and Egypt.

Lot and Rahab.

Joseph and Jesus.

Moses and Deborah.

Yom Kippur and the Blessing of Jacob and Esau.

There are parallels everywhere. Now check out this one!

Jacob and Laban	Israel and Egypt
Jacob was initially received by Laban with joy	Jacob was initially received by Pharaoh with joy
Jacob married the daughters of Laban	Joseph & other Hebrews married Egyptians
Jacob cared for Laban’s livestock & benefited	Israel cared for Pharaoh’s livestock & benefited
Laban prospered because of Jacob	Egypt prospered because of Israel
Laban hated Jacob when he saw how much Jacob prospered	Pharaoh hated Israel when he saw how much they prospered and multiplied
Laban cheated and oppressed Jacob	Pharaoh enslaved and oppressed Israel
Laban was impoverished by his enmity against Jacob	Egypt was devastated by their enmity against Israel
Laban treated his daughters and their children by Jacob as foreigners	Egypt treated the mixed multitude with Israel as foreigners
God told Jacob to leave Israel and went with him	God told Israel to leave Egypt and went with them
Jacob, with his wives and children, left Laban in a hurry with Laban’s wealth	Israel, with the mixed multitude, left Egypt in a hurry with Egypt’s wealth
Jacob crossed a body of water to escape Laban	Israel crossed a body of water to escape Egypt
Rachel stole Laban’s idols	Israel took Egypt’s idolatry with them into the wilderness
Laban pursued Jacob after 3 days and caught up with them after 7 days	Pharaoh pursued Israel and caught up with them at their 3rd-day camp
God intervened to keep Laban from harming Jacob	God intervened to keep Pharaoh from harming Israel
Laban claimed ownership of Jacob’s children	Pharaoh claimed ownership of Israelite children
Laban changed Jacob’s wages 10 times	Egypt was inflicted by 10 plagues
Jacob’s existence as a family separate from Laban was confirmed at a monument on a mountain	Israel’s existence as a nation separate from Egypt was confirmed on Mount Sinai
When Jacob went to Laban, he set up a single stone. When he left, he set up a pile of stones	When Israel entered Egypt, they were small. When they left, they were a vast multitude
God saw Jacob’s distress and passed judgment in his favor in the night	God saw Israel’s distress and passed judgment in their favor in the night
Laban blessed Jacob and made a covenant of peace with him	Pharaoh cursed Israel and he was destroyed with his army.

This pattern is the pattern of God's people in exile and in return. God dropped a pebble and the ripples extend from one end of time to the other.