Published: 5 October 2024

Estimating Joseph’s Timeline

Joseph

In the previous post, I mentioned that Joseph arrived in Egypt around 1683 BC and rose to power in 1670 BC. I believe it’s worth dedicating a blog article to explain how I made these estimates. Anyone familiar with dating Old Testament events, particularly those before the time of the kings, knows how challenging it can be to pinpoint exact dates. As a result, people often have different opinions about when these events occurred, with estimates clustering around various starting assumptions or presuppositions.

In this post, I’ll outline how I arrived at my estimates for Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt, using only the information provided in the Bible. Of course, everyone makes this claim, right? I’m not dogmatic about these dates because a single overlooked biblical reference can derail even the most carefully calculated estimates. So, it’s essential to approach these matters with a bit of grace.

Dating Joseph begins with dating the Exodus

Our starting point is the date of the Exodus, which we can calculate using 1 Kings 6:1.

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the month of Ziv, the second month of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, he began to build the house of the LORD. (1 Kings 6:1 BEREAN)

This verse states that Solomon began building the temple in the fourth year of his reign, 480 years after the Exodus. There is scholarly consensus that Solomon’s fourth year was 966 BC, which places the Exodus at 1446 BC (966 + 480 = 1446).

From this established date, we can work backwards using information provided in the Bible. Paul’s letter to the Galatians tells us that 430 years passed between God’s promise to Abraham and the Exodus. 

16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise. (Gal. 3:16-17 BEREAN)

This period includes the time the Israelites spent in both Canaan and Egypt. Our English translations, based on the Masoretic Text of Exodus 12:40, muddy the waters a bit. If we take the Masoretic Text at face value, it suggests that Israel was in Egypt for 430 years. However, this 430-year period actually covers the time the Patriarchs spent in both Canaan and Egypt. I have explained this discrepancy here.

Dating Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

By tracing the ages of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when key events occurred, we can determine that Jacob (Israel) entered Egypt 215 years after God’s promise to Abraham. This places Jacob’s arrival in Egypt around 1661 BC.

I’ll break down the calculation step-by-step to show how we arrive at the conclusion that Jacob entered Egypt 215 years after God’s promise to Abraham, and how this leads to the date of 1661 BC.

  1. God’s promise to Abraham:
    • Abraham was 75 years old when he received the promise (Gen 12:4)
    • We start counting from this point (Year 0)
  2. Isaac’s birth:
    • Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born (Gen 21:5)
    • 100 – 75 = 25 years after the promise
  3. Jacob’s birth:
    • Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob was born (Gen 25:26)
    • 25 + 60 = 85 years after the promise
  4. Jacob enters Egypt:
    • Jacob was 130 years old when he entered Egypt (Gen 47:9)
    • 85 + 130 = 215 years after the promise

So, Jacob entered Egypt 215 years after God’s promise to Abraham. See the image below for date references.

Estimating important dates related to Joseph

Up to this point the Old Testament has allowed us to derive absolute dates. The remaining figures are estimates based on those dates. We have to estimate because Genesis doesn’t directly tie the events in Joseph’s life to other events we can ascertain from the text. Nevertheless, I believe these estimates are close, based on the available information.

Now, let’s focus on Joseph. We know he was 30 years old when he entered Pharaoh’s service (Gen 41:46). After interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph oversaw seven years of plenty followed by two years of famine before his family arrived in Egypt (Gen 45:6). This means Joseph was about 39 years old when Jacob came to Egypt.

Working backwards from Jacob’s arrival, we can estimate that Joseph was born around 1700 BC (1661 + 39). Since he rose to power at age 30, we can reasonably place Joseph’s ascension to power in Egypt at approximately 1670 BC. The tables below present essentially the same information using alternative approaches.

Table 1
Table 2

It’s important to remember that while these dates rely on biblical chronology, we should view them as approximate rather than exact. However, they are helpful for understanding the approximate absolute dates of events in the patriarchal narratives.

Conclusion

This timeline not only helps us understand when Joseph might have risen to power but also provides context for other significant events in Israel’s early history. It allows us to see how the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph fit together within the broader narrative leading up to the Exodus and beyond to the construction of Solomon’s temple.

While scholarly debates continue about the precise dating of these events, this chronology offers a logical and biblically-based estimate that can enhance our understanding of the historical context of these important biblical figures.