Seder Olam: C19a- Jacob

BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY

Generation 19: Hebrew years 2160 to 2280 (1600-1480 BCE)

Introduction

This chapter is about the life of Jacob, the forefather of the 12 Tribes of Israel.

Year 2171 - 1589 BCE - Isaac blesses Jacob

When Isaac was 123 years old and nearly blind, he probably felt that his death was near. So, he prepared himself to give his final blessing to his first-born son, Esau. But Rebekah would have it differently: she wanted Jacob to receive this blessing. When Esau was away for his usual hunting, Isaac blessed Jacob believing he was Esau, saying:

"And may God give you of the dew of the heavens and the fatness of the earth, and lots of grain and wine. And peoples will serve you, and nations will bow themselves to you. Be a lord to your brothers, and the children of your mother will prostate themselves to you. Cursed be they who curse you, and blessed be they who bless you." (Genesis 27:28)

Rebekah had received from her family the blessing Let your seed possess the gate of those that hate them (Genesis 24:60), and her husband Isaac repeated the blessing Blessed be they who bless you that Abraham received from God Himself and surely repeated from father to son: And I will bless those who will bless you. (Genesis 12:3) (See document C17).

When Esau came back from the hunt, he realized that he had been deceived but his father nonetheless gave him the following blessing:

"Behold, from the fatness of the earth you will get your dwelling, and from the dew of the heavens above. By your sword you will be, and you will serve your brother. And it will be time, you will get rid and depart from his yoke upon your neck." (Genesis 27:39-40)

Esau was bitter and swore to kill Jacob after their father’s death. Rebekah had heard of this threat and asked her son to flee to Charan, to her brother’s house, and to choose a wife from there.

Rebekah’s brother, Laban, used to live in Aram-Naharayim in his father’s land (see document C18), but he was ambitious and cunning. He managed to take over the inheritance of his grandfather Nachor and took over his house and dominion in Charan.

To justify Jacob’s departure from his old father Isaac, Rebekah made a plea to him against assimilation:

"I have had my life reduced because of the daughters of the Hittite [Esau's wives]. If Jacob would take a wife from the daughters of Heth like these, from the daughters of the land, why do I live?" (Genesis 27:46)

So, Isaac summoned Jacob not to take a wife from the Canaanite women, blessed him and sent him away to the land of Aram to find a spouse among Laban's daughters. Jacob left right away and headed north. He was 63 years old in Hebrew year 2171. The calculation of this year owes to the fact that the Biblical text ties both events: the death of Ishmael and the blessing of Jacob, in the same chapter (Genesis 28). The year of Ishmael's death is therefore also the year of Jacob's blessing.

Year 2171 - 1589 BCE - Death of Ishmael

Ishmael died at the age of 137 in year 2171 (Genesis 25:17). He had given birth to 12 nations who dwelt in the Arabian Peninsula and in the wilderness all the way toward Assyria. They were people who filled the deserts between Egypt and Mesopotamia, thus fulfilling God's promise that this land will be given to the descendants of Abraham, through Ishmael.

Soon after Jacob’s departure, Esau understood that his Canaanite wives did not please his father Isaac. In fact, he had never asked for his prior approval of these unions. So, to make amends, Esau went to his uncle’s house and took Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth, as an additional wife for himself (Genesis 28:8-9).

Because of the order of the verses of Genesis 28, the Talmud asserts that the blessed departure of Jacob took place before the death of Ishmael because it is only then that Esau went to Ishmael so that he would give him his daughter for a wife. Ishmael accepted to do so but died soon after. So, his son Nebaioth completed the agreement:

And it has been taught: Jacob our father, at the time when he was blessed by his father was sixty-three years old. It was just at that time that Ishmael died, as it is written, “Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob...” so Esau went unto Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth. Now once it has been said “Ishmael's daughter” do I not know that she was the sister of Nebaioth? This tells us then that Ishmael affianced her and then died, and Nebaioth her brother gave her in marriage. (Talmud, Megilah 17a)

Ishmael's eldest son, Nebaioth, is the ancestor of the Nabataeans, a people who were established in what is now Southern Jordan and built their capital Petra.

Then a famine started in the land of Canaan, which was probably a divine plan to help the sons of Ishmael leave this land. Isaac was also contemplating of going to Egypt as his father Abraham had done in the past (see document C17). But God intervened:

And the Lord appeared unto him, and said: "Go not down unto Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell you about." (Genesis 26:2)

So, Isaac did not leave Canaan and sojourned in Gerar near the Philistines, like his father did before he (Isaac) was born.

Year 2185 - 1575 BCE - Jacob arrives to Charan

The chronology between Jacob and Joseph shows a gap of 14 years from this Jacob’s departure at the time of Ishmael's death. But we know for certain the year when Jacob reached the house of Laban. So, the Seder Olam assumes that Jacob spent these 14 years with the patriarch Eber after his departure from his father's house and before going to Charan. There is a doubt however about how Jacob spent these 14 years. Eber was a descendant of Arpachshad who had founded and settled in Ur. Presumably Eber and all this family until Terach had settled in Ur. It was the generation before Arpachshad who remained in Canaan, and this includes Sem son of Noah. Although it is possible to assume, as the Seder Olam does, that Eber had also left Mesopotamia at some point and came to resettle in Canaan. And this is where Jacob would have met him. 

So, what did Jacob do during this period of time? The following verses give the clues:

And Isaac sent away Jacob; and he went to Paddan-Aram [the land of Aram] unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. (Genesis 28:5)

And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba and went toward Charan. (Genesis 28:10)

Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the children of the east. (Genesis 29:1)

We know from the Biblical text that it took 14 years for Jacob to arrive to Charan. He must have been absorbed into divine study and thoughts that made look these years like a few days. How do we know this? Because a bit further in the text, when Jacob met Rachel and immediately fell in love with her, the total duration of his working for Laban (twice 7 years to obtain her as a spouse) felt to him like a few days (Genesis 29:20). The term few days is a mistranslation because it is rather written in the Hebrew text as unique days (יָמִים אֲחָדִים) which refers to the Creation when God had created the world in Day One (יום אחד) (Genesis 1:5). As we explained before (see document C00), the concept of Time depends on the observer. All these years that Jacob spent outside his father’s home were perceived as “days” for him. And, we can also derive that there is be a correlation between the 14 years to reach Charan and the same duration of 14 years spent to earn the right to obtain Rachel as a spouse: both periods seemed as a few days, and Jacob had spent the former ones in divine thoughts and had spent the latter ones in husbandry. So Jacob arrived in Charan in Hebrew year 2185, when he was 77 years old: we derive this year a bit later in the text, from the chronology of the events of his future son Joseph, and in parallel to the age of Jacob when he will go down to Egypt.

This calculation has also been confirmed by the Jewish chronographer of the 3rd century BCE, Demetrios, who lived in Alexandria and used the first translation of the Bible in Greek, the Septuagint (see document C30). This calculation also complies with the Seder Olam.

 Year 2187 – 1573 BCE – Death of Eber

Eber, the last ancestor of Abraham from Ur died in Hebrew year 2187, which overlaps the 14-years’ time spent by Jacob before reaching Charan. If one would follow the chronology of the Talmud mentioned above, Eber would have moved to Canaan so that Jacob would have indeed sojourned with him for 14 years. That would be the main reason why Jacob didn’t head to Charan right away as his parents had encouraged him to do. Only the presence of a patriarch such as Eber could have induced Jacob to stay so long with him and learn from him.

Year 2192 - 1568 BCE - Jacob obtains Leah and Rachel as wives

At the end of the first 7 years term of work to marry Rachel, Laban deceived Jacob and brought in his older daughter Leah as a wife first, invoking their customs that no younger daughter would marry unless her older sisters would marry first. Laban promised Jacob to give him Rachel as well after one week, in exchange for another 7 years of work to which Jacob agreed as years were perceived like days for him, because of his love for Rachel. So, Jacob remained 14 years in Charan at the end of which he had two wives. But there was another price for his union with Rachel :

God saw that Leah was unloved, so he opened her womb, but Rachel remained barren. (Genesis 29:31)

Leah successively gave birth to Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. At that point, Rachel was envious and pushed her maidservant Bilhah to Jacob. She gave him two sons, Dan and Naphtali. Meanwhile Leah had stopped producing children, so she pushed her maidservant Zilpah onto Jacob who gave him two sons too: Gad and Asher. Then Leah conceived again and gave two new sons to Jacob: Issachar and Zebulon. And also, a daughter: Dinah.

And then God remembered the condition of Rachel and opened her womb: she gave birth to Joseph. The births of these twelve children happened between the years 2193 and 2199. It is assumed that they were all born within 7 years, from 4 partners (2 wives and their maidservants), one after the other every 7 months according to Seder Olam. So, the years of their birth would be as follows, if the union with the partners would have taken place at the beginning of Hebrew year 2192 (month of Tishri). However, there is of course some uncertainty about the precise date of birth of each of them, but it is generally assumed that the 12 children were indeed born in 12 different Hebrew months.

Hebrew year	BCE	Event	Spouse / Partner
2192	1568	Jacob’s unions	Leah and Rachel
2192	1567	Reuben is born	Leah
2193	1566	Simeon is born	Leah
2193	1566	Levi is born	Leah
2194	1565	Judah is born	Leah
2195	1565	Dan is born	Bilhah
2195	1564	Naphtali is born	Bilhah
2196	1564	Gad is born	Zilpah
2196	1563	Asher is born	Zilpah
2197	1562	Issachar is born	Leah
2197	1562	Zebulon is born	Leah
2198	1561	Dinah is born	Leah
2199	1561	Joseph is born	Rachel

Year 2199 – 1561 BCE – Birth of Joseph

After Zebulon was born, Leah was pregnant again and, so far, all the children of Jacob had been sons. The Talmud mentioned what happened next:

Rabbi Joseph cited the following in objection: And ‘afterwards’ she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah [Genesis 30:21]. What is meant by ‘afterwards’? Rab said: After Leah had passed judgment on herself saying, ‘Twelve tribes are destined to issue from Jacob. Six have come from me and four from the handmaids, making ten. If this child will be a male, my sister Rachel will not be equal to one of the handmaids. Forthwith the child was turned to a girl, as it says, ‘And’ she called her name Dinah [which means Judgment]. (Talmud, Berachot, 59a)

Then Rachel finally became pregnant. She conceived a son they called Joseph. The Hebrew year was 2199, as it becomes clear from Joseph’s life chronology later in the Biblical text. When Joseph was born, the 14 years period was just over, and Jacob wanted to leave Charan.

And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph that Jacob said unto Laban: "Send me away, that I may go unto my own place, and to my country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you and let me go; for you know my service wherewith I have served you." (Genesis 30:25-26)

But Laban induced Jacob to remain with him for more time, promising him a share in the cattle and wealth.

Year 2200 – 1560 BCE – Jacob plays with Genetics

Jacob agreed to work further for Laban so that he could build his own wealth too, before returning with his large family to Canaan. The deal was that Jacob would attend Laban’s cattle but that any animal that is "speckled and spotted" or any "dark" one was to be considered belonging to Jacob (Genesis 30:32). But Laban used ruse again: he sent his sons to check all the cattle and remove all the ones that Jacob was supposed to attend and take them at a three-day distance from Laban's cattle. So, when Jacob checked the cattle, there was no animal left he could hope would procreate to his advantage: all the animals were single colored. There was no chance for any newborn lamb to suddenly be with a spot or a streak, since only the white ones were left in the cattle. What did Jacob do?

And Jacob took him rods of fresh poplar, and of the almond and of the plane-tree; and peeled white streaks in them, making the white appear which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had peeled over against the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink; and they conceived when they came to drink. And the flocks conceived at the sight of the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob separated the lambs -- he also set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the dark in the flock of Laban -- and put his own droves apart and put them not unto Laban's flock. And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger of the flock did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; but when the flock were feeble, he put them not in; so, the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. (Genesis 30:37-42)

Jacob knew, or learned from experience, some key principles of Genetics, that only were "discovered" in the 19th century thanks to the experiments that a Czeck scientist, Johann Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), performed in Brno with yellow and green peas. The two rules that Jacob used were as follows:

1. Jacob had noticed that, even if a goat was single colored, it did not mean that it could not give birth to a different lamb: because the initial cattle was composed of all sorts of goats, there was necessarily a potential to produce goats with the desired effect, even from single colored goats; in Genetics, this is known as inheritance of the genes; the key was to find out how to translate this potential into reality

2. Jacob put peeled rods in the water where the flocks came to drink; he observed that this was a time when the animals copulated and, further, that the she-goats looked at the peeled rods when copulation was happening; the first rule is that the conceived fetus can be influenced by sight (or even desire for humans, such as the well-known desire of strawberries for pregnant women)

3. Jacob also observed that the rams were of two kinds: strong or feeble. The strong ones were producing more lambs and more with the desired result, "speckled" or "spotted". So Jacob played with another rule of Genetics, called heterosis or hybrid vigor (or evolutionary fitness): he removed from his flock the feeble he-goats that would not produce the desired result; consequently, with such gene selection of only keeping the stronger animals that would produce the right result, he obtained a cattle with stronger and stronger animals, which at their turn produced more and more lambs, with greater percentage of desired result over time

So, in fact, Jacob understood well genetic rules and put them in practice by guess and check. These rules were only discovered and proven some 3500 years later.

The breed of sheep that Jacob had has recently been found in Canada, as mentioned in the press at the time. Some articles are available online by clicking here and also here. Some 119 specimens were brought back to their ancestral Land of Israel in the end of 2016.

Year 2205 – 1555 BCE – Jacob returns to Canaan

After 6 years of such work, Laban would still not give to Jacob the blessing to leave. So, God sent a messenger to Jacob in a dream:

"I am the God of Beth-El, where you did anoint a pillar, where you did vow a vow unto Me. Now arise, get you out from this land, and return unto the land of your nativity.' (Genesis 31:13)

To read about Beth-El and the reason for its mention in connection with Jacob, click here. So, Jacob decided to leave with his family, servants and cattle without further notice (Genesis 31:20). In total he had stayed 20 years in Charan. But before she left, Rachel acted wrongly: she took away the idol amulets belonging to her father, without mentioning it to Jacob. Laban was upset by the sudden departure of Jacob and his clan and couldn't find his amulets. He rode up after Jacob and caught up with him. Rachel concealed the amulets from her father, and he didn’t find them. Commentators say that Rachel did so to protect her father who was pagan. She knew that, if Jacob lived with him, Laban would benefit from divine blessing. But, once Jacob would leave, Laban would be left with idol worship and will no longer be protected. Unfortunately, Jacob swore to Laban that nobody from his clan took them and, if anyone did, death will be the punishment. Laban then made a covenant with his son-in-law: the place was called Gilead and was located on the eastern side of the Jordan River.

Then, when Jacob advanced into Canaan from the north, his brother Esau marched onto him with 400 men. The number 400 is generally bad omen (to read about Jewish symbolism in numbers, click here). Fearing his brother’s intent to kill him, Jacob sent presents ahead of him as greetings. He then sent all his family ahead. Then during the night:

Jacob was left alone, and a man fought with him until the break of dawn. When he saw he could not overpower him, he struck the side of his hip, so Jacob’s hip side was strained. Then he said: "Let me go because the darkness is over." And he said: "I will not let you go unless you bless me." He said to him: "What is your name?" He said: "Jacob." He said: "Jacob will no longer be your name, but Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל). Because you fought with God (שָׂרִיתָ עִם-אֱלֹהִים) and with men and you won." (Genesis 32:25-29)

The reunion with Esau however went well. Then Esau decided to settle on the other side of the Dead Sea, in Seir, and to leave Jacob in Canaan. Jacob continued his march to a place he named Sukkot which means tents or shelters. Then he continued to Sichem[14] where he bought a land to put his camp there.

Then occurred the dramatic episode with the rape of Dinah, the ruse of her two brothers, Simeon and Levi, to revenge their sister, and their final killing of the males of Sichem (Genesis 34). The sons of Jacob took away women, children and cattle. Today the city of Sichem is called Samaria in Hebrew and Nablus in Arabic. The Arabic name is derived from the Roman-Byzantine name which was Neapolis: this became Nablus in Arabic because the letter ‘p’ doesn’t exist, so the letter ‘b’ is used instead.

Then God asked Jacob to move his camp to Beth-El, to purify themselves and to remove all alien gods that were brought by the women of Sichem (also, Rachel kept the idol statues that she took from her father Laban).

And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-Aram [which is Charan] and blessed him.

And God said unto him: "Your name is Jacob: your name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be your name"; and He called his name Israel. And God said unto him: "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of you, and kings shall come out of your loins; and the land which I gave unto Abraham and Isaac, to you I will give it, and to your seed after you will I give the land." And God went up from him in the place where He spoke with him.

And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He spoke with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Beth-El. (Genesis 35:9-15)

Year 2207 – 1553 BCE – Death of Rachel

But one of Jacob’s family members did not follow God's command for purification:

And they journeyed from Beth-El; and there was still some way to come to Ephrath; and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor that the mid-wife said unto her: "Fear not; for this also is a son for you." And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing -- for she died -- that she called his name Ben-oni (בן-אוני); but his father called him Benjamin (בנימין).

And Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephrath ; the same is Bethlehem. And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave; the same is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. (Genesis 35:16-20)

Rachel was punished by death for having taken idol statues from Charan, an act for which Jacob had sworn death to the transgressor not knowing it was any member of his family, and for not having given them away when she had a chance after God specifically required all Jacob’s household to do so and purified themselves from symbols of idolatry. This was also a divine attempt to save Rachel, if she had made amends.

On her deathbed, she had named her newborn son “the son of my distress” (בן-אוני), but the word can also mean “son of my iniquity” as she knew she had done wrong. After her death, Jacob did not want her son to bear such name for ever as a burden and changed it to “son of my right side” (בנימין). God probably did not allow Rachel, to reach Hebron, the sanctuary where Abraham was buried and where Isaac was still sojourning. Instead, she died a short distance from it, in Bethlehem. Her tomb still exists today and is a site of Jewish pilgrimage.

Tomb of Rachel near Bethlehem (early photograph)

It is important to note here the exact words used by the Biblical text to mention Rachel's death: (Genesis 35:18) בְּצֵאת נַפְשָׁהּ meaning “with the departure of her soul”. Rachel did not die from the result of her pregnancy or the birth going wrong, but she died because her soul had abandoned her. Her soul was applying the death decree stated by Jacob earlier, which was only postponed because Rachel was pregnant at the time of the decree. But, as soon as she gave birth, and in fact at the very same time that she gave birth, her soul departed. Rachel knew it would happen and this is why she called her son Ben-Oni, “son of my distress/iniquity”. Her death was a necessity she understood, in order to redeem her soul and return to the world of the Just, in the future world if not in this world where she had sinned. There is a parallel, many years later, when the Hebrews will leave Egypt as we shall see here (see document 21).

Later, as Jacob and his family settled in the south, Reuben, his first-born son, laid with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine and mother of Dan and Naphtali (Genesis 35:22). Reuben will be excluded from Jacob's inheritance as a result of his act.

It is only at this time, 2 years after returning to Canaan, that Jacob met again with his father Isaac. In total, he had been absent from his parents’ house for a total of 36 years: 14 years after leaving his parents' house, 20 years working for Laban in Charan and then 2 years in Canaan.

Year 2210 – 1550 BCE – Idri-mi

In 1939, an archaeological expedition found in the ancient site of Alalakh (modern-day Tell Atshanah), the statue of the king Idri-mi who ruled in that city around 1550 BCE. The statue bears cuneiform inscriptions that narrated his story, his flee south into Canaan and his dwelling there for 7 years among the Hebrews (called the Hapiru):

On the next day, I left and went towards Canaan. In Canaan, Ammi-ja is situated. Also staying in Ammi-ja were people from Halab, people from the country Mukish, people from the country Nihi and people from the country Amae. They lived there. When they saw me (and knew) that I was the son of their lord, they assembled around me. Thus, I was made noble and received the command authority. I stayed among the Hapiru people for seven years. I let birds fly and sacrificed lambs. In the seventh year, Teshub turned to me. Thereupon I built ships. (Idri-mi inscription; the name Teshub is also mentioned in the text as the Lord of the heaven and earth: to read it online, click here)

The interest of this text is that Idri-mi mentioned the people he came across in the land of Canaan. It is a first historical and archaeological evidence that confirms the Biblical narrative that the land was indeed called Canaan, as the Bible mentions.

It also mentions that, in Canaan, Ammi-ja is situated. What is the name Ammi-ja? It means the People of the Almighty (Ammi/Ammei= people, Ja/Ya= the name for God). It was well-known to Idri-mi and to many ancient people of the region that Noah, Sem, Eber, Abraham, in other words the people of the Almighty, also called Teshub the Lord of heaven and earth further in the text, lived in the land of Canaan. The text justly mentions that Canaan was inhabited by various groups of people and was not an united single kingdom like in Egypt or in Mesopotamia. Indeed, in these times, Canaan was a land of several city-states (Genesis 10:15-18, and also in Genesis 15:18-21; see document C16) which, at times, waged war against one another. But, these Canaanite people gave to Idri-mi the command authority, in other words to be the authority to judge issues among them.

Idri-mi stayed among the Hapiru people for seven years. Who were these Hapiru? In semitic languages, the letters ‘p’ and ‘b’ are the same, so Hapiru is the same as Habiru. In the context of this text, it refers to the Hebrews and more broadly to all the descendants of Eber. But, we can note that the text doesn’t cite the Hapiru as one of the people listed as they lived there. This is because the Hebrews he referred to were Jacob and his family clan who were not settled but just one “nomadic” family living in tents. The presence of Idri-mi among them explains why the other Canaanite people didn’t wage war against Jacob’s clan after the slaughter at Sichem, as Jacob had feared.

And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: “You have troubled me, to make me odious unto the inhabitants of the land, even unto the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and smite me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.” (Genesis 34:30)

The arrival of Idri-mi among them certainly brought them protection, by his command authority. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they carry out the revenge that Jacob had feared?

We can also see that, during his stay with the Hebrews, Idri-mi sacrificed following their customs: he let birds fly and sacrificed lambs. The custom of lambs and birds was custom to the Hebrews since the days of Abraham, after the Covenant of the parts (see document C17):

And He [God] said unto him [Abraham]: 'Take Me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.' (Genesis 15:9)

The sacrifice of lamb is not typical of the Canaanite people who had these animals as symbols of deities. And the birds were not part of their rituals either. The Hebrews had two parts in a sacrifice, one part that is sacrificed and one part that is released. After the Exodus, the Hebrews also used to send one sacrificial lamb to “Azazel”, being released free to the desert. This practice was derived from Abraham’s founding event of the covenant with God through the sacrifice called Brit Bein Habetarim (see document C17).

Lastly, Idri-mi mentioned that he remained seven years with the Hebrews/Hapiru. The number seven reminds us of the 7 years of abundance followed by the 7 years of famine, as described in the time of Joseph. So Idri-mi may have left the Hebrews when the famine fell upon Egypt and upon all the regions. As we shall see, the Hebrews went down to Egypt (as discussed later in this document) while other people fought each other in search for food and possessions. This may explain the period when Idri-mi himself ultimately waged war against city-states of Canaan.

Statue of Idri-mi with his famous inscription on the side (British Museum)

To find out more about this archaeological discovery, and its importance, click here.

Year 2216 – 1544 BCE – Joseph is sold by his brothers

At the age of 17 years old (Genesis 37:2), Joseph started to have dreams that were understood as if he would rule over his brothers. They hated him for this and planned to kill him. Reuben wanted to save him and convinced his angry brothers to keep him alive. So instead of killing him, they decided to sell him to a Midianite caravan that was travelling to Egypt for commerce.  They sold him for 20 shekels of silver. Then they made their father Jacob believe that Joseph was killed by a wild beast.

Joseph sold by his brothers (Gustave Doré, 1866)

When he reached Egypt, Joseph was sold as slave to Potiphar, who was a courtier to Pharaoh:

And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard. (Genesis 37:36)

The common translation of the Hebrew text is wrong. Potiphar is described in the Hebrew text as "eunuch" (סְרִיס), before being mentioned as an "officer of the guards” which is also wrongly translated as the Biblical text says: “officer of the kitchens” (שַׂר הַטַּבָּחִים). This brings a different light on what actually happened next:

And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's bought him, Rab said: He bought him for himself [because of Joseph's beauty]; but [Angel] Gabriel came and castrated him, and then Gabriel came and mutilated him [pera’], for originally his name is written Potiphar [(Genesis 37:36) but afterwards Poti-phera (Genesis 41:45)]. (Talmud, Sotah 13b)

This explains what happened to Joseph: first Potiphar (פוֹטִיפַר) chose him as a sex slave for himself, but then got mutilated by divine providence and he became nicknamed as Poti-Phera (פּוֹטִי פֶרַע) from the word phera/pera which means 'mutilated'. Later, as we shall see, the wife of Potiphar, surely feeling frustrated by her husband's new physical condition, attempted to seduce Joseph for herself too.

As of the Pharaoh of this time, it was Ahmose I who had succeeded to expel the Hyksos from Lower Egypt. He unified Lower and Upper Egypt and established the 18th Dynasty in year 1550 BCE. At the time of Joseph’s arrival, Egypt was at peace after over 100 years of conflicts caused by the Hyksos invasion.

Year 2228 – 1532 BCE – Death of Isaac

In Hebrew year 2228, Isaac died in Kiriat-Arba at the age of 180 years old. He is the patriarch who lived the longest life. He had never left the land of Canaan. He was buried by his two sons Esau and Jacob in the same cave of Machpelah that Abraham bought for Sarah and himself (see document C18). His wife Rebekah died before him and she was buried by her husband, as Abraham did for Sarah and as Jacob did for Leah. This is explained later on by Jacob himself on his deathbed:

There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. (Genesis 49:31)

Rebekah probably died during Jacob’s long absence from his parents because, when he returned, the Biblical text mentions that he joined his father but no mention of his mother although she had been of foremost importance in his life. Some say that Rebekah died in the same year as Rachel (in Hebrew year 2207). As she was born in the time of the Akedah, in year 2074 (see document C18), she would have died at the age of 133 years old.

As of Leah, she died before Joseph was sold by his brothers because, when Jacob was made to believe that a beast had devoured his preferred son, the text mentions:

And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said: 'Nay, but I will go down to the grave to my son’s mourning.' And his father wept for him. (Genesis 37:34-35)

So, the text mentions that all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort Jacob but no mention of his wives. The reason is that his wives (Rachel of course and Leah) had already died when this mourning had taken place.

The descendance of Esau

The Biblical text (see the beginning of this document) gives an account of the descendants of Esau, from his three wives:

Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and Basemath Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebaioth. (Genesis 36:1-3)

The name of these wives is however not in accordance with previous accounts:

And when Esau was forty years old, he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. (Genesis 26:34)

Esau married at 40 years old, like his father Isaac.

So, Esau went unto Ishmael and took unto the wives that he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife. (Genesis 28:9)

According to commentators, the mix of names shows that Esau’s household was composed of illegitimate unions and incest. In particular, in the latter account given in Genesis 36, Oholibamah is mentioned as the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivvite, meaning she was only known from her mother and therefore the child from an illegitimate union.

The sons of Esau born in the land of Canaan were:

• From Adah: Eliphaz-         

• From Basemath: Reu’el        

• From Oholibamah: Jeush, Jalam, Korah

Seir the Horite dwelt in Seir (the region was named after him) before the arrival of Esau (Genesis 36:20).

Then Esau moved his household to Seir, to avoid conflicts with Jacob. The grandsons of Esau who were born in Seir were:

• From Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, Kenaz; Eliphaz also had Amalek from his daughter Timna who was the illegitimate child from his liaison with the wife of Seir the Horite

• From Reu’el: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, Mizzah

Judah and Tamar

Judah left his brothers, out of guilt to what they had all done to Joseph and settled with the Adullamite people (Genesis 38). There he married the daughter of a merchant called Shua. She gave him 3 sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. Judah chose a wife for Er, who was called Tamar. But Er was acting in evil ways and God caused him to die. Judah offered his second son, Onan, to marry Tamar to provide a seed to his deceased brother. But Onan would not procreate and wasted semen (his name gave root to the word "onanism"), so God caused him to die too. Then Judah would not give Tamar his third son, Shelah, as he considered he was too young to marry. Both Er and Onan had married young and turned to sinful ways. So, Tamar went back to her father’s house to wait for Shelah until he would reach maturity. But time passed. Later, Tamar deceived Judah by making him believe she was a prostitute, while she covered her face. He had a liaison with her and got her pregnant. Judah acknowledged that he conceived with her but will not intimate with her any more out of the deceit she did. Tamar gave birth to twin brothers: Perez and Zerah.

Judah and Tamar, Horace Vernet, 1840 (Wallace Collection, London)

To continue to the next page of this chronological generation 19, click here.

To return to the list of chronological generations from Seder Olam Revisited, click here.

Albert Benhamou

Private Tour Guide in Israel

Adar 5785 - March 2025