How old was Jacob when he first saw Rachel?

[tonychanyt]

Joseph revealed the meaning of Pharaoh's dream in Genesis 41:

28 “It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. 29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, 30but seven years of famine will follow them.

46a Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Genesis 45:

4b “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt! 5And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you. 6For the famine has covered the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting.

Joseph was 30 years old when he first spoke to Pharoah. Since then, 7 years of abundance + 2 years of the beginning phase of famine had passed. When Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, he was 39 years old.

Their brother returned to Canaan and brought Jacob to Egpyt, Genesis 47:9a

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty.

Jacob was 91 (130 - 39) when Joseph was born. There is an uncertainty of how much time had elapsed between Genesis 45:4b to Genesis 47:9a. It was probably a matter of months. I'll express as y1 year, y1<1.

Genesis 29:

18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”

30 Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

Jacob worked for Laban for 14 years for his two daughters. Joseph was born around the end of this 14 years period.

Genesis 30:

22Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 23She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 She named him Joseph, and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”
25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland.

Jacob's agreement of 14 years with Laban must have expired at this point. There is another uncertainty beyond this second 7-year period. Let's say that Joseph was born y2 years after the 14-year contract with Laban.

Genesis 31:

25Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well. ...
38I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock.

y2 < 20−14=6

Jacob was 77 (91 − 14) when he first met Laban and Rachel, assuming y1=0 and y2=0.

Adjusting for the two uncertainties, assuming y1+y2=3, I'd say that Jacob was 77±3 years old when he first saw Rachel.

Wiki:

Arriving in Haran, Jacob saw a well where shepherds were gathering their flocks to water them and met Laban's younger daughter, Rachel, Jacob's first cousin; she was working as a shepherdess. Jacob was 77 years old,[22] and he loved Rachel immediately.

 

[All Becomes New]

That's great, but not even the age of Abraham has to be literal.

Consider that those who came before Abraham their ages were mostly divisions of numbers (sometimes by adding 7 to their age).

Given that, it is not certain that the ages of people in Genesis were meant to be taken literally (900+ years old, for example).

 

[tonychanyt]

That's great, but not even the age of Abraham has to be literal.

Consider that those who came before Abraham their ages were mostly divisions of numbers (sometimes by adding 7 to their age).

Given that, it is not certain that the ages of people in Genesis were meant to be taken literally (900+ years old, for example).

How do you decide when to take a verse literally or not?

 

[RDKirk]

How do you decide when to take a verse literally or not?

Sometimes the meaning is literal even if the details are not.

Take, for example, the Genesis verse that gives the ages at which the post-Noahide generation had their first sons, Genesis 11:12-24. The exact ages may not be accurate, but I think the intent was to normalize the age--early thirties--that post-Noahide men began their families.

 

[All Becomes New]

How do you decide when to take a verse literally or not?

Unfortunately that where a lot of the time I have to rely on other theologians and consider what they say about the genre, context, what life was like for the people during that time, etc. I don't claim to be the best Bible interpreter out there.

 

[tonychanyt]

Unfortunately that where a lot of the time I have to rely on other theologians and consider what they say about the genre, context, what life was like for the people during that time, etc. I don't claim to be the best Bible interpreter out there.

That's reasonable