The Patriarchal Timeline
From Terah to the death of Joseph
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From Terah to the death of Joseph
All years are counted from the birth of Abraham (Year 0), which places the chronology on a single scale so the reader can see at a glance how the patriarchs’ lives overlap. The numbers are derived from the biblical text’s own statements — Genesis 11:26 with Acts 7:4 for the year of Abraham’s birth relative to Terah, Genesis 12:4 for Abraham at 75 at the call, Genesis 21:5 for Abraham at 100 at Isaac’s birth, Genesis 25:26 for Isaac at 60 when the twins are born, Genesis 47:9 for Jacob at 130 at his descent into Egypt, and so on. Where the text is silent (Rebekah’s birth and death years; Esau’s and Benjamin’s death years), the entry is marked accordingly.
I. Patriarchal Lifespans
| Name | Birth Year (from Abraham) | Age at Death | Year of Death | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terah | -130 | 205 | 75 | Gen 11:32 |
| Abraham | 0 | 175 | 175 | Gen 25:7 |
| Sarah | 10 | 127 | 137 | Gen 23:1 |
| Isaac | 100 | 180 | 280 | Gen 35:28 |
| Ishmael | 86 | 137 | 223 | Gen 25:17 |
| Rebekah | — (not stated) | — (not stated) | — (not stated) | not stated |
| Jacob | 160 | 147 | 307 | Gen 47:28 |
| Esau | 160 | — (not stated) | — (not stated) | not stated |
| Joseph | 251 | 110 | 361 | Gen 50:26 |
| Benjamin | 267 | — (not stated) | — (not stated) | not stated |
II. Events, Year by Year
| Year (from Abraham) | Event |
|---|---|
| -130 | Terah born |
| 0 | Abraham born (Terah aged 130) |
| 10 | Sarah born (10 years after Abraham; Gen 17:17) |
| 75 | Abraham’s call; leaves Haran for Canaan (Gen 12:4) |
| 86 | Ishmael born to Hagar (Gen 16:16) |
| 99 | Covenant of circumcision; three visitors at Mamre (Gen 17–18) |
| 100 | Isaac born (Gen 21:5); Sarah is 90 |
| 137 | Sarah dies at 127 in Hebron; buried at Machpelah (Gen 23) |
| 140 | Rebekah brought to Isaac; Isaac 40 (Gen 25:20) |
| 160 | Esau and Jacob born; Isaac is 60 (Gen 25:26) |
| 175 | Abraham dies at 175 (Gen 25:7); Isaac is 75, Jacob 15 |
| 223 | Ishmael dies at 137 (Gen 25:17) |
| 237 | Jacob flees to Paddan-aram (~77); Isaac’s blessing |
| 244 | Jacob marries Leah, then Rachel (Gen 29) |
| 251 | Joseph born in Haran; Jacob ~91 (Gen 30) |
| 257 | Jacob returns to Canaan; wrestles at Peniel (~97; Gen 32) |
| 268 | Joseph sold into Egypt at 17 (Gen 37:2) |
| 281 | Joseph before Pharaoh at 30 (Gen 41:46) |
| 288 | Seven years of plenty end; famine begins |
| 290 | Jacob descends to Egypt at 130 (Gen 47:9); Joseph is 39 |
| 307 | Jacob dies in Egypt at 147 (Gen 47:28); Joseph is 56 |
| 361 | Joseph dies in Egypt at 110 (Gen 50:26) |
III. Overlaps Worth Noticing
The patriarchal lives overlap far more than most modern readers realize. On the chronology above, Shem outlives Abraham; Abraham is contemporary with Terah for his first 130 years, with Isaac for 75 years, and with Jacob for 15 years.
Isaac lives from Year 100 to Year 280 — long enough to know his grandson Jacob for 120 years, and to die only twelve years before Joseph is sold into Egypt. Jacob’s return to Canaan at Year 257 places him back in his father’s household for the last 23 years of Isaac’s life.
Joseph is born in Year 251 and dies in Year 361, having lived through the entire Egyptian sojourn from settlement to establishment. He outlives his father by 54 years and dies with Israel firmly rooted in Goshen but still awaiting the exodus.
The old rabbinic instinct to say that Isaac knew Shem and that Jacob knew Isaac’s own memories of Sarah is not fanciful invention. On the biblical numbers, grandparents and great-grandparents were regularly present.
IV. On the 400 / 430 Years
The Front Matter of this volume states the chronology policy for the 400 (Gen 15:13) and 430 (Exod 12:40; Gal 3:17) year figures. Following the confessional Lutheran reading of Galatians 3:17, this timeline treats the 430 years as spanning the whole patriarchal sojourn — from Abraham’s call in Year 75 through the exodus in Year 505 — with roughly 215 of those years spent in Egypt (from Jacob’s descent in Year 290 to the exodus in Year 505). The 400 years of Genesis 15:13 are the round figure describing the same span from the point at which Abraham’s offspring became ‘strangers in a land not their own,’ most naturally reckoned from Isaac’s weaning.