How long did jacob work for laban

Year 14 - At end of 2nd 7 years, Joseph was born, and Jacob asked Laban to leave so he could return to Canaan. Year 15 - At start of year Jacob began working for Laban's livestock. Year 20 - At end of 6 years working for livestock, Jacob quietly left Haran. Now the important point to notice is that Jacob did not marry Leah or Rachel until after the end of his first 7 years in Haran.

Further, Joseph was born at the end of the Jacob's 14th year in Haran i. This requires Jacob to have had 12 children in 7 years. Now it must be remembered that Jacob had these 12 children with four different women, as follows:. Rachel: Joseph The accounts in Genesis do not give a precise timetable for when each of these children were born, thus it is possible that some of Leah's children were born in parallel with some of Bilhah's children. We also know that Zilpah's children were born between the births of Leah's children Judah and Issachar it was because Leah had no more children following Judah that she gave Zilpah to Jacob to raise up more children.

And finally it is known that Joseph was the last child born, at the end of Jacob's 14th year in Haran, 6 years before Jacob finally left Haran. Thus, the limiting case in regard to a timeline is that of Leah and Zilpah. We can order the events surrounding Leah and Zilpah as follows:. In order for Jacob to have been in Haran for exactly 20 years, all the events above would need to occur between the start of Jacob's 8th year in Haran and the end of his 14th year.

Now since the Bible doesn't provide any information on how much time separated any of these events, one can only estimate how much time passed. For example, the shortest amount of time that could pass from the time Jacob married Leah until Reuben was born would be approximately 9 months, the typical time it takes from conception until birth. Of course much more time could have passed, but in this analysis an attempt is being made to see if all the above events would "fit" into just 7 years time.

Of course the birth of Simeon, Levi and Judah could also have followed at 9 month intervals this is obviously extremely unlikely but nonetheless theoretically possible. It should be noted that none of these sons were twins, they were all individual births. So we now have the passage of at least 3 years to account for the births of Leah's first four children i.

The question now is how long did Leah wait after the birth of Judah before she realized she was not pregnant again, and then decide to give her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob? One could imagine Leah would have noticed after a couple of months note 1 that she wasn't getting pregnant again, so let's assume 2 months pass by.

So now Jacob takes Zilpah and again it is assumed she gives birth to Dan just 9 months later, and that is followed 9 months later by Naphtali. So we need to add 2 months and 18 months to the 3 years found above, giving a total time span of 4 years and 8 months. It is at this time that Reuben goes and finds mandrakes in the field for his mother Leah. In this efficient timeline, if we assume Reuben picked mandrakes as soon as Naphtali was born, then Reuben's age at that time would be just 3 years and 11 months old.

This is quite young, however it is "conceivable" Reuben could have navigated his way into the mandrake field and picked some for his mother. It is these mandrakes that Leah subsequently gives to Rachel in a deal that allows Jacob to spend time with her, which results in the conception of Issachar. Go Further. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city.

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If you have any questions or concerns regarding any content published here, feel free to contact us using the Contact link below. Login Register. Ask Experts Religion Christianity. You must Sign In to post a response. Category: Christianity. Posted By: [Anonymous]. How many years Jacob served his uncle Laban? For years Jacob had worked and waited patiently for the day when he would have a happy home with his beloved Rachel, only to find himself troubled with two bitter wives Genesis , 2, 8, Get our latest answers straight to your inbox when you subscribe here.

The Reveal The morning after the wedding, Jacob, who had been a deceiver, awoke to find himself the victim of deceit. In His service, BibleAsk Team. Subscribe to our Weekly Updates: Get our latest answers straight to your inbox when you subscribe here.