The Family Of Levi

We already know that the Bible defines generations by lifespans (see Study on Defining Terms). The Bible presents us with additional information to confirm this. Exodus 6:16-20 gives us the following family tree as well as the lifespans of three of the individuals, indicated by the numbers in parenthesis:


It appears at first glance that Levi is the great grandfather, Kohath the grandfather, Amram the father, and Aaron and Moses the sons. However, if we study this closely we will discover they are merely descendants of one another and not immediate sons. Why does God give us the lifespans of just three of the men? Obviously God is focusing our attention on these three men.

At this point we need to determine roughly how old Levi was when he entered Egypt with his brother Jospeh and his father Jacob. As we read through Genesis chapters 29 through 31 we learn that Jacob arrived in Haran and found Rachel, a daughter of Laban. He agreed to work for Laban for seven years in exchange for Rachel's hand in marriage. At the end of seven years, Laban gave Joseph his older daughter, Leah, instead. At that time, he also gave Rachel to Jacob when Jacob agreed to work another seven years. Leah quickly bore three sons, the third of which was Levi, so Levi was probably born about 3 years after Jacob married Leah.

After working out his agreement of an additional seven years for Rachel, Jacob remained in Laban's house for another 20 years. At the end of these 20 years, Jacob asked to be sent away with his family which included a recently birthed Joseph. Since the normal weaning period was about three years (1 Samuel 1; 2 Chronicles 31:16), Joseph was probably about three years old when Jacob desired to leave.

In simplified notes, the above looks like this:

It is true that Levi could have been born a year or two later than indicated above and possibly Joseph was younger than three years old when Jacob left Laban's house. That is not important in this study. As we will see, we only need to establish that it is possible for Levi to have been 21 years older than Joseph. Our data above allows for this to be so, even if we shift Levi's birth and Joseph's birth by as much as 3 years.

We know that Joseph was 30 when he stood before Pharoah and the seven good years followed:
“And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.” (Genesis 41:46-48)

Then a 7-year famine began:
“Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land” (Genesis 41:29-30)
So Joseph would have been 37 years old when the famine began. Levi entered Egypt two years later with his father, Jacob:
“For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest” (Genesis 45:6)
So Joseph was 39 years old when Levi entered Egypt. If Levi was 21 years older than Joseph, then we can conclude that Levi was 60 years old when he entered Egypt.

According to Exodus chapter 6 Levi died at the age of 137, so if he was 60 when he entered Egypt then he lived 77 years in Egypt. The year he died marks the end of his generation and the beginning of the next generation: Kohath’s. Since a generation is defined by someone’s lifespan, that means that Kohath (a descendant of Levi) was born the same year that Levi died. Kohath’s generation lasted 133 years and then Amram’s birth marked the beginning of another generation. Amram’s generation lasted 137 years and then Aaron became the new generation reference as he was a descendant of Amram born the same year Amram died. We know that Aaron was 83 years old when the Israelites left Egypt after the plagues:
“And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.” (Exodus 7:7)

Let's add all of this together:

We find this total of 430 years agrees perfectly with the Bible:
“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.” (Exodus 12:40)
Also, recall that in Genesis 15:13-16 Abraham is told that his descendents will be in a land that is not theirs, but that in the fourth generation they would return to their own land. As evidenced above, they spent four generations in Egypt (a generation being defined by an individual’s lifespan).

The only way these pieces can fit together like this is if Aaron was born the year that Amram died, Amram born the year that Kohath died, and Kohath born the year that Levi died. If the above family tree implied immediate father-son relationships then the passage of years would add up to far less than 430 years, which would contradict Exodus 12:40.

Defining Terms

Genealogy of Genesis 5