Footnote 4 – Jacob’s Terrible Burden

That Joseph was very young and dependent on his mother can be inferred. First, Genesis 30:25 informs us that Jacob decided to leave Haran right after Joseph’s birth. Jacob seems to have gone through one or two breeding cycles for the flocks before actually departing (Genesis 30:31–43). Thus, Joseph may have been one or two years old, perhaps three. Moreover, in the scene after Gal-Ed, at Penuel, we are explicitly told that Joseph was with Rachel (Genesis 33:2).