Lived: Approximately 1915-1805 BC
While Joseph was rising to power in Egypt, the ancient city of Babylon was emerging as a major force in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). Across the Mediterranean, the Minoan civilization on Crete was building elaborate palaces and developing Europe’s first advanced writing system.
Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob and the firstborn of Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife. He grew up in Canaan (modern-day Israel and Palestine), near the city of Hebron—about 20 miles south of present-day Jerusalem. His childhood was marked by family dysfunction: a polygamous household with four mothers, intense sibling rivalry, and a father whose favoritism made everything worse.
Sold into slavery at seventeen, Joseph spent his twenties as a servant and prisoner in Egypt. He finally gained freedom at thirty when Pharaoh appointed him to manage Egypt’s food supply during a seven-year famine. He died at 110, having saved not only Egypt but his own family—the very brothers who had betrayed him.