The Ohr Hachaim asks why did the Torah need to inform us that he live in the Land of Mitzrayim? What is added to the context of the story of the Parsha with these words?
Additionally, the Torah did not need to separate these years from the total. If the Torah would only have told us that he lived for 147 years, we would know that seventeen of them were in Mitzrayim. This is based on the possuk in last week’s Parsha, where Yaakov told Par’oh that he was 130 years old. When we know that he lived in Mitzrayim until his dying day, which was when he reached 147, we can deduct 130 from the total of 147 and arrive at the conclusion that he lived in Mitzrayim for seventeen years. Why was it necessary for the Torah to reckon them out for us?
The Ohr Hachaim explains that Yaakov never had a quiet moment in his life. As soon as he was born, his nemesis Esav was born too. When he escaped from his brother’s wrath, he was placed under the wrath of Lavan. Dinah’s abduction came next, and his favorite son was kidnapped, disappearing from his father’s table for many years. He never had a calm day in his life.
Until he arrived in Mitzrayim, that is. From the day he arrived in Mitzrayim, he had peace and he could live calmly. The Torah is telling us that the these are the days of his life, not earlier.
The Torah then proceeds to tell us the entire sum of years of his life to show that the seventeen were the only one of those that actually had life. The others were the יְמֵי יַעֲקֹב שְנֵי חַי יו – the days of Yaakov in which he had life, but he cannot be called living.
The Ohr Hachaim then inverts this Pshat. He quotes Chazal as saying כל מי שסוף ימיו בטובה כאילו כל ימיו בטובה – anyone whose end of his days are good, it is to be considered as though all of his days are good.
Now, the possuk means, וַיְחִי יַעֲקֹב – and Yaakov lived a life of peace, שְבַע עֶשְרֵה ש נ ה – seventeen years. With this we consider Yaakov’s entire life to have been good, and the possuk continues וַיְהִי יְמֵי יַעֲ קֹב שְנֵי חַי יו – and the days of Yaakov were years of life. The Torah uses an expression of וַיְהִי which is usually an expression of pain. Even though his life was a life of pain, he still could consider his life well lived.
We still need to understand why the Torah changed the order of the years. When the Torah describes the years of Avraham, the Torah says that he lived one hundred years and seventy years, stating the largest number first. When the Torah describes how long Yitzchok lived, the Torah says one hundred years and eighty years. The same is true with Sarah, when the Torah says that she lived one hundred years and twenty years. With Yaakov, the Torah says seven years and forty years, with the lower number first. Yaakov’s life was different because the last years of his life were the only peaceful ones.
Another Explanation
Another explanation could be that the days in which his heart was confident and his aspirations were realized were the last forty-seven years. Chazal tell us that Rochel was the beloved wife of Yaakov, and her children were the chosen children of Yaakov’s.
In an esoteric manner, we can explain based on the years of their lives. Yaakov spent forty-one years with Yosef and Rochel. Yaakov spent twenty years in Lavan’s house, of which he was married to Rachel for thirteen of them. For six of those, Yosef was born (Yaakov began working for pay when Yosef was born, and the possuk says that Yosef worked for six years for Lavan’s sheep), so we have seven years before Yosef was born and seventeen after he was born, leaving us with twenty-four years. When Yaakov reconnected with Yosef, he had another seventeen years with him, totaling forty-one. A baby has no worries and is always happy. When he reaches the age of six (seven for the weak of mind), he begins to understand how the world works.
Yaakov had forty-seven years of his life in which he had no worries. Either he had no dreams or wishes, or he had achieved them when he had his wife and favorite son with him. The Torah tells us this by counting Yaakov’s years with וַיְהִי יְמֵי יַעֲקֹב שְנֵי חַי יו שֶבַע ש נִים וְאַרְ ב עִים that these were the years of his life, during which he truly lived.
