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 חַיָּיו שֶבַע שָּנִים וְאַרְ בָּעִים that these were the years of his life, during which he truly lived.
