How Old Was Joseph When He Died in Egypt?

Joseph was 110 years old when he died in Egypt. Genesis 50:26 states his age directly and says that he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Joseph’s final years

Joseph lived long enough to see Ephraim’s children to the third generation and the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh. His long life allowed him to see the continuation of the family God had preserved through the famine.

Genesis does not describe the precise cause of Joseph’s death. Its emphasis is his age, his faith concerning Israel’s future, and the treatment of his body in Egypt.

Joseph’s request concerning his bones

Before his death, Joseph told his brethren that God would surely visit them and bring them out of Egypt into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He made the children of Israel swear that they would carry up his bones.

Joseph’s coffin therefore testified to his confidence that Egypt was not Israel’s permanent home. Exodus 13:19 records Moses taking Joseph’s bones during the exodus, and Joshua 24:32 records their burial at Shechem.

Joseph’s age compared with Jacob’s

Jacob died at 147 after living seventeen years in Egypt. Joseph was about fifty-six when Jacob died and lived approximately fifty-four more years, reaching 110. These dates connect the closing events of Genesis with the later growth of Israel in Egypt.