Thank you for the age question on Joseph, “How old was Joseph, Israel’s son when his brothers sold him into Egypt?”
Scripture does not state hold old was Joseph when his brothers sold him into Egypt. It would only be a conjecture.
Here are some factors to consider in the age of Joseph:
Genesis 17 says this, “This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them” (NIV).
Genesis 41:46 says this, “Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt” (NIV).
Genesis 40:1 says this, “When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, 2 when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. 3 After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. 4 And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up” (NIV).
With the numbers given, Joseph was 17 when he was still with his father, Jacob. At the age of 30, he became the primary minister. This means that there is a 13 year gap.
Working backward from the age of 30, Genesis 40:1 indicates that at least Joseph was in prison for two years before Pharaoh had his dream. This would reduce the gap to 11 years. It appears that his stay in prison was about 2–4 years since it took some time for Joseph to the warden’s manager of the prison to meet the baker and cupbearer. Joseph rose to being the manager of Potiphar’s house would have taken longer as he had to learn the language and the customs of the Egyptians. I venture to think 7–9 years. One other unknown factor is the time gap between him giving a bad report to his brother and the time his brothers sold him. If one thinks 1–2 years, then Joseph would be about 18 years old. This will give him a 12 year time frame to become the prime minister of Egypt.
Summary: It is likely that Joseph was 18 years old when his brothers sold him as this would seem to be a reasonable time frame to be the manager of Potiphar’s household and be the manager of the warden’s prisoners.
-Kingston