Living or Sojourning - פרשת ויגש

Genesis 47:8

וַיֹּאמֶר פַּרְעֹה אֶל־יַעֲקֹב כַּמָּה יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֶּיךָ׃

Pharaoh asked Jacob, “How many are the years of your life?”

Genesis 47:9

וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב אֶל־פַּרְעֹה יְמֵי שְׁנֵי מְגוּרַי שְׁלֹשִׁים וּמְאַת שָׁנָה מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיַּי וְלֹא הִשִּׂיגוּ אֶת־יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי אֲבֹתַי בִּימֵי מְגוּרֵיהֶם׃

And Jacob answered Pharaoh, “The years of my sojourn [on earth] are one hundred and thirty. Few and hard (lit. bad) have been the years of my life, nor do they come up to the life spans of my fathers during their sojourns.”

This second פסוק seems to be particularly long winded. פרעה asked יעקב a very simple question. How old are you? Why does יעקב give such a lengthy response moaning about how bad his life has been? He should say "I'm 130."

To answer this, we must pay careful attention to how יעקב formulates his response. He says that he has sojourned for 130 years, but the years of his life are few and bad. The days of my life have not reached the days of my fathers' lives during their sojourns.

It is important to point out the difference between our sojourns on this earth and how long we really live. We can sojourn on this planet for many years whilst making little use of our time and not really live at all. יעקב is teaching פרעה, and us, a very important lesson. He says "I have sojourned on this earth a long time, but I haven't lived life quite like I should have. I haven't lived to the extent that אברהם and יצחק lived."

We should take this lesson to heart. Our time on earth is limited. We have no idea how long it will be. Our task is to make good use of it.