Difference between revisions of "The Births and Relative Ages of Yaakov's Children/2"
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<multilink><a href="SederOlamRabbah2" data-aht="source">Seder Olam Rabbah</a><a href="SederOlamRabbah2" data-aht="source">Seder Olam Rabbah 2</a><a href="Seder Olam Rabbah" data-aht="parshan">About Seder Olam Rabbah</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="BereshitRabbah80-10" data-aht="source">Bereshit Rabbah (Vilna)</a><a href="BereshitRabbah80-10" data-aht="source">80:10</a><a href="Bereshit Rabbah" data-aht="parshan">About Bereshit Rabbah</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="BereshitRabbah80-25" data-aht="source">Bereshit Rabbah (Albeck)</a><a href="BereshitRabbah80-25" data-aht="source">80:25</a><a href="Bereshit Rabbah" data-aht="parshan">About Bereshit Rabbah</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="PirkeiDRE35" data-aht="source">Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer</a><a href="PirkeiDRE35" data-aht="source">35</a><a href="Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer" data-aht="parshan">About Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="RashiNazir29b" data-aht="source">Rashi</a><a href="RashiBereshit29-27" data-aht="source">Bereshit 29:27</a><a href="RashiBereshit33-17" data-aht="source">Bereshit 33:17</a><a href="RashiBereshit37-34" data-aht="source">Bereshit 37:34</a><a href="RashiNazir29b" data-aht="source">Nazir 29b</a><a href="RashiAvot5-21" data-aht="source">Avot 5:21</a><a href="R. Shelomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="SeikhelTovBereshit34-25" data-aht="source">Seikhel Tov</a><a href="SeikhelTovBereshit34-25" data-aht="source">Bereshit 34:25</a><a href="R. Menachem b. Shelomo (Seikhel Tov)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Menachem b. Shelomo</a></multilink>,<fn>See, however, the Seikhel Tov on Bereshit 29:32 which reproduces the position of the Lekach Tov below.</fn> <multilink><a href="ChizkuniBereshit30-25" data-aht="source">Chizkuni</a><a href="ChizkuniBereshit30-25" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:25</a><a href="ChizkuniBereshit38-1" data-aht="source">Bereshit 38:1</a><a href="R. Chizkiyah b. Manoach (Chizkuni)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Chizkiyah b. Manoach</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="TosafotBereshit29-21-1" data-aht="source">Ba'alei HaTosafot</a><a href="TosafotBereshit29-21-1" data-aht="source">Tosafist MS Oxford 2343 (Tosafot HaShalem Bereshit 29:21:1)</a><a href="Baalei HaTosafot" data-aht="parshan">About Ba'alei HaTosafot</a></multilink> | <multilink><a href="SederOlamRabbah2" data-aht="source">Seder Olam Rabbah</a><a href="SederOlamRabbah2" data-aht="source">Seder Olam Rabbah 2</a><a href="Seder Olam Rabbah" data-aht="parshan">About Seder Olam Rabbah</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="BereshitRabbah80-10" data-aht="source">Bereshit Rabbah (Vilna)</a><a href="BereshitRabbah80-10" data-aht="source">80:10</a><a href="Bereshit Rabbah" data-aht="parshan">About Bereshit Rabbah</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="BereshitRabbah80-25" data-aht="source">Bereshit Rabbah (Albeck)</a><a href="BereshitRabbah80-25" data-aht="source">80:25</a><a href="Bereshit Rabbah" data-aht="parshan">About Bereshit Rabbah</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="PirkeiDRE35" data-aht="source">Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer</a><a href="PirkeiDRE35" data-aht="source">35</a><a href="Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer" data-aht="parshan">About Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="RashiNazir29b" data-aht="source">Rashi</a><a href="RashiBereshit29-27" data-aht="source">Bereshit 29:27</a><a href="RashiBereshit33-17" data-aht="source">Bereshit 33:17</a><a href="RashiBereshit37-34" data-aht="source">Bereshit 37:34</a><a href="RashiNazir29b" data-aht="source">Nazir 29b</a><a href="RashiAvot5-21" data-aht="source">Avot 5:21</a><a href="R. Shelomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="SeikhelTovBereshit34-25" data-aht="source">Seikhel Tov</a><a href="SeikhelTovBereshit34-25" data-aht="source">Bereshit 34:25</a><a href="R. Menachem b. Shelomo (Seikhel Tov)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Menachem b. Shelomo</a></multilink>,<fn>See, however, the Seikhel Tov on Bereshit 29:32 which reproduces the position of the Lekach Tov below.</fn> <multilink><a href="ChizkuniBereshit30-25" data-aht="source">Chizkuni</a><a href="ChizkuniBereshit30-25" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:25</a><a href="ChizkuniBereshit38-1" data-aht="source">Bereshit 38:1</a><a href="R. Chizkiyah b. Manoach (Chizkuni)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Chizkiyah b. Manoach</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="TosafotBereshit29-21-1" data-aht="source">Ba'alei HaTosafot</a><a href="TosafotBereshit29-21-1" data-aht="source">Tosafist MS Oxford 2343 (Tosafot HaShalem Bereshit 29:21:1)</a><a href="Baalei HaTosafot" data-aht="parshan">About Ba'alei HaTosafot</a></multilink> | ||
</mekorot> | </mekorot> | ||
− | <point><b>Fitting in all of the births</b> – Seder Olam Rabbah and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer speak of twelve consecutive seven month pregnancies which add up to the second set of seven years Yaakov worked for Lavan.<fn>According to them there was no more than a day in between the pregnancies.</fn> The Tosafists<fn>See also Chizkuni.</fn> take this a step further, arguing that the pregnancies themselves lasted only a little more than six months as there was a need for interim days of ritual impurity after each birth.<fn>This applied only between the consecutive pregnancies of the same wife. It also assumes that the Patriarchs kept the laws of ritual purity – see <a href="Avot and Mitzvot – Was Avraham the First Jew" data-aht="page">Avot and Mitzvot</a>. <multilink><a href=" | + | <point><b>Fitting in all of the births</b> – Seder Olam Rabbah and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer speak of twelve consecutive seven month pregnancies which add up to the second set of seven years Yaakov worked for Lavan.<fn>According to them there was no more than a day in between the pregnancies.</fn> The Tosafists<fn>See also Chizkuni.</fn> take this a step further, arguing that the pregnancies themselves lasted only a little more than six months as there was a need for interim days of ritual impurity after each birth.<fn>This applied only between the consecutive pregnancies of the same wife. It also assumes that the Patriarchs kept the laws of ritual purity – see <a href="Avot and Mitzvot – Was Avraham the First Jew" data-aht="page">Avot and Mitzvot</a>. <multilink><a href="SfornoBereshit30-8" data-aht="source">Sforno</a><a href="SfornoBereshit30-8" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:8</a><a href="R. Ovadyah Sforno" data-aht="parshan">About R. Ovadyah Sforno</a></multilink> raises the possibility that this was not the case. See also Seikhel Tov who appears to maintain that there were two weeks of ritual impurity in between the births (however there is a lacuna in the text which makes its meaning difficult to ascertain).</fn></point> |
<point><b>No overlap or twins</b> – This position takes the order in the text extremely literally and thus assumes that each pregnancy was completed before the next one began.<fn>See the Tosafist commentary which rules out the possibility of overlap.</fn> Moreover, according to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, each of Yaakov's sons<fn>The lone exception was Yosef. According to this Midrash, Dinah also did not have a twin.</fn> had a twin sister born with them who was to be their future wife, thus leaving no room to suggest that any of the Tribes were twins to each other. The alternative solution that there was a set of twins is proposed by <multilink><a href="RYBSBereshit29-35" data-aht="source">R. Yosef Bekhor Shor</a><a href="RYBSBereshit29-35" data-aht="source">Bereshit 29:35</a><a href="RYBSBereshit30-21" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:21</a><a href="R. Yosef Bekhor Shor" data-aht="parshan">About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor</a></multilink> and <multilink><a href="RadakBereshit30-14" data-aht="source">Radak</a><a href="RadakBereshit30-14" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:14</a><a href="R. David Kimchi (Radak)" data-aht="parshan">About R. David Kimchi</a></multilink>.<fn>They suggest that Zevulun and Dinah were twins, thereby reducing the congestion of Leah's pregnancies to only six in seven years and leaving more time for her hiatus from becoming pregnant after Yehuda's birth. See also the opinion cited by Ibn Ezra. The alternative proposed by the <multilink><a href="MeshekhBereshit30-10" data-aht="source">Meshekh Chokhmah</a><a href="MeshekhBereshit30-10" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:10</a><a href="R. Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (Meshekh Chokhmah)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Meir Simcha of Dvinsk</a></multilink> that Gad and Asher were twins creates a less crowded schedule of pregnancies for the twelve children, but not for Leah herself.</fn></point> | <point><b>No overlap or twins</b> – This position takes the order in the text extremely literally and thus assumes that each pregnancy was completed before the next one began.<fn>See the Tosafist commentary which rules out the possibility of overlap.</fn> Moreover, according to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, each of Yaakov's sons<fn>The lone exception was Yosef. According to this Midrash, Dinah also did not have a twin.</fn> had a twin sister born with them who was to be their future wife, thus leaving no room to suggest that any of the Tribes were twins to each other. The alternative solution that there was a set of twins is proposed by <multilink><a href="RYBSBereshit29-35" data-aht="source">R. Yosef Bekhor Shor</a><a href="RYBSBereshit29-35" data-aht="source">Bereshit 29:35</a><a href="RYBSBereshit30-21" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:21</a><a href="R. Yosef Bekhor Shor" data-aht="parshan">About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor</a></multilink> and <multilink><a href="RadakBereshit30-14" data-aht="source">Radak</a><a href="RadakBereshit30-14" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:14</a><a href="R. David Kimchi (Radak)" data-aht="parshan">About R. David Kimchi</a></multilink>.<fn>They suggest that Zevulun and Dinah were twins, thereby reducing the congestion of Leah's pregnancies to only six in seven years and leaving more time for her hiatus from becoming pregnant after Yehuda's birth. See also the opinion cited by Ibn Ezra. The alternative proposed by the <multilink><a href="MeshekhBereshit30-10" data-aht="source">Meshekh Chokhmah</a><a href="MeshekhBereshit30-10" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:10</a><a href="R. Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (Meshekh Chokhmah)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Meir Simcha of Dvinsk</a></multilink> that Gad and Asher were twins creates a less crowded schedule of pregnancies for the twelve children, but not for Leah herself.</fn></point> | ||
<point><b>Shimon and Levi</b> – Seder Olam Rabbah and Bereshit Rabbah posit that Yaakov spent two years in transit on his way back from Lavan's home. This allows the Albeck version of Bereshit Rabbah to arrive at an age of 13 for Shimon at the time of the incident in Shekhem, and to justify the description of him as an "אִישׁ" in Bereshit 34:25.<fn>If Yaakov came to Shekhem immediately upon his return to Israel, Shimon would have been closer to eleven. This appears to be the position of the Midrash appended to Masekhet Soferim.</fn> The Vilna edition of Bereshit Rabbah, as well as Rashi and Seikhel Tov propose that Levi, too, had reached the age of maturity at the time of this event.<fn>For a full analysis of the development of this Midrashic motif, see <a href="The Ages of Shimon and Levi at Shechem" data-aht="page">The Ages of Shimon and Levi at Shekhem</a>. Cf. Demetrius and Jubilees below who suggest an age of 20 for Shimon and Levi, which was the age of majority in Qumran.</fn></point> | <point><b>Shimon and Levi</b> – Seder Olam Rabbah and Bereshit Rabbah posit that Yaakov spent two years in transit on his way back from Lavan's home. This allows the Albeck version of Bereshit Rabbah to arrive at an age of 13 for Shimon at the time of the incident in Shekhem, and to justify the description of him as an "אִישׁ" in Bereshit 34:25.<fn>If Yaakov came to Shekhem immediately upon his return to Israel, Shimon would have been closer to eleven. This appears to be the position of the Midrash appended to Masekhet Soferim.</fn> The Vilna edition of Bereshit Rabbah, as well as Rashi and Seikhel Tov propose that Levi, too, had reached the age of maturity at the time of this event.<fn>For a full analysis of the development of this Midrashic motif, see <a href="The Ages of Shimon and Levi at Shechem" data-aht="page">The Ages of Shimon and Levi at Shekhem</a>. Cf. Demetrius and Jubilees below who suggest an age of 20 for Shimon and Levi, which was the age of majority in Qumran.</fn></point> | ||
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<p>The Torah favors thematic order over chronological order<fn>For other examples where Tanakh might recount a story out of order in order to preserve thematic unity, see <a href="Chronological and Thematic Order" data-aht="page">Chronological and Thematic Order</a>.</fn> and therefore presents the pregnancies and births as consecutive, even though they needed to overlap with each other to fit into the seven year time frame. Similarly, positing achronology resolves the difficulties in the later stories of Sefer Bereshit, with the story of Shimon and Levi in Shekhem transpiring only many years after Yaakov returned from Lavan's home, and Yehuda's first marriage occurring several years before the sale of Yosef.</p> | <p>The Torah favors thematic order over chronological order<fn>For other examples where Tanakh might recount a story out of order in order to preserve thematic unity, see <a href="Chronological and Thematic Order" data-aht="page">Chronological and Thematic Order</a>.</fn> and therefore presents the pregnancies and births as consecutive, even though they needed to overlap with each other to fit into the seven year time frame. Similarly, positing achronology resolves the difficulties in the later stories of Sefer Bereshit, with the story of Shimon and Levi in Shekhem transpiring only many years after Yaakov returned from Lavan's home, and Yehuda's first marriage occurring several years before the sale of Yosef.</p> | ||
<mekorot> | <mekorot> | ||
− | <multilink><a href="Demetrius21" data-aht="source">Demetrius the Chronographer</a><a href="Demetrius21" data-aht="source">Cited by Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 21</a><a href="Demetrius the Chronographer" data-aht="parshan">About Demetrius</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="LekachTovBereshit29-32" data-aht="source">Lekach Tov</a><a href="LekachTovBereshit29-32" data-aht="source">Bereshit 29:32</a><a href="LekachTovBereshit34-25" data-aht="source">Bereshit 34:25</a><a href="LekachTovBereshit38-2" data-aht="source">Bereshit 38:2</a><a href="R. Toviah b. Eliezer (Lekach Tov)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Toviah b. Eliezer</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="IbnEzraBereshit30-23" data-aht="source">Ibn Ezra</a><a href="IbnEzraBereshit30-21" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:21</a><a href="IbnEzraBereshit30-23" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:23</a><a href="IbnEzraBereshit33-20" data-aht="source">Bereshit 33:20</a><a href="IbnEzraBereshit38-1" data-aht="source">Bereshit 38:1</a><a href="IbnEzraShemotLong2-2" data-aht="source">Shemot Long Commentary 2:2</a><a href="R. Avraham ibn Ezra" data-aht="parshan">About R. Avraham ibn Ezra</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href=" | + | <multilink><a href="Demetrius21" data-aht="source">Demetrius the Chronographer</a><a href="Demetrius21" data-aht="source">Cited by Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 21</a><a href="Demetrius the Chronographer" data-aht="parshan">About Demetrius</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="LekachTovBereshit29-32" data-aht="source">Lekach Tov</a><a href="LekachTovBereshit29-32" data-aht="source">Bereshit 29:32</a><a href="LekachTovBereshit34-25" data-aht="source">Bereshit 34:25</a><a href="LekachTovBereshit38-2" data-aht="source">Bereshit 38:2</a><a href="R. Toviah b. Eliezer (Lekach Tov)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Toviah b. Eliezer</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="IbnEzraBereshit30-23" data-aht="source">Ibn Ezra</a><a href="IbnEzraBereshit30-21" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:21</a><a href="IbnEzraBereshit30-23" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:23</a><a href="IbnEzraBereshit33-20" data-aht="source">Bereshit 33:20</a><a href="IbnEzraBereshit38-1" data-aht="source">Bereshit 38:1</a><a href="IbnEzraShemotLong2-2" data-aht="source">Shemot Long Commentary 2:2</a><a href="R. Avraham ibn Ezra" data-aht="parshan">About R. Avraham ibn Ezra</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="SfornoBereshit30-8" data-aht="source">Sforno</a><a href="SfornoBereshit30-8" data-aht="source">Bereshit 30:8</a><a href="R. Ovadyah Sforno" data-aht="parshan">About R. Ovadyah Sforno</a></multilink> |
</mekorot> | </mekorot> | ||
− | <point><b>Overlap and twins</b> – These commentators posit a number of possible variations as to how the pregnancies of Yaakov's wives overlapped. According to Demetrius and Lekach Tov,<fn>This option is also mentioned by Ibn Ezra in his commentary on Shemot.</fn> Bilhah's pregnancies overlapped with Leah's first four pregnancies<fn>While the Torah describes the birth of Leah's first four children and Leah's temporary infertility in 29:35 ("וַתַּעֲמֹד מִלֶּדֶת") before recording the giving of Bilhah to Yaakov in 30:1-4, both Demetrius and Lekach Tov assume that it was the giving of Zilpah to Yaakov in 30:9 which immediately followed Leah's not becoming pregnant, as this was the direct consequence of "וַתֵּרֶא לֵאָה כִּי עָמְדָה מִלֶּדֶת". According to them, the giving of Bilhah occurred prior to this, and the Torah waits to record it until after the birth of Yehuda so as not to interrupt the narrative flow of Leah's births.</fn> and Zilpah's pregnancies overlapped with Leah's later three pregnancies, while Ibn Ezra and | + | <point><b>Overlap and twins</b> – These commentators posit a number of possible variations as to how the pregnancies of Yaakov's wives overlapped. According to Demetrius and Lekach Tov,<fn>This option is also mentioned by Ibn Ezra in his commentary on Shemot.</fn> Bilhah's pregnancies overlapped with Leah's first four pregnancies<fn>While the Torah describes the birth of Leah's first four children and Leah's temporary infertility in 29:35 ("וַתַּעֲמֹד מִלֶּדֶת") before recording the giving of Bilhah to Yaakov in 30:1-4, both Demetrius and Lekach Tov assume that it was the giving of Zilpah to Yaakov in 30:9 which immediately followed Leah's not becoming pregnant, as this was the direct consequence of "וַתֵּרֶא לֵאָה כִּי עָמְדָה מִלֶּדֶת". According to them, the giving of Bilhah occurred prior to this, and the Torah waits to record it until after the birth of Yehuda so as not to interrupt the narrative flow of Leah's births.</fn> and Zilpah's pregnancies overlapped with Leah's later three pregnancies, while Ibn Ezra and Sforno suggest that it was Bilhah's and Zilpah's pregnancies which overlapped.<fn>Another variation, that there was overlap between the pregnancies of all of Bilhah, Zilpah, and Leah (her later ones), appears in <a href="HaEmunahVeHaBitachon24" data-aht="source">Sefer HaEmunah VeHaBitachon 24</a> (a work commonly misattributed to the Ramban – see <a href="R. Moshe b. Nachman (Ramban, Nachmanides)" data-aht="parshan">About Ramban</a>).</fn> Ibn Ezra also raises the possibilities that Zevulun and Dinah were twins or that Dinah was born much later.<fn>Cf. R. D"Z Hoffmann below.</fn></point> |
<point><b>Fitting in all of the births</b> – The overlap in pregnancies enabled twelve full term births during the course of Yaakov's second seven year work stint.</point> | <point><b>Fitting in all of the births</b> – The overlap in pregnancies enabled twelve full term births during the course of Yaakov's second seven year work stint.</point> | ||
<point><b>Shimon and Levi</b> – Demetrius and Ibn Ezra suggest that Yaakov lived in Shekhem for several years before the rape and massacre took place,<fn>See also a variation of this theory developed by <a href="http://www.tanach.org/breishit/vayish3.htm">R. Menachem Leibtag</a>.</fn> allowing for a much older Shimon and Levi.<fn>Demetrius says that Yaakov lived in Shekhem for ten years, which makes Shimon and Levi twenty-one and twenty. His reconstruction is likely motivated by the assumption that the age of majority (at which point the term "אִישׁ" would apply to Shimon and Levi) was twenty (cf. Shemot 30:12-14, and note that the age of majority in Qumran was twenty). See, similarly, Jubilees cited below and <a href="TestamentofLevi2-2" data-aht="source">Testament of Levi</a>, and cf. Chazal's position above that Shimon and Levi were thirteen or fourteen.</fn> Lekach Tov, on the other hand, maintains that Shimon and Levi were just thirteen to fourteen years old.<fn>Cf. Seder Olam Rabbah and Bereshit Rabbah above.</fn></point> | <point><b>Shimon and Levi</b> – Demetrius and Ibn Ezra suggest that Yaakov lived in Shekhem for several years before the rape and massacre took place,<fn>See also a variation of this theory developed by <a href="http://www.tanach.org/breishit/vayish3.htm">R. Menachem Leibtag</a>.</fn> allowing for a much older Shimon and Levi.<fn>Demetrius says that Yaakov lived in Shekhem for ten years, which makes Shimon and Levi twenty-one and twenty. His reconstruction is likely motivated by the assumption that the age of majority (at which point the term "אִישׁ" would apply to Shimon and Levi) was twenty (cf. Shemot 30:12-14, and note that the age of majority in Qumran was twenty). See, similarly, Jubilees cited below and <a href="TestamentofLevi2-2" data-aht="source">Testament of Levi</a>, and cf. Chazal's position above that Shimon and Levi were thirteen or fourteen.</fn> Lekach Tov, on the other hand, maintains that Shimon and Levi were just thirteen to fourteen years old.<fn>Cf. Seder Olam Rabbah and Bereshit Rabbah above.</fn></point> |
Latest revision as of 10:24, 28 January 2023
The Births and Relative Ages of Yaakov's Children
Exegetical Approaches
Overview
In attempting to make sense of the various chronological issues relating to the the births and lives of Yaakov's children, commentators offer an array of possibilities. Many of them are consistent in the methodologies they apply to resolve each of the issues.
A first approach, taken by many Midrashim, reads the text both literally and chronologically, and resolves all issues by positing that events were supernatural. This allows for seven month pregnancies, youngsters capable of massacring cities, and eight year old parents. Others take a more rationalist approach, preferring to resolve the problems by suggesting minor chronological changes in the order of the recorded events. They assert that some of Yaakov's wives' pregnancies overlapped, that Yaakov spent some years in Shekhem before Dinah was raped, and that the story of Yehuda and Tamar occurred before the sale of Yosef. A final approach expands the time frame in which Yaakov's children were born, making Shimon, Levi, and Yehuda older during the subsequent events.
Premature & Precocious
The pregnancies for each and every one of Yaakov's children were extraordinarily short, and were thus able to fit within a seven year time span. Similarly, Yaakov's children reached physical and sexual maturity at supernaturally early ages, and this accounts for the very young ages of Shimon and Levi and Yehuda's descendants when they sired offspring in the subsequent stories.
Achronological Order
The Torah favors thematic order over chronological order15 and therefore presents the pregnancies and births as consecutive, even though they needed to overlap with each other to fit into the seven year time frame. Similarly, positing achronology resolves the difficulties in the later stories of Sefer Bereshit, with the story of Shimon and Levi in Shekhem transpiring only many years after Yaakov returned from Lavan's home, and Yehuda's first marriage occurring several years before the sale of Yosef.
Expanded Time Frame
The births of Yaakov's first twelve children took place over a period of almost fourteen years, rather than seven. This approach subdivides over whether it is the starting line or end point which needs to be adjusted to gain the additional years.
Yaakov Married Earlier
Yaakov married Leah immediately upon starting working for Lavan, and thus Yaakov's first twelve children were born over the course of thirteen years. As a result, Shimon and Levi were about twenty at the time of the incident in Shekhem, and there is additional time for Yehuda's descendants to sire their own offspring before descending to Egypt.
Yosef Born Later
Yosef was born only after the completion of Yaakov's first fourteen years working for Lavan, and the twelve children were born over a span of up to twelve years. The incident with Shekhem happened only much later when Shimon and Levi were already twenty years old.