Today is a delightful example of the spreadsheet method. The spreadsheet below is a peach of an example of this important Rashi method. The spreadsheet with its underlying assumptions justifies the Rashi assertion that
• Jacob waited 14 years after leaving his father before coming to Laban
• But the contrast of Gn28-11,12,16 shows that Jacob was surprised that God was in this place, a profane place where one camps and sleeps
• This suggests that contrastively he spent the previous 14 years in spiritual endeavors, places where God is expected to be found
• We don't know (from the verses) where Jacob spent the previous 14 years, nor do we know what spiritual endeavors he was doing. It is logical that he was engaged in prayer, charity or learning. Rashi picks a specific example - he was learning at the academy of Shem and Ever. However the verses don't explicitly suggest this but rather simply suggest that Jacob was engaged in spiritual behavior.

  'Egyptian Time*1	'Event	'Abraham's age	'Ishmael's age	'Isaac's age	'Jacob's / Esauv's age	'Joseph's age	'Jacob working for Laban	'Supporting Verses
  ' 0	'Abraham visits Egypt	'75	'	'	'	'	'	'Gn12-04
  ' 11*1	'Ishmael Born	'86	'0	'	'	'	'	'Gn16-16
  ' 25	'Isaac Born	'100	'	'0	'	'	'	'Gn21-05
  ' 85	'Yaakov Born	'	'	'60	'0	'	'	'Gn25-26
  ' 100	'Abraham's death	'175	'	'	'	'	'	'Gn25-07
  ' 148	'Ishmael's death; Jacob/Esauv leave Isaac*2	'	'137	'	'63*3	'	'	'Gn25-17, Gn28-05:09
  ' 162	'Jacob arrives at Laban	'	'	'	'	'77*4	'-14*5	'Gn31-41,Gn30-25
  ' 176	'Joseph's birth	'	'	'	'	'	'0	'Gn31-41,Gn30-25
  ' 206	'Joseph begins to reign	'	'	'	'	'	'30	'Gn41-46
  ' 213	'7 years of plenty	'	'	'	'	'37	'Gn41-47
  ' 215	'Jacob reunites with Joseph	'	'	'	'	'130	'39	'Gn45-06,Gn47-09

  Footnotes:
  • 1: The 400 years of exile started in Abraham's 75th year; so this year is numbered 0. The Jews left Egypt in year 405. This table links pairs of events with verses. The linked pairs justify an update of the Egyptian time column. Example: Gn16-16 states that Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born. This justifies placing an 86 in the Abraham column and a 0 in the Ishmael column. By subtracting 75 from 86 we obtain 11 and hence this is 0+11=11 years Egyptian Time. Other rows in the spreadsheet are filled in similarly.
  • 2: One verse states Ishmael was 137 when he died. An other verse states that Jacob and Esauv left Isaac around the time that Esauv got married. But the verse says that Ishmael did not marry off his own daughter but rather Nevayoth, her brother established the marriage. This suggests that Ishmael started the marriage but died before its completion and Nevayoth the brother completed it. So we link Ishmael's death with Jacob and Esauv leaving Isaac.
  • 3: Jacob's age of 63 is computed by using Egyptian absolute time: Ishmael died at 137, which is year 148 Egyptian time. Jacob was born in year 85 Egyptian time. So Jacob was now 137-85 = 63 years.
  • 4: Here the computation of 77 is prospective instead of retrospective. We see that Jacob was 130 and Joseph was 39 when they reunited. We also see that Joseph was born after 14 years with Laban. So 130 - 39 - 14 = 77.
  • 5: Jacob worked 14 years for his two wives and Joseph was born at the end. So Jacob arrived at Laban's house 14 years prior to Joseph's birth.

Advanced Rashi: Rashi uses the above spreadsheet to show the 14 year gap between year 63 of Jacob's life and year 77 of Jacob's life. Jacob left his father's house at age 63 but didn't arrive at Laban's house till 77. Apparently Jacob spent 14 years doing something different, spiritual endeavors. We aren't sure which endeavors. Rashi gives a good example, study. However the verses justify asserting any spiritual endeavor.