Jovial (14 Dec 2005)
"The 430 Years: Examining Genesis 15"

Gen 15 says...

""Know for certain that your descendants will be

• strangers in a country not their own,
• and they will be enslaved
• and they will be afflicted four hundred years.

¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure"

Whatever this refers to, it does not refer to any time period in which Abraham is still alive, because God says, "You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. " God clearly says this will happen to Abraham's descendants, but not him. He died at the age of 175 (Gen 25:7), in the year 2133 after Adam. Israel came out of Egypt in the year 2463, or 330 years later. So there's not 400 years after Abraham's death and the Exodus. In fact, Abraham returned to the land in Gen 22, Sarah died in the Land in Gen 23, and he was in the Land some 378 years before the Exodus as a free man, in the Land he was promised, and viewed as a "might prince" amongthe people there.

Now let's ask ourselves.......does the 400 years applied only to the last condition, or all three? It could be saying one of two things:

• Interpretation #1:
  • that they will be strangers for an indeterminate time
  • that they will be enslaved for an indeterminate time
  • that they will be mistreated for 400 years
• Interpretation #2:
  • they will be strangers, enslaved, and mistreated, all 3 at the same time, for 400 years.

Now it is possible not to mistreat a slave, but often, slaves are mistreated. However, slavery would be considered a condition in order to be mistreated.

But we can't find a contiguous 400 year period in which Israel was a stranger in a foreign land. Gen 23 tells us that Abraham and Sarah were in the Promised Land 378 years before the Exodus. After the Exodus , there was always a remnant of people living in Israel. There were times when the kings / leaders where living in an exiled country, but we can't find a 400 year period in which all of Israel was a stranger in a foreign land.

We can't find a 400 year contiguous period in which Israel was enslaved to another nation. Even if you count Joseph as having been "enslaved" by Egypt at the age of 17 (which I don't think is when the clock started), you can't get 400 years of slavery to Egypt because

• Israel left Egypt in the year 2463 after Adam. (430 years after the Promise, Abraham was 75, Abraham was born in 1958 after Adam)
• 2118 was when Jacob was born. That's 340 years before the Exodus. He would have to grow up and have 11 kids before Joseph would be born. So if you start the "enslavement" period at Joseph's being sold to Egypt, it's under 400 years.
• Israel served Pharoah while there, but they were not mistreated for 400 years. They didn't even travel to Egypt as a nation until well under 300 years before the Exodus.

To correctly interpret Exodus 15, the 400 year period either applies to all 3, or only the last. Either is possible, but we have to make everything match. Since we can't find a contiguous 400 year period in which Israel was a stranger in a strange land or enslaved, then the only logical conclusion is that this time period has to be about what would happen to them over a longer period of time than 400 years, and what would happen during 400 of those years. And the various periods of slavery DO add up to 400 years, as in the following chart....

Shalom,

Joe
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