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NASB | Genesis 15:13 God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 15:13 God said to Abram, "Know for sure that your descendants will be strangers [living temporarily] in a land (Egypt) that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. [Ex 12:40] |
Bible Question:
How could the Israelites have been in Egypt for either 400 or 430 years? Gen 15:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." Ex 12:40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD's divisions left Egypt. The fourth generation can be found as the children of Moses, since Moses did not enter into the Promised Land. Kohath was one of the orginial 70 Hebrews to come into Egypt and is the Grandfather of Moses. Gen 46:11 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Ex 6:18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years. Ex 6:20 Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years. Ex 7:7 Moses was 80 years old and Aaron 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh. So, lets say that Kohath had just been born when he arrived in Egypt. He lived 133 years and on the last day of his life he fathered Amram. Amram lived 137 years and on the last day of his life he fathered Moses. Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt when he was 80 years old. 133 years, 137 years, 80 years equals 350 years. |
Bible Answer: Two basic views about the 430 years 'There are two basic views about the 430 years mentioned in this verse. '(1) There are 430 years from Genesis 15 to Exodus 20 (e.g., 215 years from Abraham to the captivity, and 215 years from the captivity to Sinai). However, these dates do not fit with a conservative chronology (e.g., Abraham was c. 2,000 BC, and the Exodus was c. 1446 BC; Also the captivity was prophesied to be 400 years in Genesis 15: 13, not 215 years) '(2) There are 430 years from Genesis 46 to Exodus 20. In Genesis 46 Jacob receives the last confirmation of the Abrahamic covenant and then goes into Egypt as one of the patriarchs c. 1876 BC. Acts 7:6, and Genesis 15:13-16 both describe 400 years of captivity. Perhaps they are using rounded numbers. Or perhaps from the final giving of the promise to Abraham's descendant, Jacob, in the Land until the Exodus is 430 years. This would make the captivity proper 400 years. 1 Chronicles 7:20-21 describes ten generations from Joseph to Joshua. It would take 400 years to grow from 70 to 2-3 million. '8 This date emphasizes the literal interpretation of the biblical numbers in Exodus 12:40 ("Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years"), Judges 11:26 ("While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?") and 1 Kings 6:1 ("Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord"). 'Hill and Walton offer the following arguments for an early date (A Survey of the Old Testament, 108):...' To read more go to: www.bible.org/page.asp? page_idequals30 (Replace the word "equals" with the equals sign.) Source: An Introduction to Genesis by David Malick bible.org |