On This Very Day

“Then the LORD said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years,” (Gen 15:13).

“The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt,” (Ex 12:40-41)

“And God spoke to this effect-that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years,” (Acts 7:6).

So how long were the people of Israel in Egypt, 400 years or 430 years? If 430 years, was the LORD just approximating when He told Abraham that his descendants would be sojourners in a foreign land for 400 years? To further complicate the matter, the LORD told Abraham that his descendants would come out of Egypt and return to Israel, “in the fourth generation,” (Gen 15:16). When we reconstruct the lineage of Moses, Levy to Kohath (Ex 6:16), Kohath to Amram (Ex 6:18), and then Amran to Moses (Ex 6:20); we verify that only four generations lived in Egypt. Yet, the sum of ages of from these generations do not add up to even 400 years. Kohath was already alive when Israel journeyed to Egypt (Gen 46:11), but adding the entire age of Kohath’s life (133 years-Ex 6:18), Amram’s life (137 years-Ex 6:20), and the age of Moses at the time of the exodus (80 years old), we only reach 350 years. So what is wrong, the prophecy or our math? According to the Jewish Sages, neither.

All my life, I thought that the people of Israel lived in Egypt for 400 years, or maybe 430 years. The Rabbis understood this paradox and developed a different understanding of the passage in Genesis, “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them 400 years,” (Gen 15:13, KJV). The Rabbis concluded that the “seed” began with the birth of Isaac and not the entry of Israel into Egypt. After all, Abraham was already a sojourner and foreigner (Gen 23:4) so Isaac was also at his birth. Therefore, the 400 years began with the birth of Isaac when Abraham was 100 years old.

So how do we get from 400 to 430 years? The extra thirty years was seen as the difference in time from when Abraham received the promise until Isaac was born. This concept of the Pharisees is reflected in the words of Paul, who said…

“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect,” (Gal 3:16-17)

Now Isaac was sixty years old when Rachel bore Jacob (Gen 25:26) and Jacob was 130 years old when he entered Egypt (Gen 47:9). Therefore, the time that Israel was in Egypt was closer to 210 years (400-190). Since Moses was eighty years old when he led the people out of Egypt, the time in Egypt before Moses’ birth was approximately 130 years. This period becomes a much more manageable timeframe between Moses and his grandfather.

There is one more interesting twist to the story. The people left Egypt, “At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt,” (Ex 12:40-41), but what day is “that very day?” According to Moses, “that very day” is the 15th of Nisan, as is written, “And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your host out of the land of Egypt,” (Ex 12:17).

Yet, the wording of the passage implies that the conclusion of the 430 years ended on the exact same day that the 430-year time period began. The NKJV states it this way, “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years – on that very same day,” (Gen 12:41). If the beginning was the same day as the ending, the beginning would occur on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, as it is written, “And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your host out of the land of Egypt,” (Ex 12:17).

Further, Isaac was born as the son of the promise (Gal 4:23), born “at the appointed time,” (Gen 21:2). “Appointed time” is translated from the Hebrew word “moed,” which is a reference to one of the seven feast times of the LORD, but which specific feast? Because the birth of Isaac is closely associated with the promise, the most likely “appointed time,” is Unleavened Bread, the date on which the original promise was given. So it is possible that the giving of the promise, the birth of Isaac, and the Exodus from Egypt all occurred on the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The giving of the promise is described this way in scripture, “Now it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there was a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram,” (Gen 15:17-18). If this describes the day of the promise, what happened in preparation for the covenant on the day before the sun went down?

“So He said to him, ‘Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in tow, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two,” (Gen 15:9-10). The day before Unleavened Bread is called Passover. So according to the Sages, almost 2000 years before Yeshua died on the cross, Abram prepared a blood path to enter into a covenant with the LORD, most likely, “on that very same day.” So the preparation of the animals, the last plague in Egypt, and the sacrifice of Yeshua all occur on the same day, with salvation following in the morning.

Hope this makes sense. The source for this is lesson 17 of Dan Lancaster's Galatians series.

Scott