BIBLIOTHECA SACRA 125 (1969): 306-16
Copyright © 1969 by
The Duration
of
The Egyptian
Bondage
Harold
W. Hoehner
When one looks at the various passages of
Scripture con-
cerning the
length of
mediately
discovers that there are apparent disagreements
in the
biblical record. Various scholars have attempted to
resolve the
apparent discrepancies. The purpose of this article
is to
discuss and evaluate the various views and then attempt
to present a
solution to the problem.
I. THE SCRIPTURES INVOLVED
Before discussing the various theories, a
review of the
Scripture
passages concerning the duration of the bondage
is in order.
The passages are the author's own translation.
PASSAGES
MENTIONING 400 YEARS
Genesis 15:13. And he said to Abram: "Know with cer-
tainty that
your descendents shall be strangers (sojourners)
in a land
that is not theirs and they shall serve them1 and
they shall
oppress them for 400 years."
Genesis 15:16. And in the fourth
generation they shall
come back
here again. . . .
Acts 7:6. And God spoke in this manner; that his [Abra-
ham's]
descendents shall be strangers in a land that is not
theirs, and
that they shall enslave them and maltreat (them,)
for 400
years.
PASSAGES
MENTIONING 430 YEARS
Exodus 12:40-41. Now the sojourning of the children of
pass at the
end of the 430 years, on that very day it came to
1 The LXX adds here "and
shall maltreat them." When this verse is
quoted in
Acts 7:6 this phrase is retained.
2 The Samaritan Pentateuch
(hereafter designated as SP) as well as the
Alexandrinus
and Lagardiana codices of the LXX add "and their fathers."
Since there
is no other MS evidence for this additional reading, the Masoretic
text
(hereafter designated MT) should stand as is.
3 The SP has: "in the
LXX has the
same words but in inverted order. Again because of weak sup-
port, the MT
should stand as is.
306
THE DURATION OF THE EGYPTIAN BONDAGE 307
pass, all
the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of
Galatians 3:17. Now this I say: "The law which came 430
years
afterward does not make void a covenant previously
ratified by
God4 so as to invalidate the promise.
PASSAGE
MENTIONING 450 YEARS
Acts 13:17-20. The God of this people
fathers, and
exalted the people when they sojourned in
and with a
high arm he led them out of it, and for approxi-
mately forty
years as a nursing father he bore5 them in the
wilderness. And when he destroyed seven nations in the
land
of
approximately
450 years. And after that7 he
gave them judges
until Samuel
the prophet.
II. THE PROBLEM STATED
One sees immediately that there are three
figures for the
length of
years? Can these differences be resolved in a way which
will
satisfy the
given data in all these passages?
4 Some MSS add the words
"in Christ." Although the
weightiest MSS
omit the
words, their inclusion or exclusion is of no significance for this study.
The textual
variant "cared for" has about equal weight as the reading
used in the
above translation. The same two variants
are found in the LXX of
Deut. 1:31,
the passage to which Paul is alluding, but the MT has simply
xWn
which means "to bear."
6 This word is inserted for
clarity in English and is included in some MSS.
7 The Textus Receptus which the
AV follows has the phrase "and after
that"
preceding the words "approximately 450 years." This would mean that
there was an
approximate 450-year span between Joshua's conquering of the
land and
Samuel the prophet. Thus the period of
the judges was about 450
years. The reading of the Nestle text is better
because: (1) it is favored by
the more
weighty MSS (p74, x ABC
33 81 181 it-ar c vg arm geo), and
(2) it fits
better with I Kings 6:1 where there is a 480-year period from the
Exodus to
the fourth year of Solomon-otherwise if one accepts the Textus
Receptus
reading, one would have to squeeze into the 480-year period the
450 years of
the judges period, the reigns of Joshua, Saul, David, and the first
three or
four years of Solomon's reign, and forty years of wilderness wander-
ings. Accepting the reading of the Nestle text,
viz., the placing of the approx-
imate 450
years from the commencement of the Egyptian bondage until Joshua's
conquest of
the land, will be discussed in the text below.
308 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA October, 1969
III. THE PROBLEM DISCUSSED
There are two major views to be considered
at this time
after which
the present writer's view will be given.
AN EGYPTIAN
BONDAGE OF 215 YEARS
Statement of the position. Anstey,8 Mauro,9
Cooper,10
Thiele,11
and The New Scofield Reference Bible12 favor the
position of
a 215-year Egyptian bondage. The
adherents of
this view
take the 430 years mentioned in Galatians 3:17 as
beginning
with the call of Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3) and ending
with the
Exodus. The 400 years has reference to
the period
from the
weaning of Isaac and the casting out of Ishmael
(Gen.
21:10.) until the Exodus. Therefore, one
would have a
215-year
sojourn in the
of 215 years
in
for the
sojourn.14 It may be outlined
as follows:
The call of Abraham who was 75 years
old (Gen. 12:4) 0
Isaac born when Abraham was 100 years
old (Gen. 21 :5) 25
Isaac was weaned and Ishmael was cast
out when Isaac was 5 (this begins the
400-year period) 5
Jacob and Esau born when Isaac was
60 (Gen. 25.26) 55
8 Martin Anstey, The Romance
of Bible Chronology, I, 116-18.
9 Philip Mauro, The
Chronology of the Bible, pp. 37-40 "
10 David L. Cooper, Messiah:
His First Coming Scheduled, pp. 129-34.
11 Edwin R. Thiele,
"Chronology, Old Testament," The Zondervan pic-
torial Bible
Dictionary, ed.
Merrill C. Tenney, pp. 166-67. This is
in agree-
ment with The
Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary, I, 184-, 192. Thiele is
one of its
contributors and it may be that he wrote the section "The Chronol-
ogy of Early
Bible History" (ibid., I, 174-96).
12 E. Schuyler English, et al
(eds.), The New Scofield Reference Bible, p. 86 n. 2.
13 Rowley has gathered material
of those in the Jewish tradition that
hold to this
position (H. H. Rowley, From Joseph to Joshua, pp. 67-69).
14 Dewey M. Beegle (The
Inspiration of Scripture, pp. 56-58) has another
view which
will not be considered separately. He thinks that there was a
sojourn of
215 years in
a total of
64-5 years. Hence he concludes that
Paul's statement in Gal. 3:17
is
inaccurate for he states: "Evidently it seemed good to the Holy Spirit to
let Paul use
the traditional 430 years without informing him that he was
technically
wrong and should be using 64-5 years as found in Hebrew" (ibid.,
p. 58).
However, it is obvious that Beegle does not try to find a solution,
rather he
attempts to demonstrate inaccuracies within Scripture and yet be
inspired
(cf., ibid., pp. 189-93). But the present writer believes that one can
plausibly
resolve the problem and consequently the Scripture being inspired
must be
accurate in its details.
THE DURATION OF THE EGYPTIAN BONDAGE 309
Jacob was
130 years old when he went to
Sub total 215
Remaining
215 years were in
Total
430
Those who hold this position make a
distinction between
430 years
and 400 years. The 400-year period
begins not with
Isaac's
birth but when he was acknowledged as the seed and
heir and
consequently Abraham cast out Hagar and Ishmael
(Gen.
21:8-10). This 400-year sojourn is
deduced from. Genesis
15:13 and
Acts 7:6 which states that the 400-year sojourn
in a land
that is not theirs is made by Abraham's seed which
would have
reference to Isaac at the time he was weaned.15
The proponents of this view also mention
the fact that
in Genesis
15:16 it was prophesied that they would return
to
to Exodus
6:16-20; Numbers 3:17-19; 26:57-59; I Chronicles
6:1-3; 23:6,
12, 13 (Jacob-Levi-Kohath-Amram-Moses).16 To
fit four
generations into a 215-year period is much more
reasonable
than a 430-year span.
In conclusion, the 430 years went from
Abraham's call
to the
Exodus. The first 215 years was their
sojourn in Pales-
tine and the
last 215 years in
the weaning
of Isaac to the time of the Exodus.
Objections to the position. Firstly, the tenor of Scripture
for their
sojourn in
Genesis 15:13
and Acts 7:6 state that they will be in a land
that is not
theirs and be oppressed for 400 years.
Secondly, Galatians 3:17 does not state
that the 430 years
was from the
time of Abraham's call to the time of the
Mosaic
covenant. Rather it is to be measured
from the con-
firmation
(not its institution) of the Abrahamic covenant
until the
Sinaitic covenant.
Thirdly, to say that Isaac was weaned and
Ishmael was
cast out
when Isaac was five years old is mere guesswork.
There is no
statement in Scripture stating that Isaac became
heir at five
years of age. This is deduced from the need of
15 Cf. Mauro, op. cit., pp. 39-39; Cooper, op.
cit., pp. 164-65.
16 Cf. Cooper, op. cit., pp. 132, .164-65.
310 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA October, 1969
an extra
five years after Isaac was born so as to make a
total of
thirty from the time of Abraham's call to Isaac's
being weaned
which would account for the 430 and 400-year
periods. If one would carry this out logically then
Isaac,
Abraham's
seed, would be the one in bondage for 400 years.
All Genesis
15:13 and Acts 7:6 are saying is that Abraham's
progeny
would be sojourners and be afflicted for 400 years.
This does
not compel one to think it has reference to Isaac
personally
but that the descendents of Abraham sometime
in the
future will be in bondage for 400 years.
Fourthly, with regard to their return to
fourth
generation (Gen. 15:16), it seems evident that this
would have
reference to the 400 years mentioned in the same
context (15:13). Thus each generation was thought of as
100 years
(Abraham was 100 when he bore Isaac)17 and
consequently
the bondage would be four centuries. Further-
more,
although the ancestry of Moses from Jacob through
Levi,
Kohath, and Amram is repeatedly given (Ex. 6:16-20;
Num.
3:17-19; 26:57-59; I Chron. 6:1-3; 23:6, 12, 13), there
are in
Joshua 17:3 six generations from Joseph to Zelophehad,
a Manassite
who died in the wilderness wanderings; in Ruth
4:18-20 and
I Chronicles 2 :4-10 there are six generations from
icles 2:18
there are seven generations from
the builder
of the tabernacle; and in I Chronicles 2:2; 7:20-27,
29 there are
at least ten generations between Jacob and
Joshua
(Jacob-Joseph-Ephraim-Rephah-Resheph-Telah-
Tahan-Ladan-Ammihud-Elishama-Nun-Joshua).18
Also Thiele
succinctly
states: "that some considerable period [between
Jacob and
the Exodus] was involved is clear from the fact
that Joseph
before his death saw the children of the third
17 The word rvd is translated generation but it
may have the idea of a
lifetime
which of course would be longer than a generation, cf. W. F. Albright,
"Abram
the Hebrew: A New Archaeological Interpretation," Bulletin of the
American
Schools of Oriental Research, No. 163 (October, 1961), 50-51.
This
would mean
that oppression in
of another,
or 400 years.
18 Cf. C. F. Keil, The
Pentateuch, II, 30. Beegle states: "While the geneal-
ogies
indicate only four generations from Levi through Moses, the preponder-
ance of
evidence which archaeology offers at the present time favors the
430-year
stay in
Beegle did
not check the Hebrew text! As mentioned above, the Hebrew text
does
indicate more than four generations.
Thus there is no discrepancy
between the
biblical text and archaeological evidence.
THE DURATION OF THE EGYPTIAN BONDAGE 311
generation
of both his sons (Gen. 50:23), and that at the time
of the
Exodus Amram and his brothers were already regarded
as founders
of clans."19 It is a
well recognized fact that there
are gaps in
genealogies and thus the passages cited above
which
mention only three or four links account for only the
most
prominent figures in the line.
Therefore, since there are
at least ten
generations during the Egyptian bondage, they
"can
hardly be reconciled with a mere 215 years (especially
considering
the longer life span of pre-Exodus Israelites), but
it fits in
very plausibly with an interval of 430 years."20
Fifthly, to have an increase from a
family of seventy or
seventy-five21
to a nation of more than two million (on the
basis that
there were 603,550 men of arms mentioned in
Num. 1:46; 2
:32) would need more than 215 years.
Archer
states that
if one were able to cram seven generations into
the 215-year
period "there would have had to be an average
of four
surviving sons per father."22
This is high especially in
the light of
the severe bondage, at least in the last years,
which would
discourage having large families.
However, as-
suming that
from each married couple an average of three
sons and
three daughters were born for the first six genera-
tions and
two sons and two daughters in the last four gen-
erations,
Keil calculated that by the tenth generation there
would be
478,224 sons over twenty years of age and 125,326
men of the
ninth generation still living, hence making a total
of 603,550
men by the 400th year of the sojourn who were
more than
twenty years old." This calculation
is based on the
ordinary
number of births and is far more reasonable than
trying to
fit it into a 215-year span requiring an astronomical
growth in
such a short period.
19 Thiele, Zondervan Pictorial, p. 167.
20 Gleason L. Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction,
p. 212.
21 The MT of Gen. 56 :27 and
Ex. 1:5 states that there were seventy per-
sons of the
house of Jacob who went into
LXX states
that there were seventy-five persons. In
quoting from the Old
Testament,
Stephen follows the LXX of seventy-five persons (Acts 7:14). The
difference
can be resolved by the fact that the LXX adds in Gen. 46:27 three
grandsons
(Machir, Sutalaam, and Taam) and two great-grandsons (Galaad
and
7 :14-22
(cf. Anstey, op. cit., I, 122; W.
Arndt, Does the Bible Contradict Itself?
pp.12-14).
22 Archer, op. cit., p. 212.
23 Keil, op. cit., II, 29. His calculation begins with the forty-one
grandsons
of Jacob and
figures ten generations of forty years each making a total of
400 years.
312 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA October, 1969
In conclusion, from biblical and other
lines of evidence
an Egyptian
bondage of 215 years is highly improbable and
unlikely.
AN EGYPTIAN
BONDAGE OF 430 YEARS
Statement of the position. The second most prevalent view
is that the
430 years of Exodus 12:40-41 refers to the length
of the
Egyptian bondage and the 400 years of Genesis 15:13
and Acts 7:6
is only a round number is advocated by scholars
such as
Jack,24 Unger,25 Archer,26 Whitcomb,27
and Kitchen.28
Whitcomb
thinks that the 400-year period as a round number
is analogous
to Paul's figure of "about 450 years" in Acts
13:19-20.29
Objections to the position. Firstly, this view does not
adequately
explain the difference between the 430 years and
the 400
years. To pass the 400 years off as only
a round number
seems to do
an injustice to the text. The proponents
of this
view do not
cite any other examples of such a phenomenon.
Most of the
authors cited above take other figures such as the
480 years in
I Kings 6:1 and the 300 years in Judges 11:26
literally. Whitcomb's attempt to prove the use of a
round
number by
using the analogy is untenable since Acts 13:19-20
specifically
states it as being "about 450 years" which is
not the case
for the 400 years in Genesis 15:13 and Acts 7:6.
This is
especially noteworthy since Luke seems to be very
interested
in chronology.
Secondly, the advocates of this view
usually have little
or no
discussion on the 430 years mentioned in Galatians 3:17.
Kitchen
states: "Paul in Gal. 3:17 is
concerned to establish
one single
point: that the Law came long after
God's covenant
with
Abraham. He therefore makes his point,
not by labori-
ously
calculating the actual interval between these events but
simply and
incisively by citing the well-known figure-the
430
years-included within that interval."30 However, can one
really think
this of Paul who was so well schooled in the
24 J. W. Jack, The Date of the Exodus,
p. 218.
25 Merrill F. Unger, Archeology and the
Old Testament, pp. 106, 150.
26 Archer, op. cit., pp. 205, 211-12.
27 John C. Whitcomb, Chart of Old Testament
Patriarchs and Judges, 3rd
ed.,
explantory sheet.
28 K. A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old
Testament, pp. S3-S6.
29 Whitcomb, op. dt., explanatory sheet.
30 Kitchen, op. cit., p. 53 n. 97. Cf.
Edward J. Young, Thy Word Is Truth,
pp. 179-83.
THE DURATION OF THE EGYPTIAN BONDAGE 313
Scriptures
and the Jewish traditions?
Thirdly, it seems strange for Paul to give
the duration of
the Egyptian
bondage as being, on the one hand, 430 years in
Galatians
3:17 and, on the other hand, 400 years in Acts
13:16-20
(the actual figure is 450 years, but this would include
the 400
years for bondage, 40 years for the wilderness
journeys,
and about 7 years for conquest--thus about 450
years). One would think that Paul would have been at
least
consistent.
Fourthly, those who hold to the 430-year
period of
Egyptian
bondage make little, if any, attempt in trying to
reconcile
the "about 450 years" of Acts 13:19-20 and the 430
years of
Exodus 12:40-41 and Galatians 3:17. An
Egyptian
bondage of 430
years plus a 40 year wilderness journey and
about 7
years for the conquest of the land (all of which are
included in
Acts 13:16-20) would make a total of 477 years.
Certainly
the "about 450 years" cannot be stretched to 477
years!
Fifthly, if one holds to any sort of
doctrine of inspiration
it seems
difficult to pass off the 400 years as a round number.
Would not
this allow great liberty in interpreting other num-
bers in the
Scriptures? One must be careful and see
if there
is a reason
for the differences in these two figures before
relegating
either figure as a "round number."
In conclusion, it seems that this view
does not adequately
explain all
the biblical data.
AN EGYPTIAN
BONDAGE OF 400 YEARS
Statement of the position. The Egyptian bondage refers
to the
400-year period stated in Genesis 15:13, 16 and Acts
7:6. The 430 years expressed in Exodus 12:40-41
and Gala-
tians 3:17
is that period of time from the confirmation of
the
Abrahamic covenant to the Mosaic covenant (which is
only two
months after the Exodus). There are
several rea-
sons for the
tenability of this position.
First, Galatians 3:17 specifically states
that the 430-year
period began
with the confirmation, not the institution, of
the
Abrahamic covenant. The last recorded
confirmation of
the
Abrahamic covenant before going into
to Jacob in
Genesis 35:9-15. Jacob's name was
confirmed
as
314 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA. October, 1969
12:40-41
mentions that it was the children of
the children
of Jacob-who sojourned for 430 years.
Thus
if one
accepts Thiele's31 and Whitcomb's32 date of 1445 B.C.
for the
Exodus, the confirmation or the covenant would have
been in 1875
B.C.
Second, it gives credence to the 400 years
of Egyptian
sojourn
(mentioned in Gen. 15:13, 16; Acts 7:6) as being
one of
bondage. Thus if one accepts the above
Exodus date,
It would
mean that Jacob and his family went to
(Gen. 47:9,
cf. 47:28) in 1845 B.C.
Third, this view does full justice to Acts 13:19-20 which
states that
it was about 450 years from the commencement
of the
Egyptian bondage until after the conquest of Pal-
estine. This would mean 400 years for the Egyptian
bondage,
(40 years
for the wilderness journey, and 7 years33 for the
conquest of
the land, making a total of 447 years or "about"
450
years" as the text states.
In conclusion, this view reconciles the
400, 430 and 450
years
mentioned in the Scriptures for the duration of
sojourn.
Objection to the position. One objection to this view which
may be
rightly raised is the fact that Exodus 12:40-41 states
that their
Egyptian bondage was 430 years.
Several observations must be made. First,
both Exodus
12:40-41 and
Galatians 3:17 speak nothing of a bondage last-
ing 430
years but only of a sojourn lasting that long.
On
the other
hand Genesis 15:13, 16 and Acts 7:6 speak spe-
cifically of
a 400-year bondage in a land that is not theirs,
namely
the 400-year
bondage in
sojourning
outside of
Second, there is a need for a review of the
various trans-
lations of
the relative pronoun rwx of
Exodus 12:40. The
ASV and RSV translated
it that, its antecedent being "time"
31 Thiele, Zondervan
Pictorial, p. 167. To arrive at this
date one should
consult
Edwin R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings,
2d ed.)
32 Whitcomb, op. cit., chart and explanatory
sheet. Of course this is based
on Thiele's
work.
33 This is calculated from
Josh. 14:7, 19 where Caleb states that from
the division
of the land back to the time when Moses sent him as one of the
spies from
Kadesh-barnea was a period of 45 years.
Since he was sent as a
spy in the
second year of their wilderness journey one would subtract 38
remaining
years which would leave 7 years for the conquest of the land.
THE DURATION OF THE EGYPTIAN BONDAGE 315
whereas the
AV translates it who which refers back to "the
children of
cedent may
be singular or plural and may be of either gender,
it allows
for great latitude in translation.
However, here it
seems best
to have "the children of
rather than
the word "time." The reasons are twofold. Firstly,
the phrase
"the children of
tion to rwx.
Secondly the noun bwOm which comes from bwy
has the
primary meaning to sit, rest, dwell and hence the noun
is
translated dwelling-place, dwelling, dwellers, assembly, or
seat.34 The ASV and RSV translation time is a derived
and
secondary
meaning. In fact bwOm which occurs forty-four
times in the
Old Testament is never so rendered by the ASV
and RSV
translators in any other place except in Exodus
12:40. Even in Exodus 12:20 they translate it
habitations and
dwellings
respectively. Thus the AV translation
sojourning
is an
acceptable rendering. This would mean
that the clause
("who
dwelt in
gives
additional information concerning the sojourners.35 The
commencement
of their sojourning would have been the last
confirmation
of the Abrahamic covenant as given in Genesis
35:9-15, if
one notices that from Genesis 35 onwards the
children of
were always
travelling (cf. Gen. 35:16, 21, 27; in 37:1 they
dwelt in the
tioned).
Thirdly, it is interesting to notice that
whereas in Exodus
12:40 the MT
has "now the sojourning of the children of
LXX has
"now the sojourning of the children of
dwelt in the
has it in inverted
order), was 430 years. . . ." This
indicates
that the
sojourning would include Canaan and
the present
writer does not put much stock in the SP and the
LXX as far
as chronological matters, this inclusion may point
back to some
early tradition in the text. It is
somewhat diffi-
34 Francis Brown, s. R. Driver,
and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and
English Lexicon of the Old Testament, p. 444.
35 Cf. Cooper op. cit., pp. 129-30. Notice in the first part of this article when
translating
Exodus 12:40-41, the clause "who dwelt in
commas. For clarity it could be rendered: Now the sojourning of the children
of
116 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA October, 1969
cult to explain
its inclusion except that there was some sort
of early
tradition for this reading.
Therefore, it seems that if one will take
the 430 years
as the
period from the last recorded confirmation of the
Abrahamic
covenant to
years would
be that period of time when the nation
was in
family
entered
"about
450 years" (Acts 13:19-20) would consist of the 400
years of
bondage plus the 40 years of wilderness wanderings
plus the 7
years for conquering the
makes a
total of 447 years or "about 450 years."
IV. THE CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY
After considering the two more well-known
theories in
the attempt
to resolve the apparent discrepancies concerning
the length
of the Egyptian bondage, a third view was pre-
sented which
takes into account and better explains all the
biblical
data. Assuming the 1445 B.C. date for
the Exodus, it
could be
charted as follows:
Confirmation
Jacob and
of Abrahamic
Joseph family Exodus Conquest
Covenant goes to enter and Arrive Completed
(Gen.
35:9-15) (Gen. 37) (Gen. 40) Covenant
1875 1867 1845 1445 1405 1398
«430 years sojourn (Ex. 12 :40-41; Gal. 3
:17) »
«
400 years bondage »
(Gen 15:13,16; Acts 7:6)
« 447 years =Ca. 450 years (Acts 13
:19-20) »
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