4147 - The 400 and 430 years

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 12, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 31.

4147 — The 400 and 430 years

Gen. 15:13 and Acts 7:6 say that the children of Israel were afflicted 400 years. Ex. 12:40 says 430, Gal. 3:17 also. How is this? From Gen. 40:7, 11 I gather that Israel went into Egypt in 1706, and came out in 1491, making 215 years in Egypt. Kindly explain. H. O. T.

The prophecy of Gen. 15:13, referring to the 400 years, included all, evidently, of the sojourn of Abraham and his descendants both in Palestine and in Egypt. There seems to have been something omitted from the Hebrew copy of Ex. 12:40. Boothroyd tells us that the Samaritan and Septuagint read as follows: "Now the time of the sojourn of the children of Israel and of their fathers, which they had dwelt in the land of Canaan and in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years," and he has this note: "430 years: From the preceding accounts it is clear that the present Hebrew text is defective, and without the addition as preserved in the Samaritan and Septuagint, inconsistent with itself. The Samaritan and Septuagint are supported by Josephus and the best Jewish expositors." The 215 years in Canaan and the 215 years in Egypt make the 430 years. The 430 years date from God's call in Genesis 12, B.C. 1921; the 400 years from about the time of Isaac's weaning, 1891. Gen. 21:8-11.