688
Patriarchs and Prophets
when Abraham was seventy-five years old (
chapter 12:4
), while the
400 years of the prophecy of
Genesis 15:13
began thirty years later,
when Abraham was 105 and his son Isaac five years old (
Chapter
21:5
). At that time Ishmael, who “was born after the flesh persecuted
him [Isaac] that was born after the Spirit” (
Galatians 4:29
;
Genesis
21:9-11
), beginning a time of affliction of Abraham’s seed which
intermittently would be continued until the time of the Exodus. Isaac
had not only troubles with his half brother Ishmael, but also with the
Philistines (
Genesis 26:15, 20, 21
); Jacob fled for his life from Esau
(
Genesis 27:41-43
), and later from Laban (
Genesis 31:21
), and then
was again in jeopardy from Esau (
Genesis 32:8
); Joseph was sold into
slavery by his brethren (
Genesis 37:28
), and the children of Israel were
oppressed by the Egyptians for many decades (
Exodus 1:14
).
The time from Abraham’s call to Jacob’s entry into Egypt was 215
years, being the total of (1) twenty-five years lying between Abraham’s
call and the birth of Isaac (
Genesis 12:4
;
Genesis 21:5
), (2) sixty years
lying
between Isaac’s birth and Jacob’s birth (
Genesis 25:26
), and (3)
[760]
the age of Jacob at the time of his migration into Egypt (
Genesis 47:9
).
This leaves the remaining 215 years of the 430 as the actual time the
Hebrews spent in Egypt. Hence the 430 years of
Exodus 12:40
includes
the sojourn of the patriarchs in Canaan as well as their stay in Egypt.
Since in the time of Moses, Palestine was part of the Egyptian empire,
it is not strange to find an author of that period including Canaan in the
term “Egypt.” The translators of the Septuagint, knowing that the 430
years included the sojourn of the patriarchs in Canaan, made this point
clear in their rendering of this passage: “And the sojourning of the
children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the
land of Canaan, was four hundred and thirty years.” An additional cor-
roboration of the interpretation of the 430 years given above is found
in the prophecy that the fourth generation of those who had entered
Egypt would leave it (
Genesis 15:16
), and its recorded fulfillment in
Exodus 6:16-20
.
Note 4. Page 316. The Israelites, in their adoration of the golden
calf, professed to be worshiping God. Thus Aaron, when inaugurat-
ing the worship of the idol, proclaimed, “Tomorrow is a feast unto
Jehovah.” They proposed to worship God, as the Egyptians worshiped
Osiris, under the semblance of the image. But God could not accept