The 400/430 years of Egyptian bondage — Gen. 14:3 and Acts 7:6 states that they were oppressed 400 years. Ex. 12:40-41 states that their length of stay was 430 years. Is that borne out by Ex. 1:1-8? Were the Israelites in Egypt for 30 years before there arose the new king who did not know Joseph? ~ Marilyn LaStrape
A thirty year difference between various Bible texts respecting the amount of time the Israelites spent in Egypt is sometimes alleged to be a discrepancy, for which disbelievers in God and his Word cite as supposed evidence that the Bible is false. In addition, loyal students of the Bible also desire an honest explanation to variations in different references to this event. After all the available evidence is sifted, though, we still may not know for sure why this variation in numbers (i.e., 400 years and 430 years) exists. However, any plausible explanation removes the question from one of discrepancy and indictment of God and his Word. Therefore, in view of several plausible explanations as to why various Bible writers used different numbers to refer to the same duration in Egypt by the Israelites, the Bible believer’s faith is sustained and not damaged. Further, the biblical critic will have to look elsewhere (howbeit fruitlessly) to attack and undermine God’s Word.
Four passages introduce the time spent in Egypt by the Israelites. They are as follows.
“And he said unto Abram, 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 four hundred years” (Genesis 15:13).
“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:40-41).
“And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect” (Galatians 3:17).
“And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years” (Acts 7:6).
Moses, the writer of both Genesis and Exodus, referred to 430 years and 400 years, respectively in Genesis and Exodus. The apostle Paul also cited 430 years. Stephen, though, mentioned 400 years. The simplest plausible explanation is that the 430 years represent the exact number of years involved in the sojourn in Egypt, and the 400 years represent a rounded down number, consistent, for instance, with the overview of Jewish history presented by Stephen. Hence, there is no discrepancy at all. Anyone besides a professional writing a technical history that depends on a strict chronology would usually do the same. Note the following observations by commentators.
Commenting on Acts 7:6-8, Wycliffe wrote: “Four hundred is a round number (cf. Gal 3:17, where the period is 430 years).”1 Clarke penned respecting Acts 7:6, “Stephen uses the round number of 400, leaving out the odd tens, a thing very common, not only in the sacred writers, but in all others, those alone excepted who write professedly on chronological matters.”2 Keil and Delitzsch included in their commentary about Genesis 15:12-16:
The 400 years were, according to prophetic language, a round number for the 430 years that Israel spent in Egypt (Ex 12:40). … and in the fourth generation they shall come hither again.” The calculations are made here on the basis of a hundred years to a generation: not too much for those times, when the average duration of life was above 150 years, and Isaac was born in the hundredth year of Abraham’s life.3
Coffman subscribes to the ’round number’ solution in his references to Galatians 3:17: “Paul used the figure also found in the LXX, and Stephen used a round number.”4 Boatman concurs, “1. This 430 years is a problem of chronology. a. It is the number given in the Septuagint, and for argumentative purposes is sufficiently correct as a round number.”5 Barnes likewise notes that when the 400 years is used that the writers were not intending to be nor did they need to be technically correct in the number of years for the purposes for which they wrote; “”A part” of this perplexity is removed by the fact that Stephen and Moses use, in accordance with a very common custom, ’round numbers’ in speaking of it, and thus speak of 400 years when the LITERAL time was 430.”6
Another solution to the difference in biblical citations between 400 and 430 years has to do with the starting and ending time of the period under consideration. This would explain why the same writer, Moses, used two different numbers in his writings. Some commentators suppose that the 430 years began with the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 and concluded with the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. Henry wrote respecting Exodus 12:37-42, “The first day of the march of Abraham’s seed towards Canaan was just 430 years (it should seem to a day) from the promise made to Abraham, Gen 12:2, I will make of thee a great nation.”7 Barnes, commenting on Acts 7:6, suggested this as an answer as to why 400 years versus 430 years.
Paul also (Gal 3:17) says that it was 430 years from the time when the promise was given to Abraham to the time when the Law was given on Mount Sinai. The Samaritan Pentateuch also says (Ex 12:40) that the “dwelling of the sons of Israel, and of their fathers, which they dwelt “in the land of Canaan,” and in the land of Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.”8
Regarding Genesis 15, Barnes stated that the 430 years began at the birth of Isaac.9 Clarke quoted another author who numbered the 430 years from the time Ishmael and Isaac experienced conflict.10 On Galatians 3:17, Clarke wrote, “…the law was given 430 years after the covenant with Abraham…”11
A third solution to the difference between 400 and 430 years respecting the duration of the Israelites in Egypt has to do with variations in ancient manuscripts to these accounts. This question revolves around whether the Greek Old Testament or the Hebrew Old Testament contains the correct numerical reference, as they do not concur. However, the Samaritan Pentateuch concurs with the Greek Septuagint (Old Testament translation into Greek). More than merely a difference in numbers, the Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch record Exodus 12:40 differently, to include within the 430 years more than merely the time spent in Egypt.
“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt, was 430 years.” This same sum is given by Paul, Gal 3:17, who reckons from the promise made to Abraham, when God commanded him to go to Canaan, to the giving of the law, which soon followed the departure from Egypt; and this chronology of the apostle is concordant with the Samaritan Pentateuch, which, by preserving the two passages, they and their fathers, and in the land of Canaan, which are lost out of the present copies of the Hebrew text, has rescued this passage from all obscurity and contradiction. It may be necessary to observe that the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint has the same reading as that in the Samaritan. The Samaritan Pentateuch is allowed by many learned men to exhibit the most correct copy of the five books of Moses; and the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint must also be allowed to be one of the most authentic as well as most ancient copies of this version which we possess. (emphasis added, ler)12
Consequently, some Bible students suppose up to 215 years of the 430 years cited in the Bible occurred before Joseph’s family entered Egypt and 215 years transpired afterward. There is not unanimity, though, on the number of years spent in Egypt, during which a multitude of descendants of those few who initially settled in Goshen grew.13 See also Barnes and Clarke for various calculations respecting time spent prior to Egyptian habitation and time spent in Egypt within the 430 years.
Irrespective of which plausible solution one embraces (or the combination of more than one, or a plausible argument not here noted), the Bible critic is not on solid ground if he cites the 400 years versus the 430 years variation in Genesis 15:13, Exodus 12:40-41, Acts 7:6 and Galatians 3:17. Coffman, regarding Acts 7:5ff, summarizes the foregoing in my reply to the question posed.
This is one of the pseudocons! Exodus 12:40,41 gives the time as 430 years; but “The four hundred years is a round number as in Genesis 15:13.”<7> Also, there were two ways of counting the “sojourning,” these being (1) from the call of Abraham to the Exodus which was 430 years, and (2) from the birth of Isaac to the Exodus which was 400 years.<8> The bicentennial of the United States may be counted either from the Declaration of Independence, or from the ratification of the constitution. It is ridiculous to make anything out of such so-called discrepancies as these.”14
Finally, irrespective of whether one adopts the 400 years or the 430 years, the reason for which the reference is made at all is not harmed. It may not be possible to know certainly regarding which of the theories is correct, for there are weighty arguments both in support and in opposition to each.15 What the respective contexts teach about prophecy and fulfillment as well as the successive covenants of God, the culmination of which is human redemption through Christ, is the point not to be missed and in which the child of God can have great reassurance that God seeks our eternal abode with him in heaven (2 Peter 3:9-13).
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1 The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press
2 Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Biblesoft
3 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.
4 James Burton Coffman, Bible Study Library, ACU Press, 1999.
5 Don Earl Boatman, Guidance from Galatians, College Press, Joplin, Missouri, Copyright 1961, page 85.
6 Barnes’ Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft.
7 Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.
8 Barnes’
9 Barnes’
10 Clarke’s
11 Clarke’s
12 Clarke’s
13 Wilbur Fields, Exploring Exodus, College Press, Joplin, Missouri.
14 Coffman.
15 John W. Haley, An Examination of the Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, (Nashville, TN: Gospel Advocate Co.) 1951, pp. 418-420.
