Miles de Libros Cristianos Gratis. Accede a nuestra Biblioteca Virtual

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 12:40

Para un estudio avanzado de: “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 12:40” utilice nuestra app.

Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, [was] four hundred and thirty years.

40. four hundred and thirty years ] cf. the round number 400 in Gen 15:13 (hence Act 7:6, Jos. Ant. ii. 9.1, BJ. v. 9. 4). Whether it is historically correct is more than we can say: not only is Egyptian chronology itself uncertain, but we do not know the Eg. king under whom Jacob went down into Egypt; hence we have no independent data for fixing with precision the interval between Jacob’s migration into Egypt and the Exodus. The chronology of P (from whom all systematic dates in the Pent. are derived) is artificial, and in many of its particulars entirely undeserving of confidence: still this figure may itself be correct. It is however inconsistent with the many passages of P (see on Exo 6:27), which place Moses and his contemporaries in the fourth generation from Jacob’s sons. P himself may have been unconscious of the inconsistency; for he may have reckoned of course, falsely a generation at 100 years (cf. Gen 15:16, comp. with 13). In a later age it appears to have been noticed; and in all probability the reading of LXX. Sam. here ‘in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, was 430 years,’ originated in an endeavour to lessen it: for, as the period from Abraham’s migration into Canaan to Jacob’s descent into Egypt was (according to P) 215 years (Gen 12:4; Gen 21:5; Gen 25:26; Gen 47:9), this reading reduces the period of the sojourn in Egypt to half of that stated in the Heb. text. The reading of Sam. LXX. was followed by St Paul in Gal 3:17, by Jos. Ant. ii. 15. 2, and by many ancient Jewish and Christian authorities; but it cannot be the original text; not only has Israel’s sojourn in Egypt alone to do with the present context, but until the birth of Jacob’s sons there were no ‘children of Israel’ to dwell in Canaan at all. Cf. the Introd. p. xlv.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

40, 41. The length of Israel’s sojourn in Egypt.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Who dwelt – Read, which they sojourned. The obvious intention of Moses is to state the duration of the sojourn in Egypt.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Exo 12:40-41

All the hosts of the Lord went out.

The Exodus

I. We cannot treat the Exodus as an isolated fact in history. Egypt is the type of the cunning, careless, wanton world, out of which in all ages God is calling His sons. The Exodus remained a living fact in history. The infant Jesus went down into Egypt, as the infant Israel went down, not to repeat the Exodus, but to illume afresh its fading lines.

1. The Children of Israel were an elect race, because they were of the seed of Abraham: that constituted their distinctity. You are of the race of the second Adam, of the same flesh and blood as Jesus; and all who wear a human form and understand a human voice, God calls forth from Egypt; His voice calls to His sons, Come forth to freedom, life, and heaven.

2. You, like the Israelites, are called forth to the desert, the fiery pillar, the manna, the spiritual rock; and while you aim at Canaan, His will, His heart, are on your side.

II. Note the moral features of the Exodus.

1. There was a life in Egypt which had become insupportable to a man. That bondage is the picture of a soul round which the devils toils are closing.

2. The Israelites saw the stroke of heaven fall oil all that adorns, enriches, and nourishes a worldly life.

3. They had a Divine leader, a man commissioned and inspired by God. We have the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who, in the house and the work in which Moses wrought as a servant, represents God as the Son.

4. We discern a condition of utter dependence on the strength and faithfulness of God. They and we were delivered by a Divine work.

5. Notice, lastly, the freedom of the delivered Israelites; a broad, deep sea flowing between them and the ]and of bondage, and the tyrants dead upon the shore. Such is the glorious sense of liberty, of wealth, of life, when the deep sea of Divine forgiving love sweeps over the past and obliterates its shame. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)

The Exodus

I. First, consider the mode of their going out.

1. When the Children of Israel went out of Egypt it is a remarkable thing that they were forced out by the Egyptians. The dove fleeth not to his cote unless the eagle doth pursue it; so sins, like eagles, pursue the timid soul, making it fly into the clefts of the Rock Christ Jesus to hide itself. Once, our sins kept us from Christ; but now every sin drives us to Him for pardon. I had not known Christ if I had not known sin; I had not known a deliverer, if I had not smarted under the Egyptians. The Holy Spirit drives us to Christ, just as the Egyptians drove the people out of Egypt.

2. Again: the Children of Israel went out of Egypt covered with jewels and arranged in their best garments. Ah! that is just how a child of God comes out of Egypt. He does not come out of his bondage with his old garments of self-righteousness on: oh! no; as long as he wears those he will always keep in Egypt; but he marches out with the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ upon him, and adorned with the goodly graces of the Holy Spirit.

3. Note, moreover, that these people obtained their jewels from the Egyptians. Gods people never lose anything by going to the house of bondage. They win their choicest jewels from the Egyptians. Strangely true it is, sins do me good, said an old writer once, because they drive me to the Saviour; and so I get good by them. Ask the humble Christian where he get his humility, and ten to one he will say that he got it in the furnace of deep sorrow on account of sin. See another who is tender in conscience: where did he get that jewel from? It came from Egypt, Ill be bound. We get more by being in bondage, under conviction of sin, than we often do by liberty.

4. They came out in haste. I never met with a poor sinner under a sense of sin who was not in haste to get his burden off his back. No man has a broken heart, unless he wants to have it bound up directly. To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart, says the Holy Ghost; He never says to-morrow; to-day is His continual cry, and every true-born Israelite will pant to get out of Egypt, whenever he has the opportunity.

II. The magnitude of this deliverance. I would have you particularly remember one thing; and that is, that great as this emigration was, and enormous as were the multitudes that quitted Egypt, it was only one Passover that set them all free. One agonizing sacrifice, one death on Calvary, one bloody sweat on Gethsemane, one shriek of It is finished consummated all the work of redemption.

III. The completeness of their deliverance. As Moses said, Not an hoof shall be left behind. They were to have all their goods, as well as their persons. What does this teach us? Why, not only that all Gods people shall be saved, but that all that Gods people ever had shall be restored. All that Jacob ever took down to Egypt shall be brought out again. Have I lost a perfect righteousness in Adam? I shall have a perfect righteousness in Christ. Have I lost happiness on earth in Adam? God will give me much happiness here below in Christ. Have I lost heaven in Adam? I shall have heaven in Christ; for Christ came not only to seek and to save the people that were lost, but that which was lost: that is, all the inheritance, as well as the people; all their property.

IV. The time when the israelites came out of Egypt. God had promised to Abraham that His people should be in bondage four hundred and thirty years, and they were not in bondage one day more. As soon as Gods bond became due, though it had been drawn four hundred and thirty years before, He paid the bill; He required no more time to do it in, but He did it at once. Christopher Ness says, they had to tarry for the fulfilment of the promise till the night came; for though He fulfilled it the selfsame day, He made them stay to the end of it, to prove their faith. He was wrong there, because Scripture days begin at night. The evening and the morning were the second day. So that God did not make them wait, but paid them at once. As soon as the day came, beginning with our night, as the Jewish day does now, and the Scriptural day always did–as soon as the clock struck–God paid His bond. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 40. Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, c.] The statement in this verse is allowed on all hands to be extremely difficult, and therefore the passage stands in especial need of illustration. “That the descendants of Israel did not dwell 430 years in Egypt,” says Dr. Kennicott, “may be easily proved, and has often been demonstrated. Some therefore imagine that by Egypt here both it and Canaan are to be understood. But this greater latitude of place will not solve the difficulty, since the Israelites, including Israel their father, did not sojourn 430 years in both countries previous to their departure from Egypt. Others, sensible of the still remaining deficiency, would not only have Egypt in the text to signify it and Canaan, but by a figure more comprehensive would have the children of Israel to mean Israel’s children, and Israel their father, and Isaac the father of Israel, and part of the life of Abraham, the father of Isaac.

“Thus indeed,” says Dr. Kennicott, “we arrive at the exact sum, and by this method of reckoning we might arrive at any thing but truth, which we may presume was never thus conveyed by an inspired writer.” But can the difficulty be removed without having recourse to such absurd shifts? Certainly it can. The Samaritan Pentateuch, in all its manuscripts and printed copies, reads the place thus: –

[Samaritan]

Umoshab beney Yishrael veabotham asher yashebu baarets Cenaan, ubaarets mitsraim sheloshim shanah vearba meoth shanah.

“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 St. Paul, Ga 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. As to St. Paul, no man will dispute the authenticity of his statement; and thus in the mouth of these three most respectable witnesses the whole account is indubitably established. That these three witnesses have the truth, the chronology itself proves: for from Abraham’s entry into Canaan to the birth of Isaac was 25 years, Ge 12:4; Ge 17:1-21; Isaac was 60 years old at the birth of Jacob, Ge 25:26; and Jacob was 130 at his going down into Egypt, Ge 47:9; which three sums make 215 years. And then Jacob and his children having continued in Egypt 215 years more, the whole sum of 430 years is regularly completed. See Kennicott’s Dissertation on the Hebrew Text.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

It is plain that those years are to be computed from the first promise made to Abraham, Gen 12:1,2, to the giving of the law, from Gal 3:17, where this is affirmed. And although it doth not plainly appear when that promise was made, because the Scripture mentions not Abrahams age, neither when it was made, nor when Abraham came to Haran with his father, Gen 11:31, but only when he went out of Haran, being seventy-five years old, Gen 12:4; yet a good while after it was made, and, as it may seem more than probable, thirty years afterward, it is manifest there were only four hundred years of this time to come, Gen 15:13. And many more years passed ere there was such a man as Israel or Jacob, and more ere there were any children of Israel, or of Jacob, and yet more ere they came into Egypt. How then can this be true which is here said?

Answ. 1. Some affirm that they were in Egypt four hundred and thirty years, which is sooner said than proved.

2. Some ancient Hebrew copies are said to have had more words than ours now have; for the LXX. and Samaritan interpreters after the words in Egypt, read, and in the land of Canaan. And some other copies after the word who, add, together with their fathers, or, and their fathers. And so rite difficulty vanisheth. And if it should be granted that there were some few such errors in our present copies in matters irately historical or chronological, which God might permit to be there for many wise and holy reasons, yet this is no prejudice to our faith, or to Gods providence, which hath been pleased to have so special a care of those texts which concern the essentials of faith and a good life, that all copies are agreed in them.

3. These four hundred and thirty years are not by the text confined to Egypt, but may be extended to any place where they were sojourners; and the Hebrew word asher is not to be rendered which, as relating to the time of their sojourning, but who, as belonging to the persons sojourning, as our translation well renders it; and the sense is, that they were sojourners, or, which is all one, strangers, or dwellers in a land that was not theirs, as it is said Gen 15:13, for four hundred and thirty years. And the emphasis lies in the Hebrew word moshab, which is here fitly rendered sojourning; as toshab, coming from the same root, is commonly used for a sojourner, or one that lives in a place or land which is not his, as Lev 22:10; 25:35,40; Num 35:15; Psa 39:12. There is now but one difficulty remains, How the children of Israel can be said to be sojourners so long, seeing much of this time passed before they were born?

Answ. As Levi is said to pay tithes in Abraham, Heb 7:9, because he was in the loins of Abraham when Abraham paid tithes; with much more reason might the children of Israel be said to sojourn so long, because they sojourned a great part of it in their own persons, and the rest in the loins of their parents. And as ofttimes when the parents only are men- tioned, the children are included or intended, as Gen 12:3, in thee, i.e. in thy seed; and Gen 13:17, I will give it (the land) unto thee, i.e. to thy seed; and Jacob is said to be brought up again out of Egypt, Gen 46:4, to wit, in his posterity; and David is oft put for his posterity, as 1Ki 12:16; Eze 34:23; 37:24,25; why may not parents also be understood sometimes when the children only are mentioned? But we need not make suppositions, seeing we have examples; the persecution in Egypt, and deliverance out of it, which happened to the parents only, being attributed to their posterity, who neither felt the one, nor saw the other, Deu 26:5, &c. Compare Psa 16:6; Jdg 10:11,12. And the souls of the house of Jacob, (i.e. of the children of Israel, for by house it is evident he means only children,) which came with Jacob into Egypt, are said to be threescore and ten souls, Gen 46:26,27. In which number and title Jacob himself is confessedly included. And therefore upon the very same ground, under this title of the children of Israel, we must understand Israel himself, who being the chief author and subject of this sojourning in Egypt, it were unreasonable to exclude him from the number of those sojourners. And this phrase being once extended to their immediate parent, may by a parity of reason be extended to their great grandfather Abraham, as being the first author of that famous peregrination or sojourning, which being begun in Canaan, ended in Egypt. Add to this, that the word Israel, as it is put for the people or children of Israel, is elsewhere used for the whole church of God, as Rom 9:6, and therefore may well include Abraham as the father, and, under God, the founder of it. And the title of

the children of Israel might well be given to all that people, and to the family from which they descended, because they were now known by that name. And that this indeed was Mosess meaning, which is here produced, may be further gathered from hence, that otherwise Moses had contradicted himself; for by the years of the lives of Jacob, and Levi, and Kohath, and Amram, and Moses himself, which he precisely sets down, it appears that the sojourning of the children of Israel, strictly so called, in Egypt, was not above two hundred and fifteen years. And it is absurd to think that so wise and learned a man, as all acknowledge Moses to have been, should commit so gross an error, especially seeing that generation could easily have confuted him.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

40. the sojourning of the childrenof Israel . . . four hundred and thirty yearsThe Septuagintrenders it thus: “The sojourning of the children and of theirfathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the landof Egypt.” These additions are important, for the period ofsojourn in Egypt did not exceed two hundred fifteen years; but if wereckon from the time that Abraham entered Canaan and the promise wasmade in which the sojourn of his posterity in Egypt was announced,this makes up the time to four hundred thirty years.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt,…. The Septuagint version adds, “and in the land of Canaan”; and the Samaritan version is,

“the sojourning of the children of Israel, and of their fathers, in the land of Canaan, and in the land of Egypt.”

Agreeably to which are both the Talmuds: in one o of them the words are,

“in Egypt and in all lands,”

and in the other p,

“in Egypt, and in the rest of the lands;”

and in the same way Aben Ezra interprets the words. And certain it is, that Israel did not dwell in Egypt four hundred and thirty years, and even not much more than two hundred years; but then they and their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, dwelt so long in Mesopotamia, in Canaan, and in Egypt, in foreign countries, in a land not theirs, as the phrase is, Ge 15:13 where the place of their sojourning, and the time of it, are given by way of prophecy. The Jews reckon from the vision of God to Abraham between the pieces to the birth of Isaac thirty years, so the Targum of Jonathan; but that cannot be, though from his coming out of his own native place, Ur of the Chaldeans, to the birth of Isaac, might be so many years, since he was seventy five years of age when he came out of Haran, Ge 12:4 and if he stayed at Haran five years, as probably he did, then there were just thirty from his coming out of Ur of the Chaldees to Isaac’s birth, since he was born when he was one hundred years old; and from the birth of Isaac to the birth of Jacob was sixty years, Ge 25:26 and from thence to his going down to Egypt was one hundred and thirty, Ge 47:9 and from thence to the coming of Israel out of Egypt were two hundred and ten years, as is generally computed, which make the exact sum of four hundred and thirty years; of these [See comments on Ac 7:6],

[See comments on Ga 3:17].

o T. Hieros. Magillah, fol. 71. 4. p T. Bab. Megillah, fol. 9. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Verses 40-42:

For comments on the chronology in these verses, see “INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF EXODUS,” in this volume.

The importance of this event is evident in the Divine provision that it was to be perpetually observed in Israel “in their generations.” No future generation should be allowed to grow up not knowing its significance.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

40. Now the sojourning of the children of Israel. The beginning of this period is not reckoned from the coming down of Jacob, for it is very clear from other passages, that, from the time that Jacob entered into Egypt to the Exodus, not more than 230 years at most had passed. (147) The Jews generally only reckon 210; but Moses includes also the period during which Abraham and his children were not in possession of the promised land. The meaning therefore is, that from the time that the inheritance of the land of Canaan was given to Abraham, the promise was suspended for 400, years before his posterity enjoyed their right. For Paul also thus explains this difficulty, (Gal 3:17,) where he says, that God had confirmed his covenant with Abraham 430 years before the law was promulgated. Moses, therefore, dates the commencement of this period from the sojourning of Abraham, when he was still the lord of the land of Canaan by the just title of donation. With respect to the omission of the thirty years in the 15 chapter of Genesis, in this there is no contradiction, because the land had already been promised to Abraham some years previously, though, so far from obtaining dominion over it, he had scarcely been permitted to occupy it as “a stranger.” Therefore God apprizes him, that 400 years still remained before he would put his descendants into possession of it; and, consequently, that the little time which had elapsed was not sufficient for the trial of his patience, but that both for himself and for his posterity there was need of extraordinary endurance, lest they should faint under the weariness of the long delay. Moreover, there is no departure from the usual manner of speaking, in His not exactly reckoning the number of years. More than 400 years, some twenty, or thereabouts, indeed, remained; but, since God had no other object than to exhort His people to patience, He does not accurately compute or define the exact number of years, because it was sufficient to put before them 400 years in a round sum. In the same way, it is added in the next verse, “at the end of 430 years,” viz., from the time that Abraham had begun to be the legitimate lord of the land; for Moses wished to show, that although God had long delayed the fulfillment of His promise, still His truth and faithfulness were certainly proved, not only because He had precisely performed what He had proraised, but because He had observed the: foreappointed time. He calls the people, weak as they were, by an honorable title, “the hosts of the Lord,” both to enforce again the power of God’s blessing, and to give due honor to His grace in ruling and marshalling so confused a band. Although soldiers may be accustomed to obedience, and have learnt from exercise to keep their ranks; although they may have generals, commandants, and captains, and banners also under which to range themselves, still it is a very difficult thing to march an army of 20,000, or 30,000 men by night without. confusion, and in good order; how great a miracle was it, then, for 600,000 men, with women and children, much baggage, herds, and flocks, and other encumbrances, to pass by night through the midst of enemies, and all to escape safely without a single exception! To the same effect, Moses repeats in the last verse of this chapter, that “the Lord did bring the children of Israel out — by their armies,” as much as to say, that there was no confusion in that immense multitude; since God performed the part of an incomparable Leader in His marvelous power.

(147) This sentence is omitted in the French. The Latin is, “Hebraei communiter tantum decem recensent.” A reference, however, to R. Sal. Jarchi explains it, “you will find, (he says,) that from the arrival of the Israelites in Egypt to the time of their departure, was 210 years.” — In loco. Compare the LXX.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 12:40-42

THE PILGRIM CONDITION OF GODLY SOULS IN THE PRESENT LIFE

I. That the pilgrim condition of godly souls in this life often involves long-continued suffering and bondage. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt, and this was part of the discipline through which they had to pass prior to their entrance on the promised land. Their bondage was severe, and it was long-continued. It was somewhat inexplicable that the heirs of promise should be called to endure such pain; but the children of God are not exempt from even the most painful discipline of life. The time of such discipline is Divinely ordered and arranged, and at the longest soon comes to an end, though the hours and days are lengthened when spent in sorrow and woe. But even in this condition the pilgrim soul has rich promises on which it can rely and which tend to brighten its future with hope. This captivity is productive of moral growth, as it was of the numerical growth of Israel. Hence godly souls in the present life are in a pilgrim condition; they are passing through great sorrows, they are subject to much painful discipline, but the time will come when they shall be free from all such oppression and woe.

II. That the pilgrim condition of godly souls in this life is often called into the glad experience of freedom, and to realise the fulfilment of rich promise. The Israelites are now freed from the bondage of Egypt; by a wondrous providence they are led out from the tyranny of Pharaoh. They realise the promise of God concerning them. And so the pilgrim condition of the soul does not preclude moments of glad release from suffering, even though the suffering may come in another way, for the pilgrim only exchanges the perils of Egypt for those of the wilderness. The conditions of pilgrimage change in this life, though the fact of pilgrimage is unalterable. But kind Heaven makes ample and welcome provision for all the needs and exigencies of the pilgrim life. The soul is guided in its wilderness march. It has manna given. It has the refreshing waters of Horeb. But many souls faint and fail in the desert life; only two of the great multitude of the Israelites were permitted to enter Canaan. The journey of life is a test of character.

III. That the pilgrim condition of godly souls is frequently associated with religious ordinances of a pious character. The Israelites were to celebrate their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt by the observance of the Passover. The night was to be much remembered by them in all the generations of the future, and was to be consecrated by the strict performance of religious ceremonies. And so the soul in its pilgrim condition has many pious ordinances established by Heaven to remind it of glad experiences, and to inspire it with continued hope. In the journey of life there are many feasts unto the Lord, in which a pious soul can take a part.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Exo. 12:40-42. The heirs of Canaan may sojourn in Egypt.

The time of sojourning is determined by God for His Church below.
The longest time of suffering here has its appointed end.
The night and day of the Churchs redemption is a time of observation toward God.
The children of the Church are obligated to observe Gods redemption of His people.

ILLUSTRATIONS

BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON

Affliction! Exo. 12:40. When Moses and Aaron failed in their first attempt with Pharaoh, and brought increased oppression upon them, the Israelites looked at their position as dark indeed. Thus, when from a distance we look upon a thick forest, it appears one mass of gloomy shadedark, unbroken, impenetrable. But as we draw near and enter it, we find it intersected by paths, rugged perhaps, and narrow, yet safe. So was it with Israel, as they passed within the dark wood of adversity; they found paths in the plagues of Egyptwinding and rugged for them, it may be, but safe. They looked up, and the light from above struggled through like a soft, green twilight; while here and there brilliant sunbeams of Divine truth and love glanced like diamond-shafts through the foliage, and showed them that what once appeared all gloom, was instinct with life and libertyless with bane than blessing. So that

Dull is the heart that loves not then
The deep recess of the wildwood glen,
Where roc and red-deer find sheltering den,

When the sun is in his power.

Scott.

Prompt Obedience! Exo. 12:41. When a general commands his army to march at the midnight hour, and stand their chance of finding shelter and sustenance on the morrow, if the soldiers refuse, they are not an obedient, disciplined host. But if, at the reading of the orders, they at once break up quarters, however dark the night, and however dreary the prospect, then they march in obedience. The obedience must not be forced, but cheerful. It must be rendered with alacrity, not amid discontent and murmuring. Israels host received their orders to march at the midnight hour, and they at once yielded. However apparently unreasonable the requirement of the father, it is the little childs duty to obey; and so Gods children readily obey the pilgrim-call

Only guided by His light,
Only mighty in His might.

Wesley.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(40) The sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt.Heb., which they sojourned in Egypt

Was four hundred and thirty years.Comp. the prophecy:Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs [Egypt, not Canaan], and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years and also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge (Gen. 15:13-14). The genealogy of Joshua (1Ch. 7:22-27), which places him in the eleventh generation from Jacob, accords well with this term of years. The other genealogies are more or less abbreviated.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

40. The sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt Or, as in Septuagint, The sojourning which they sojourned . This much-controverted passage forms one of the pivots of biblical chronology. The question is simply as to the point from which the four hundred and thirty years are to be reckoned. The Septuagint (Vatican Codex) has an important addition, and reads, “The sojourning of the children of Israel which they sojourned in Egypt and in Canaan;” while in the Alexandrian Codex there is still another addition, making it read, “which they and their fathers sojourned in Egypt and in Canaan.” Thus the Alexandrian translators of this book of Exodus (about 280 B.C.) clearly understood that this “sojourn” dated from Abraham’s call, and included the time when the “fathers” of Israel, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange country,” as well as the time of the bondage of their children in Egypt. The Samaritan has the same reading. (See Introd., (2,) chap. 11.) But the Hebrew text is without doubt correct, and these additions are to be understood as explanatory emendations by these translators, who wished to show how the three patriarchs might be included with the “children of Israel,” and the sojourn in Canaan be united with that in Egypt. These translations have evidently only the authority of explanatory comments, and the question is, Do they correctly explain our text? Is the sojourning of the “fathers,” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in Canaan, included in the sojourning of the children of Israel which they sojourned in Egypt?

The first strong impression clearly is, that the text declares the Egyptian sojourn to have been four hundred and thirty years, for we have the phrase “which they sojourned in Egypt;” and “the children of Israel” only are spoken of. But we are to consider that the Hebrew idiom is much more pliant than ours in the use of terms. Fathers are included in children, as in Matthew xxiii, 35, “Ye slew;” and children in fathers, as in Heb 7:9, “Levi paid tithes in Abraham.” The Hebrew race might have been freely styled the “children of Israel” from Abraham downwards, and the whole sojourning period of the race might have been in the writer’s mind, though he specifies the most remarkable part of that period as peculiarly characteristic of it as a whole, which they sojourned in Egypt. That is, although they had also sojourned in Canaan, yet their Egyptian life, having been the epoch of God’s remarkable providences in their behalf, gave the whole period character. This history, thus interpreted, is also well illustrated by the prophecy to Abraham, (Gen 15:13; Gen 15:16,) “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 . ” Now this doubtless refers to the Egyptian bondage, yet, as shown in the notes on Exodus i, the real bondage or affliction did not begin till shortly before the birth of Moses, and so could not have lasted over eighty years . Yet this eighty years gives the character of “affliction” to the whole period . Now it is probable that the historical statement in our text spreads the Egyptian “sojourn” over the four centuries, just as the prophetic statement in Genesis does the Egyptian bondage and affliction. St. Paul expressly declares that the four-hundred-and-thirty years period is to be reckoned from the covenant with Abraham. Gal 3:17.

If this be the correct view, then just one half of this period, or two hundred and fifteen years, was spent in the Egyptian sojourn. This may be thus seen: Abraham was seventy-five when he left Haran, (Gen 12:4,) and one hundred when Isaac was born, (Gen 21:5,) and therefore from the call of Abraham to the birth of Isaac was twenty-five years . From the birth of Isaac to that of Jacob was sixty years, (Gen 25:26,) and from the birth of Jacob to the descent into Egypt was one hundred and thirty, (Gen 47:9,) and so from the call of Abraham to the descent into Egypt was two hundred and fifteen years, since 25+60+130=215 . The genealogy of Moses and Aaron, as given in Exo 6:16-20, points to the short period, or a sojourn of two hundred and fifteen years in Egypt, and we must suppose that several generations are omitted if the long period be taken, since four generations cannot be made to span four hundred and thirty years. This supposition is adopted by many, (Tiele, Kurtz, Keil, Thompson, etc.;) but all the events of the “bondage” can be brought within the short period, or two hundred and fifteen years. See Concluding Note.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Further Precepts Concerning the Passover

v. 40. Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years, four long or ten short generations as they were then reckoned.

v. 41. 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, the great armies that were to wage His wars, went out from the land of Egypt. The departure of them all took place on the same day, on the fifteenth of Abib, the day after the Passover Festival.

v. 42. It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt; this is that night of the Lord to be observed, year after year, of all the children of Israel in their generations.

v. 43. And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof. The statute of the Lord confined participation strictly to the members of the children of Israel.

v. 44. But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, whereby he became a member of the Jewish nation and church, then shall he eat thereof.

v. 45. A foreigner, a non-Israelite merely living in the country, and an hired servant, one merely engaged for a while, shall not eat thereof.

v. 46. In one house shall it be eaten. Thou shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the house, neither shall ye break a bone thereof. The idea of the communion and of the union was to be maintained, and the fact that no bone was broken pointed forward to Christ, Joh 19:36.

v. 47. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it, shall do and observe what God had here instituted.

v. 48. And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised and thus be received into the Jewish Church, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land; for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof; the privilege was limited to such as had accepted the Jewish doctrines, that believed in the God of the Jews.

v. 49. One law shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.

v. 50. Thus did all the children of Israel; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they; that became the custom among them in after-years, Num 9:5; Jos 5:10.

v. 51. And it came to pass the selfsame day, this fifteenth day of Abib, that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies. Herewith ends the story of the Exodus proper, and the story of the events following is next taken up. The people were now separated unto the Lord, to be unto Him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This is true also of the New Testament Church until the end of time, as Peter shows, 1Pe 2:9.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

The narrative of the departure from Egypt is followed, not unnaturally, by a notification of the length of the sojourn, which is declared to have been a space of four hundred and thirty years. In the “Introduction” to the Book, we have examined the question, which here arises,

1. As to the soundness; and

2. As to the true meaning, of the Hebrew text, and have arrived at the conclusion that it is sound, and that it means what it says, viz; that 430 years elapsed between the arrival of Jacob in Egypt, with his sons, and sons’ sons, and their families, as related in Gen 46:1-27, and the commencement of the exodus. The time is required by the genealogy of Joshua (1Ch 7:22-27). It is in remarkable accordance with the traditions that Joseph was the minister of Apspi, and that the Jews went out under Menephthah. If not absolutely required for the multiplication of the race from “seventy souls” to above two millions, it is at any rate more in accord with that fact than the alternative number, 215. It is twice repeated, so that “the mistake of a copyist” is almost impossible.

Exo 12:40

The sojourning of the children of Israel, which dwelt in Egypt. Rather, “Which they sojourned in Egypt.” Four hundred and thirty years. Literally “thirty years and four hundred years.”

Exo 12:41

The self-same day all the hosts went out. The setting forth upon the journey is regarded as the “going out”not the actual exit, which was only effected by the passage of the Red Sea.

Exo 12:42

It is a night to be much observed. We must suppose that some of the Israelites actually commenced their march before the night was over, being “hastened” by the Egyptians (Exo 12:33), and having all things in readiness; but the bulk of the people can scarcely have started before daybreak. This is that night of the Lordi.e; the night concerning which directions had been already given (Exo 12:6-11)the only “night” for which any observances were appointed. In their generations. To all timeso long as they continue to be a people. On the bindingness of this commandment, see the comment on Exo 12:14 of this chapter.

HOMILETICS

Exo 12:40-42

God’s discipline of his chosen ones.

I. THE TRIALS OF GOD‘S PEOPLE APE SEVERE, BUT HAVE A JOYFUL END AT LAST, The sojourn in Egypt was from first to last an affliction (Gen 15:13). It was only on account of the famine in Canaan that Jacob consented to change his abode and his condition. In Canaan he and his had been free; had “served” no one; had lived like the sons of the desert. But in Egypt, even during the lifetime of Joseph, they entered on a species of servitude. Not only were they Pharaoh’s subjects, but to some extent his servants (Gen 47:6). They were no longer free to come and go as they chose. They had a certain province assigned to them. They had, it is probable, to pay rent for their lands (Gen 47:26). After a certain time, during which they suffered only this “light affliction,” the severe oppression began. Their lives were “made bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field” (Exo 1:14); then their children were massacred (ib. Exo 12:22); lastly, they were required to “make bricks without straw’ (Exo 5:7-19). So with God’s people generally. They are given a time of suffering. They have to learn to “endure hardness.” But God afflicts them as a discipline, and makes even their worst afflictions tend to their growth in grace. At last their trial time is over. Sometimes in this world, oftener in another, they find their Canaan, and “enter into rest.”

II. THE TRIAL–TIME SEEMS LONG; BUT GOD DETERMINES ITS LENGTH, AND APPORTIONS IT TO THE NEEDS OF THE PARTICULAR CASE. Four hundred and thirty years is a long space, even in the life of a nation. It is about the period of time which separates us from the rebellion of Jack Cade and the commencement of the “Wars of the Roses.” The severe oppression of Israel was not, however, nearly so long as this. Perhaps it lasted only about a century. In any case, times and seasons are in God’s hands, and as he fixed four centuries for the entire servitude many years before it began (Gen 15:13), so, we may be sure, he fixed the term in his own counsels for the severe oppression. And it is doubtless the same with individuals. God knows what kind and length of chastisement they need, and assigns to each of his chosen ones the term of suffering that is needful for him.

III. IF THE TRIAL–TIME ENDS HERE, AND A SEASON OF HAPPINESS SUPERVENES, IT IS WELL TO OBSERVE YEARLY THE DAY OF THE CHANGE AS A DAY OF THANKSGIVING TO GOD. As national mercies are rightfully commemorated by national “days of thanksgiving,” so the special blessings vouchsafed to individuals should receive private commemoration. The day, or night, that brought us out of the Egypt of sin, is especially worthy of such honour. Wherever known, it should be “observed unto the Lord.”

HOMILIES BY J. ORR

Exo 12:40-43

The Exodus.

View it in three lights.

I. AS AN EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES. God is the sworn foe of the slave-holder. Only in a very modified sense was slavery tolerated in Israel; and the laws were such as gradually to undermine the system. Historically, God’s religion has proved itself the great slave-liberator.

1. In Egypt. Here were two millions of a slave population set free in a single night.

2. In Israel. Consider the effect on the abolition of the slave system of the single precept in Exo 12:44 of this chapter. The slave sat down with his master on equal terms at the board of the passover. The same thing happened in the Christian Church. When the Lord’s Supper was dispensed, the Christian slave remained; the master, if he was only a catechumen or a penitent, retired.

3. In Christian countries. Christianity, it is true, did not preach a crusade against slaverya course which would only have led to a slave-revoltbut it inculcated truths and principles which undermined the system. Slavery was the corner-stone of the ancient civilisations. Philosophers defended it. The pagan religions did nothing to overthrow it. But the Christian Church took up from the very first the cause of the slave. The master who ill-treated his slave was excommunicated. He was compelled to marry the female slave whom he had seduced. He sat with his slave at the Lord’s table. The slave might hold office in the church, and thus become, in a spiritual point of view, the superior of his master. The influence of the Church was used to secure the liberation of the slave. Under Domitian, a prefect of Rome, named Chromatius, freed one thousand four hundred slaves who had become Christians, saying, “Those who have become the children of God ought to be no longer slaves of men.” Says J. S. Mill, “In an age when the weak were prostrate at the feet of the strong, who was there but the Church to plead to the strong for the weak?” (Dissert. 2.155). The emancipation of four millions of American slavesso long a blot on a so-called Christian civilisationhas been accomplished in our sight, a second exodus. “We can say to-day that, with some trifling exceptions, the soil of Christian nations is free from the disgrace of slavery. Under what influences have the efforts been produced which have brought about such a result? We have only to look at recent facts, and we see the whole clearly. What men, in the middle of last century, were the first to advocate and emancipate slaves? The Quakers of America, who held that bondage was contrary to the Gospel. What men have pleaded the cause of the negroes in the English Parliament with the most power and perseverance? Decided ChristiansWilberforce and Buxton. What spirit animated the book called Uncle Tom, which acted so powerfully upon opinion in favour of the negroes? A spirit steadfastly Christian. To what sentiment did the Czar of Russia appeal, when he gave liberty to twenty millions of men? Read his proclamation of Feb. 19th, 1864.” (Ernest Naville.) Revealed religionthe religion of the Bible, is thus the great liberator of the slave.

II. As, TEMPORAL DELIVERANCE OF THE CHURCH. Many such deliverances has the Church, both in Old and in New Testament times, experienced since. Deliverances under the Judges; destruction of Sennacherib; edict of Cyrus, and return from captivity; Maccabaean Era. Read Christian Church history. See the Church emerging triumphant, laden with the spoils of the foe, from the days of persecution under the Roman Emperors. Later instances in the Albigenses, in the Lollards of England, in the Huguenots of France, in the Covenanters of Scotland, etc.

III. As A TYPE OF A GREATER DELIVERANCE THAN ITSELF. Redemption from sin and wrath through Christ. See previous Homilies.J.O.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Exo 12:40. The sojourning of the children of Israel, &c. That the children or descendants of Israel did not sojourn or dwell four hundred and thirty years in Egypt, may be easily and has been frequently demonstrated, says Dr. Kennicott: some therefore would fancy, that, by Egypt, are to be understood here, both Egypt and Canaan: but this greater latitude of place will not do the business, since the children of Israel, including Israel their father, did not sojourn four hundred and thirty years in both countries, before their departure out of Egypt: others, therefore, sensible of a deficiency still remaining, would not only have Egypt to signify Egypt and Canaan; but would have the children of Israel to signify Israel’s children, and Israel their father, and Isaac the father of Israel, and part of the life of Abraham the father of Isaac. Thus, indeed, we arrive at the exact sum: and, by this method, we might arrive at any thing except truth; which, we may presume, was never thus conveyed by an inspired writer. The Samaritan text appears to give us the true reading; for there, the verse runs thus: 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 four hundred and thirty years. This same sum is given by St. Paul, Gal 3:17 who reckons from the promise made to Abraham, when God commanded him to go into Canaan, to the giving of the law, which soon followed the Exodus of the Israelites: and this apostolical chronology is exactly concordant with the Samaritan Pentateuch: for, from Abraham’s entering Canaan to the birth of Isaac, was twenty-five years, Isaac was sixty years old at the birth of Jacob, and Jacob was a hundred and thirty at his going down into Egypt; which three numbers make two hundred and fifteen years: and then, Jacob and his children having continued in Egypt two hundred and fifteen years more, the whole sum of four hundred and thirty is regularly completed. Thus Josephus says expressly, b. 2 Chronicles 15 that the departure out of Egypt was four hundred and thirty years after Abraham came into Canaan, and two hundred and fifteen years after Jacob’s descent into Egypt. Thus also the Greek version (Alex. & Ald. Edit.) reads, but the sojourning of the children of Israel, which they sojourned in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, they and their fathers, was four hundred and thirty years: And thus, St. Augustin, in his forty-seventh question on Exodus. See State of printed Hebrew text, p. 396. Mr. Locke explains this passage agreeably to the interpretation given in the Samaritan text; and the learned reader will find Dr. Kennicott’s Criticism, at large, in Houbigant’s Prolegomena, p. 68.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

I beg the Reader to remark with me God’s faithfulness. Not an hour beyond the time predicted to Abraham, Gen 15:13 . There it is said, four hundred years, and here four hundred and thirty: but if the Reader will count back he will find the thirty years included, if calculated as it must be from the call of God to Abraham in the land of the Chaldees, Gen 12:2 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Exo 12:40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, [was] four hundred and thirty years.

Ver. 40. Was four hundred and thirty years, ] sc., From the time that Abraham began to sojourn in the land of Canaan, and to pass into Egypt. Gen 12:10 See Gal 3:17 , See Trapp on “ Gal 3:17 “

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

sojourning. Commenced with Genesis 12. Quite a different subject from the dwelling in Egypt. See App-50.

Israel = Figure of speech Synecdoche (of the Part), App-6, by which one man’s name, Israel, is put for his father and grandfather.

who dwelt in Egypt. Figure of speech Epitrechon (App-6). A form of Parenthesis used to further define the People and connect the two parts of their history.

four hundred and thirty years. There are two reckonings of the sojourning: one starting from the” promise “to Abraham, Exo 12:40. Gal 1:3, Gal 1:14, Gal 1:17-430 years; the other starting from the recognition of his “seed” (Isaac), Gen 21:12. See Act 7:6 and =Gen 15:13400 years. N. B. 450 years to Samuel; 490 to Saul. See App-60

This dwelling in Egypt was only 215 years (see App-60); and is to be distinguished from the “sojourning”, which was another 215 years. See note above.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

The Samaritan Pentateuch reads, “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, and of their fathers in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt, was 430 years.” The Alexandrine copy of the LXX has the same reading; and the same statement is made by the apostle Paul, in Gal 3:17, who reckons from the promise made to Abraham to the giving of the law. That these three witnesses have the truth, the chronology itself proves; for it is evident that the descendants of Israel did not dwell 430 years in Egypt; while it is equally evident, that the period from Abraham’s entry into Canaan to the Exodus, is exactly that number. Thus, from Abraham’s entrance into the promised land to the birth of Isaac, was 25 years; Isaac was 60 at the birth of Jacob; Jacob was 130 at his going into Egypt; where he and his children continued 215 years more; making in the whole 430 years. See Kennicott’s Dissertation on the Hebrew Text.

sojourning: Act 13:17, Heb 11:9

four hundred: Gen 12:1-3, Gen 15:13, Act 7:6, Gal 3:16, Gal 3:17

Reciprocal: Gen 15:16 – in the Num 20:15 – dwelt

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Exo 12:40. Who dwelt in Egypt Or sojourned. We must observe, that it is not said, The sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years; but the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt That is, the sojourning of the Israelitish nation, from the time that Abraham left his native country to sojourn in Canaan, to the release of his posterity, who were long sojourners in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. Therefore, the Samaritan copy hath it, Who dwelt in the land of Canaan and in Egypt. So the Vatican edition of the LXX. It was just four hundred and thirty years from the promise made to Abraham (as the apostle explains it, Gal 3:17) at his first coming into Canaan, during all which time the Hebrews were sojourners in a land that was not theirs, either Canaan or Egypt. So long the promise God made to Abraham lay dormant and unfulfilled, but now it revived, and things began to work toward the accomplishment of it. The first day of the march of Abrahams seed toward Canaan was four hundred and thirty years (it should seem, to a day) from the promise made to Abraham, Gen 12:2, I will make of thee a great nation. What reason have we then to admire the exact accomplishment of Gods promise! Notwithstanding the various revolutions and changes of all worldly affairs that must necessarily have happened in the space of four hundred and thirty years, yet Gods promise stands sure amidst them all. Yes, Gods word will stand fast for ever and ever! Heaven and earth may pass away, but his word cannot pass away.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exo 12:40-42 Rp. Time spent in Egypt.The Biblical writers are not in agreement about the length of Israels stay in Egypt. Here it is given (probably by Rp) as 430 years (cf. 400 years in Gen 15:13 Rje, Act 7:6, and Josephus). But in Exo 6:14-27 (also Rp, cf. Gen 15:16 E) Moses and his contemporaries are the fourth generation. To reconcile the two estimates, the words and in the land of Canaan, i.e. before the entry into Egypt, are interpolated in Exo 12:41 by LXX, Sam., reducing the time to twenty-five years. The fact is that neither the Bible nor the monuments enable us to solve the problem. Gressmann, however, argues that the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt cannot well have lasted longer than one or two generations, because they still kept a clear memory of their homeland, and because their connexion with their brothers who remained in S. Palestine was not yet destroyed. But if some clans stayed in Canaan, or went back after the famine, their kinsfolk might keep in touch with them, since the inscriptions prove there was much coming and going across the desert.

Exo 12:42. Render as mg. Further, the suggestion of Budde, based on Heb. idiom and Gr., and followed by Bacon, Nowack, Baentsch, and Driver, is attractive: A night of watching was it for Yahweh to bring them out, i.e. a night when He kept vigil to protect and deliver Israel. Then Exo 12:42 b, implying a vigil kept year by year to Yahweh, must be by a later hand, and Exo 12:42 a may be an early fragment of J following on Exo 12:21-27.

Exo 12:43-50 P. Supplementary Passover Rules.From the days of the mixed multitude and onwards difficulties arose about the status of non-Israelites, and the line was drawn differently and kept more or less strictly according to circumstances. In JE and D (cf. Exo 22:21, Exo 23:9, Deu 10:18 f., etc.) the stranger (gr)better sojourner (Lev 17:8 f.*, Deu 1:16*, p. 110)is inevitably in an inferior and dependent position. In P he has practical equality within his reach. So LXX already renders gr by proselyte. But (Exo 12:43) no alien (better foreigner) as such might even eat the Passover, i.e. share in the feast as a guest. If, however (Exo 12:44), he were bought as a slave and circumcised, he was admissible. (A slaves son, as home-born, was admitted as a matter of course.) Yet (Exo 12:45) a sojourner (rather settler, tshb) and a hired servant were to be excluded. Perhaps this means that not only foreigners passing through, but even those settling and taking temporary service in, the land were excluded, it being presumed that they did not wish to be naturalised and to submit to circumcision. If, however (Exo 12:48), a sojourner should sojourn with thee, and will do the passover to Yahweh, i.e. in his own right offer the Passover sacrifice (MNeile), or better celebrate the Passover feast (Baentsch, Driver), circumcision was the sole condition of admission. The Kikuyu controversy arose about the admission of members of other churches to communion while sojourning outside the borders of their own church. The Hebrew rule required virtual identification before admission to communion. Archbishop Davidson advised Anglicans to admit sojourners without confirmation. It seems precarious, with Driver, on etymological grounds to regard the settler as more permanently settled than an ordinary gr. That the irrelevant section Exo 12:46 f. separates the two passages about aliens suggests that they may have had an independent origin, which would account for the seeming conflict between Exo 12:45 and Exo 12:48. In the intervening verses four points are dealt with. Though small households might combine, the mystic unity of the group must be maintained: the lamb must be eaten in one house, and no part taken to a neighbours across the road. So, too, no bone might be broken, or one part severed from another. And the observance was binding on all Israelites. (Cf. the Anglican rubric, Every parishioner shall communicate three times in the year, of which Easter shall be one.)

Exo 12:51 is repeated by the Redactor of P from Exo 12:41 to round off the section.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

The text is very clear that Israel was in Egypt 430 years "to the very day" (Exo 12:41). This probably refers to the time between when Jacob entered Egypt with his family (1876 B.C.) to the day of the Exodus (1446 B.C.). Gal 3:17 also refers to 430 years. This figure, however, probably represents the time from God’s last reconfirmation of the Abrahamic covenant to Jacob at Beer-sheba (1875 B.C.; Gen 46:2-4) to the giving of the Mosaic Law at Sinai (1446 B.C.; Exodus 19). Gen 15:13; Gen 15:16 and Act 7:6 give the time of the Israelites’ enslavement in Egypt as 400 years (1846-1446 B.C.). The "about 450 years" spoken of in Act 13:19 includes the 400 year sojourn in Egypt, the 40 years of wilderness wanderings, and the seven year conquest of the land (1875-1395 B.C.). [Note: Harold W. Hoehner, "The Duration of the Egyptian Bondage," Bibliotheca Sacra 126:504 (October-December 1969):306-16, presented three other ways to reconcile these references.]

Scholars have debated hotly and still argue about the date of the Exodus. Many conservatives hold a date very close to 1446 B.C. [Note: See, for example, Wolf, pp. 141-48.] Their preference for this date rests first on 1Ki 6:1 that states that the Exodus took place 480 years before the fourth year of Solomon’s reign. That year was quite certainly 967 B.C. Second, this view harmonizes with Jdg 11:26 that says 300 years elapsed between Israel’s entrance into Canaan and the commencement of Jephthah’s rule as a judge. [Note: See Ronald Youngblood, "A New Look at an Old Problem: The Date of the Exodus," Christianity Today 26:20 (Dec. 17, 1982):58, 60; Charles Dyer, "The Date of the Exodus Reexamined," Bibliotheca Sacra 140:559 (July-September 1983):225-43; Archer, "Old Testament History . . .," pp. 106-9; and Bruce K. Waltke, "Palestinian Artifactual Evidence Supporting the Early Date of the Exodus," Bibliotheca Sacra 129:513 (January-March 1973):33-47.] Most liberals and many evangelicals hold to a date for the Exodus about 1290 B.C. [Note: E.g., Kenneth Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament, pp. 73-75; Durham, p. xxvi; and James K. Hoffmeier, "What Is the Biblical Date for the Exodus? A Response to Bryant Wood," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50:2 (June 2007):225-47. For refutation of the late date theory, see Bryant G. Wood, "The Rise and Fall of the 13th-Century Exodus-Conquest Theory," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 48:3 (September 2005):475-89; and idem, "The Biblical Date for the Exodus is 1446 BC: A Response to James Hoffmeier," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50:2 (June 2007):249-58.] This opinion rests on the belief that the existence of the city of Raamses (Exo 1:11; et al.) presupposes the existence of Pharaoh Ramses II (ca. 1300-1234 B.C.). [Note: See my comments on 1:11 above.] Also followers of this view point to supposed similarities between the times of Pharaoh Ramses II and the Exodus period. Another reason for dating the Exodus to the thirteenth century is the archaeological remains in Palestine that have been attributed to the conquest. However, there is good reason to identify these ruins with destruction that took place during the Judges Period of Israel’s history. [Note: Longman and Dillard, pp. 65-66.] Another view has also been popularized that places the Exodus about 1470 B.C. [Note: See John J. Bimson, Redating the Exodus and the Conquest; and idem, "Redating the Exodus," Biblical Archaeology Review 13:5 (September-October 1986):40-53, 66-68.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Disfruta de miles de canciones cristianas en exclusiva sólo en Bibles