For most of my life, I’ve come to think of some periods in Biblical history in spans of 400. After all, when you look in Scripture, you see it all over the place: 400 years in the period of the Judges, 400 years from Solomon to the destruction of Jerusalem, and 400 years in the period between the Testaments.
These dates are all highly generalized; some of them are 430 years, or 397, or something similar. It’s not as much of a hard fact as it is a rounded off number that helps me remember dates.
Another “400 year period” is found in the time of Exodus. Exodus 12:40 states emphatically that “the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.” The next verse punctuates that comment by saying the Exodus occurred at the end of that time—“to the very day.”
Great! Another easy to remember number. That is, until you remember that the prophecy of the Exodus—the one given to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-14–specifically talked about how it should’ve only been 400 years, not 430, as Exodus 12:40 claims.
Exodus isn’t the only place that has the larger number. In Galatians 3:17, Paul also claims that the Law came 430 years after the time of the promise. However, notice the slight difference: 430 years “after the promise” to Abraham isn’t the same as “400 years in slavery in Egypt.”
Could the Text simply be confusing two separate events? And if not, why are there two different numbers?
For some, this discrepancy is enough to discredit the Bible as a whole. They claim we can’t trust the Word as infallible if *clearly* there are errors contained within. And if we can’t trust the Bible with physical information, how can we trust it with spiritual information?
That’s a fair argument. In defense of these supposed inconsistencies, many scholars have put forth arguments that try to harmonize these two accounts.
One of the most convincing, in my opinion, is the argument that the persecution of God’s people began when Ishmael harassed Isaac shortly after Isaac was born. The time from covenant promise in Genesis 15:13-14 to the birth of Isaac is about 30 years, which fits both dates: 400 years of slavery, 430 years total from covenant promise to Exodus.
The Septuagint seems to hint that this is the real explanation. It’s translation of Exodus 12:40 says that the period of the Israelites sojourning in Egypt and Canaan is 430 years. In that interpretation, the 430 years includes all the time of Jacob, Laban, Esau, and Joseph, as well as the slavery in Egypt. Answers in Genesis has a nice map explaining the timeline if you’re interested in a more thorough breakdown.
I still have a hard time with that explanation, though. In Acts 7:40, Stephen connects the enslavement with foreign exile: “God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be aliens in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.” That’s the traditional understanding, but the dates are difficult to match.
What do you think? Is this something that causes your faith to stumble? Drop me a line at brady@coffeeandaBible.om and let me know how you would explain it!
