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Would you explain the 400 years mentioned in Genesis 15:13 and the 430 years given in Exodus 12:40? Why is there a thirty year difference between the two?


Answer # 118


The 430 years mentioned in Exodus 12:40 began with the confirming of the covenant God made with Abram. Notice Genesis 17:1-10. "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.. .and Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations... and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee..." Genesis, chapter 21, continues the story. Sarah finally became pregnant at the "set time" (verse 2). This physical evidence fully confirmed the covenant, and Isaac, the son of the promise, was born when Abraham was 100 (verse 5).

Since Galatians 3:17 states that the law was given 430 years after the covenant was made, it is evident that the 430 years began when Abraham was ninety-nine years old and ended the year of the exodus of his descendants out of Egypt and their appearance at Sinai. Concerning the 400-year period, Genesis 15:13 states that Abraham's seed - not Abraham - was to be a stranger in a land not theirs and to be afflicted for 400 years. This would be the length of time from the death of Abraham (76 years after the covenant was made compare Genesis 25:7 with 17:1) through the 40 years' wandering to the division of the land when the children of Israel received their inheritance under the direction of Joshua. This occurred six years after they entered the land of Canaan (see Numbers 10:11; Joshua 14:7-10).