The Bondage of Israel
Did the Israelites live under the bondage of the Egyptians for 430 years? This question arises due to the alleged contradiction between Exodus 12:40; Genesis 15:13-14; Acts 7:6-7; and Galatians 3:17. The two general views that are held are that 1) the Israelites were in bondage 430 years, and 2) the Israelites were in bondage 215 years. If we can prove that the Israelites were not in bondage 430 years, then we may reasonably conclude they were in bondage for 215 years.
How long was Israel in Bondage?
It is the contention of this writer that the Israelites were not in bondage for 430 years. In this paper, evidence will be presented that the physical relationship of Moses to Levi prevents this from being the case. That Moses is the grandson (i.e. second generation from) of Levi may be established by the following scriptures: Exodus 2:1; Exodus 6:16-20; and Numbers 26:59. These scriptures say that Jochebed was the daughter (i.e. direct descendent) of Levi. Jochebed was also the mother of Moses. The combined ages of Levi and Moses while the Israelites were in Egypt are shown to be irreconcilable with the Israelites’ being in Egypt for 430 years.
Levi was the third born of Jacob (Genesis 29:34). Given that he was born as close as possible to the first child, Reuben, he would have been born in the second year, third month, after Jacob was married to Leah. Now Jacob served Laban for twenty years (Genesis 31:41); so, at the most, Joseph would have been born within the twentieth year, because he was born while Jacob served Laban. This puts Joseph and Levi about eleven years apart, a reasonable number between the second born child and next to last born child.
In Genesis 41:46, the Bible says that Joseph was thirty years old when he came before Pharaoh. So, Levi was about 41 years old at the time of Joseph’s ascent. After this came the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine (14 years). The Bible says that the sons of Israel went down into Egypt in the second year of famine (Genesis 45:5). This would put Levi’s age at fifty (that is, forty-one plus seven years of plenty plus two years of famine). Levi lived for 137 years (Exodus 6:16) and presumably died there. One hundred thirty-seven minus fifty equals eighty-seven. So, Levi was in Egypt for eighty-seven years.
The children of Israel were in Egypt for the first part of Moses’ life, when he was being trained to lead them out of Egypt. This first part of his life was eighty years. Forty years he spent in Egypt and forty years he spent in the wilderness tending sheep for Jethro.
If Levi lived in Egypt for eighty-seven years, and the people of Israel lived in Egypt for the eighty years that Moses was alive, then in order for the children of Israel to be living in Egypt for 430 years, Moses’ mother (who was also Levi’s daughter) had to give birth to Moses at the age of 263 years, an absurdity. People did not live to be that old during that time, and Sarah attests to the fact that women could not have children at that age (Genesis 18:11). Given the relationships of Levi to Jochebed and Jochebed to Moses, 430 years is irreconcilable without adding additional generations somewhere in between. Were there additional generations?
If there were additional generations, then either Levi was not the direct sire of Jochebed or Jochebed was not the biological mother of Moses. The former relationship seems the most likely for consideration of missing generations as the relationship between Moses and Jochebed as mother and son seems to be firmly established (see Exodus 6:20 and Numbers 26:59). So, was Jochebed (Moses’ mother) the actual daughter of Levi, that is, did Levi sire Jochebed? Some suggest that she could have been his granddaughter or great granddaughter? However, this conflicts with the biblical evidence concerning the relationship of Jochebed to Levi. A consideration of this evidence is now in order.
First, Exodus 2:1 reads, “And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.” If Jochebed was Levi’s granddaughter or great granddaughter, then why is the distinction made between the man who was of the house of Levi and the wife who was a daughter of Levi? Why doesn’t the text read, “…and took to wife a woman of the house of Levi”? One answer is the text does not read that way is because Jochebed was the actual daughter of Levi.
Second, this is further established in Exodus 6:16-20. In this passage, the sons of Levi are listed “according to their generations.” This means, specifically, that there are no gaps between the generations. So Kohath, who is listed in verse sixteen as the son of Levi, was the son of Levi and his wife. Now in Exodus 6:20, the text says that Amram took Jochebed, his father’s sister, to wife. Who was Amram’s father? It was Kohath. Jochebed was Kohath’s sister, and this would make her Levi’s daughter.
Third, Numbers 26:59 explicitly says that Jochebed was Levi’s daughter by birth: “And the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister” (ASV). These three passages overwhelmingly establish that Jochebed was the daughter of Levi, as we would use the term daughter today. This last piece of evidence seals the case as to the relationship of Jochebed to Levi and presents irreconcilable evidence to the 430 year view.
So, since the Israelites were not in Egypt for 430 years, then what is to be said about all the passages that seem to say that they were in Egypt for 430 years? These passages are Genesis 15:13-14; Acts 7:6-7; and Exodus 12:40. Acts 7:6-7 is an exact quote from Genesis 15. So these two passages will be dealt with together.
In Genesis 15:13-14 this statement is made: “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and they shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.”
Noting that punctuation was foreign to the biblical manuscripts, it is the translators task to supply sensible punctuation. So, if the translators understood that the children of Israel were in Egypt for 400 years, then they would insert punctuation to support that claim. However, if that claim is irreconcilable with the Biblical chronology, the punctuation must change. Genesis 15:13-14 should be punctuated as follows: “…and they shall serve them; and they shall afflict them. Four hundred years, and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge….” Moreover, to be consistent with this punctuation, verse 14 should begin with the words “Four hundred.” This harmonizes with the Biblical chronology. The descendants of Abram will go down into Egypt. They will become servants, be afflicted, and 400 years from the time that God gave the promise to Abram, God will judge the afflicters. Acts 7 may be handled similarly.
What about the problem in Exodus 12:40? The KJV reads here, “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years….” Grammatically, the “430 years” is a predicate adjective describing the subject, “the sojourning of the people of Israel.” That sojourning may include the wanderings of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob’s sons by the figure of metonymy. The “who dwelt in Egypt” is an appositive expression that modifies the substantive “the children of Israel.” The appositive expression itself does not tell us the length of time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt. It simply tells us this: the children of Israel, at some time, and for some time, dwelt in Egypt. Again, it does not tell us how long they dwelt in Egypt. It simply says that they dwelt in Egypt. This is what the text says. There is no way that anyone could prove that the 430 years tells how long the children of Israel were in Egypt. So, are there any contradictions? The answer is no.
Just how long, then were the Israelites in Egypt? They were in Egypt about 215 years. In Galatians we read that from the promise to the law was 430 years. Since Abraham was about 75 when he received the promise from God (Genesis 12:4) and Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 (Genesis 21:5), twenty-five years had gone by since the promise. Isaac was sixty when Jacob was born (Genesis 25:26), so this adds another sixty years to the twenty-five years that we already have. This makes a total of eighty-five years since the promise. Joseph was born when Jacob was ninety-one, and Levi was, at most, eleven years older than Joseph; so Levi was born when Jacob was eighty (as shown above). This adds eighty years to our already eighty-five, giving us a total of 165. Since Levi was fifty when he went down into Egypt (as shown above), this give us a total of 215 years from the promise to the descent of the children of Israel into Egypt.
Levi lived eighty-seven years in Egypt (as shown above), and the children of Israel were in bondage for at least eighty years while Moses was living (as shown above). So, if we take the number of years that Levi was in Egypt and the number of years that the children of Israel were in Egypt while Moses was alive, and before he took them out of captivity, and add them together, we then get 167 years that the children of Israel were in bondage.
But, one might say, the record says that the number of years from the promise to the law were 430, and 215 and 167 do not add up to 430. And this is true; consideration must be given to the years that Jochebed, Moses’ mother, was upon the earth after Levi died and before Moses was born. Since Jochebed was the daughter of Levi, and Moses was her son (as shown above), then to complete the 430 years, Jochebed had to be 48 years or older when she gave birth to Moses. This age of childbearing is perfectly normal and consistent with biology and scripture as Moses was not the eldest child of Jochebed.
In conclusion, there were 430 years from the promise given to Abraham to the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai—215 from the promise to the descent into Egypt and 215 from the descent into Egypt to the Law.