How Long did the Israelite Sojourn in Egypt Last?
If you have any familiarity with the narratives of Genesis and Exodus, you will know about
the sojourn of Israel in ancient Egypt. The sojourn encompasses the time period from the
migration of Jacob’s family into Goshen under Joseph through the exodus under Moses.
In speaking of this period, the Bible says in Exodus 12:40-41,
“Now the time that the sons of Israel had lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of
the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.”
Thus, if you listen to most sermons or lectures regarding the sojourn, 430 years is generally
proclaimed as the amount of time Israel spent in Egypt.
If you watched my video about Goliath’s height, you will recall that the Hebrew source
of our modern English Old Testament is the Masoretic Text. You will also recall that
the Masoretic Text is not our only witness to the textual tradition of the Hebrew Bible;
that we also have other sources from ancient times – primarily the Septuagint (the Greek
translation of the Old Testament) and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
As I explored in reference to Goliath’s height, occasionally these textual witnesses
exhibit subtle differences from one another. These differences are called textual variants.
It just so happens that Exodus 12:40 is also a textual variant. Here is the reading of
this verse from the Greek Septuagint:
“And the sojourning of the children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt
and the land of Canaan, [was] four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass after
the four hundred and thirty years, all the forces of the Lord came forth out of the land
of Egypt by night.”
The phrase, “…and the land of Canaan,” is not present in the Masoretic text. Though
it may seem like a minor difference to the lay believer, the consequence of this variant
influences when we should be looking for the events of the sojourn in the historical record
of ancient Egypt. Should we be looking for a 430 presence of the Israelites in Egypt
or should we be looking for a ~215 year presence?
Given that the historicity of the events described in the sojourn are under attack by both lay
and academic unbelievers, it’s important that we have a right understanding of the
Bible’s testimony of these events. Thus, how do we know whether this is an addendum
or the original reading of this passage?
In the case of Goliath’s height, we had an additional source in the form of the Dead
Sea Scrolls. The testimony of the Dead Sea Scrolls carries a lot of weight because: 1)
they are at least as old as the Septuagint if not older and 2) they are written in Hebrew
– the original language of the Old Testament. Unfortunately, the readings of Exodus contained
among the Dead Sea Scrolls are fragmentary. As a result, a full reading of Exodus 12:40
is missing from them. So we can’t appeal to them to help us figure out which reading
is more likely to be original.
However, we do have another clue we can refer to – this time, from the New Testament.
In Galatians 3:16-17, Paul, speaking of the relationship of those approaching God on the
basis of the law with those who do so on the basis of faith, says:
“The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, ‘and
to seeds,’ meaning many, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning One, who is Christ. What
I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously
established by God, so as to nullify the promise.”
Here, Paul makes reference to the giving of the Mosaic Law (which occurred after the exodus)
as having taken place 430 years after the time of Abraham. If the length of the sojourn
itself (from Joseph to Moses) was 430 years, as the Masoretic Text states, then Paul’s
reference would be too short. It appears then that Paul was assuming the reading of Exodus
12:40 found in the Septuagint – that 430 years refers not only to the sojourn in Egypt,
but also to the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan that happened previous to
the sojourn.
To be fair, there has been and continues to be debate among Christian scholars as to why
Paul assumed the Septuagint’s reading; was it because this was the original reading of
the Hebrew of this verse, or was it simply because he wanted to use the Septuagint because
that is the translation the Gentiles coming into the Church would have used?
Though they possess less authority because they are either not scripture themselves or
they are a translation not utilized by the authors of the New Testament, there are a
few other sources we can examine.
The first century Jewish historian Josephus says that the Israelites left Egypt, “…four
hundred and thirty years after our forefather Abraham came into Canaan, but two hundred
and fifteen years only after Jacob removed into Egypt.” (Antiquities of the Jews 2:15:2)
A later witness comes in the form of the Samaritan Pentateuch, written in the 14th century, which
takes the same reading as the Septuagint. Though the late composition of this manuscript
makes it unlikely to be an authoritative witness of the original text.
A couple of other Biblical passages must also be considered to help us shed light on the
original reading of Exodus 12:40. In Genesis 15:13, God tells Abraham that,
“…Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs,
and they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.”
The big question in regards to this verse is whether or not God is speaking of one or
two events; is, “being strangers in a land that is not theirs,” the same event as,
“being enslaved and oppressed,” or is it a preceding event? Proponents of the long
430-year sojourn see them as one and the same, while those of a 215-year sojourn see them
as sequential.
The Apostle Paul also has some more relevant words in Acts 13:17-20:
“The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their
stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it. For a period of about forty years He
put up with them in the wilderness. When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of
Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took about 450 years.”
Again, it appears that Paul is assuming the Septuagint reading as he did in Galatians
3:17, because he includes God’s choosing of the patriarchs in the same, “450 years,”
as the sojourn in Egypt and the 40 years wandering in the desert. (There are those who maintain
though that Paul’s, “450 years,” should be ascribed only to the sojourn in Egypt and
the wandering period.)
Now…what do I think?
There are good, learned people who represent both sides of this discussion and I don’t
expect my opinion to be the conclusive one. However, that’s a lame politically-correct
answer that you didn’t click on this video for.
Personally, I believe a 215-year sojourn better reconciles the, “400 years” of Genesis
15:13 with the, “430 years,” of Exodus 12:40. If we account for the 430 years of
Exodus as including the life of Abraham, then we can acknowledge that some of those years
have already passed by the time God covenants with him. Thus, it would be 400 years from
the time of the covenant, but 430 years from the events of Genesis 12, when Abraham left
Haran. I could be wrong, but this makes a little more sense to me than simply saying
that the, “400 years,” of Genesis 15:13 is a round figure while the, “430 years,”
of Exodus is the precise figure (as some scholars who advocate a 430-year sojourn do).
I also favor the Septuagint’s reading because I believe Paul, given his education, would
have been well aware of any textual streams that would have been around during his lifetime.
Thus, if there was a textual variant at Exodus 12:40 during the first century, he would be
in a position to speak on which one was authoritative.
This being said, his reference to the Septuagint is evidence of one of two things:
The Hebrew reading of Exodus 12:40 during the first century was the same as the Septuagint;
there was no variant. He was inspired to know which variation of
Exodus 12:40 was the original reading.
Again, I’m open to correction, but these are my thoughts.
The big takeaway from all this that the reading of Exodus 12:40 has large implications, both
for the Biblical timeline as well as the overall historical timeline more generally. The groundwork
of our attempts to understand the history of Israel before, during and after their sojourn
in Egypt is to accurately discern the Biblical parameters of these events.
For more information on this topic, I recommend, “Let My People Go!” by Dr. Steven Collins
and “On the Reliability of the Old Testament” by Kenneth Kitchen. You will find links to
each of these books in the description.