https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/HowLongWasTheEgyptianBondage.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Exodus 12:30-41<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. As Christians, we need to be prepared to make a defense – Jude 3; I Peter 3:15<\/p>\n A. People don’t want to follow God’s word, so they figure if they can cast doubt in\none area, they can ignore the Bible in all areas.\n
B. One way is to point out what appears to be contradictions in the Bible.<\/p>\n C. In defending against a claim of a contradiction, you don’t necessarily have to\nprove beyond all doubt what the truth is. All that is really necessary is to show\nthat there is a way that two different statements can exist and be simultaneously\ntrue.\n
1. For example: How many angels were at Jesus’ tomb?<\/p>\n
a. Matthew 28:2-3 – One <\/p>\n
b. Mark 16:5 – One<\/p>\n
c. Luke 24:4 – Two<\/p>\n
d. John 20:12 – Two<\/p>\n
2. Where are they and when?<\/p>\n a. Matthew 28:2-3 – On the stone, outside the tomb before the women\narrived\n
b. Mark 16:5 – One, inside, on the right side of the tomb<\/p>\n
c. Luke 24:4 – Two inside<\/p>\n
d. John 20:12 – Two, inside, one by the head and one by the foot.<\/p>\n 3. Is there an actual contradiction? No. Each account mentions details, but\nnot all the details. To mention one doesn’t eliminate two unless you say\n“only one.” To mention one in one location doesn’t mean the angel can’t\nmove later.\n 4. We may not know all the details – there could have been three angels\ninvolved, for example. But it doesn’t matter because we see that the\ndifferences in the accounts can be resolved in at least one way.\n
II. How long was the bondage?<\/p>\n
A. Mentioned<\/p>\n
1. Genesis 15:13-14 – 400 years<\/p>\n
2. Exodus 12:40-41 – 430 years<\/p>\n
3. Acts 7:6 – 400 years<\/p>\n
4. Acts 13:17-19 – about 450 years<\/p>\n
5. Galatians 3:17 – 430 years later<\/p>\n
B. Even with allowing rounding of the years, these are not the same numbers.<\/p>\n
C. But notice that they don’t use the same starting and ending points<\/p>\n 1. Genesis 15:13-14 – no starting point, 400 years ends with them coming out\nwith many possessions\n
2. Exodus 12:40-41 – from entering Egypt, 430 years to the day, leave Egypt<\/p>\n 3. Acts 7:6 – no starting or ending point but says they were enslaved 400\nyears\n 4. Acts 13:17-19 – from the start of their stay in Egypt, then 450 years later\nconquered Canaan.\n 5. Galatians 3:17 – From the covenant being ratified it was 430 years to the\ngiving of the law.\n
D. You will see time lines that list the Egyptian bondage as 215 years. <\/p>\n
1. They get this by taking Paul’s statement of 430 years<\/p>\n
2. Abraham receive the initial promise when he was 75 years old<\/p>\n
3. Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old. So subtract 25.<\/p>\n
4. He was 60 years old when Jacob was born (Genesis 25:26). So subtract 60.<\/p>\n 5. Jacob was 130 years old when he was presented to Pharaoh (Genesis\n47:9). So subtract 130\n
6. The 400 years of bondage? <\/p>\n a. Well, that would have started when Isaac was five. You remember,\nIshmael was taunting Isaac and got tossed out. Ishmael is the son of\nHagar, an Egyptian, so that must be what God meant by “afflicted,”\n“bondage,” and “oppression.\n
b. The “dwelling in a foreign land” part is ignored.<\/p>\n E. Notice, that Exodus 12:40-41 is very precise. Because of that precision, we ought\nto use it as the baseline\n 1. Israel entered Egypt as free people. It was only later that the oppression\nbegan – Exodus 1:8\n 2. Thus combining Genesis 15:13-4 and Acts 7:6 we conclude that it started\n30 years after Egypt and 40 years before Joseph’s death.\n
3. It probably started gradually.<\/p>\n
F. Acts 13:17-19<\/p>\n
1. If we start with 400 years of slavery<\/p>\n
2. Add 1 year at Mt. Sinai – Numbers 1:1 (it was 13 months later)<\/p>\n
3. Add 40 years wandering in the Wilderness – Numbers 32:13<\/p>\n
4. That leaves about 9 years to conquer Canaan<\/p>\n
5. Even if we are off by a year or two, it is still about 450 years.<\/p>\n
G. Which then leaves us Galatians 3:17<\/p>\n 1. Read it carefully and see that the start is when the covenant was confirmed\nor ratified – not when it was originally given.\n 2. Even if we use the giving of the covenant as the starting point, the\nquestion is which giving?\n
a. Genesis 12 when Abram was 75<\/p>\n
b. Genesis 15 when Abram was 89<\/p>\n
c. Genesis 17 when Abraham was 99<\/p>\n
d. Genesis 22:16-18 at some unspecified age when Isaac was offered.<\/p>\n
3. Looking at the ratifications or confirmations<\/p>\n
a. Genesis 26:24 with Isaac<\/p>\n
b. Genesis 28:14; 35:10-12; 46:2-4 with Jacob<\/p>\n
c. The last ratification occurred just as Jacob was to enter Egypt<\/p>\n d. If this was the ratification Paul was speaking of, the 430 years to\nthe day later Israel left Egypt (Exodus 12:40-41) and three months\nlater received the law (Exodus 19:1).\n
4. This makes Paul’s date consistent will the other passages.<\/p>\n
III. Objections<\/p>\n
A. Genesis 15:16 – The Israelites would return to Canaan in the fourth generation<\/p>\n
1. The question is how long is a generation?<\/p>\n
2. Abraham lived 175 years – Genesis 25:7<\/p>\n
3. Isaac lived 180 years – Genesis 35:28<\/p>\n
4. Jacob lived 147 years – Genesis 47:28<\/p>\n
5. Joseph lived 110 years – Genesis 50:26<\/p>\n B. Moses’ lineage is stated – Exodus 6:16-20; Numbers 3:17-30; 26:57-59; I\nChronicles 6:1-3; 23:6-13\n
1. Exodus 6:16-20 gives us some dates<\/p>\n
a. Levi lived 137 years<\/p>\n
b. Kohath lived 133 years<\/p>\n
c. Amram lived 137 years<\/p>\n
d. The Moses born to Amram and Jochebed<\/p>\n
2. Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt at the age of 80 – Exodus 7:7<\/p>\n 3. We also know that Kohath was born prior to Israel’s entrance into Egypt –\nGenesis 46:11\n 4. Even if we assume that Kohath was born the year they entered Egypt (not\nlikely) and both Amram and Moses were born the year their fathers died\n(not likely), the maximum length of time in Egypt would be 350 years.\n a. At least 80 years, and probably more are missing from the\ngenealogy.\n
5. The Hebrew concept of “son” is more general than ours<\/p>\n
a. Jesus is a son of both Abraham and David – Matthew 1:1<\/p>\n
b. Kings of Judah were sons of David – I Kings 15:3, 11; 22:50<\/p>\n 6. There are examples in the Bible where generations were skipped in\nlineages. This doesn’t prove that there was a skip in Moses’ lineage, but\nwe can’t rule it out either.\n
7. Another indication of missing generations:<\/p>\n a. Kohath’s family had 8,600 males 1 month and older at the first\nnumbering – Numbers 3:27-28\n
b. 2,750 men were between the ages of 30 and 50 – Numbers 4:34-36<\/p>\n c. Kohath had 4 sons, 12 grandsons, and at least 6 great-grandsons,\nwhich included Aaron and Moses’ children.\n d. Since we know the generations of Moses and Aaron, that means\nKohath’s other 10 grandsons would have had to have an average of\n860 male descendants in each line.\n e. If there were two additional generations, that would require an\naverage of 29 males per generation\n f. If there were three additional generations, that would require an\naverage of 9 males per generation.\n
g. The numbers suggest that there were additional generations.<\/p>\n 8. Using Moses’ lineage to set an upper bound on the length of the Egyptian\nbondage, an assumption<\/i> is made that there are no additional generations.\nIV. When we sort out all the facts multiple verses indicate that the Egyptian bondage was 400\nyears.\n A. There are a few puzzles, but none that require a conclusion that there is a\ncontradiction within the Bible.\n B. Some search out any thread to disbelieve because believing leads to a need to\nchange.\n
C. Rather than resisting improving yourself, why not submit to God?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t![\"Egyptian](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/EgyptianBondageTimeline.png\" "\\"Egyptian")
\n\t\tEgyptian Bondage Timeline\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Exodus 12:30-41 I. As Christians, we need to be prepared to make a defense – Jude 3; I Peter 3:15 A. People don’t want to follow God’s word, so they figure if they can cast doubt in one area, they can ignore the Bible in all areas. B. One way is to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[37,484,279],"class_list":["post-38256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-apologetics","tag-exodus","tag-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":48884,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dealing-with-doubt\/","url_meta":{"origin":38256,"position":0},"title":"Dealing with Doubt","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: John 20:19-31 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Is it wrong to have doubts? When those moments come when you wonder if God really exists or you run across an idea that makes you wonder if you really understood the Bible correctly, have you sinned? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Look at characters\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43779,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/gods-proof-of-his-existence\/","url_meta":{"origin":38256,"position":1},"title":"God’s Proof of His Existence","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Exodus 3:1-6 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps you have heard statements to the effect that the Bible doesn\u2019t try to prove that God exists. It simply assumes the existence of God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At the beginning of the Bible we read \u201cIn the beginning God created the heavens\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10458,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-your-map-show-israel-in-egyptian-territory-when-the-bible-says-they-left-egypt\/","url_meta":{"origin":38256,"position":2},"title":"Why does your map show Israel in Egyptian territory when the Bible says they left Egypt?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why does your map of the Exodus route so blatantly defy what the Scriptures tell us happened and instead follows the theories of secular men? Doesn't the Bible tell us that the Hebrews left Egypt completely the day following Passover (Exodus 12:51)? Don't all accounts of when the Hebrews\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/Exodus-Large-300x218.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40480,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/slavery-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":38256,"position":3},"title":"Slavery in the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 6:15-23 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At times you will run into people who attempt to discredit the Bible by stating that some aspect of its teaching was immoral or at least shady. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The idea is that if it was wrong about one concept, then it can be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32602,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/biblical-infallibility-the-bibles-claims-for-itself\/","url_meta":{"origin":38256,"position":4},"title":"Biblical Infallibility: The Bible’s Claims for Itself","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Deuteronomy 31:24-29 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When talking about whether we can trust the Bible or not, it may seem strange to turn to the very book we are considering. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We want to show that it is not a optional belief. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Bible claims to be infallible. If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50354,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/stand-still-and-keep-silent\/","url_meta":{"origin":38256,"position":5},"title":"Stand Still and Keep Silent","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Exodus 14:5-31 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Israel has been freed from the bondage of slavery by a series of miracles from God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But even as they were moving out of the Egyptian lands, Pharaoh changed his heart and came after his former slaves with an army. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}