{"id":3995,"date":"2006-02-17T19:40:51","date_gmt":"2006-02-18T01:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=3995"},"modified":"2024-11-15T20:57:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T02:57:00","slug":"proof-that-israel-wasnt-afflicted-for-400-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/proof-that-israel-wasnt-afflicted-for-400-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Proof that Israel wasn’t afflicted for 400 years?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I have been studying about the duration of the Israelites’ bondage in Egypt, and I have found that most of them say there could be generation skip, such as “How Long Was the Egyptian Bondage?<\/a>“. The problem is Bible scholars don’t take into account certain verses which are very important to this study.<\/p>\n

We all know Levi and Joseph were brothers, being sons of Jacob. The lineage of Levi to Moses, given in\u00a0Exodus 6:16-20\u00a0is:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Levi<\/li>\n
  2. Kohath<\/li>\n
  3. Amram<\/li>\n
  4. Moses<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The lineage of Joseph to Zelophehad’s daughters given in\u00a0Numbers 26:28-33\u00a0is:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Joseph<\/li>\n
    2. Manasseh<\/li>\n
    3. Machir<\/li>\n
    4. Gilead<\/li>\n
    5. Hepher<\/li>\n
    6. Zelophehad<\/li>\n
    7. Zelophehad’s five daughters<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Genesis 50:23\u00a0also states: “Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were also brought up on Joseph’s knees.<\/em>” So while Joseph was alive, all was well for the children of Israel; that includes Amram, the father of Moses.<\/p>\n

      Yet, Moses and the daughters of Zelophehad were contemporaries according to\u00a0Numbers 27:1-7. Therefore, these verses prove that the affliction period of the Israelites was not 400 years. Can anyone prove there was a generation skipped?<\/p>\n\t

      Answer:<\/h2>\n

      In understanding the Bible, clear statements are given precedence over complex arguments. “Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years<\/strong><\/em>” (Genesis 15:13). “But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that\u00a0they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years<\/strong><\/em>” (Acts 7:6). Therefore, I would conclude that you did\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0prove that the period of affliction was not 400 years.\u00a0The article “How Long Was the Egyptian Bondage?<\/a>” also deals with three other verses, which, taken together with the two just cited, indicate that the time spent in Egypt by Israel was 430 years.\u00a0The clearest one states, “Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years-on that very same day – it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt<\/em>” (Exodus 12:40-41).<\/p>\n

      You noted that Joseph lived to see his great-grandchildren, which is reasonable since Joseph lived 110 years (Genesis 50:22). But you make an unprovable assumption that Amram or Moses were born before Joseph died. Yes, Amram is of the third generation, and Moses is the fourth in the genealogies given. Still, you didn’t consider that people in different branches of families live different life spans. Even today, it is not unusual to hear of people older than their aunt or uncle. This situation would be more common since Israel had many children each generation (Exodus 1:7).<\/p>\n

      Numbers 27:3 states that Zelophehad had died in the wilderness. Thus, he was a contemporary of Moses, but his lineage has two additional generations recorded. We don’t know the life spans of his ancestors nor the ages when the children were born. Thus, beyond noting that Moses and Zelophehad were contemporaries, we cannot prove the length of the bondage by this means. If anything, the differences in the number of generations raise another possibility that Moses’ lineage is incomplete.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Question: I have been studying about the duration of the Israelites’ bondage in Egypt, and I have found that most of them say there could be generation skip, such as “How Long Was the Egyptian Bondage?“. The problem is Bible scholars don’t take into account certain verses which are very important to this study. We…<\/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":[20],"tags":[568,279],"class_list":["post-3995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-accuracy-of-the-bible","tag-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47704,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-people-of-two-different-tribes-married-which-tribe-did-the-children-belong-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":3995,"position":0},"title":"When people of two different tribes married, which tribe did the children belong to?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In the Old Testament when a man from one tribe married a woman from another tribe, what tribe would they be considered from? For example, if a man from the tribe of Judah married a woman from the tribe of Levi and had children, what tribe would that family\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16106,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/of-what-tribes-were-mary-joseph-john-the-baptist-and-his-parents\/","url_meta":{"origin":3995,"position":1},"title":"Of what tribes were Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist, and his parents?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Of what tribe was Mary from? Joseph was of the tribe of Judah, I think, but was Mary also of this tribe? And was there intermarriage between the tribes of Israel? Was John the Baptist a Levite? Was he actually considered to be a priest, or solely a prophet?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2519,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-long-was-the-egyptian-bondage\/","url_meta":{"origin":3995,"position":2},"title":"How Long Was the Egyptian Bondage? (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton \u00a0 Occasionally someone will insist that the Bible is not inspired by God and to prove their point they will state there are contradictions in the Bible. One of these apparent contradictions involves the duration of the Israelites' bondage in Egypt. There are five verses which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53861,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-didnt-you-list-the-ten-tribes\/","url_meta":{"origin":3995,"position":3},"title":"Why didn’t you list the ten tribes?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Questions: You fail to answer your own question, \"Who are the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom?\" I was looking to see if Levi was among them but no list is given. If Judah and Benjamin remained in the south then that would mean Levi was in the north. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25890,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/joseph-was-the-favorite-of-all-of-jacobs-sons-so-why-did-judah-get-the-blessing\/","url_meta":{"origin":3995,"position":4},"title":"Joseph was the favorite of all of Jacob’s sons, so why did Judah get the blessing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Joseph was the favorite of all of Jacob's sons, so why did Judah get the blessing? Answer: There were two things which typically went to the eldest son (not the favorite son): The blessing and a double portion. While it was normally the right of the firstborn to receive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38256,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-long-was-the-egyptian-bondage-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3995,"position":5},"title":"How Long Was the Egyptian Bondage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Exodus 12:30-41 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As Christians, we need to be prepared to make a defense - Jude 3; I Peter 3:15 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People don\u2019t want to follow God\u2019s word, so they figure if they can cast doubt in one area, they can ignore the Bible in all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/EgyptianBondageTimeline.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/EgyptianBondageTimeline.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/EgyptianBondageTimeline.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/EgyptianBondageTimeline.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3995","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=3995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}