Your ShelfYour Projects

The Sojourning of Israel

17%

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 24, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 42.

Read the full edition

The Sojourning of Israel

By F. D. STARR

F. D. STARR
“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.” Ex. 12:40.
This verse has been misunderstood by some. It will be noticed that it is not stated that Israel was actually in Egypt four hundred and thirty years, but that this people who dwelt in Egypt had sojourned somewhere for that length of time.
The Septuagint makes the matter much clearer. In that version this text reads: “The sojourning of the sons of Israel, which they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, was four hundred and thirty years.”
This is in harmony with history. The period is equally divided between the two countries, as it was two hundred and fifteen years from the time Abraham entered Canaan till Jacob’s family settled in Egypt, and then two hundred and fifteen more years till the nation of Israel left Egypt under Moses. Thus the period of four hundred and thirty years of Gen. 12:40, as well as that of Gal. 3:17, is seen to include the oppression of Abraham’s family by the heathen of Canaan, as well as by the Egyptians.