Updated: 12/10/07
A reference to Peleg contained a typo and was corrected.
Insights
In experimenting on how to do readable charts in Visio, I thought I'd share the work that
I had done on the genealogical study from Noah to Abram to Jacob's entry into Egypt as
it related to the descendants of Shem and specifically Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
It seems to look ok on my monitor. Any comments out there on "visual clarity"? Is the
chart too big overall? Is it just right? Mr.Vee
Insights
Genesis 10 & 11: Noah’s Lineage; The Line of Shem; Babel in Between
I had always wondered why God had organized the lineage of Noah’s
descendants through Shem twice in Genesis 10 and Genesis 11. Why repeat
the lineage? And why put the Tower of Babel in between the two lists?
I was preparing for a Sunday School class and as we are preparing to
move to examining Abraham at the beginning of the year, we’ve been
taking a look at the events and conditions of the world that preceded
Abraham to gain an understanding of the sort of things that would be “current events” or other facts that would have shaped Abraham’s thinking and thus understand the Bible’s famous “man of faith” who is
referred to elsewhere in the Bible. From this, I again ran into the
questions I just mentioned, only this time, I received some insight
into the matter from my reading. It goes to show that we should not
neglect what the Bible says even if it seems to just be a genealogical
record. More than once, looking closer at the lists of people in the
Scripture has been well worth the effort. One of the first and most
obvious things is that the genealogical lists for Shem are not the same
length. The first one stops with Peleg (and Joktan).
Anyway, I took a drawing program (Visio, in this case) and created a
“lifetime overlap chart” to examine just who was alive when from Noah
all the way out to Jacob entering Egypt. The nice thing about it is
that I was able to exactly align the “lifetime spans” after the flood
so that they lined up properly in time and I could see the entire
sequence of people from Noah and Shem, all the way to Jacob and
discover how many “great-grandfathers” were still alive in, … say
Abraham’s time. (BTW, you should do this for yourself sometime even if
its done with pencil and paper.. It is amazing.) I’d post it but the text would be too small to read in many places even though its mostly a graphical item.
Did you know that according to the Biblical account…
1. Noah was still alive when Abram was born?
2. Noah and Shem, both “antediluvians” (born before the flood) were the
last recorded people to live lifetimes greater than 600 years. Ham and
Japheth most likely lived as long as they did.
3. Did you know the next three generations after Shem still lived greater than 400 years but less than 500?
4. Did you know that after Eber (the 3rd generation), the recorded
lifespans shortened to a little over 200 years (Nahor, an exception at
148), and Terah, Abram’s father is the last person recorded to live
over 200 years? Abraham, Isaac, and especially Jacob would not get very
near 200 years old.
5. All the old patriarchs from Noah’s time to Jacob’s had died before
or about midway through Jacob’s life with the exception of his father,
Isaac? They were all alive during Abram's early life.
6. only 582 years are accounted for from the Flood through Shem’s line to Jacob entering Egypt?
7. only 580 years are between Arpachshad’s birth and Jacob entering Egypt?
8. given that the first child recorded to have been born after the
flood was Arpachshad (born 2 years after the Flood), did you know that
Abram’s birth (290 years after Arpachshad) was the exact middle of the
timeline between the Flood and Jacob entering Egypt? (580 divided by 2
= 290)
9. in Genesis 10 that Shem’s lineage stops at Peleg (when the earth was
divided) and then in Chapter 11 begins with the tower of Babel?
10. all of Noah's descendants named in Chapter 10 were “divided by
language” (vss. 5, 20, and 31) yet Chapter 11:1 says that the whole
earth used the same language and the same words? Given that, we are
told the earth was divided in Peleg’s time (10:25) (and Reu, his son,
is not mentioned) so that apparently must mean that these descendant of
Noah were the sons that were alive at the time of the Tower of Babel
(Genesis 11:1-9) so as to be around to be dispersed by God by their
“languages”. Since the “earth was divided” in Peleg’s time, it would
seem that the Tower of Babel event happened sometime after 101 years
from the Flood and perhaps less than 131 years (when Reu was to have been
born).
11. when the nations were divided by language, God did not separate
families in the dispersion from the Tower of Babel? God preserved the
families intact. (Genesis 10:5, 20, 31)
10. After the Tower of Babel account, we find Shem’s entire line to
Abram listed where thereafter the focus on mankind concentrates on
Shem’s descendants through Abram?
12. Abram could have met living people who were around before and after at the Tower of Babel?
13. Terah, Abram’s father, was the first one recorded to set out from
Ur of the Chaldeans to travel to Canaan. He took Abram, Sarai, and Lot
with him but they ended up settling in Haran.
14. Terah was still alive when Abram left Haran with his wife Sarai, and his nephew, Lot?
That’s quite a bit of information from a couple of genealogical lists and the account of the Tower of Babel account. Mr.Vee
Inaugurating…
Insights
For some time, during my own personal Bible study, I have received
insights into the Word that are really interesting but for the most
part are much shorter than my normal posting for things like
“Discovering God’s Character” and also sometimes lack continuity with
the current subject of “DGC”. In pondering if I should try to create a
format that allows for me to quickly jot down the insight(s) and convey
that to the reader, it is thought that such a thing would bless the
reader and perhaps give me more opportunity to post smaller bits of
information that might just answer a question that has been a puzzler
for a long time since I, myself have been puzzled by some of these
things and I figure I’m probably not the only one who would like to
know them. Every once in a while, things come in a big bunch like the
upcoming first installment. Anyway, the hope is that the effort will be
of some value to you all. They would, of course, be posted on an
irregular basis as the Lord through His Spirit grants them. I hope you will enjoy and benefit from them! Mr.Vee.
Discovering God’s Character
Exodus 13-14: Remembering Him; His Guidance and Protection
Picking up where we left off, Israel had just left Egypt in Exodus 12
and the Lord had begun instituting things that would be symbols of
remembrance for them. This continues in chapter 13.
The Lord then tells Moses that all the firstborn were to be sanctified
to Him. He had saved the firstborn of the sons of Israel by the blood
of a lamb that was applied to the doorposts and lintel and the Lord has
destroyed the firstborn of the Egyptians. If you remember all of the
rest of the things that God did in the way of plagues did not deliver
Israel out of Pharaoh’s hand except that the Egyptian firstborn died
(even the firstborn of Pharaoh, himself.) It was a powerful thing here
and we see that the Lord wants Israel to remember the entire matter
through the consecration of their firstborn. He also reminds them of
their eating of unleavened bread on their departure from Egypt.
It is clear that the Lord prefers to have us do things to remember.
Even communion carries this message with it… “do this in remembrance of
me”. It is not a thing to commend oneself to righteousness but an
acknowledgement of something about the Lord that we need to remember.
We often forget, don’t we? I know I do. It is good to remember the
goodness and character of the Lord.
Now that Israel was released from Egypt, the Lord did not just let them
wander by themselves. He also did not want them to experience war with
the Philistines at that point. Can you imagine the weariness and
discouragement that Israel would have felt getting into a mess like that and then return to Egypt? The Lord
carefully directed them away from that. It is clear that the Lord knows
when things would simply be too much for us. So He took them another
way… through the wilderness to the Red Sea. Now it isn’t like that
route they actually would go would be much easier but this one would
lead to a more productive end. Also, they did not forget the bones of Joseph and kept their promise to take them back with them to Canaan when God brought them out.
We are told that they started at Rameses (Exodus 12:37) and traveled to
Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. The Lord
Himself guided them where they went. So it’s a bit interesting that the
Lord has Israel turn around and camp at Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and
the sea, camping across from Baal-zephon. He does this to bait Pharaoh
into pursuing Israel with all his armies as we find out in Exodus 14.
Of course, when Pharaoh jumps into action and finally catches up with
Israel camping by the sea with all his army’s chariots including the
very best ones and has his top ranking officers manning them.
When Israel sees this, they complain to Moses saying things like
“weren’t there enough graves in Egypt that we should die in the
wilderness?” and “it would have been better to have served the
Egyptians.” How soon did they forget the wonders God did just before
that?
However, we see that the Lord fights for them. He tells Moses to have
the people go forward and as Moses lifts up his staff and stretches it
over the sea, God is going to divide it for them and allow them to walk
on dry land. This is quite a dramatic way to show that the Lord makes a
way when there isn’t a way before. Yet that’s not all, He has another
plan and will actually use His people as bait to draw Pharaoh and his
army that will also go in after them. Not only will God make a way for
His people to escape, He will use it to also be a way of destruction
for their enemies. He not only incites Pharaoh to pursue them but He
also removes their “good sense” as well because strategically this is a
very poor move for Pharaoh to make. This is another aspect of God
hardening a heart. It could be said this was going to be “Pharaoh’s
Waterloo”. The Pharaoh who thought he could fight with God will soon
learn He’s outnumbered and outwitted.
Now the angel of God, who appeared like a pillar of cloud moved to back
of the camp. Now it has to be daytime when this happened since that’s
how the pillar looked (as a cloud) in the daytime (Exodus 13:21)
however since darkness set in quickly it must have been in getting
toward evening when this occurred because the reference to night in
Exodus 14:20. So by the time all this transpired, Pharoah and his army
could not come near to Israel all night.
While God protected Israel by being their “rear-guard”, they were told to march forward. Now let’s give Israel a little bit of credit here. It was a scary time.
Their enemies were pursuing them shortly before. The sea opens up and a
dry path appears before them. What sort of thing would this seem to you as you would look upon
something so awesome and formidable? Would not the walls of the sea to
their left and right be a little intimidating? I think it might. One
would have to trust the Lord in order to walk out into that path and so far in that if the waters fell on them, life would be
over. Let’s not underestimate the commitment and trust that it took to
walk through the sea like they did. It’s a pretty scary thing and it would take the threat of Pharaoh at
their heels to get them to overcome the fear. The Lord knew that.
Given the sequence of events, Pharaoh’s army began pursuing Israel in
the night yet they were not allowed to come near Israel during that
time. Now when the morning watch came, the trap that the Lord had
planned for Pharaoh and his army was set and as I figure it the morning
light began to clearly show Pharaoh’s army the predicament they were in
and this might be the way the Lord brought them into a confused state.
The walls of water defying gravity and the increasing difficulty to get
their chariots to operate properly made them realize that the Lord was
fighting for Israel and they didn’t stand a chance. As Moses stretched his hand over the sea at daybreak, the sea returned
to its normal state while Pharaoh’s entire army was fleeing “into” it.
The entire army was destroyed in that one action. Later, the dead
Egyptians were seen on the seashore.
Now why might we think the Lord put this account into the scripture?
Could it be that He wants us to know that during our darkest times that
He is our “rear-guard” and that while we are forced to move forward
into a most fearful situation ourselves, only to find that by
“morning”, your “enemy” is destroyed and gone? I’ll bet that you’ve
experienced at least one of these kind of events in your life. I know
I have. Sometimes we have to move forward when it seems impossible or
stupid to do so, yet we do because we are forced to do it. I figure
that the people of Israel worried in their hearts as this event
unfolded and so do we.
As we close on these chapters, I’d like to focus on the verses in Exodus 14:13-15:
But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the
salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the
Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again
forever. The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent." Then the
LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of
Israel to go forward. Exodus 14:13-15 (NASB)
These very verses are quite real to me since this sort of thing has
happened several times during my life. I’ll tell you a story about one
of them.
I was once “persecuted” by someone at the company I worked for who
happened to be my supervisor who had it in for me. For a couple of
years, he tried his best to get rid of me as I was the only one qualified
to become his boss yet I really had no interest in doing that. It was one of those really scary kind of times
where I wasn’t so sure if I’d have my job the next day but the Lord had
reassured me that He is the one who makes kings to stand and fall and I
should not fear this man because, in the Lord’s time, He would take
care of him. My job before Him was to do right, continue the good work
I was doing, and move forward not knowing the long path this would
take. After a good deal of time had passed, the Lord caused this man to
experience a car accident that nearly crippled him. Now I had heard of
the accident on the car radio going to work and that it was near where
I worked. At that moment, it seemed while it could have been any number
of people who had the accident, it seemed like a still small voice
said… “it is My doing”. I said nothing about it to anyone except to
Bee. When I got to work, I heard the news that my boss (the one
persecuting me) was in an accident that morning. While one might figure
that a thing like that might change a person, he was like Pharaoh of
old, sometime later, he again hardened his heart. Yet time after time,
the Lord protected me all along the way.
A little while later, during a company-wide staff reduction, I was
finally laid-off by a different person (who had become a friend of mine
who nearly wept having to tell me the news) and within two hours on the
same morning, I was talking to the person in a new company that had a
job waiting for me as soon as I could get there. I had made it through
“the sea” but that wasn’t all.
It would be about a year and a half later that it would finally be
resolved. I had random contact with people who still worked at the old
company. I heard news to the effect that a project had gotten into
serious difficulty in a way that I would have been able to correct
fairly easily. This fellow attempted to do it himself and failed. He
had claimed my success for himself and could not do the job when a real
problem came around. He had driven himself so hard and long that he collapsed at work and ended
up in the hospital. Afterwards, he was demoted from his much larger
responsibilities to a fairly inconsequential position and I’ve heard
nothing of him since. Everything he has sought to preserve, he lost.
This is a fearful thing to contemplate. It reminds me to “do good to
others because you do not know when the Lord will even the score with
you if you don’t”.
Are these accounts of the Old Testament relevant to adults in today’s
world? They certainly are. Don’t dismiss such things as myths and
fairy-tales. This account I have related to you is only one time and a
particularly remarkable circumstance where the Lord has protected me
from harm. If you are one of His, do not underestimate His power to
“bring you out” in safety while you “move forward” doing His will. Do
not worry about “getting even”, you neither have the time nor the
talent to do as well as the Lord can do. Let the Lord handle it,
vengeance is not yours to do.
I see here that God delivers His people and guides them even when the
path seems dark and formidable. We will experience opponents in life.
Do not be distracted by them. Do the good that He has intended for you
to do. Be still and quiet your heart in Him. Move forward in faith
enduring to when He delivers you from the situation. When He shows you
the “sea has pulled away and dry land is before you”, do not fail to
take that path. It is from Him and He indeed wants you to be free. Mr.
Vee
On Thankfulness
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
I Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NASB)
I was musing today about thankfulness. I wasn’t in such a mood as would
have been called “thankful” but I knew that the Lord Himself has called
us to such things. But I was wondering why I didn’t feel so thankful. I
picked out three things (out of many) that seemed to be the most
troublesome lately and considered them.
As I look over this short list of things that have been bugging me for
weeks now, whether I’m thankful or not depends on how I want to view
these things. Notice that I said, “how I want to view these things”.
I’ll bet if you take a moment and consider that you’ll see that the
things on that list aren’t necessarily bad.
On the first one, concerning the huge increase in work and the
weariness it certainly would help to tell you that I prayed for work at
a time when things weren’t doing so well. Over two years ago, things were getting lean and I was about to have two kids in college at the same time. Shortly thereafter in one of those rare things that
has happened at a couple of odd times in my life, I had a dream; one
that would tell me much about what my ministry activity would be for a
while to come and afterward there would come a time of working, tilling
the ground, preparing for new growth. It was such an odd dream but, at
this point, if one understands the meaning of each of the points in it, the Lord was letting me know He had a plan for me and the course
it would take. I am in the last phase of that dream where He had a
special assignment for me and then I would resume my secular work
again. It is happening exactly along those lines and if you’ve ever
been preparing a field for planting, you would know that the work I’m
doing has nothing to do with soil but everything to do with planting a
brand new business in the area. Folks, I am tired but I am not unhappy.
I may be sometimes overwhelmed by all the crazy things that hardly give
me a moment to think but I’m not at all at wit’s end. I see God’s hand
in it and it is good. I am thankful.
How about those kids? I wonder sometimes how Bee and I made it when we
were young but the Lord brought us to where we are now. The same is
happening with our kids. Yet it is sometimes hard to stand to the side and watch them, with fear and
trembling (them and me), do this thing we call “life”. Yet in the
midst of it all, I see the Lord’s hand again only this time as a
spectator. Then I see that the Lord is taking care of them, too. Sure,
they are struggling for their independence from home but it is
certainly good to see them again when times like the holidays come
around and we all get to enjoy each other again for just a little
while. Bee and I have worked a long time to see them stand on their own and every once in a while it gets a bit tough when they encounter a
disappointment but am I beside myself? No, I am thankful. I realize
that I am not going to be here forever and the Lord can help them
better than I so its better for them to trust in Him than me.
How about all that stuff that breaks or things that malfunction? Its
been rather strange but we have had an awful lot of things breaking
here lately and things in need of repair and we didn’t even mistreat or
neglect them. Now I’m pretty handy and can fix a lot of things but I’m
simply not a fix-it person so enjoying keeping things running like fine
running clock is not my thing. I’m more into making something work right the
first time and make it robust so it doesn’t require a lot of attention… and then take care of it
properly every once in a while. So with all this uproar am I
frustrated? Actually, for a moment, yes, I am. Then the realization
that much of the stuff we have isn’t all that much of a help and causes
us more work than ease. I am seeing the practical reasons for living as
simply as possible but not too simply, choosing wisely on the things
that I have which are supposed to make life a little better and rejecting the things that are just something
that creates work and distraction away from what the Lord has for me to
do in life. I am learning to be content in much and in little. That
really isn’t such a bad thing, you know. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. Thank you, Lord, for teaching me that.
Now as I think of the family and friends that will be meeting with us
on Thanksgiving Day to share our lives together again for just a little
while, I am thankful for each and every one who the Lord has brought
into my life to make it so I don’t have to walk life’s road alone and I
can be a part of theirs’ as well. Oh, to be sure, we plan to have a lot
of good food on the table but I can guarantee there will be more than
feasting on a meal going on there. Thank you, Lord, for these people
and how you’ve used them to encourage me in my life. Help me do the
same for them.
As I consider these things, I now understand why the Lord tells us to
be thankful. It is not only to acknowledge Him for His goodness toward
us but it does something else vital for each one of us. Have you ever
thought what it would mean to be unthankful? I’m sure you’ve met an
unthankful person. What were they like? What would their ministry be
like or their outlook on life? It would be faithless and pessimistic,
self-centered, and greedy. The Lord doesn’t want that kind of life for
people. He wants them to have hope and faith looking ahead. He doesn’t
want us to take the downward spiral. He wants us to “look up” and
smile. Thankfulness is a choice. It is a choice to consider all things
joy, even the very tough ones because, in the end, God is good.
Habakkuk makes it clear that thankfulness is truly a choice…
Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord GOD is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds' feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.
Habakkuk 3:16-19 (NASB)
Even when everything seems to be going wrong, thankfulness is a choice.
Now there’s one last thing… thank you for stopping by my blog… and I mean that. Mr.Vee
Discovering God’s Character
Exodus 11-12: The Last Plague and The Departure
Pharaoh still hasn’t had enough. He’s fighting God to the very end.
He’s weathered all the plagues and has come out defiant. Yet Pharaoh is
about to meet his match and learn that its much better to go with God’s plan instead of against it. To
be fair, God is not letting Pharaoh back out of the position in which
he has put himself.
Exodus 11 opens with the Lord speaking to Moses about bringing one last
plague. It is interesting to note that the Lord knows exactly what He
can do to get the results He wants. God tells Moses that Pharaoh will
now let them go and when he does, he will drive His people out of Egypt
completely.
It is now that Moses is commanded to tell each man and woman of Israel
to ask for articles of silver and articles of gold since He was going
to give His people favor in the Egyptians’ sight so that they would do
so.
It would be at midnight that all the firstborn would die; from
Pharaoh’s house to the lowest in the kingdom and the firstborn of the
cattle. Egypt will feel the judgment of God like never before and never
again yet all those who belong to the sons of Israel they will be
spared this. We read what Moses said to Pharaoh…
Moses said, "Thus says the LORD, 'About midnight I am going out into
the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall
die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to
the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the
firstborn of the cattle as well. Moreover, there shall be a great cry
in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as
shall never be again. But against any of the sons of Israel a dog will
not even bark, whether against man or beast, that you may understand
how the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ All these
your servants will come down to me and bow themselves before me,
saying, 'Go out, you and all the people who follow you,' and after that
I will go out." And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. Exodus
11:4-8 (NASB)
Pharaoh would make his next to last mistake and God will help him do it
by hardening his heart one last time so that His wonders will be
multiplied in the land of Egypt.
In Exodus 12, we see what God had told Moses and Aaron about the
Passover lamb, its blood to be applied to the doorposts and lintels of
the houses which eat it, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. There is
much to say here about these but we will leave that for another time.
The text tells us what happened at midnight…
Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in
the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne
to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the
firstborn of cattle. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his
servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for
there was no home where there was not someone dead. Then he called for
Moses and Aaron at night and said, "Rise up, get out from among my
people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as
you have said. Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said,
and go, and bless me also." The Egyptians urged the people, to send
them out of the land in haste, for they said, "We will all be dead."
Exodus 12:29-33 (NASB)
Its obvious that Pharaoh has overplayed his hand and now God is showing
him that he has nothing to stand on. Being a king and having a kingdom
means nothing to God. When folks mess with His people, there is a time
He lets them do it and then at the precise moment, the persuasive and
powerful hand of God intervenes in the exact way that is necessary to
accomplish His end and there is nothing and no one to rescue them.
The sad part is that often those that surround these people who
mishandle leadership are profoundly affected as well just like the
people who had come to see that the God of Israel was truly God during
the plagues. We see this from their response of urging the people to go
in haste because they feared that God would kill them all. If we take
the time to think about it, the Egyptians were the ones who brought the
oppression and hard labor to His people (and ultimately Israel feared
for their lives) and subsequently the Lord taught the oppressors a
little about feeling terror themselves. It is here that those who abuse
and terrorize others should take careful note.
There is one other thing I’d like to bring out before we finish. It has
to do with a nation’s leadership. I have no interest in being political
here but the fact is we’ve got elections coming up and even the
presidential one next year. The dichotomy between God’s way of doing
things and man’s is becoming increasingly apparent in the blatant
rejection of old fashioned biblical godliness. What we often fail to
understand is that leaders who have rejected what God has called for …
justice, kindness, mercy, faithfulness, and humility in the interest of
being free to do whatever they want will ultimately deny these good
things to the rest of us. A good example of this was the recent open
slander of a well-known media figure, a private citizen, by people in
the highest levels in our government who have aligned themselves with
those who have no interest in preserving free speech let alone serving
the Lord. What we have seen could very well be a prototype for the
future.
This is an excellent parallel to the story here in Exodus of a Pharaoh
who thought he was above God and could dictate the affairs of God’s
people at his whim. Unless we think that all this is myth or history
long past, we should remember that God has written His word to let us
know about Himself and how He operates and indeed He does make a
distinction between His people and the rest. The Exodus was a pattern
for things to come. When God’s people are oppressed, He hears it and He
responds… and the Pharaohs of today will again learn to listen to His
voice or become an example as was the king of Egypt when Israel left
for the Promised Land. We have learned again about His character and
it doesn’t change. Mr.Vee
How Long Was Israel In Egypt? Part 2
So now let’s take a look at Israel’s “sojourning period” in more detail… comprising of the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The key time determinants for this period is:
1. 25 years from Abram’s call to the birth of Isaac. (Genesis 12:4, 21:5) (100 – 75 = 25)
2. Jacob was born when Isaac was 60 years old. (Genesis 25:26)
3. Jacob was 130 years old when he entered Egypt. (Genesis 47:9)
4. Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years and he died at 147. (Genesis 47:28)
The sum of the time between Abram’s call to Jacob entering Egypt is: 25 + 60 + 130 = 215 years.
Now if the total time from Abram’s call and the Exodus (and subsequent
giving of the law) is 430 years, this time constitutes exactly half of
the total time. This would mean that Israel was in Egypt 215 years.
This seems more sensible than trying to say Israel was in Egypt the
entire 430 years since it would require Kohath and Amram to have
children when they were approximately 175 years old at a time when that
just wasn’t happening according to the biblical record. We would come
to that conclusion knowing that we would subtract Moses’s age at the
time of the Exodus from 430 years (i.e. 430-80 =350) and divide that
number by 2 to get the average ages of Kohath and Amram to have
children which seems implausible.
Now let’s go back to the “four generations” to try to determine what went on during that time.
1. Joseph lived 110 years. (Genesis 50:26) Now he had entered
Pharaoh’s service at 30 years old. (Genesis
41:46) This means he lived
80 years beyond this. Also, Joseph works storing up food for 7 years to
prepare
for the 7 years of upcoming famine. Now Joseph tells his
brothers, that there are 5 years left in the famine
(Genesis 45:6) when
he tells them to bring his father, Jacob, and everyone to Egypt. This
means that Joseph
was 39 when his family moved there. This means that
the length of his life in Egypt after his family arrived is 71
years.
2. In Exodus 1, we find that the oppression happens after Joseph
dies and before this the sons of Israel were
fruitful and increased
greatly. So the first 71 years are relatively good. Given that any new
Pharaoh right after
the one which had the dream of the famine, would
have most likely “knew” of Joseph, it is possible that
another Pharaoh
lived in between the first and the one that begins the oppression of
Israel but we do not hear
about this so this is this is only a
“possibility”.
3. A new king of Egypt arises who “did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8)
and begins the oppression. This is the
Pharaoh who ruled at Moses’
birth. This is a couple of generations after their entry into Egypt. He
will die
before Moses’ returns to Egypt for the Exodus. (Exodus 4:19)
This means that Moses will be facing a new
Pharaoh, the one of the
Exodus.
4. Given that the total time in Egypt is 215 years and Moses was 80
years old at the Exodus, leaving 135 years
of Israel being in Egypt
before his birth. There was 71 years of relative peace and prosperity
for Israel
(Exodus 1:1-7) at the beginning, leaving about 64 years for
oppression before Moses’ birth, yielding a total of
144 years of harsh
bondage and oppression enough to cover Amram’s life to Moses’ birth and
Moses birth
to 80 years old. If we assumed that Amram was born
immediately before the oppression started. Then he
would have been
about 64 years old when he had Moses and 61 when he had Aaron, much
more reasonable
ages for fathering children during that time period.
5. Now Kohath, Amram’s father, was not born in Egypt but was a
“little one”, a younger child (Heb. “tap”) was
probably under 5
years old (estimate). (Genesis 45:5-7)
6. So the tally for ages is as follows
a. 215 years for the period of time in Israel
b. Moses was 80 years old at the Exodus. (Exodus 7:7)
c. Amram could have been 64 years old or older when Moses’ was born.
d. Kohath could have lived 71 years in Egypt before having Amram.
This means that 71 years plus his
age at their entry into Egypt, say 2
or 3 years old would still have been reasonable for an age (73-74) to
father children at this point in history.
e. 71 + 64 + 80 = 215 years
f. Kohath’s and Amram’s ages are reasonable estimates. If we were to
subtract a year or two from
Kohath’s age and added the same to Amram’s
life, the results would be the same.
So it appears that the Septuagint’s translation was actually correct
including the time period of sojourning in both Canaan and Egypt and
appears to be a clarification of what was given in the Hebrew. This
shows that the Hebrew scholars were aware of this when translating the
Hebrew for the Septuagint and in the Samaritan Pentateuch. It was also
the common understanding of those who lived in the New Testament period
as testified by Stephen and the Apostle Paul in the cited verses.
215 years of sojourning from Abraham to Jacob’s entry into Egypt
215 years of Israel’s residence in Egypt, a good portion of which (64 +
80 = 144 years, est.) was while they were under oppression.
We need to remember that these years are estimates and could be off a
couple of years here or there. However, the “books” have to balance in
the end since we know that:
And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all
the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:41
(NASB)
The Lord went as far as to let us know that… however we calculate it with our estimates… the entire duration was exactly that amount of time down to the very last day. I can almost feel the awe coming from Moses as he wrote those words down.
How about the difference between 400 years and 430 years?
In the most simplest case, this could be an issue of “rounding” much as
anyone might do to speak about a number in the general vicinity of the
one that is the precise one. However, there is one explanation that
might make some sense without trying to read quite a few opinions on
the matter instead of determining this by the scriptures alone (or to a
large degree by that method).
There is a difference of 30 years between the two numbers. If one
considers that 25 of those years could be Abraham waiting for Isaac’s
birth and another 5 years for him to be weaned. Some sources say
children were weaned at 5 years old. Why choose the "weaning"? It makes more sense when one
would consider that Ishmael’s mocking of Isaac at his weaning party in Genesis 21:8-9 (at
a total of 30 years) would mark the start of the persecution of
Abraham’s “descendants” (key word) (Genesis 15:13). So the time period
from Isaac’s weaning (Ishmael’s mocking) to the Exodus would be right
around 400 years. There was some thought about an "immediate" trip to
Mount Moriah yet it would be difficult for a 5 year old to haul any
significant amount of firewood for the offering. Isaac is called a
“lad” in the NASB (Heb. “na’ar” a masculine noun meaning young person,
boy). It would seem that he is younger than the “young men” but it is
difficult to determine exactly how old he was at the Mount Moriah
event. If there is a better explanation taken directly from scriptures,
it would be interesting to hear it.
In conclusion, it seems that 215 years in Egypt and 430 years from the promise to the Exodus and the giving of the Law is the real answer based on all the evidence that I've found to this point. I did not share all of the information that I've found on this investigation since sharing all of it would have made the posts on this subject entirely too long. In the end, I've found God's word to be as dependable as it ever was even in the face of ambiguity. Mr.Vee
How Long Was Israel In Egypt? Part 1
As I began to answer this question, I did not realize the amount of
detail that was involved in attempting to solve it. The main problem
is that while the scriptures seem definitive about this in Exodus
12:40-41, our English translations of the Bible and a literal reading
compared to other related scriptures become problematic. Now, every
issue that I dug into in the past has turned out in support of the
scriptures, yet this one required a bit more diligence than usual and
the ramifications could be serious if there were no good answers for
the discrepancies. Thankfully, the whole matter makes sense and I’m
not the first to uncover such things as there is evidence that this was
known before Christ was born and was resolved. It is my hope that the
work in these two posts will help deal with the issues properly and
through careful consideration of the scriptures including their
genealogical content, reasonable answers can be given.
So if you are willing to solve the puzzle with me (and one can rightfully call it that), let’s begin.
First, let’s take a look at four passages that seem to surround this question :
The Genesis 15 passage:
God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be
strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and
oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom
they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many
possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you
will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they
will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.
Genesis 15:13-16 (NASB)
The Exodus 12 passage:
Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred
and thirty years. And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to
the very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of
Egypt. Exodus 12:40-41 (NASB)
The Acts 7 passage:
But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and
yet, even when he had no child, He promised that HE WOULD GIVE IT TO
HIM AS A POSSESSION, AND TO HIS DESCENDANTS AFTER HIM. But God spoke to
this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE ALIENS IN A FOREIGN LAND,
AND THAT THEY WOULD BE ENSLAVED AND MISTREATED FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS.
AND WHATEVER NATION TO WHICH THEY WILL BE IN BONDAGE I MYSELF WILL
JUDGE,’ said God, ‘AND AFTER THAT THEY WILL COME OUT AND SERVE ME IN
THIS PLACE. Acts 7:5-7 (NASB)
The Galatians 3 passage:
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed He does not
say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to
your seed," that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which
came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a
covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
Galatians 3:16-17 (NASB)
Some general observations regarding these four passages:
1. All four passages mention either a 400 or 430 year period.
2. They all involve Abram’s descendants who would or did have involvement in the bondage in Egypt.
3. The Acts 7 passage reiterates the Genesis 15 passage.
4. The first three passages either deal with a “nation being judged”
or is mentioned in context of the judgment
already having happened.
Specific Observations of Each Passage:
Acts 7 is Stephen’s defense before the Council. In his speech, he
refers to Genesis 15 and cites the 400 years given there. There seems
to be two readings, one that says “his descendants would be strangers
in a foreign country (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and then (in Egypt)
be enslaved and oppressed 400 years” or the other “his descendants would
be strangers in a foreign country and enslaved and oppressed for a
total of 400 years. Now we have a second number “400”, perhaps we can
deal with this as well later on.
In Genesis 15’s passage, let’s look at a couple of other things:
1. The word translated “enslaved” in the NASB seems unfortunate. The
Hebrew word here is “abad” has a
simple, ordinary meaning “to work, to
serve”, nothing more or less. It means something like “to work in a
field” or what “a laborer in the city” does. The same word is used of
Jacob who “worked” for Laban and
gained Leah and Rachel and Jacob
didn’t mind because he loved Rachel so much. When it is used in
conjunction with the Hebrew word “perek”, as in Exodus 1:14, the work
become oppressive and cruel
precisely what is described as Israel’s
enslavement in Egypt
2. God mentions that in the “fourth generation” his descendants will
come back to Canaan. We already know
that Abraham through Moses would
be 7 generations so by the overall context we know that the 4
generations would be a “subset” of the total time between then and the
return of Abraham’s descendants.
This also gives us reason to suspect
that the enslavement and oppression happen within these four
generations.
3. There would be a nation that would enslave them that God would
judge. This turned out to be Egypt and it is
clear from the rest of
scripture that God did indeed judge Egypt during the Exodus.
In Galatians 3’s passage, Paul says the Law came 430 years after the
promise. The first mention of this promise is in Genesis 12:1-7. This
is a clear statement of what he understood the time period to be; from
the promise to Abram to the giving of the Law. This is now helping us
understand which reading to take in Acts 7.
Now is where it gets “fun”. Exodus 12’s passage, the text would
clearly seem to contradict what we’ve just concluded and say that
Israel was in Egypt for all of the 430 years. Do we really have a
problem here? Not really but it takes a lot more digging to figure it
out by several methods to confirm a solution. First, we can check other
"texts"...
If we were to confer with the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the
Hebrew text, and the Samaritan Pentateuch, Exodus 12:40 is translated
almost the same as the Hebrew text. adding the words “and in Canaan”.
So the full reading would be close to the following “Now the time that
the sons of Israel lived in Egypt, and in Canaan, was four hundred and
thirty years.”
Was someone altering the Biblical text and trying to get away with it?
One should doubt this since there would be an outcry from those who
would know better. A stronger likelihood exists that in the translation
of the Hebrew to Greek, the meaning of the total time of 430 years
would be lost. In such a case, the translations of these two documents
would require the sort of thing we often see in our own Bibles to clear
up a possible misconception from a literal translation… italicized
words and verses. It would seem this is the most plausible explanation.
However, there is more we can do to work to establish a better
foundation for this than just this different translation works. We can
actually see that it works out numerically as well.
More evidence can be gleaned by examining the actual genealogical
account of Abraham’s descendants prior to the Exodus. This information
can be obtained from Genesis 46:8-26, Exodus 6:16-20; 7:7, Numbers
26:57-59, and I Chronicles 6:1-3 and pretty much eliminates any
argument of intervening descendants between the ones mentioned. So we
are left with the line of those who were Abraham’s descendants who were
in Egypt. (Genesis 15:15) Now Abraham died at 175 years of age, during Jacob's lifetime and not Levi's.
Levi + Kohath + Amram + Moses = 4 generations in Egypt… just as God said it would be in Genesis 15:16.
Now Abraham lived 75 years after the birth of Isaac. Jacob was born
when Isaac was 60. (Genesis 25:26) This means that Abraham actually
lived 15 years after Jacob’s birth. After Abraham dies, it will be
those four generations that follow from Jacob that will spend time in
Egypt. It is after this that Jacob goes back to his ancestral homeland, Padan-Aram, works for
Laban, gets his wives, Leah and Rachel, and comes back the exact same
route and places that Abraham did earlier and enters Egypt under the
same circumstances. See the post “Abram and the 1st Exodus”.
To be continued in Part 2, where we will try to dial in the details a bit better… and we will begin to see the usefulness of those "boring" genealogical records. Without them, we'd have no hope for solving this. Mr. Vee
Coming up for “air”…
No, I haven’t been neglecting my posts but I thought I’d let you in on what’s going on here.
Certainly, I’ve been “offline” due to a huge increase in business
activity lately but I’ve still been hammering away at a really
interesting study that seems to have stumped a lot of folks in the
past. I’ve been attempting to answer the question of how long did
Israel really stay in Egypt. While that might seem to be a simple
question to answer from Exodus 12:41 yet based on other passages there
are some interesting considerations to that number and I’m chasing down facts and perhaps bringing this to a close soon.
However, I’ve come across something very interesting that I’d like to share
with you in the meantime…
Abram and the First Exodus
What “first Exodus” you might ask? Let’s compare the lives of Abram and Jacob.
If we go back to Genesis 12, we find that Abram, after his father dies,
leaves Haran at 75 years old and Lot comes with him. He comes to
Shechem where the Lord appears to him and promises him the land of
Canaan. So Abram builds an altar there and then moved on to the
mountain east of Bethel, built an altar there and called on the name of
the Lord. He doesn’t stay there and almost moves to the Negev. We are then
told that there was a famine in the land and perhaps that was why he
had kept moving. In fact, the famine drives Abram into Egypt and we
have the account where he makes an agreement with his wife, Sarai, to
claim that she is his sister. As he had surmised, the Egyptians saw
that Sarai was a beautiful woman and took her into Pharaoh’s house.
Abram was treated well for her sake and he received sheep, oxen,
donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys and camels. Now
Pharaoh and his house were struck with great plagues due to him taking
Sarai, Abram’s wife. Pharaoh finds out that he’s got Abram’s wife and
reprimands Abram and send him and Sarai away being escorted out of
Egypt with all that he owned.
Now let’s move the clock forward to Jacob. In Genesis 33, we see Jacob
has left Paddan-Aram after he got Leah and Rachel for wives after 20
years of service for Laban and having met with his brother, Esau,
again, had now come to Shechem, where he apparently intended to stay
shown by his purchase of a piece of land. However, we have also seen
that Shechem, son of Hamor, had laid with Jacob’s daughter without her
permission and Jacob’s sons retaliate and wipe out Shechem (the town)
and looted it even taking the women and children. This drives Jacob to
move out of Shechem because of fear of the people of the land. So God
tells Jacob to move to Bethel and build an altar there. It is here
that everyone sheds all their things having to do with foreign gods and
they leave them at Shechem before they proceed to Bethel. It is at
Bethel, God names Jacob Israel. Jacob comes to his father Isaac at
Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Isaac dies and then
Jacob resides in Hebron. It is after this that we come to the story of
Joseph (after some information about Esau) and their brothers’
treachery and Joseph ends up in Egypt. Later, after some years, God
gives Pharaoh a dream that Joseph is able to understand and Joseph is
exalted to manage the food stores to get through the upcoming famine.
As we have already studied, this is the famine that drives Jacob and
the rest of his sons to come down to Egypt and stay in Goshen, which
eventually leads us to the story of Moses and the Exodus.
So let’s put these “milestone events” of Abram and Jacob together…
Abram comes from Haran to Shechem.
Jacob comes from Padan-aram to Shechem.
(Haran is a city in the area of Padan-aram or very close to it.)
Abram travels from Shechem to Bethel.
Jacob travels from Shechem to Bethel
Abram travels from Bethel toward the Negev. Hebron is just about to the Negev.
Jacob travels to Hebron.
A famine drives Abram to Egypt.
A famine drives Jacob to Egypt.
After Abram arrives in Egypt, Sarai is taken from him to be Pharoah’s.
After Jacob arrives in Egypt, the sons of Israel becomes slaves to Pharaoh.
Abram is given many gifts by Pharaoh on account of Sarai.
“Jacob” (the sons of Israel) is given many gifts by the Egyptians on account of God’s working. They “plundered” Egypt.
While Abram’s wife, Sarai, is in Pharaoh’s custody, great plagues fall upon Pharaoh and his house.
While Israel, God’s people, were in Pharaoh’s custody, great plagues fell upon Pharaoh and Egypt.
Pharaoh expels Abram and all that he owned from Egypt.
Pharaoh expels Israel and all that they owned from Egypt.
Aside from the different particular events in Abram’s and Jacob’s life, the path and sequence are exactly the same.
I thought you might be interested in this. I’m still studying on the other. Mr.Vee
Discovering God’s Character
Exodus 7-10 – The Match of Wills
The Lord begins this chapter commanding Moses and Aaron to confront
Pharaoh even though He Himself will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that He
can multiply His signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and then bring out Israel. So Moses and Aaron did this. Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83. They are to tell Pharaoh to let His people go into the wilderness to worship Him.
The Lord tells Moses and Aaron that Pharaoh is going to challenge them to a “miracle” battle. This will be the famous “stick turned into serpent” scene.
Aaron throws down his staff and it becomes a serpent. The magicians of
Egypt do the same thing yet Aaron’s serpent swallows the others up.
Yet as we see Pharaoh is not impressed by this. In fact, one would have wondered if he was even paying attention. We are told
that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. We should look closely here to
clearly understand what that really means.
The Lord tells Moses. Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn. He refuses to let
the people go. Now we have an interesting thing to consider here. How
can Pharaoh’s heart be stubborn when God is hardening it? I’ll bet you’ve wondered that before. Actually, it
is not a difficult thing at all. If we understand that it is only God that
brings wisdom or knowledge or realization of any given thing to us, its
not hard to understand that a stubborn heart is only doubly resistant
to hearing the truth. The fact that God isn’t letting any light shine
in that dark stubborn heart doesn’t help a thing. Another way to say
this is that God is preventing truth from reaching Pharaoh’s heart so
that he’d realize something and change. Let’s look at a New Testament version of something much like this.
The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all,
able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those
who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading
to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and
escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to
do his will. II Timothy 2:24-26 (NASB)
It is the Lord that stands at the gateway to our hearts and can
overrule our own selves with truth that would come shining in. So all
God had to do with Pharaoh is “keep the light of truth turned off” to his heart and understanding to accomplish
this end. Now does it make more sense when in Hebrews it says
“while it is said, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME." ? Hebrews 3:15 (NASB)
So God can rightfully say that Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn and He can harden his heart at the same time.
Rather than go over the next few plagues individually since most of
them are going to turn out the same each time, I list the plagues in
order and then list some things about them where God is doing something
different or something new is happening. As always it is good to read
the passages first and then note the significant points.
The list of miracles/plagues are: (leaving out the very last one)
1. The staff turning into a serpent.
2. The Nile water’s becoming blood even that found in containers.
3. The plague of the frogs
4. The plague of the gnats
5. The plague of the flies
6. The plague of pestilence of the livestock
7. The plague of boils
8. The plague of thunder and hail
9. The plague of locusts
10. The plague of darkness
The significant things noted about each of the miracles
1. Staff into Serpent - The magicians were able to duplicate it with secret arts. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.
2. Changing water into blood - The magicians were able to duplicate it with secret arts. Pharaoh’s heart was
hardened.
3. The plague of frogs – Again, the magicians were able to duplicate
it with secret arts. God did not harden
Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh
responded but deceitfully and then hardened his own heart.
4. The plague of gnats - The magicians could not duplicate it with
secret arts and quit trying after this. They warn
Pharaoh saying “this
is the finger of God.” Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.
5. The plague of flies – God has plague only affect Egyptians, not
Israel. God did not harden Pharaoh’s heart.
Pharaoh responds
deceitfully. He tried to negotiate a compromise that wouldn’t work. Pharaoh
hardens his
own heart.
6. The severe pestilence of the Egyptian livestock in the field –
God again has the plague only affect Egyptians,
not Israel. Pharaoh
even sends someone to check to see if it is true. Pharaoh’s heart was
hardened.
7. The plague of boils – now the magicians also contract this along
with every other Egyptian. The Lord
hardened Pharaoh’s heart and did
not listen to Moses and Aaron.
8. The plague of thunder and hail – God faces off with Pharaoh,
telling Him that He could have destroyed him
and his people but has
left them as a witness to His power and to proclaim His name through
all the earth.
Now God changes how the judgment will come down. If
those who fear His words will hide their servants
and livestock during
the hail, they will live. If not, they will die. Israel was spared
again. God did not harden
Pharaoh’s heart beforehand but Pharaoh acts
deceitfully and then hardens his heart. Then God hardens his
heart,
too, and of course, Pharaoh won’t let Israel go.
9. The plague of locusts – the worst plague of locusts ever.
Pharaoh’s servants begin to object. God is turning
the hearts of his
subjects. Pharaoh attempts to show strength yet negotiate by only
letting the men go. Moses
refuses. Locusts destroy everything the hail
didn’t destroy. Pharaoh responds but again acts deceitfully. God
destroys the locusts by blowing them into the Red Sea. Now the Lord
hardened Pharaoh’s heart again and
would not let Israel go.
10. The plague of darkness – Moses doesn’t even talk to Pharaoh and
the plague of darkness that can be felt is
issued. Pharaoh responds
telling Moses the people can go but must leave the livestock. After having lost all
his to his folly, He wants Israel’s. Moses tells him no way they will
take the livestock, too. The Lord hardens
Pharaoh’s heart and did not
let them go. Pharaoh gets angry and says if he ever sees Moses face
again, he
will die. Moses says he is right. Pharaoh will never see his
face again.
The match is nearly over between God and Pharaoh. The score? God 10,
Pharaoh 0. God even let up on him and Pharaoh still acted foolishly and
as it was said in another post, God used this to His advantage to
broadcast His greatness everywhere. Does this account still tell us
this same message today? It certainly does. The account reminds us of
God’s power. It also reminds us of His control over His power and it is
exacting. It also tells us that those who would attempt to oppress His
own will be dealt with appropriately and that He is also fully capable
of protecting His own from any sort of judgment designed for those who
have rejected him.
The one thing that I find about these passages is that while Pharaoh
was a wicked man and received righteous judgment perfectly fitted for
him, it gives no comfort to know he was judged. You see, all of us,
without Christ as our redeemer are just like Pharaoh. We think we are
the king of our lives and our subjects should obey us over everything
else. It doesn’t matter if we are a ruler of a country, the president
of a company, or a parent in a home. When we forget that the Lord is
the Lord and not us, we can abuse those under us because we have the
power to do so and we find ourselves doing things that are not pleasing
in the sight of God. Would it be any surprise that the Lord would hear
the cries of the heart of those being oppressed and one day we will
find ourselves undone with no way of escape? This is the lesson of
Pharaoh. It is a warning to us. May we instead practice justice,
mercy, humility, and faithfulness. These are pleasing in God’s sight.
Mr.Vee
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