210 to 430: How Long Were the Israelites in Egypt For?

Overview: Four possible solutions to one of the most glaring contradictions in the Torah. Were the Israelites in Egypt for 430 years, for 400, or for 210?

The issue

It is from the most discussed topics in Bible Criticism and perhaps the most obvious of contradictions in the Torah. The Israelite’s duration in Egypt ranges from 430 years to 210 and several options in between. The verses seem to contradict each other, some explicitly and some implicitly. None of us alive today were there to know how long the Israelites were in Egypt for and neither are there any archaeological records on this to give us insight into the past. We will first present the issue at hand and then offer several solutions offered in reconciliation.

First we have at God’s Covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:13-16:

“And He said to Abram, “You shall surely know that your seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will enslave them and oppress them, for four hundred years. And also the nation that they will serve will I judge, and afterwards they will go forth with great possessions. But you will come to your forefathers in peace; you will be buried in a good old age. And the fourth generation will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites will not be complete until then.””

But when we reach Exodus 12:40-41, a different timeframe emerges:

“And the habitation of the children of Israel, that they dwelled in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. It came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, and it came to pass in that very day, that all the legions of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt.”

This isn’t the biggest of contradictions since we can suggest that the 400 years of Genesis was a round-up of the actual 430 years that Exodus records. But the bigger problem emerges when we calculate the genealogies of several biblical figures.

When we calculate the genealogies of Moses,^[i] Dothan and Abiram,^[ii] and Nachshon son of Aminadav,^[iii] we see that a span 430 is impossible, the maximum possible being 350 (more on that later). In fact, the Sages say that there were only 210 years in Egypt and only about 100 of those years were in slavery.^[iv]

This poses a seeming three-way contradiction with one verse telling us 430, the other 400 and another less than 350 or 210 (we’ll use 210, the number of the Sages, throughout this article for sake of clarity).

The 430 approach

One approach to reconcile the contradiction is to explain the genealogies as being an incomplete family-tree. The genealogy would be recording the main historical figures, purposely leaving out the trivial generations in between these known father-figures. There are other examples of such genealogies being recorded and if we suggest this about these biblical chronologies then this contradiction can be resolved. Therefore, the actual duration in Egypt would have been 430 years, and the genealogies representation of less than 350 years is because it hasn’t recorded the other in-between generations.^[1]

The rabbi’s 210 approach

The traditional approach among Jewish rabbis is rooted in the explanation given in the Talmud and the Midrash.^[v] This chronology gives 210 years for the Israelite duration in Egypt. How did they reach this specific number? It was based on an explanation for the 430 years, the 400, and the genealogies. The genealogies, in this approach, are viewed as complete genealogies and therefore the duration in Egypt couldn’t have surpassed 350 years. So why are the numbers 430 and 400 given? The rabbinic explanation is that the 430 years of Ex. 12:40 is counting the time from the Covenant between God and Abraham in Gen. 15 to the time of the Exodus. The 400 years of Gen. 15 is counting the time from when Isaac was born until the Exodus.^[2] So if we calculate the years from when Abraham gave birth to Jacob until the Israelites descended into Egypt, we have a 190-year period^[vi] – thus leaving us with a 210-year period in Egypt to complete the 400 years recorded in Gen. 15.

How does this explanation work with the verses?

The Jews, ever-since the Covenant with Abraham, were truly “in a land that is not theirs” – this includes the land of Canaan and Egypt.^[vii] The expression in Genesis 15:13 “for 400 years” doesn’t have to go back unto “and they will enslave them and oppress them” but on the preceding part of “You shall surely know that your seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs”. Subsequently, the verse should be read like this: “You shall surely know that your seed will be strangers in a land that is not their i.e. Canaan and Egypt, – and during that time they shall also be enslaved and oppressed i.e. in Egypt, – and the time from now, when you left your homeland and entered Canaan until you are finally going to be free-men under no other countries authority and often slavery, will be four hundred years”.

This is no turn-away from basic rules of literature. For example, one might say “I am now gonna go to the gym, where I love to do my squats, for 2 hours”. The end, in which he gave a time-frame, is not going on the preceding term of doing his squats for 2 hours but that he will go to the gym for two hours. The middle phrase is brought as if in parenthesis as a side-point to the first point. In our case the middle phrase is much more than a side-point as it enhances the whole drama of the context. Yet still it doesn’t interrupt the general context of them being “in a land not of theirs” which includes Canaan as well. If this is normal in our vocabulary, it is most certainly normal in written literature, and definitely in Torah-terminology which isn’t so obedient to the grammatical formality of modern society.

Moving along to the second verse mentioning 430 years – Exodus 12:40-41. Over here it is crystal-clear that the 430 years aren’t just “in a land that is not theirs” but a land that is called “Egypt”. So, the key-point in the answer to this verse is that Canaan can also be called “Egypt”. Although it might not be the most preferred option to identify Canaan as Egypt, over here the contradiction forces us to do so. Canaan was a vassal state to Egypt most of the Bronze Age (paying tribute to them and usually under military control as well)^[viii] including throughout the period of the 430 years.^[3] So, calling it “Egypt” isn’t so far-fetched – especially in our context where the verse does not need to specify that it was Canaan and the generalization of “Egypt” is enough. It would perhaps be similar to someone calling Crimea, Ukraine “Russia” or Puerto-Rico “America”, where the context makes no difference, especially if it is included in a generalization that includes Russia or America.

Interestingly enough, the ancient Septuagint and Samaritan versions of Torah add “the land of Canaan” in addition to “the land of Egypt” in Ex. 12:40. While most scholars would agree that this is commentary of the Septuagint and Samaritan – rather than the actual original version – this would still suggest the antiquity of the rabbinic view of 210 years.^[4]

It was finally after a long 430 years of yearning for national freedom and a state of their own – and freedom from slavery – that the legions of Israel left Egypt towards the free dessert and ultimately to their own Promised Land under the liberated flag of Israel, as the Covenant to Abraham 430 years earlier has predicted.

There may support for this 210 model also from Gen. 15 which counts 400 years. Gen. 15:16 – just three verses after the 400 number is given – states that the fourth generation shall return to the Land of Canaan. If all of these 400 years would have been in Egypt, then we would expect much more than 4 generations to pass until they return to the Land of Canaan. But in the 210-model, the four generations makes more sense. In fact, from Jacob, the one who descended into Egypt, until Moses only 4 generations did pass –Levi, Kehath, Amram, and Moses – thus 210 years in Egypt.

The critical approach

A very simple approach is based on a multi-authorship approach to the Torah (see “Did Moses Really Write the Torah.” If there were different authors who contributed to the historical aspects of Torah (in contrast to the Law part which was strictly from Moses, see link above^[5]), then perhaps different authors had different traditions as for how long the Israelites were in Egypt for. The author of Genesis would have had 400 years in tradition, the author of Exodus would have had 430 years, and the author of genealogies would have had less than 350 years. These are indeed contradictory but that is okay since each represents diverging traditions that were floating around the Israelite community.

Alternatively, a single author of Torah (perhaps Moses) would have recorded what would have been several traditions about how long the Israelites were in Egypt. Instead of choosing one over the other, the author mentions them all.^[ix]

A novel 430 approach^[x]

This approach adopts the 430 number of Ex. 12:40 and reapproaches our understanding of the genealogies that brings us to a max of 350 years. In order to understand this approach, we need to understand how the genealogies bring us to a max of 350 years.

Moses left Egypt at age 80. (Deut. 34:7 after being in the desert for 40 years)

His father, Amram, lived for 137 years (Ex. 6:20), so even if he gave birth to him at the very last year of his life, that (80+137) would only equal 217.

Amram’s father, Kehath, lived for 133 years (Ex. 6:10), so even if he gave birth to Amram at the last year of his life, that (80+137+133) would only total 350.

Kehath is said to be from the ones who descended into Egypt with Jacob (Gen. 46:11). Therefore there was a maximum of 350 years that the Israelites could have been in Egypt. And this maximum number of 350 is on the assumption that they each fathered their child at the last year of their life – which is unlikely. In all likelihood, Amram’s 137 years overlapped into Moses’ 80 years in Egypt. Similarly, Amram’s 137 years likely overlapped into Kehath’s 133 years. And Kehath was likely not a one-year-old when entering Egypt, thus even less of his 133 years can be added to the sum-total of the Israelite stay in Egypt. Therefore, in all likelihood the number was much a maximum of 350 but probably much less than that. This is why the sages didn’t accept the 400 or 430 numbers, opting instead for the 210-model discussed earlier.

This novel approach adjusts our understanding of the descendants of Egypt who entered Egypt with him. The maximum of 350 years assumes that Kehath was born before the Israelite entry into Egypt. That assumption is based on Gen. 46:8 which begins “These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his descendants, who came to Egypt.” Among the names listed is Kehath, thus the assumption that he was born before the Israelite entry into Egypt, leaving with us with inadequate years to reach 430 years.

But what if Kehath was actually born to Levi in Egypt. Now, although the verse seems to imply that he was among those who descended into Egypt with Jacob, we can suggest an alternative understanding to the chapter that lists the descendants of Jacob (Gen. 46). Perhaps the chapter is dealing with the descendants of Jacob – some of which went down with him to Egypt and some of which were born in Egypt. The purpose of the chapter is to tell us the descendants of Jacob and to let us know that they were with him in Egypt. Not necessarily does the chapter imply that they all came to Egypt with Jacob; perhaps some of them were born in Egypt at a later point. There may even be internal proof for this interpretation.^[6]

If this were the case, then that could potentially add another 94 years to the maximum of 350, since Levi may have fathered Kehath at the end of his life in Egypt at the age of 137.^[7] This would total a maximum of 444 years in Egypt. Therefore, the Israelites could have been in Egypt for 430 years,^[8] and there’s even some extra years for the lives of Levi, Kehath, Amram, and Moses to have overlapped.