Question 12 - How many years did Israelites suffer in Egypt? 430 or 215

Exodus 12:40 NKJV - "Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years."

Galatians 3:16-17 NKJV - "Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect."

           Acts 7:6 NKJV - "But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years."

 [Jacob and his sons did not enter Egypt till 215 years after the call of Abraham (and 112 years after Abraham’s death); so that the Israelites could not have suffered in Egypt for more than 215 years.]

Answer:

                The period, in which Joseph lived in Egypt, was 110 years. According Exodus 1:5, all those, who were descendants of Jacob, were seventy persons. Exodus 1:7 “But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased, abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. And also, Exodus 1:8, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph”. From this, we understand that the people came to such a situation, in which they forgot about the history of Joseph completely and there was no one, who could say about the history of Joseph. To come to such situation, there would have been a long gap of hundreds of years.

                Here, Joseph reigned the kingdom of Egypt, so, the kings, who knew his history reigned Israelites, 400 years peacefully. After 400 years, the king Pharaoh, who did not know the history of Joseph, knew the strength of Israelites, who spread among them, tried to reduce their count. Yet, the people of heathen also mingled in the Israelites, because the Lord Jehovah said that whoever follows the commandments will be Israelites forever. When Israelites departed from the Egypt, they were thousands of people according to Exodus 12:37–38, just the males were about 600,000 besides women and children.

                The Lord God promised to Abraham and His children. Thereafter, the dynasty of Jacob entered in Egypt; they were in Egypt for 400 years. Thereafter the Lord of Israelites remembered His promise again and made them to move from Egypt to Canaan. According to the promise, Abraham moved from his country. But, they did not enter Egypt.