ABRAHAM TO EXODUS Part 4 – Bro. David Rice

ABRAHAM TO EXODUS [Part 4] – By Bro. David Rice

Bible Chronology, Part Four

[A]Previous articles in this series explained that from Adam to the end of the flood was 1656 years, based on the ages given in Genesis chapter five. [Gen. 5] Thence to the passing of Terah, the father of Abraham, was 427 years, based on the ages in Genesis chapter 11. [Gen. 11]

At that time Abraham went to Shechem and received God’s covenant. The Exodus and giving of the Law to Israel at Mount Sinai followed 430 years later (Galatians 3:17). From the Exodus to the beginning of Solomon’s Temple in the spring of 966 BC was 479 years more (1 Kings 6:1). In list form…

Using these figures, we can compute the date of Adam’s creation according to the scriptures: 966 BC + 479 + 430 + 427 + 1656 = 3958 BC. Six thousand years forward from that date terminate in 2043 AD [accounting 1 additional year for BC-AD divide], the beginning of the seventh Millennium, the thousand years of the reign of Christ. We can also now assign specific dates to these events, as in the following list.

[In the above list, End of Flood should be 2302 BC instead of 2303 BC which is Beginning of Flood]

These conclusions are clear. But in the centuries since Christian people have been studying this subject, some subtle questions have arisen. In this article we discuss questions about the third period of time in the first list above — namely, the 430 years between the two covenants.

430 YEARS

Galatians 3:17 seems clear on 430 years between the two covenants. But some suppose Exodus 12:40, 41 teaches otherwise. Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years … that all the hosts of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:40, 41). Does this text mean Israel was in Egypt for the full 430 years?

Some people believe so, and some translations give that opinion. However, there is good evidence against this view.

From the covenant with Abraham, until Jacob and his family moved to Egypt, was 215 years. This we know from the ages given in Genesis. Abraham was 75 when he entered Canaan, Isaac was born 25 years later when Abraham was 100, Jacob was born 60 years later, and Jacob was 130 when he moved to Egypt (Genesis 12:4, 21:5, 25:26, 47:9). The total of 25, 60 and 130 is 215 years — from Abraham entering Canaan until Jacob entering Egypt.

Of the 430 years from the Abrahamic Covenant to the Exodus, this leaves a remaining 215 years in Egypt before the Israelites departed under Moses. So the 430 years was split into two even parts 215 years before entering Egypt, and 215 within Egypt until the Exodus. This even division of time is more than coincidence. It was part of God’s design to teach a lesson about the Divine Plan. When the patriarch Jacob entered Egypt, the aggregate number is given as 70 persons of his family line (Exodus 1:5). But this count does not include the wives of his 12 sons, which would augment the total number to 70 plus 12. [Also read Gen. 46:26-27] Egypt in scripture is a symbol of the nominal Christian world. For example, the plagues on Egypt which resulted in the Exodus picture the plagues on Christendom in Revelation chapter 16. [Rev. 16]

So, if coming out of Egypt represents the end of the Gospel Age, coming into Egypt represents the beginning of the Gospel Age. During the Gospel Age spiritual Israel, the Church, sojourns in this world before they are delivered. The 70 and 12, which were the nucleus of Israel at the beginning, expanded into the nation of Israel. They remind us of the 70 disciples and 12 apostles who served our Lord Jesus, which expanded into the Church Class. (See Exodus 15:27 for another spiritual lesson about the 70 disciples and 12 apostles.)

Thus the second period of 215 years represents the Gospel Age. So the first period of 215 years represents the age before this, namely the Jewish Age. In many ways the Jewish Age was a shadow, type, or figure of the greater spiritual realities of the Gospel Age (see Hebrews 8:5 for example). As twin ages, one depicting in types and pictures the spiritual realities of the other, they are represented here as equal divisions in God’s Plan.

THE EVIDENCE

These observations about type and antitype, picture and substance, are interesting, and support the conclusion that only 215 years were spent in Egypt, rather than an entire 430. But pictures themselves do not establish the facts. For this we need to examine the actual evidence at hand. So let us return to the record.

As evidence that the Israelites were not in Egypt for 430 years, we have the family line of Moses. Exodus 6:16-20 gives us the following line of descent Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses. Genesis 46:11 [See also Gen. 46:8] lists Kohath among the Israelites who came to Egypt with Jacob. Moses was 80 at the Exodus. [Exo. 7:7]

So if the Israelites were 430 years in Egypt and even if Kohath was only a new-born when he came into Egypt then the two generations Kohath and Amram must span 350 years. (That is, 430 total, minus 80 years gives 350 from the move to Egypt until the birth of Moses.) This means Kohath and Amram must average 175 years each at the very minimum. Yet Exodus 6:18, 20 tell us they lived only 133 and 137 years respectively. In other words, 430 years is too long for the Israelite stay in Egypt.

This kind of evidence is even more specific as it applies to the mother of Moses, whose name was Jochebed. Numbers 26:59 says she was a daughter of Levi, born to him in Egypt. Levi lived 137 years total (Exodus 6:16). He was more than 40 years old when he moved to Egypt, so he could not have lived in Egypt more than 97 years. Suppose Jochebed was born as late as the last year of Levi’s life (which is unlikely). If the Israelites were in Egypt 430 years, Jochebed would be 253 years old at the birth of Moses which is impossibly old (430 – 97 – 80 = 253).

— To be Continued

ABRAHAM TO EXODUS

Part II, continued from previous issue

In our last issue we noted that Galatians 3:17 seems clear that 430 years lapsed between the Abrahamic Covenant to the Law Covenant.

We also noted that this 430-year period divides into two equal periods, 215 years from the Abrahamic Covenant to the time Jacob and his family moved to Egypt, and 215 years more to the Exodus. These twin periods represent the Jewish and Gospel Ages, which in many respects are parallel to each other.

We also considered Exodus 12:40, 41, which speaks of this 430-year period and would have been the source for Paul’s comment in Galatians 3:17.

We then considered the other view sometimes proposed about the 430 years, namely that these years were all spent in Egypt, rather than dating from the Covenant with Abraham when he entered Canaan at age 75 (Genesis 12:4-7). We observed that the genealogy from Levi to Moses would not allow so long a period in Egypt — Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses — and even more so on his mother’s side, as Jochebed, mother of Moses, was a daughter of Levi. Here we pick up the thread of thought again.

MISSING GENERATIONS?

There is no way around this problem, save one. If one supposes Israel was in Egypt for a lengthy period, on the order of 430 years, then one can only suppose that there are missing generations, not listed in scripture, between Levi and Moses. This is the answer given by some. Is it credible?

Consider the line Levi – Kohath – Amram – Moses. It is clear that Kohath was the actual son of Levi, since he came into Egypt with Levi (Genesis 46:11). It is also apparent from Exodus 6:20 that Amram was the actual father of Moses. So if there are missing generations, they could only be between Kohath and Amram. But this is rendered highly unlikely by the way Exodus 6:18 is expressed. It lists four sons of Kohath (Amram, Izhar, Hebron, Uzziel), which matches the list given in 1 Chronicles 6:18. Then the text in Exodus cites the years of Kohath’s life, namely 133 years, which implies the sons just listed are his actual sons, born during his lifetime, rather than later tribal divisions of his descendants.

Similarly, for Jochebed we have a specific and unique affirmation about her parentage. And Amram took him Jochebed his father’s sister to wife (Exodus 6:20). And the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt (Numbers 26:59). Thus it seems clear, in the genealogy leading to Moses, both through his father and mother, that the record gives actual parentage. In this case, a long sojourn in Egypt is not possible.

But in this case, what is the meaning of Exodus 12:40? Apparently it counts the sojourn of the children of Israel as beginning with their forefather Abraham. This is similar to the approach of Hebrews 7:10, [Heb. 7:9, 10] which says Levi, before he was born, paid tithes to Melchizedek, for he was yet in the loins of his father (Abraham), when Melchizedek met him.

GENESIS 15:13

Another relevant passage is Genesis 15:13-16. These texts refer to the Israelites serving another nation (Egypt), and verse 16 [Gen. 15:16] says “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again.” This would be correctly fulfilled by the four generations listed above: Levi – Kohath – Amram – Moses.

Verses 13 and 14 [Gen. 15:13-14] read: “And he (God) said unto Abram, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.”

This period of 400 years evidently began with the affliction of Isaac, the seed of Abraham. His affliction by Ishmael at the weaning of Isaac is noted both in the Old and New Testaments as a significant event. In the Old Testament this led to the casting out of Ishmael and his mother Hagar, and in the New Testament Paul says this affliction represented the affliction of Christians by Jewish leaders during his day. (See Genesis 21:8-10, Galatians 4:29).

Isaac was born 25 years into the 430-year period. Thus at his birth, only 405 years remained until the Exodus. If he was weaned at the age of five — later than is customary today — then 400 years would remain. This would exactly match the 400 years of Genesis 15:13. {*It is possible that the 400 years of Genesis 15:13 was intended as a round figure, which approximates the 405 years from the birth of Isaac until the Exodus. In either case, there is an engaging picture in these points. The 400 years, if multiplied by the prophetic year of Revelation, which is 360 days per year, yields the number 144,000. This is the figure Revelation gives as the number of overcomers who will constitute the Bride class for Christ.}

EXPANDED SYMMETRY

In the January [2006] issue [of Faithbuilders Fellowship] appeared the following diagram, showing that from the Flood to the Exodus was 858 years, and from the Exodus to the end of the nation of Judah was another period of 858 years.

We said we would augment this diagram backward and forward in an expanded symmetry, which we do in the diagram at the top of the next page [now below].

The period of time from the end of Adam’s thousand-year day of judgment, to the beginning of the flood, was 655 years. If we append the same length of time on the right side of the chart, we arrive at the date 69 AD. This was the end of Israel’s 40 years of probation, from our Lord’s baptism in 29 AD. The autumn of the year 69 AD began the Jewish Year in which the Romans took Jerusalem and burned their temple again — as Nebuchadnezzar had done 655 years earlier.

The symmetry of the chart speaks for itself — the same periods of time on each side of the Exodus. But there is more than a simple symmetry of time periods. The episodes touched at the ends of these periods have a common thread — each has a typical meaning about the end of 6000 years, at the threshold of the Millennium.

2958 BC — the end of Adam’s thousand-year “day.” That period is a small picture of the entire 6000 years during which the Adamic curse operates upon the race which came from Adam, which closes at 2043 AD.

2303 BC — the beginning of the flood, which Jesus said was a picture of the judgments which would end this age and inaugurate the kingdom of Christ (Matthew 24:38, 39), which will commence in 2043 AD.

1445 BC — the Exodus date [or year]. At this time the midnight angel slew all the firstborn of Egypt, representing the seventh plague of Revelation 16, during which the powers of this world receive their final judgment. That midnight hour is fulfilled in 2043 AD.

587 BC — the first burning of the Temple at Jerusalem. This fulfilled the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah about the Temple, which were fulfilled a second time in the Roman burning of the Temple. Both burnings are typical of the judgments against Christendom which climax in 2043 AD. (Isaiah 66:6, Jeremiah 7:4, 21:10).

69 AD, autumn — end of Israel’s 40 years of probation, followed by the burning of the Temple at Jerusalem. This judgment on Judaism fulfilled Jesus predictions of judgment in Matthew 24, which also apply to the judgments in our day, which come to a head about the year 2043 AD.

Thus the dates which are tied together by symmetry, are also connected topically. This kind of harmony is further evidence of intelligent design in the time periods between these various critical events in God’s unfolding Plan of the Ages.

[B]But what of the obvious asymmetry in the chart the gap in time between 69 AD and 2043 AD? More on this in a future issue.

– By Br. David Rice – Part I from Faithbuilders Fellowship, January 2006 issue and Part II from Faithbuilders Fellowship, March 2006 issue.

Good subject.

• Previous articles in this series explained that from Adam to the end of the flood was 1656 years, based on the ages given in Genesis chapter five. Thence to the passing of Terah, the father of Abraham, was 427 years, based on the ages in Genesis chapter 11 – Refer BIBLE CHRONOLOGY (From Faithbuilders Fellowship, December 2005) and NOAH TO ABRAHAM (From Faithbuilders Fellowship, January 2006).
• But what of the obvious asymmetry in the chart the gap in time between 69 AD and 2043 AD? More on this in a future issue – This topic is covered in “Extending the Symmetry” from October 2006 issue of Faithbuilders Fellowship magazine.