400 years in Egypt

We see this interesting scripture in the book of Genesis. This is a prophecy from Lord, directly given to Abraham. I am going to focus on one particular verse though

Genesis 15:16 – After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction

The Lord is promising Abraham that there will be a covenant son, Isaac. And Lord will make a nation out of him. He is also confirming the promise land possession. Here we find more details on how exactly it is going to happen. Israel will be oppressed in a foreign land for 400 years (verse 13). The strange nation will be punished and Israel will be brought out from there to return to the promised land (verse 14). I wanted to take some time to think why this 400 year period.

As we all know, our Lord is not time bound. He is alpha and omega. He is beginning and end. He can see through tunnels of time and knows exactly everything. He is completely in control. He is sovereign over everything. That is nature of God. Here we are seeing a promise to Abraham along with a prophecy. Let’s look into the prophecy even more closely. Lord is promising Canaan for Israel, but they will posses it only after 400 years. I started wondering why the 400 year period. Why Lord did not drive away the Canaanites at that time itself and bring up nation of Israel there itself? Why not have the 12 sons of Jacob start in Canaan and spread along? It was interesting that Lord never commanded Abraham or anyone else to leave Canaan. There was no direct instructions from Lord.  It was an amazing study to unravel the events after this. How things fell in place. How Lord knew exactly the wickedness of mankind!

Skipping along to a couple of generations, we see Jacob still living in Canaan.

Genesis 37:37 – Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan.

This is where we start seeing things moving along. We see the wickedness of Joseph’s brother. Genesis 37 speaks about how Joseph was sold to Egyptian. One thing that struck me was, it was not just some Egyptians. They were Ishmaelites! The sin of Abraham and Sarah (I always take it as a sin of both of them and not just one). It is really not to say sin of Abraham caused all this. But just an observation. What is sown will be reaped. The consequences of our irresponsibility will never be known. It might come back and bite any time.

Moving along. Around Genesis 42, we start reading about the famine in Israel and how Joseph has been exalted to a higher position in Egypt. Due to the severe famine, brothers of Joseph come to Egypt, meet Joseph and finally bring Jacob also. It was very interesting to read what Joseph’s brother place as a petition to Pharaoh.

Genesis 47– 3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were.” ⁴ They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”

I have underlined the key word here. They went their to “sojourn” – meaning a temporary stay. We all know what happened! They got comfortable and stayed in Egypt for generations and generations. How often we do this! Lord gives us a promise. We stand on it for some time. Then when tests and trials come, we lose focus on the promise. Sometimes we are overwhelmed by the situation and try to settle for something else which sounds comfortable for the time being. Same kind of thing happened here. Jacob and his sons forgot their home. They felt comfortable in Egypt and stayed there itself.

Things were really good and they were growing in numbers so fast. Trouble comes when a new Pharaoh comes who does not know Joseph. Bible says,

Exodus 1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph

I would read the verse as “who did not know Joseph and the Lord he served”. We have a Pharaoh who does not know anything about Lord or the history of Joseph. If this did not happen, I wonder if Israel would have ever thought about moving out of Israel. As a nation they have forgotten the promise of Lord. They have forgotten the promised Land. God allowed the Pharaoh to oppress Israel to make them realize the promises made to Abraham. Same holds true for us. Often Lord has to shake us out of what we would consider “comfort zone”. We resist changes. Same was the case with Israel. They did not want to come out of Egypt. Even after coming out, they complained to Moses on how good their life was in Egypt! We do the same. Even after Jesus redeems us from our sinful life, we often try to re-live our old life.

As we move on, we see Moses coming into picture. And then finally Joshua taking Israel into promised land. Going back to the original verse, when Lord said Israel will spend 400 years in a foreign land, a reason was also given. In a way it was Jacob who did not come back to Canaan once famine was over. In a way Israel got comfortable. In a way Pharaoh oppressed and Israel cried out to the Lord. But what Lord says is this “sin of Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction”. The sin of Amorites have not reached the break over point. Our Lord is a just and righteous God. We all know the detestable things Canaanites involved in. Be it sexual fornication or child sacrifice and so on. They made Israel fall in the same way. It was the sin of Amorites which caused them to be evacuated out of Canaan. It was not just because Lord simply decided to give Israel a blessed place to live.

It is very clear it is Lord who will preserve His people. Man would always try to have his own ways. But God his own way and purpose. Man can come up with any evil thought and plan. But Lord will always use it for the glory of His name!