Abraham's 400 Years Prophecy - Bondage vs. Liberty

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." Genesis 15:13

When God said Abraham's descendants would be strangers in the land and would be oppressed and enslaved four hundred years, did He mean approximately four hundred years? Or, did God mean exactly 400 years to the selfsame day?

The Great Calling

More than 1900 years before Christ, the patriarch Abram and his wife, Sarai, were called by God to fulfill a special purpose. At the time, they lived in Ur of Chaldees (modern Iraq) with their father, Terah. Historians consider that river delta land to be the cradle of civilization. Abram, however, was commanded by God to leave Ur and go to a land that he would be shown. He and his clan relocated to a place called Haran for a few years until his father died. Then, when Abram was 75 years old, the Lord spoke to him again:

Now the LORD had said to Abram, Get you out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make they name great; and be thou a blessing; And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:1-3 (emphasis provided)

Abraham's Promises

Promised Land, Father of a Great Nation, The Promised Messiah

God said the seed of Abraham would be as the stars - an innumerable number of descendants forming a great nation in the land. God also promised Abram (Abraham) that through his seed, all families of the Earth would be blessed. This was the promise of the long awaited messiah given to Adam. See Genesis 3:15. All of these promises were made concerning Abraham's seed (offspring). This was a test of faith because Abraham had no offspring. To be barren in those days was shameful. Added to this, both he and Sarai (Sarah) were past the child-bearing age.

Abraham responded to God's call. He, his wife and all the host that accompanied him became sojourners in a strange land - the land of Canaan. Abraham lived in expectation of the fulfillment of God's promises throughout all his years of sojourning. He and his descendants were the seed of faith. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise. for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11:10.

Abraham desired to spread his roots deep into the soil of the eternal Canaan. He longed to be planted by the waters in the everlasting city of peace, the New Jerusalem, built atop 12 solid foundations of precious stone.

Years after the promise, Abraham had to muster the men in his train to rescue his nephew from the band of kings who invaded Sodom. After a decisive victory, Abraham became worried that he would now be the object of endless strife and would never have peace in the land. He wondered why God had brought him to that land. Where was the reward? Abraham did not possess the land. He was old, childless and had no natural heir, so how could God's promise of a messiah be fulfilled through him?

God understands Abraham's concerns and comes to him in vision. Together, they make an oath using a ritual common in those days. By the rites of this oath, animals were cut into pieces and both participants of the covenant would walk through the carcass portions. The implication was that such should happen to whomever breaks the oath. If God swears an oath, you can believe He will keep his word. See Genesis Chapter 15 on column to right.

Sojourning in Canaan

God proclaimed a 400 years prophecy of worsening affliction in a land belonging to another nation. That nation would eventually ensnare them into inescapable bondage. God promises, however, that those who follow Him will be miraculously delivered from the snares of sin and bondage. He further promises they will return to the good land with great substance as a possession forever when the time is right.

During the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel), Canaan was a province of Egypt. Abraham and his seed had not been given possession of the land yet because the time for repentance of the Amorites who lived in that land was not full. God establishes times and seasons for every purpose - even times of probation for nations and individuals. God honored the time established for the Amorites to be restored. If they continued in their own destruction, however, God would root them out and raise up a chosen people to occupy that land instead. In the meantime, the seed of Abraham must continue to sojourn.

There are two ways to sojourn in life. We can walk after the flesh working out our salvation and happiness by our own designs. This way always leads to bondage. Otherwise, we can walk after the Spirit allowing God to work miracles in our behalf through faith. This way always leads to freedom.

Preparing the Soil

When the Lord said Sarah would bear a child, she laughed incredulously. Before the promised land could be populated and and secured, Sarah had to know God is well able to deliver the fulfillment of His word. Abraham had to learn that God is a shield and buckler to righteous men and nations. Unfortunately, both Abraham and Sarah had trust issues along these lines and stumbled. Unbelief was delaying the miracle. Instead of trusting God without reservation, the couple tried to accomplish God's promises by their own methods.

Upon the urging of Sarah, Abraham had a child, Ishmael, through Hagar (Agar), the Egyptian bondwoman. Sometimes, the mistakes of the fathers and mothers, by example, are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generations. This error set in motion practices and a chain of events which brought affliction upon the sons of Israel.

Through the lessons of trials and tribulations, both Abraham and his wife finally realized that the Lord can control all matters. When God closed the wombs of the female slaves under Abimelech the Egyptian, Sarah was fully convinced that God can even control births and birthrates. Genesis 20:17-18

Now, the way was prepared for God to multiply Abraham's seed through Isaac and Israel as the stars of heaven. When Sarah delivered the child, she named him Laughter. The population growth of the Israelites while in Egypt was enormous. This intimidated the Egyptians.

Times Fulfilled

In Abraham's vision, the Lord specifically mentioned that the Israelites would return to the promised land after 4 generations, but when does the 400 years begin? When we go to the book of Exodus, we find the following:

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, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
Exodus 12:40-41

This verse mentions 430 years and seems to indicate that the children of Israel had been in Egypt proper for exactly 430 years and not 400 years. However, the 430 years are reckoned from the day that Abraham was commanded to enter Canaan. That was when the promise that all nations would be blessed by his seed was given. The ten commandment law was thought by many to be the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham regarding the blessing to all nations, but it was not the fulfillment. The giving of the law occurred on Mt. Sinai fifty days after the exodus. The promise of a blessing was not fully completed until the ministry of Christ.

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot cancel, that it should make the promise of none effect. Galatians 3:16-17

400 Years Fulfilled

What about the 400 year promise? What else occurred that "selfsame day" mentioned in the exodus account? This was the fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham concerning the 400 years of affliction, persecution and slavery.

We know Abraham was 75 years old when God instructed him to leave Ur. 25 years later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. This was 405 years before the exodus. Sarah gave birth exactly at the appointed date God had promised to Abraham. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. Genesis 21:2

Five years after he was born, Isaac was weaned. We do not think of a child being weaned at five years of age now, but those were different times. This weaning was very likely the subject of the mockery inflicted by Ishmael, and Isaac would have been old enough to feel the humiliation. This feast was exactly 400 years before the exodus to the very day.

The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. Therefore she said to Abraham, "Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac." The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. Genesis 21:8

Ishmael was Abraham's son born of the Egyptian woman Hagar. His mocking of Isaac fostered an animus that has never been healed completely. The feast may very well have coincided with the barley festival. That very day marked the beginning of the 400 years of oppression. After the exodus, this date marked the Passover which was a type of the promised Messiah Christ. It was about this time that Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. Genesis 21:33

400 years after Abraham's feast, on the selfsame day, the 15th of Aviv, God brought the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob out of Egypt. If we follow the chronology, we see that the Israelites, excepting Joseph, were in Egypt proper for 215 years. The four generations mentioned by God started with the children of Jacob (Israel) who entered Egypt proper during the years of famine and are as follows:

(1) Levi (2) Kohath (3) Amram and (4) Moses

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The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Isaiah 61:1.