1. What question did Abraham ask on one occasion when the Lord repeated the promise to him? "And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" (Genesis 15:8)
2. What did the Lord say in reply? "And He said unto him, Take me a heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon." (Genesis 15:9)
3. What did Abraham do? "And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another; but the birds he divided not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away." (Genesis 15:10-11)
4. What happened when the sun was going down? "And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. (Genesis 15:12)
5. In this vision, what did the Lord say to Abraham? "And He said unto Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them..." (Genesis 15:13)
6. How long were his seed to be strangers in a strange land? "...and they shall afflict them four hundred years." (Genesis 15:13)
7. When the time was expired, what was to be done? "And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance." (Genesis 15:14)
8. What was the name of the land which they were to have as their own? "And I will give unto you, and to your seed after you, the land wherein you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." (Genesis 17:8)
9. Why could Abraham not at once take possession of it? "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." (Genesis 15:16)
10. When the Lord did at last deliver the Israelites from bondage, what did He say to them? "And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak unto the children of Israel." (Exodus 19:3-6)
11. What did he say they should be? "And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak unto the children of Israel." (Exodus 19:6)
12. In making this promise, what was the Lord doing? "For you are a holy people unto the Lord your God: the Lord your God has chosen you to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, has the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
13. Then with what is Exodus 19:3-6 parallel?
14. What was the condition of the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
15. And what was the condition of this promise to the Jews? "Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine." (Exodus 19:5)
Notes:
"And He said unto Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years." (Genesis 15:13)
The student must not get the idea that this refers solely to the bondage in Egypt, for Paul tells us (Galatians 3:17) that from the announcement of the promise to Abraham until the giving of the law at Sinai, was but four hundred and thirty years. This four hundred and thirty years is thus computed:
• From the giving of the promise until the birth of Isaac, twenty-five years; (Compare Genesis 12:1-4 with Genesis 25:5)
• From the birth of Isaac until the birth of Jacob, sixty years; (Genesis 25:26)
• From the birth of Jacob and till the going down into Egypt, one hundred and thirty years; (Genesis 47:8-9)--making 215 years from the giving of the promise until the beginning of the sojourn in Egypt. And Josephus says (Antiquities, chap. 15, 2) that 215 years was the length of that sojourn. Thus the 430 years of Galatians 3:17 and Exodus 12:40-41 are accounted for.
The text under consideration, (Genesis 15:13) however, is more difficult. It is evident from the text, and also its parallel in Acts 7:6, that the four hundred years' sojourn ends at the same time as the four hundred and thirty years' sojourn, viz., at the deliverance from Egypt. Then the four hundred years' of affliction (Genesis 15:13) must have begun thirty years after the giving of the promise. Dr. Clarke and others say that the mocking Ishmael when Isaac was weaned, (Genesis 21:1-10) called persecution by Paul in Galatians 4:29, marks the beginning of the four hundred years. Isaac was born twenty-five years after the promise, and the age of weaning is placed at about five years, (See Clark on Genesis 21:8) thus making the thirty years from the promise.
This is certainly not inconsistent with Genesis 15:13; for if Abraham's seed was to be afflicted four hundred years, we would expect that persecution to begin with Isaac. The only difficulty remaining is to show the harmony of these texts with Exodus 12:40-41, which speak of the children of Israel as sojourning four hundred and thirty years. But Dr. Horne (Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures, Vol. 1, part 1, chap. iii., see vi.) says that the text, according to the ancient Samaritan Pentateuch, should read thus:
"Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, and their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years."
This rendering, which is confirmed by the Alexandrian manuscript of the Septuagint, makes perfect harmony.
From Deuteronomy 7:6-8 we learn that when the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and made the promise recorded in Exodus 19:3-6, it was simply in keeping with the promise made to their fathers. The fact that the conditions of the two promises were the same, (Compare Genesis 26:5 and Exodus 19:5) harmonizes with this statement.--Signs of the Times, June 4, 1885--Lesson for the Pacific Coast - July 4--Genesis 15, 17; Exodus 19:3-6.
E.J. Waggoner