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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Israel "in" Egypt 215 or 430 years ?

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: "Walter R. Mattfeld" <mattfeld12 AT charter.net>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Israel "in" Egypt 215 or 430 years ?
  • Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 22:55:26 +0100

On 19/08/2004 21:31, Walter R. Mattfeld wrote:

...

But the primary evidence seems to favor a longer sojourn of 430 years. First
and foremost, the Hebrew text asserts that the Israelites spent 430 years in
Egypt (Exodus 12:40-41); and, as Leon Wood states, the Hebrew text must be
favored over later versions. Second, God told Abraham in Genesis 15:13 that
his descendants would be afflicted in a foreign land for 400 years. ...


Well, let's get back to some real Hebrew for a change, and some textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible.

Exodus 12:40:

BHS text: W.MOW$AB B.:N"Y YI&:RF)"L ):A$ER YF$:BW. B.:MIC:RFYIM $:LO$IYM $FNFH W:)AR:B.A( M")OWT $FNFH

BHS footnote a: after YI&:RF)"L, some Greek MSS and the Samaritan Pentateuch add WA):ABOTFM

BHS footnote b: Samaritan Pentateuch reads ... B.:)EREC K.:NA(AN W.B:)EREC MIC:RFYIM ... , compare with the Greek

Rahlfs LXX: hH DE KATOIKHSIS TWN hUIWN ISRAHL, hHN KATWiKHSAN EN THi AIGUPTWi KAI EN THi CANAAN (AUTOI KAI hOI PATERES AUTWN), ETH TETRAKOSIA TRIAKONTA (bracketed words are in Alexandrinus only I think)
"The residence of the sons/descendants of Israel which they resided in Egypt and in Canaan (they and their fathers) four hundred and thirty years"

Here we have an apparent agreement of LXX and Samaritan against BHS, which must be taken seriously. But then LXX and Samaritan differ in the order of "Egypt" and "Canaan", which casts some doubt on this, and the WA):ABOTFM looks rather like a late addition to get round the objection that Abraham and Isaac could not be called sons/descendants of Israel. So the textual decision here could go either way.

Amazingly, HOTTP does not consider this point. NRSV also follows MT without comment (although it is usually rather sceptical about MT), although NIV puts the LXX and Sam reading in a footnote.

Genesis 15:13: Here I won't bother with the textual details as there is no difficulty. But we should remember that Abraham was already a stranger in a country not his own, so this 400 year period can easily be understood as starting from that time. True, they were not at this time enslaved or mistreated, but in the Hebrew the timescale refers to all three preceding clauses without implying that all three will be simultaneously true for all of the time.

So I would consider the issue entirely open, whether the 430 (or 400) years is from Abraham to Moses or from the move to Egypt until Moses. The chronology is not tied down either way.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/







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