Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Walter R. Mattfeld" <mattfeld12 AT charter.net>]

Any "additional insights" on the below excerpt about _Machir and the Exodus_
would be appreciated (the url for the article follows the excerpt)

Regards, Walter
Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, M.A. Ed.

mattfeld12 AT charter.net



"The biblical chronology itself is problematic. The pentateuchal texts do
not agree with one another as to how long the sojourn in Egypt lasted.
Various biblically preserved traditions mention four generations (Genesis
15:16), 400 years (Genesis 15:13) and 430 years (Exodus 12:40-41). The
first-century C.E. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus records a tradition of
215 years,* and an ancient rabbinic source gives 210 years.* The confusion
is reflected in the case of Machir, grandson of Joseph. Machir's sons were
born in the lifetime of Joseph, yet, according to the Bible, they
participated in the conquest of Canaan and the settlement of the land
(Genesis 50:23; Numbers 32:39-40; Joshua 13:31, 17:1). If this is true, then
the Hebrew enslavement was limited to one generation. How, then, could it be
that the Israelites in Egypt had, as the opening words of Exodus declare,
"multiplied and increased very greatly, so that the land was filled with
them" (Exodus 1:7)? Indeed, how could this occur in four generations?*"

http://home.uchicago.edu/~spackman/exodus.htm