Acts 7:4-8 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelled in Charran: and from there, when his father was dead… Vers. 6 and 7 are quoted, not with verbal exactness, from Genesis 15:13, 14 according to the LXX. A parenthesis marked after "land" and "evil" would make it clear that the four hundred years are the length of the entire time during which Abraham and his descendants were to be sojourners, i.e., to have no country of their own. The Egyptian servitude did not begin till after the death of Joseph, and did not exceed two hundred and fifteen years. If the calculation is made from the weaning of Isaac, the interval is exactly four hundred years. In speaking, the round number was used instead of the precise total of four hundred and thirty years; which is given in the historical statement (Exodus 12:40), quoted Galatians 3:17, which the received chronology makes to be the interval between Abraham's going down into Egypt and the Exodus. The same variation is found in Josephus, who states in his history that the Israelites quitted Egypt in the four hundred and thirtieth year; but in a report of a speech of his own in the "Wars" he gives the duration four hundred years. (Bp. Jacobson.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. |
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