“The length of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years” (Shemot 12:40). To emphasize our length of stay in Egypt the very next verse repeats, “At the end of the four hundred and thirtieth year, on the very day, all the ranks of G-d departed from the land of Egypt” (Shemot 12:41). It should be hard to imagine that any believing Jew would claim the Jews were in Egypt for any other length of time other than 430 years.
G-d at the brit ben habetarim, in His covenant with Avra(ha)m, told him, “Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years” (Breisheet 15:13) yet in actuality they were in Egypt an additional 30 years. Presumably the 400 is rounded – something the Torah does on a regular basis[1]. It matters little if something will occur in 400 years or 430 years from now. When the Jewish people were actually redeemed from Egypt the Torah notes the more exact count.
It turns out we were in Egypt even more than 400 years. 400 is a number that signifies very, very much. It is the amount of money that Abraham paid to buy a plot for Sarah and the number of troops Eisav was travelling with (no wonder Yaakov feared for his life). We suffered in Egypt even longer than a long time[2].
I imagine many of you reading this are a bit perplexed, having been taught that the Jewish people were in Egypt a “mere” 210 years. The 400 years began, according to this line of reasoning, not with our descent to Egypt but with the birth of Yitzchak (who ironically was the only one of the Patriarchs or Matriarchs never to live outside the land of Israel). Yitzchak was 60 when he gave birth to Yaakov (and Eisav) and Yaakov was 130 when he went to Egypt, leaving 210 years for our actual sojourn in Egypt.
This count is hinted at in the numerical value of Yaakov’s command to his children when he heard that there was food in Egypt. He told them, redu shama, do down there (Breisheet 42:2), redu having the numerical value of 210. At the Pesach seder we thank G-d that He “Chishev et haketz, He calculated the end” of the exile. Ketz has a numerical value of 190 and in His benevolence G-d took off 190 years from the end, bringing our years in exile from 400 to 210.
This idea is very nice – except for the fact that it contradicts an explicit verse, actually two explicit verses, in the Torah. The Torah could easily have said “The length of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was two hundred and ten years”. But it did not. What gave the Sages the right to “ignore” a verse in the Torah?
The problem facing our Sages was the fact that G-d also told Abraham that “the fourth generation will return here” (Breisheet 15:16) and it is hard to square 400 years and four generations. Furthermore, the Torah lists the people who went down to Egypt. Amongst those is Kehat, the grandson of Levi and grandfather of Moshe. With the Torah noting that he lived 133 years, that his son Amram lived to be 137 and with Moshe being 80 at the Exodus, even assuming that each had their son on the last year of their life, we are nowhere near 430 years.
Hence the rabbis re-interpreted the 430 years to have begun at the brit ben habetarim, some 30 years before the birth of Yitzchak. The count began with the decree of exile. And while we may not have been in Egypt for 430 years, we were under the subjugation of others even while dwelling in Canaan.
With the generational count and the 430 years contradicting each other the Sages had little choice but to reinterpret one of these counts and they choose to re-interpret the verse in our parsha stating we were in Egypt for 430 years.[3]
However we might reconcile these contradictory texts we should ask why the Torah presents different counts of the length of our slavery in Egypt. Why can’t the Torah make it clear how long we were in Egypt?
I would like to suggest that the Torah purposely presents two contradictory timelines for redemption. That is because there were two potential times for redemption – one of four generations and one of 400 or maybe 430 years.
Four generations may seem like a long time but thankfully many today merit to play with their great-grandchildren, their fourth generation, and many were lucky enough to grow up with great-grandparents.
On the other hand, 400 years is a long, long time. 400 years ago, the Thirty Years’ War was raging, the Ottoman Empire and Spain were world powers, life expectancy was under 40 years and American Independence was 150 years away. Galileo was under house arrest, having been put on trial for heresy for teaching that the earth revolved around the sun. And no one had yet heard of the internet, facebook or even television. In the Jewish world, Polish Jewry was flourishing blissfully unaware the Chmielnicki massacres were only 22 years away. It would be another 75 years before the Ba’al Shem Tov would be born and no one had heard of Orthodox Judaism (or Reform or Conservative) and the idea of a Jewish State was beyond preposterous. 400 years is a long, long time.
“I G-d in its time I will hasten it” (Yishayahu 60:22). G-d tells the prophet that the redemption will come quickly - in its time. The redemption can either come in its fixed time or quickly, earlier than its time. But how can it be both? “Rabbi Alexandri quoted Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi who raises a contradiction. It is written: “In its time,” and it is written: “I will hasten it: If they merit I will hasten. If they do not merit in its designated time” (Sanhedrin 98a).
G-d told Avraham that his descendants will be “enslaved and oppressed strangers – gerut, avdut and innui – for four hundred years and the fourth generation will return to the Land”. Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov and Yosef are four generations. Avraham and Yitzchak were strangers in the Land of Israel and Yaakov suffered greatly at the hands of his father-in law-Lavan. Tellingly, the three covenantal terms of gerut (Breisheet 32:5) avdut(Breisheet 30:41) and innui (Breisheet 30:42) are used to describe Yaakov’s enslavement by Lavan[4]. With the return of Yaakov and his children, the fourth generation, to the Land of Israel the brit ben habetarimhas been fulfilled. Avraham’s offspring endured suffering, but the fourth generation was back in the Land. With the hardships over Yaakov sought to dwell in peace with his family. And so it should have been.
But alas, there was hatred amongst the brothers, Joseph was sold to Egypt and the family would soon follow. Four generations would now become 400 years. “Because of our sins we were exiled from the Land” and it would be a long, long time until the people returned.
What was true 3,500 years ago is true today. After 2,000 years – five times 400 – we were granted the opportunity to return to the Land, to become a “priestly kingdom and holy nation”, to be "a light unto the nations", and to usher in the Messianic age. Israel has given the world so much in so many different fields. We have merited “the beginning of the flowering of our redemption”.
Or have we?
Have we internalized the dangers of brotherly fighting? Have we learned the primary lesson of the Exodus – “not to oppress the stranger because you were strangers in the land of Egypt? How shall we answer Rav Soloveitchik’s question posed in 1958, “Now that Jews have political power and are the masters, will they will behave ethically or yield to temptation like other nations?” The Rav then warned that “If the State does not live up to our ethical values then the entire past 2,000 years, the entirety of Jewish history will be reinterpreted in a different light. It will prove to the world that Jews are not better and only did not act wickedly because they did not have a chance.” (You can listen to the Rav’s talk here).
The State of Israel is 78 years old – enough time for four generations to be born in the Land. It is up to us to ensure that we need not wait 400 years for the complete flowering our redemption.
[1] To cite just one example. The Torah tells us that Moshe was 80 when he first appeared to Pharaoh, the Jewish people were in the desert for 40 years and that he died at 120. That leaves exactly no time for the plagues. One of these 40’s is not exact – but the Torah wanted to highlight that number, 40 being a number that signifies transition, even momentous events – the flood, Moshe on Mount Sinai, the days the Talmud says it takes a fetus to form.
[2] Some commentaries explain the extra 30 years was punishment for the sins i.e. idolatry of the Jewish people in Egypt (See for example, Ramban, Shemot 12:42).
[3] Of course, one could instead re-interpret the genealogical tables and keep the literal meaning of the 430 years. For an ingenious explanation of such an approach see here.
[4] Is it any wonder the Haggadah compares Pharaoh and Lavan?
[4] It is worth noting that the Rambam advises a ba’al teshuva, a repentant (former) sinner to change their name, symbolizing a new identity. Moshe the Egyptian and Moshe Rabbeinu had the same name but with two different meanings.