In this week’s parshat Bo we read The length of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.(Exodus 12:40) This verse is problematic to the critical reader. Months ago in parshat Lech Lecha we read that Gd says to Avraham, Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. (Genesis 15:13) Additionally, the numbers of years the Israelites were physically in Egypt totals 210. How do we reconcile the contradictions of these numbers? Rashi explains that from the time of Isaac’s birth to the time of the Israelite exodus from Egypt was 400 years as calculated thusly: Isaac was 60 years old at the time of Jacob’s birth. Jacob was 130 years old upon his entering Egypt. The Israelites were in Egypt for 210 years which gives a total of 400 years. Gd’s prophecy to Avraham of 400 years takes place during the ‘brit betarim’ which occurs 30 years before the birth of Isaac. This week’s 430 is the number of years from Gd’s decree of Israelite homelessness; 400 is the number of years from the first of Avraham’s Jewish offspring to the Exodus, and 210 is the number of years the Israelites were in Egypt. For the curious, Rashi calculates the actual years of enslavement as 116.
