Four Hundred and Thirty years, which, though it has the same point as to its termination, does not commence at the same point. From the call of Abraham, or the "promise" made to him at that call (Genesis 12:3), unto the Exodus was 430 years. This covers the whole period of the "sojourning"; not of Abraham's "seed," as in Genesis 15:13 and Acts 7:6, but of Abraham himself. This is what is mentioned in Galatians 3:17 as the period from the "promise" to the "Law." It is referred to also in Exodus 12:40, where the "sojourning" is the nominative case (or subject) of the verb, while the sentence, "who dwelt in Egypt," is merely a relative clause, defining parenthetically an important point concerning them. |
