The Meaning of Numbers: The Number 430
The rich meaning of the number 430 comes from God's promises to Abraham and his deliverance of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage.
In Genesis 15 God, talking directly to Abraham, says, "I am the Lord that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it." Abraham's response is "Lord God, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?" (Genesis 15:7 - 8, HBFV throughout).
After God had Abraham perform various sacrifices he made a covenant with him. The next day the Lord stated that although his descendants would be afflicted in a foreign land for 400 years he would deliver them (Genesis 15:13 - 16). The Israelites left Egypt in 1445 B.C. Going back 430 years from this date gives us 1875, the year this covenant was made. The count of 400 years however, referred to in Genesis 15:13, starts later in 1845 B.C. with the confirmation of the covenant to Abraham's seed through Isaac (Genesis 22).
The children of Israel, 430 years to the day after God made his promise to Abraham, left Egypt a free nation on Nisan 15. This special day, which took place after the Passover when the firstborn were spared, is known as "a night to be much observed."
Now the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years (430), it was even on that very same day, all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed to the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:40 - 41).
The Apostle Paul confirmed God's perfect 430 year fulfillment of his Genesis 15 prophecy when he wrote the following.
Now to Abraham and to his Seed were the promises spoken . . . Now this I say, that the covenant ratified beforehand by God to Christ cannot be annulled by the law, which was given four hundred and thirty years (430) later, so as to make the promise of no effect (Galatians 3:16 - 17).
Interestingly, one more pivotal event in the Bible happened on the exact day as Abraham's covenant and the Israelites leaving slavery. It was at the start of Nisan 15, at sunset, that in 30 A.D. Jesus dead body was placed in the tomb of a rich man (The Christian Passover by F. Coulter, chapter 21). This began Christ's three full days and nights in the heart of the earth, in fulfillment of a prophecy he himself offered (Matthew 12:40).
Appearances of number four hundred thirty
The prophet Ezekiel was commanded by God to first lay on left side for 390 days then on his right side for 40 days (Ezekiel 4:1 - 6) for a total number of 430. This represented the 390 years the Kingdom of Israel would suffer for their sins and the forty years of correction the Kingdom of Judah would endure for their disobedience.
Rebuilding temple and number 430
Nehemiah was a cup-bearer to a Persian king. Aware of the difficulties his fellow Jews were experiencing in rebuilding Jerusalem's temple, he pleaded with the king to be sent to Judah (Nehemiah 1:1 - 2:8). His request was granted and he was ultimately made the governor of Judea. His book, which delineates his efforts to aid the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its temple, was written around 430 B.C.
More Info on Biblical Meaning of 430
Eber, born in 2246 B.C., is the fourteenth generation of man listed in Scripture (Genesis 11:14 - 17). It is his name that was used to derive the reference "Hebrew" to describe his descendants. Its first Scriptural usage is in Genesis 14:13 where Abram (later Abraham) is called "the Hebrew."
After having his first son, Peleg, at the age of thirty-four, he produces a number of sons and daughters during his remaining 430 years of life.
Peleg is noteworthy, "for in his days the earth was divided . . ." (Genesis 10:25, HBFV). This is likely a reference to the flooding of the world's land bridges that made travel between continents possible (see our article "When did the continents separate?").