Calculations

2453: The Exodus

2453: God gives the Law to Moses at Mount Sinai

According to Galatians 3:16-17, there were 430 years between Genesis 12:7 (the promise to Abraham and his Seed) and the giving of the Law. This means Moses went up to Mount Sinai in 2453 (I’m leaning heavily on James B. Jordan for this idea and most of the arguments I’m using to support it). Exodus 12:2 indicates that the original Passover happened at the beginning of the calendar year.

However, Exodus 12:40-41 says that the Exodus itself occurred 430 years after Israel began sojourning in Egypt. There are two possible explanations for this:

• Moses is starting the beginning of the counting of the sojourn as Abram’s descent into Egypt in Genesis 12:10.
• Both the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint say that Israel was in Egypt “and Canaan” for 430 years. This is also probably starting from Genesis 12:10, in which case the previous option might still be correct, and this text was just added for context, or else the original Bible text included the phrase “and Canaan,” and thus Israel was in Egypt and Canaan (whether starting from Genesis 12:5 or Genesis 12:10) for 430 years.

This timeline conflicts with the common belief that the 430 years stretched from Jacob’s descent into Egypt to the Exodus, and the 400 years of affliction/oppression (Genesis 15:13; Acts 7:6) were the slavery under the Pharaohs. Beyond Galatians 3, there are two pieces of evidence demonstrating that the common belief cannot be true and that we are therefore dealing with a LOLI.

First is the genealogy of Moses in Exodus 6:14-27. Moses was a descendant of Kohath, the son of Levi, and according to Genesis 46, Kohath was alive at the time of the descent into Egypt. To stretch Moses’ genealogy to the greatest length possible, let’s assume that Kohath was a newborn at the time of the descent and that every generation fathered the next the year they died (even though neither is likely to have been the case). Amram would have to be born in 2238 + 133 = 2371. Moses would have to be born in 2371 + 137 = 2508. Moses was 80 the year before the Exodus (Exodus 7:7). Therefore, at the most logical extreme of his genealogy, the Exodus would have occurred in 2508 + 81 = 2589. However, if the 430 years started in 2238, then the Exodus would have occurred in 2668. That’s not supported by Moses’ genealogy.

Nor can there be gaps in Moses’ genealogy, because we know that Israel would return from Egypt to Canaan in the fourth generation (Genesis 15:16). From Levi to Moses is four generations. There is no room for the 2+ additional generations required to make the math of Moses’ genealogy work.

Second, if the 430 years started with Jacob’s descent into Egypt, then the 400 years of affliction/slavery would have begun 30 years after the descent in 2238. However, Jacob died 17 years after the descent, at which point, all of Egypt mourned for him (Genesis 50:3) and the Pharaoh gave leave to Joseph to bury him. That means:

• The Israelites multiplied from 70 persons to a threatening multitude (Exodus 1:9) within 30 years. Even if the 57 grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Jacob each had a child every year for 30 years (not possible because some of them were not old enough to have kids at the time of the descent into Egypt), there would only be 1767. That’s not enough people to scare an entire nation.
• Joseph’s Pharaoh died, a new Pharaoh arose, and the new Pharaoh turned the entirety of Egypt against Joseph, the man who had saved all their lives from the famine, within 13 years.
• The slavery began 41 years before the death of Joseph and, if Levi was born in 2194 and lived 137 years (Exodus 6:16) and therefore died in 2331, it also began 63 years before the death of Levi. The end of Genesis 50 and the beginning of Exodus 1, however, imply that Jacob’s sons lived and died in peace in Egypt and only after their descendants multiplied did the Pharaohs turn against them.
• There were 319 years between the start of the slavery and the birth of Moses. However, the first 5 chapters of Exodus (especially Exodus 2:23) imply that Moses was born during the reign of the Pharaoh who instituted the slavery. Also, the fact that Moses’ mother had to hide him but not Aaron, who was only three years older, implies that the command by Pharaoh to throw newborn Hebrew boys into the river (Exodus 1:22) started at some point between Aaron’s birth and Moses’. Aaron would have been one of the boys spared by the Hebrew midwives (Exodus 1:15-17).

In reality, the 400 years of affliction must have started in 2053. The only significant recorded event around that time was the weaning of Isaac and the driving out of Hagar and Ishmael, so James Jordan has tied the affliction to the persecution of Isaac by Ishmael (Galatians 4:29 – The Chronology of the Pentateuch [Part 3]). I think this is possible, but it also matters that Hagar was an Egyptian, so the affliction of Isaac by Ishmael, the son of an Egyptian, also connected to the eventual enslavement of Israel by Egyptians.

As for the question of how Israel got so massive in 215 years, it is probable that many converted foreigners joined their ranks (something similar happened in Esther 8:17). Even if the 430 years started when Jacob went to Goshen, it is unlikely that all of their growth from 70 persons to over 600,000 men happened via biological reproduction in under 500 years, especially when you consider that the entire nation had only two midwives when Moses was born (Exodus 1:15).

If conversion and foreigners identifying themselves as part of Israel was the primary vehicle of growth for Israel, then Pharaoh’s attempt to slow Israel’s growth had a spiritual flavor in addition to the military one expressed in Exodus 1:10: namely, Exodus 1:12 could suggest that persecution improved their witness and ability to win converts, much as the persecution of Christians led to explosive growth in the first-century Church.

2452: Moses and Aaron first stand before Pharaoh

If the Exodus occurred right at the beginning of 2453, then Moses and Aaron would have first stood before Pharaoh in the later part of the previous year, 2452.

2369: Birth of Aaron (Exodus 7:7)

2372: Birth of Moses (Exodus 7:7)

2412: Moses flees to Midian (Acts 7:23; Acts 7:30)

2453: The manna begins

2454: The Tabernacle is erected

2454: The second Passover

The Exodus occurred midway through the month of Abib, which was to be the first month of the year for the Israelites going forward (Exodus 12:2), most likely because it was the first month since creation and God was ensuring the Israelite calendar matched the historic calendar.

Later in Exodus, we see manna being given in “the second month after [the Israelites] departed from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 16:1) and the Law being given on Mount Sinai in “the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 19:1). These would have happened several months into the year 2453.

However, at the end of the book, we see the Tabernacle being erected “in the first month of the second year” (Exodus 40:17). This was followed by another Passover “in the first month of the second year after [the Israelites] had come out of the land of Egypt” (Numbers 9:1). There is no mention of “the first year after the Exodus” anywhere, nor do the narrative events of the Torah justify an entire two calendar years passing between the first Exodus and the erection of the Tabernacle, nor is it likely Moses neglected to mention the Passover that occurred (or was skipped) one year after the first Passover.

The most logical interpretation of the language here is that because the Exodus occurred right at the beginning of the calendar year of 2453, the remainder of that year would have been “the first year after the Exodus,” and it took that entire year to prepare the Tabernacle (and all the other elements of the Tabernacle worship system), immediately after which the Israelites began observing the full Law and then celebrated their second Passover in 2454.

This lines up with the numerological symbolism that will be explored in the Commentary section.

2454: First census of Israel (Numbers 1:1)

2454: The Israelite spies discourage Israel, causing all male Israelites age 20 and above (except Joshua and Caleb) to be condemned to die while wandering in the wilderness (Numbers 10:11)

2492: Aaron dies (Numbers 33:38)

2492: Second census of Israel

In the narrative of Numbers, the second census comes after Aaron’s death, although that in and of itself isn’t conclusive, as the events of Numbers are not always told in strict chronological order. However, in Deuteronomy 2:14, Moses says that the destruction of the entire Exodus Generation took 38 years. According to Numbers 26:63-65, the entire Exodus Generation (except Joshua and Caleb) had died out before the second census was held. Moreover, Eleazer had replaced Aaron as high priest by the time of the census.

As the judgment was pronounced on that generation in 2454, that means it was completed 38 years later in 2492, after which the second census was held. This fits the general flow of events in Numbers and Deuteronomy.

2492: Moses writes Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 1:3)

2492: Moses dies (Deuteronomy 34:7)

2492: Joshua takes over as leader of Israel

Moses wrote Deuteronomy at the beginning of the eleventh month of 2492 (Deuteronomy 1:3). He died shortly afterward, and the Israelites mourned him for 30 days (Deuteronomy 34:8), meaning that the transition from Moses to Joshua occurred right at the end of that calendar year.

2493: Joshua leads Israel into the Promised Land (Joshua 4:19)

2493: The manna ceases (Joshua 5:11-12)

Exodus 16:35 says that the Israelites ate manna for 40 years. This would be from the second month of 2453 to the first month of 2493 (remember that years are not counted in the Bible according to 12-month periods, but rather the crossing of New Year lines).

The 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (Numbers 14:33-34; Numbers 32:13; Deuteronomy 2:7; Deuteronomy 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:4; Deuteronomy 29:5; Joshua 5:6; Nehemiah 9:21; Psalm 95:10; Amos 2:10; Amos 5:25; Acts 7:36; Acts 7:42; Acts 13:18; Hebrews 3:9; Hebrews 3:17) would have lasted from the Exodus in the first month of 2453 to the crossing of the Jordan in the first month of 2493.

2493: Israel keeps their first Passover in the Promised Land (Joshua 5:10)

2414: Caleb is born (Joshua 14:7)

2499: Israel divides the Promised Land (Joshua 14:10)

Commentary

Point 1

If the descent of Jacob’s household into Egypt occurred in 2238, 215 years after the call of Abram in 2023 and 215 years before the Exodus in 2453, then Israel spent exactly half of the 430 years in Canaan and half in Goshen.

Point 2

Concerning the Pharaohs during Israel’s time in Egypt, it’s entirely possible that there are none that go unmentioned in the narrative.

The angry impulsiveness of Joseph’s Pharaoh (Genesis 40:2, 22) and his readiness to appoint Joseph as his right-hand man could imply that he was young, poorly counseled, and in need of a father figure, such that even though Joseph was only thirty at the time, he was still older than Pharaoh.

Joseph became governor in 2229. If his Pharaoh was 20 at the time, let’s say he lived to be 110 like Joseph. That would put his death in 2319. Moses would have killed the Egyptian (Exodus 2:12) 41 years before the Exodus (Acts 7:23-24), which would be 2412. If the Pharaoh who “did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8) came directly after Joseph’s Pharaoh and was also Moses’ adoptive grandfather, that would put 93 years between the beginning of his solo reign and Moses’ flight to Midian. If he was 20 years old when he became Pharaoh (which might explain his foolish decision to persecute the Hebrews who previously represented salvation for Egypt), and he died shortly after Moses fled, he could have died around the age of 113, which was definitely a realistic lifespan during that period in Bible history.

The Exodus Pharaoh would have died in the Red Sea 41 years after Moses fled (or a little less), which would be perfectly reasonable even if he was in his 60s when he began reigning. Therefore, while not guaranteed, it’s likely there were only three Pharaohs from Joseph’s governorship to the Exodus.

Point 3

In Leviticus 25, we read that Israel was to keep a Sabbath year for the land every seven years, when they were to do no sowing or reaping of either field or vineyard. The land was divided in 2499, and thus 2500 would be the first full year of possession, which means 2506 would be the first Sabbath year in the Promised Land.

Interestingly, because the Israelites entered the Promised Land right at the beginning of 2493, Joshua’s war of conquest lasted seven years, and the land was divided in the seventh year. This fits with the emphasis of the Book of Joshua on the division of the land coinciding with “rest” from war (Joshua 14:15), corresponding to a Sabbath rest. Even more interestingly, 2499 is divisible by 7, meaning this Sabbath rest and the beginning of the counting of years of possession and cycles of Sabbaths in the Promised Land were synced up with the counting of cycles of seven years from the creation of the world.

Leviticus 25 also indicates that the year after every seventh Sabbath year was to be a Jubilee, where sold land was to return to its original owner and everyone was to be freed from bondservant-hood and returned to his possession. I agree with Jordan that the Jubilee was simply the first year of a new cycle of seven Sabbaths, not an extra 50^th year (Jubilee, Part 1). The distance from seventh Sabbath to seventh Sabbath and from Jubilee to Jubilee would thus be 49 years, while each Jubilee would be 50 years after the previous cycle’s seventh Sabbath.

The first 50 years of Leviticus 25:10 were counted starting from the Sabbath of the war of conquest, 2499. The first full cycle of seven Sabbaths followed by a Jubilee would thus have the seventh Sabbath in 2548 and the Jubilee in 2549.

Amazingly, 2499 is divisible by 49. Therefore, not only were the Sabbaths of Israel a mathematical continuation from creation, but so were the Jubilees! 2499 would be a seventh Sabbath and 2500, the first year of Israel’s possession of the Land of Canaan, would be a Jubilee. The Israelites thus began their possession and cultivation of the Land on a Jubilee and were supposed to return to their possessions on every subsequent Jubilee.

Point 4

Moses first stood before Pharaoh in 2452, shortly after the 50^th Jubilee from creation (2451). It was that Jubilee which initiated the process of the Israelites returning to Canaan to take hold of their possession. Therefore, it’s likely that the reason Moses’ initial attempt to deliver the Israelites at the age of 40 was unsuccessful (Acts 7:25) was because God was waiting for the 50^th Jubilee to set the Israelites free, which of course dovetailed with other considerations, like Moses needing to mature as a leader and the Israelites needing to cry out for deliverance.