Shmot

Last time we started discussion of the apparent contradiction between the depictions of the exile in Egypt as 400 or 430 years and the indications that it was only 210 years. This condensed piece finishes our discussion. The Rashbam understands the pasuk (Shemot 12:40) as referring to the inhabitance of Bnei Yisrael in Egypt finishing a period of 430 years that began with Brit Bein Habetarim. It did not mean that the whole period had to do with Egypt. The Alshich arrives at a novel explanation based on the fact that the pasuk refers to Mitzrayim and not Eretz Mitzrayim. He says that Mitzrayim does not refer only to Egypt but to all different types of difficulties, based on the etymological associations of the word. The Malbim picked up on the fact the pasuk refers to the exodus of “all the bands of Hashem” and says that since there were heavenly beings that were with Bnei Yisrael in Egypt and since Bnei Yisrael were worked day and night, the time that they needed to stay in Egypt only needed to be, from a calendar perspective, half of the 430 mentioned by the pasuk.

As the Torah describes the preparations for the Exodus, the Torah writes that Bnei Yisrael lived in Egypt for 430 years (Shemot 12:40-41). Chazal ask that this seems to contradict the prophecy to Avraham that his descendants would be in a foreign land in which they would be enslaved and tortured for 400 years (Bereishit 15:13). They further contrasted it with a few hints that, from the time that Yaakov went down to Egypt, only 210 years passed until the Exodus, which is even less than half of the 430 that are mentioned.