400/430 years and 4th generation from Promise to Abram

Biblical chronology is a fascinating and frustrating field of study.  One major problem is dependence upon Egyptian and Assyrian "anchors" of synchronism.  Another problem is the minimalist movement of Near East archaeology which began in the 1970's.  The following information is from my book, "Pharaohs of the Bible: 4004 - 960 B.C."

YHWH's Initial Promise of the land of Canaan to Abram's Seed

"1 Now the LORD had said to Abram, Get you out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you: 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed. 4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. 6 And Abram passed through the land to the place of Sichem, to the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 And the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, To your seed will I give this land: and there built he an altar to the LORD, who appeared to him. 8 And he removed from there to a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he built an altar to the LORD, and called on the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. 10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land." (Genesis 12:1-10 American King James) 

1996 Abram was born in Ur of Chaldee

1921 God's promise to Abram in Canaan; Abram continued on to Egypt due to famine

1919 Abram returned to Hebron in Canaan

1918 Abram and Lot separated due to abundance of flocks

1916 Lot dwelt in Sodom

1913 Abram rescued Lot and received blessing of Melchizedek

1910 Ishmael was born when Abram was 86 years old

1896 Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old; his new name given one year prior

1891 Ishmael mocked Isaac when Isaac was weaned, beginning 400 years of persecution

1821 Abraham died

Abram left Egypt with lots of stuff, including Egyptian servants. (God promised Abram's seed would also leave Egypt with lots of stuff.)  Abram got Haggai, Sarai's Egyptian servant, pregnant; thus Ishmael is half Hebrew and half Egyptian.  Isaac was fully Hebrew.  Ishmael "mocking" Isaac was the first time an Egyptian mocked/afflicted a Hebrew.

afflicted is #6031 in Strongs: anah in Hebrew: A primitive root (possibly rather identical with H6030 through the idea of looking down or browbeating); to depress literally or figuratively, transitively or intransitively (in various applications). (sing is by mistake for H6030.): - abase self, afflict (-ion, self), answer [by mistake for H6030], chasten self, deal hardly with, defile, exercise, force, gentleness, humble (self), hurt, ravish, sing [by mistake for H6030], speak [by mistake for H6030], submit self, weaken, X in any wise.

"13 And he said to Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come here again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." (Genesis 15:13-16) 

"16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He said not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot cancel, that it should make the promise of none effect." (Galatians 3:16-17) 

 

This graphic is how I resolved the Scriptures cited above.

Phoenician Judgment Postponed 400 years

The Amorites

“And he said to Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come here again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” (Genesis 15:13-21)

 [The map is from Wikimedia Commons under GNU license.]

The LORD (YHWH) lists 10 tribes which the descendants of Abraham were to drive out of the promised land between the Nile and the Euphrates rivers, but makes a special reference to the wealthiest of those tribes, the Amorites. The land of Amurru was north of Canaan, roughly from Tyre and Damascus north to Aleppo. Those who traded at their major ports for cedar and their unique dyes of purple and crimson (phoinos in Greek) called the area Phoenicia. A tribe of Amorites also lived in the lands west of the Jordan river. The first pharaoh of the fourth dynasty, Sneferu (1977-1953 BC), bought cedars from Byblos. Yahweh's promise to Abram came in 1921 BC when He decreed 400 years for the sins of the wealthy city-states of Amurru/Phoenicia to reach their peak of wickedness.

Exodus 12:41 and Galatians 3:16-17 reference the exodus as being 430 years from the Genesis 15 promise which was given to Abram on Nisan 14, 1921 BC. But the actual 400 years is from when Ishmael, the half-Egyptian son of Hagar, mocked Isaac when he was weaned in 1891 BC. The exodus occurred during the reign of Ramesses I on Nisan 14, 1491 BC.

The United States

The Amorites/Phoenicians avoided war and were the wealthiest nation of the old world. The United States of America have had unprecedented peace, and have been the wealthiest nation of the new world for most of its existence.

On April 29, 1607, a group from England erected a seven-foot cross at Cape Henry (now Virginia Beach), and Rev. Robert Hunt prayed the following: 

“Almighty God, by your great mercy we have reached this land, which we now claim and establish for Thy eternal purposes. We ask thee to open hearts and enlighten the understanding of the peoples of these shores to comprehend the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.” (see CBN's First Landing the Movie)

The King James Version of the Holy Bible was completed in 1611, and Pilgrims brought it to America in 1620. Our country had every physical and spiritual advantage, but each generation must choose to love and obey King Jesus and disciple the next generation. Our heavenly Father graciously sent spiritual revivals and great awakenings to renew people's faith in the land.

Although no decree was made regarding the USA (unless you believe it is “mystery Babylon”, I certainly see a pattern which would signify the judgment and soon collapse of the United States.