Commentary for Genesis 15:13

כי גר יהיה זרעך THAT THY SEED SHALL BE A STRANGER — From the birth of Isaac until Israel left Egypt was a period of 400 years. How so? Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob was born, and Jacob when he went down to Egypt himself stated, (Genesis 47:9) “The days of the years of my sojournings are a hundred and thirty years”, making together 190 years. In Egypt they were 210 years — corresponding to the numerical value of the word רדו (see Rashi in Genesis 42:2) — making altogether 400 years. If, however, you say that they were in Egypt 400 years — well, Kohath was one of those who went down to Egypt with Jacob; go and add up the years of Kohath (130), those of Amram (137), and the 80 years that Moses was old when Israel left Egypt, and you only have about 350, and you really have to deduct all the years that Kohath lived after Amram was born, and those that Amram lived after the birth of Moses (Megillah 9a).

THAT THY SEED SHALL BE A STRANGER. This is a verse that is to be transposed, its purport being that “thy seed shall be a stranger for four hundred years in a land that is not theirs, and they shall enslave them, and they shall afflict them.” He has thus not specified the length of the period of servitude and affliction.
There are many cases in Scripture where verses must be transposed if they are to be interpreted properly. Thus: There came unto me the Hebrew servant, who thou hast brought unto us, to mock me;²⁸¹Further, 39:17. The meaning being: “There came unto me to mock me the Hebrew servant.…” And all countries came into Egypt to buy corn to Joseph;²⁸²Ibid., 41:57. The meaning being: “And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph.…” For whosoever eateth leavened bread, that soul shall be cut off from Israel, from the first day until the seventh day;²⁸³Exodus 12:15. The meaning being: “For whosoever eateth leavened bread, from the first day until the seventh day, that soul.…” In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats;²⁸⁴Isaiah 2:20. The meaning being: “In that day a man shall cast away to the moles and to the bats his idols.…” Come, and hearken, and I will declare, all ye that fear G-d, what He hath done for my soul;²⁸⁵Psalms 66:16. The meaning being: “All ye that fear G-d, come.…” They cry unto Me, My G-d we Israel know Thee;²⁸⁶Hosea 8:2. The meaning being: “Unto Me crieth Israel, ‘My G-d, we know Thee.’” And they shall be Mine, saith the Eternal of hosts, in the day that I do make, even Mine own treasure, and I will spare them.²⁸⁷Malachi 3:17. The meaning being: “And they shall be Mine treasure, saith the Eternal.…” There are many other such verses.
The sense of the verse is: “Even though I tell you that I have given this land to your children, you should surely know that before I give it to them they shall be strangers for four hundred years in a land not belonging to them, and they shall also enslave them and afflict them.”
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said [that the verse should be interpreted as follows]: “You should surely know that your children shall be strangers in servitude and affliction until the end of a four hundred year period commencing from this day of the covenant.” If so, G-d informed Abraham of the time of the redemption, but He did not inform him of the exact length of the exile. This too is correct.

Know for sure. God’s main point here was that the inheritance of the Land had to wait until the sin of the Emorites was complete (v. 16). Along the way, however, He revealed the suffering that would befall some of Avraham’s offspring when they failed to live up to their obligations.

ויאמר לאברם, He said to Abram, etc. Why did G'd say ידע תדע, instead of simply תדע, know! Why did the Torah stress the word גר in גר יהיה זרעך, instead of the more customary זרעך יהיה גר? The Torah does not usually mention what happens before having stated to whom it is going to happen! Why does the Torah not make it clear when and to whom the various stages of being a stranger, being enslaved, and being afflicted apply? Will Abraham's descendants experience all these stages of unpleasantness for the whole of the 400 years, or will some experience some of the afflictions and others only being strangers such as history has taught us?

ויאמר...בארץ לא להם, which will never be theirs. G’d describes the lands in which the Israelites will be exiled as countries which were not included among those of which G’d had said that Avram’s descendants would inherit them. They would remain strangers in a country or countries not theirs until the conclusion of the period of 400 years of which G’d speaks here. G’d speaks of 400 years and an additional 30 years commencing now that G’d revealed this to him. [his descendants could not begin to be exiles until Yitzchok was born, 30 years after the date of this vision. Ed.] This prophecy was fulfilled, the Jewish people leaving Egypt at the conclusion of 400 years after the birth of Yitzchok, or 430 years from the date of these revelations. On the face of it, in light of Avram having been 75 years old when he migrated from Charan, we can only account for 425 years from that time until the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt. We need to assume therefore that the vision involving the 400 years was experienced by Avram while in Charan, five years before he moved to Canaan. At any rate, G’d did not elaborate how many of these 400 years would be spent in Egypt, or even if any would be spent in Egypt. Our sages however, (Seder Olam chapter 3) have said that 210 years of the 400 are accounted for by the stay in Egypt, basing themselves on an allusion contained in the numerical value of the word רדו being 210. (compare Genesis 42,2 רדו שמה). The details of the 400 years are as follows: we start with Yizchok’s birth. He was 60 years at the time Yaakov was born, and Yaakov, by his own account was 130 years old when he answered Pharaoh’s question as to his age. We therefore have the first 190 years accounted for as predating the descent of the family to Egypt. It is totally impossible to believe that the 400 years referred to by G’d’s announcement to Avram were all spent in Egypt, seeing that Kehot, a grandson of Yaakov was among those who moved to Egypt with his family, and his age at death is given by the Torah as 133 years. We know that Moses was 80 years at the time when he made his first appearance before Pharaoh, about a year before the Exodus. If the Israelites had stayed in Egypt for 400 years, then Amram, Moses‘ father, even if he had been born during the last year of the life of Kehat would have lived for 187 years assuming that Moses was born during the last year of Amram’s life. Both of these assumptions are highly unlikely, as is the likelihood of Amram living more that 187 years without the Torah mentioning any of this. In fact, the Torah specifically states that Amram lived to the age of 137 (Exodus 6,20) It is most likely therefore, that the count of 400 years does indeed begin with the birth of Yitzchok. As long as Avram’s descendants were so few in number, they most certainly deserved to be described as “strangers” even in the land of Canaan, seeing they did not own even a small part of it. If you add the fact that Yitzchok spent many years in the land of the Philistines, and Yaakov spent 20 years with Lavan in Aram, a land which would never be part of Eretz Yisrael, neither of them could truly be perceived as a resident of the land of Canaan.

כי גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם ועבדום וענו אותם ארבע מאות שנה, “for your descendants will be strangers in a land which is not theirs, and during that period they (the owners) will enslave them and oppress them for four hundred years.” Nachmanides explains our verse as being truncated, the meaning being that while the offspring of Avraham would be strangers in a foreign land for 400 years, the nature and duration of their enslavement and oppression not having been defined. Ibn Ezra understands our verse as a prophecy describing the length of the enslavement but not the length of the status as exiles.

That Kehos lived after Amram’s birth ... Also, [you must subtract] Kehos’s years before he descended to Egypt. Since the enslavement itself was not 400 years, we are forced to say that “for four hundred years” refers to “your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs,” rather than to “they will enslave them and oppress them.” Indeed, from the time Yitzchok was born, they were as foreigners in various lands, as it is written (Bereishis 26:6): “Yitzchok settled in Gerar.” [And there are many verses that] use the term ויגר, which connotes being a foreigner. Although the enslavement was only for 210 years, they were foreigners from the time Yitzchok was born.

ועבדום, וענו אותם, “they will serve them; and they (the masters) will oppress them.” This was the answer to Avraham’s question: במה אדע כי אירשנה, “how will I know that I will indeed inherit it (the land) even vicariously,” in verse 8, where Avraham asked for some kind of guarantee that G–d’s promise to him would not be negated by his descendants forfeiting their claim to its fulfillment.

ידוע תדע, G-d used the same words when punishing Avram that Avram had used when asking a question which was sinful. His descendants were ordained to endure exile as an example of matching the punishment to the crime. (Compare Tanchuma Kedoshim, 13) [only according to the exegetes who interpreted Avram’s question as demonstrating doubt in G-d’s promise. Ed.]

בארץ לא להם IN A LAND THAT IS NOT THEIRS — It does not say here in the land of Egypt but in a land that is not theirs; for soon after Isaac was born it states, (Genesis 21:34) “And Abraham sojourned (ויגר) [in the land of the Philistines]”; in regard to Isaac it is said, (Genesis 26:3) “Sojourn (גור) in this land (Canaan)”, and of Jacob Scripture states, (Psalms 105:23) “Jacob sojourned (גר) in the land of Ham”, whilst of his sons it is said, (Genesis 47:4) “To sojourn (לגור) in the land (of Egypt) have we come”.

ועבדום, the Egyptians will enslave them, and will oppress them. It is not unusual to apply the prefix ב to people who have been enslaved, as we find a similar construction in Leviticus 25,39 לא תעבוד בו עבודת עבד, “do not make him perform the menial duties performed by a slave.” Or Jeremiah 34,10, לבלתי עבד בם, “not to keep them enslaved.” The word עבדם i.e. עבודה is used to describe the status of the person described, whereas the word וענו refers to the manner in which such slaves would be treated.

It does not state, “In the Land of Egypt” ... Rather it is written, “In a land that is not theirs” — as they [resided in various lands that were not theirs and] did not descend to Egypt until the end of Yaakov’s life.

I believe the Torah repeated the words ידע תדע for three separate reasons. 1) Our sages said: "our forefathers descended to Egypt on account of a relatively minor sin, i.e. Abraham having asked: 'How will I know that I will inherit'" (Genesis 15,8)? G'd answered him; ידוע, "know! that because you asked, תדע you should be aware that your descendants will first be strangers, etc." 2) Seeing that G'd's response to Abraham's question contained both a pleasant and an unpleasent message, i.e. enslavement and subsequent redemption, G'd told Abraham that just as surely as there would first be enslavement, this would be followed by redemption. 3) Our sages (Berachot 18) commented on Deut. 34,4: זאת הארץ אשר נשבעתי לאברהם, ליצחק וליעקב לאמד לזרעך אתננה, that G'd told Moses לאמר, to tell the patriarchs that He had fulfilled the oath He had sworn to all of them regarding the land of Israel. In view of this the repeated use of the expression ידע תדע refers to both the present and the eventual status of that land.

ארבע מאות שנה, “for four hundred years.” This is a separate revelation from G–d to Avraham. Another interesting explanation is that the numerical value of the letters in Avraham’s question במה adds up to 400 when you use the system known as א-ת, ב-ש, ג-ר, i.e. substituting the letters commencing by reading the alphah-bet backwards. Furthermore, the Talmud in tractate Nedarim folio 32, comes to the conclusion that the Jewish people had to suffer the penalty for their founding father having asked G–d for proof that His promise would come true, [although seeing that he had been unable to have children until that time would seem to us as a reasonable question. Ed.] Another reason given is that when Avraham agreed to the King of Sodom to have his citizens whom he had taken prisoner restored to him, he is punished for missing out on a chance to convert these people to monotheism. (Compare Genesis 14,21)

ועבדום, “they will serve the rulers of that and other lands.” The subject is Avram’s descendants. וענו אותם, They (the nations), will oppress them during that period.

The reason that the word גר is stressed by being placed ahead of what is going to happen, is to inform us that the status of being an alien commenced already at this time. Abraham's life from here on in was part of the decree. Abraham should not think that his descendants' history would parallel his own experience to the extent that they would be aliens only part of these 400 years. Abraham was not to misunderstand the meaning of the words כי גר יהיה זרעך as applying only at some time in the future. That period would commence the day he would have descendants, i.e. with the birth of Isaac. This was also a pleasant aspect of the decree in that all the years Isaac and Jacob lived either in the land of Canaan or at Laban's were counted as part of the 400 years.

Should you argue that this could have been expressed equally well by use of the normal syntax כי זרעך גר יהיה, know that G'd wisely phrased it differently in order to reveal that He had not decreed slavery and oppression for all of Abraham's descendants. G'd wanted that Abraham should have the satisfaction of knowing that some of his descendants would only have to suffer being aliens, nothing worse. It is as if G'd had said to Abraham: "you will have a share in your descendants," i.e. they will only suffer being strangers without suffering anything worse. Had G'd used the word זרעך first, this would have created the wrong impression. By inserting the word יהיה between the words גר and זרעך the Torah makes clear that some of Abraham's descendants would experience only גרות. The descendants referred to were Isaac, Jacob, and all of Jacob's sons. As a result what sounded like 400 years of enslavement and oppression actually was reduced to 210 years, the years remaining before the Exodus after the last of Joseph's brothers had died. Even the tribe of Levi who, according to our sages never performed slave labour, did not completely escape the aspects of enslavement and oppression seeing that its babies too were subject to drowning. Moses' own experience when his basket stood in the bulrushes at the banks of the Nile, is the best proof for the anxieties suffered by even the most prominent families of the Levites.