Komentarz do Wyjścia 12:40

אשר ישבו במצרים WHO ABODE IN EGYPT after the other settlements (i. e. including those also) which they had made as strangers in a land that was not theirs (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:40).

NOW THE TIME THAT THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DWELT IN EGYPT WAS FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS. “From the birth of Isaac till now there were four hundred years. [We must reckon from that event, for only] from the time that Abraham had a child [from Sarah] could the prophecy, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs,²⁹⁹Genesis 15:13. And they shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. be fulfilled. And there had been thirty years since that decree made at the ‘covenant between the parts’³⁰⁰Ibid., Verse 18. until the birth of Isaac. And when you will reckon the four hundred years from the birth of Isaac, you will find that from the time they came into Egypt, until the time they left, it was two hundred and ten years.” Thus the language of Rashi, and it is also the opinion of our Rabbis.³⁰¹Bereshith Rabbah 44:21. “That thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs. This means [that the four-hundred year period will begin] from the time seed will be seen by you.”
The explanation, however, is not correct in every detail. It is written, And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran,³⁰²Genesis 12:4. and the event of the “covenant between the parts”³⁰⁰Ibid., Verse 18. took place a long time after that.³⁰³And from the “covenant between the parts” until the birth of Isaac, as Rashi stated, thirty years elapsed. How then is it possible that Abraham was one hundred years old at the birth of Isaac (Genesis 21:5) if he was seventy-five years old when he left Haran, and the covenant took place long after his departure from Haran? We must therefore explain the case satisfactorily in accordance with what we have been taught in the Seder Olam:³⁰⁴Literally: “Order of the World.” This is an historical chronicle of events from the time of creation to the destruction of the Second Temple. It was authored by Rabbi Yosei ben Chalafta, a disciple of Rabbi Akiba. The text quoted here is found in Chapter 1. “Our father Abraham was seventy years old when G-d spoke to him at the ‘covenant between the parts,’ as it is said, And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years … that all the hosts of the Eternal went out from the land of Egypt.³⁰⁵Verse 41 here. “And you cannot find four hundred and thirty years unless the “covenant between the parts” took place thirty years before the birth of Isaac” (Yaakov Emden, in his commentary on the Seder Olam). Then he returned to Haran and stayed there five years, as it is said, And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.”³⁰²Genesis 12:4. The sense of the verse then is to state that when Abraham finally left Haran, his native land, never to return again to his father’s house, he was seventy-five years old.³⁰⁶And the “covenant between the parts” accordingly took place five years before his final departure from Haran, since from the time of the covenant to the birth of Isaac, as Rashi stated, thirty years had passed.
In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, it is my opinion that G-d said to Abraham, “Know of a surety that before I give you this land, thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs for a long time — four hundred years.” He did not care to mention the additional thirty years³⁰⁷Ramban thus introduced a new explanation to help solve the problem, which was as follows: Since in Genesis 15:13, the length of the exile was foretold to be four hundred years, how is it that Scripture mentions here in Verse 40 an additional thirty years? Rashi answered that the four-hundred year period represents the time from Isaac’s birth till the exodus, and the additional thirty years represent the preceding years that elapsed between “the covenant between the parts” and the birth of Isaac. Accordingly, we were forced to say that the covenant took place five years before Abraham’s final departure from Haran. Ramban suggests that the intent of the verse in Genesis 15:13 is also four hundred and thirty years, for although the additional thirty years are not clearly written in the verse, they are nevertheless alluded to, as is explained further on. In his commentary on the following verse, Ramban will revert to this theme for further elucidation. to him [i.e., Abraham], because He told him further on, And in the fourth generation they shall come back hither,³⁰⁸Genesis 15:16. thereby informing him that they will not come back immediately at the end of four hundred years until the fourth generation when the sin of the Amorite will be full.³⁰⁸Genesis 15:16. Thus He alluded to these thirty years, for the Israelites’ staying in the desert for forty years was not on account of the sin of the Amorite not yet being full, [since the four hundred and thirty years were completed at the time of the exodus; their stay in the desert was on account of their own misdeeds].
Accordingly, the purport of the verse [before us] is as follows: Now the time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt was until four hundred and thirty years, since they lived there in order to fulfill the period of time set [for Abraham’s seed] to live in a land that is not theirs. Thus Scripture informed us that now when they went forth from Egypt, the exile decreed upon them was completed. He brought them forth from servitude to [complete] freedom, and it was not that He took them out from Egypt and they were yet to be strangers in a land not their own. Now because He has already mentioned this matter and informed us thereof [in the section of the “covenant between the parts”], there was no need to prolong it [here], for this verse [here] is intended only to inform us of the thirty years that were added to [the four hundred years mentioned specifically to Abraham]. This is why He says it briefly, i.e., that in Egypt were completed the four hundred years mentioned to their father Abraham and known to them, and an additional thirty years. Then He reverts and says, And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years³⁰⁹Verse 41. of their exile, they went out from the land of Egypt to perpetual freedom.
A similar case is the verse, And the days in which we came from Kadesh — barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered were thirty and eight years.³¹⁰Deuteronomy 2:14. This is to complete the reckoning. The journey from Kadesh–barnea to the brook Zered did not take thirty-eight years. Instead, they abode in Kadesh many years,³¹¹Ibid., 1:46. and then they journeyed from there and turned back by the way to the Red Sea,³¹²Ibid., 2:1. and in the thirty-eighth year they went over the brook Zered. The purport of the verse is thus: and the days in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered were until thirty and eight years had passed. Similarly: Happy is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days³¹³Daniel 12:12. means [happy is he who waits and reaches] the end of those days, not the days themselves.

אשר ישבו במצרים שלושים שנה וארבע מאות שנה, the sum of 430 is arrived at by commencing the count from the time G’d took Avraham out of Ur Casdim in order to conclude the covenant of the pieces with him. During that conversation with Avraham, G’d had specifically taken credit for taking Avraham out of Ur Casdim, (generally understood as saving him from the fire of Nimrod’s furnace when Avraham had been a voluntary martyr for his belief in the G’d of heaven. Genesis 15,7) This is the reason why the author of Seder Olam, an ancient historical text, describes Avraham as having been 70 years old at that time.

ומושב בני ישראל אשר ישבו במצרים (עד סוף) שלושים שנה וארבע מאות שנה, counting from the time when G’d spoke to Avraham at the covenant between the pieces. At that time Avraham was 70 years of age (according to Seder Olam). On the other hand, the “400 years” commenced when Avraham had fathered Yitzchok at 100 years of age. I have explained all this in my commentary on the covenant of the pieces.

ומושב בני ישראל אשר ישבו במצרים שלשים שנה וארבע מאות שנה, “ According to Rashi we have to divide up these years into the thirty years between the promise to Avraham of his children inheriting the land of Canaan after a period of being strangers or slaves or both, and the birth of Avraham’s son Yitzchok who would be the carrier of his name, and the 400 years commencing with that time, Yitzchok himself being a stranger in the land of Canaan, moving about and not owning any land. Rashi bases himself on an ancient Midrash. (Mechilta, also Bereshit Rabbah 44,21) according to which the last 210 of these years commenced with the arrival of Yaakov in Egypt. Nachmanides writes that this appears incorrect, seeing that as long as Avraham was alive we cannot perceive any of his children as having been in exile. The meaning of the promise in Genesis 15 is simply that G’d told him that his descendants, before this promise would be fulfilled, would experience many years of exile and even slavery, the period in question extending over 400 years. G’d, at the time did not bother to inform Avraham about the extra 30 years we read about here, seeing that He had already told him that taking over the land of Canaan had to await the time when the accumulated sins of the Emorite would spill over the allotted measure, so that G’d could legally dispossess them. Accordingly, the period that the Children of Israel dwelled in Egypt, (starting with the descent of Yaakov, or with the arrival of Joseph 22 years earlier) are 430. The 30 years are a hint that the extra years, just as the years spent in the desert, were not a period during which the measure of the Emorites’ sin had not yet been complete, but this delay was solely due to the sins of the Israelites themselves. The verse before us simply informs us that the duration of the stay of the Israelites in the land of Egypt until the allocated time was up was 430 years. The last 30 years had nothing to do with the promise/decree announced by G’d to Avraham in Genesis chapter 15. We find a similar construction in Deuteronomy 2,14 והימים אשר הלכנו מקדש ברנע עד אשר עברנו את נחל זרד שלשים ושמונה שנה עד תם כל הדור אנשי המלחמה וגו, “The number of years which we walked from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the river Zered were 38 years, until the entire generation of men of military age had died, etc.” The Israelites who had been encamped for 19 years at Kadesh Barnea (according to all our sources) certainly did not wander another 38 years in the desert. Moses describes simply that the entire period beginning with the decree that the men of military age at the time of the sin of the spies would die in the desert, until the last of these men had died, took 38 years. We must learn from all this that when someone sinned and a penalty such as exile is decreed for him during which he is not free to live his life according to his own agenda, this does not automatically mean that at the end of the exile he will be free to do as he pleases during the remainder of his life. If he becomes guilty of any additional offence, he will, of course, be punished for such an offence separately. The promise to Avraham by G’d that his descendants would eventually inherit the land of Canaan and that it would take 400 years for that promise to be fulfilled, simply meant that it would not be less than 400 years. It did not mean that at the end of those 400 years possession would become automatic. If the Torah therefore speaks of 430 years having elapsed during which the Israelites had dwelled in the land of Egypt, this means that the extra years had been added on by G’d on account of serious sins committed by Avraham’s descendants. The promise to Avraham was, that as compensation for the 400 years of waiting for the redemption, these people would leave the land of their oppression (remember that no specific country had been named) with great material possessions. The word אחרי, “after,” mentioned in chapter 15 of Genesis, hardly ever means “immediately after.” Furthermore, there are no promises by G’d which are so ironclad that they could not become null and void if the recipient became guilty of a major sin prior to the time the promise was due. [the exceptions are promises worded as an oath.] It is common knowledge that the Israelites, while in Egypt, were guilty of numerous and serious sins, including the cardinal sin of not circumcising their male babies. Ezekiel chapter 20 recounts a list of such sins by the Israelites committed both in Egypt and subsequently in the desert. It is therefore easy to understand why G’d added 30 years to the number of years originally decreed. In fact they should have stayed still longer, had it not been for the communal prayer in which for the first time in over 80 years the Israelites pleaded with G’d, as described in Exodus 2,23, and G’d’s responding in The Jewish farmer, when offering the first fruit of his respective crops recites a prayer/blessing during which he refers to G’d’s response to the people on that occasion. (compare Deuteronomy chapter 26. In verse 6 the farmer confesses that while in Egypt the Egyptians made sinners out of our people, i.e. וירעו אותנו המצרים. We all know that even after the Exodus, G’d was forced to delay arrival in the Holy Land and taking possession of it by another 40 years to give Him time for the Jewish people to replenish themselves as the generation who left Egypt had forfeited seeing G’d’s promise fulfilled in their lifetime. As a result, the fourth generation which should have returned to the land of Canaan did not do so, except for Calev and Joshua, and children who had been under 20 at the Exodus

ומושב בני ישראל אשר ישבו במצרים, “and the habitation of the Children of Israel during which they dwelled in Egypt, etc.” We find three separate sets of numbers for the ending of the exile and subsequent departure from Egypt. They are either 400 years, 430 years, or 210 years. The 400 years are calculated from the time Avraham’s descendants became strangers and experienced various problems either within the land of Canaan or outside of it. This was the fulfillment of the prophecy in Genesis 15,13: “they will serve them or even oppress them for 400 years.” These 400 years include both periods of being strangers and periods of being slaves. The 430 years are calculated since the birth of Yitzchack. [This is hard to understand though it appears in various manuscripts. Ed.] The 210 years refer to the length of the Jews’ stay in Egypt proper.
You will note that the Bible also gives three dates for the ending of the exile in the future (Daniel). The dates mentioned there are 1150 (years) 1290 (years) 1335 (years). We read in Daniel 8,13-14: “Then I heard a holy being speaking, and another holy being said to whoever it was who was speaking, ‘how long will what was seen in the vision last, the regular offerings be forsaken because of transgression, the sanctuary be surrendered and the heavenly host be trampled?’ He answered me: ‘for twenty-three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.’” The days and nights were calculated separately so that the number corresponds to the number 1150 mentioned earlier. “Days and nights” are years. We also have a verse (Daniel 12,11) “from the time the regular offering is abolished, and an appalling abomination is set up, it will be a thousand and two hundred and ninety days.” Immediately afterwards it is written: “happy the man who waits and reaches one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.” The reason G’d mentioned three different “ends” of the exile in Egypt all of which corresponded to he truth was to make it easier for us to bear the long exile we find ourselves in nowadays. We must believe that the three separate dates given in the Book of Daniel are also all true, though we have not yet figured out precisely how to understand each number. We may be certain of one thing. If we deserve it the redemption will occur on the earliest of the three dates mentioned, if not on the middle one or the last one. It is impossible for the redemption to occur later than the last date described in Daniel. Thus wrote Rabbeinu Chananel.

And thirty years passed from when the decree of “between the pieces” was decreed. . . Re”m explains in Parshas Lech Lecha that Avraham was seventy at the decree of “between the pieces,” and so it says in Seder Olam.

ומושב בני ישראל אשר ישבו במצרים, we find in connection with the redemption from Egypt 3 different dates of termination all of which relate or appear to relate to the same event. The numbers are: “400 years,” i.e. the prediction in Genesis chapter 15 to Avraham; we find the number 430 years in our verse here. Finally, we have the number 210 years. In order to reconcile these numbers we must remember that the number 400 refers to the time from the birth of Yitzchok. Seeing G’d’s promise to Avraham concerned “his descendants,” any count could not begin until Avraham had such descendants, i.e. Yitzchok. G’d had told him that his descendants would be known through Yitzchok, (not through Ishmael or the sons of Keturah) The number 430 begins with the date when Avraham had been told about his future by G’d at the covenant between the pieces in chapter 15 in Genesis. The number 210 were the years during which Avraham’s descendants were not free men living in what would become their own country in the future. During the latter 86 years of these 210 years they were cruelly enslaved and abused. During the first 124 years of their stay in Egypt, until the death of the last surviving brother of Joseph they enjoyed freedom in Egypt.
It is interesting that we find three dates about the redemption in the future mentioned also in the Book of Daniel. There we are told about 1) 1150 years; 2) 1290 years; 3) 1335 years. I am quoting from the first mention of redemption in Daniel 8,13-14: “Then I heard a holy being speaking, and another holy being said to whomever it was he was speaking to: ‘how long will what was seen in the vision last- the regular offering be forsaken because of transgression, the sanctuary be surrendered and the heavenly host be trampled?’ He answered me: “for twenty thee hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be cleansed.” Seeing that mornings and evenings were counted as separate, what are meant are half this number i.e.1150 years.
It is further recorded there in chapter 12,11 that from the time the regular offering had been abolished and an appalling abomination had been set up in its place it will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Immediately after this, in verse 12 we read: “happy the one who waits and reaches one thousand three hundred and thirty five days.”
It had been G’d’s plan that the Exodus from Egypt would be described in terms of 3 separate conclusions, extremities. The reason was that G’d wanted to offer us who are awaiting the final redemption increased hope that it will eventually materialize. Having known that all three dates (prophecies) concerning the date of the redemption had come true, we would be encouraged in our faith that the promise held out in the Book of Daniel will also come true even if we appear to be at a loss to understand these numbers in advance of their becoming history.
One thing we can be pretty sure about: G’d allowed Himself fall back positions, as He has always done since the time He created man on earth, so that if we deserve to be redeemed earlier than G’d’s timetable foresaw He would be able to take advantage of that number. In the Torah too, G’d had not irrevocably decided beforehand that the redemption could not occur until the date it did occur, or even earlier.

(One verse (Exodus 12:40) states "And the habitation of the children of Israel in the land of Egypt was four hundred and thirty years," and another, (Genesis 15:13) "and they shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years." How are these two verses to be reconciled? Thirty years before the birth of Isaac, the covenant between the pieces (at which the above was said) was made, (and after his birth until the exodus four hundred years elapsed.) Rebbi says: One verse states: "and they shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years," and another, (Ibid. 16) "and the fourth generation will return here." How are these two verses to be reconciled? If they repent, I will redeem them by generations (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes). If not, I will redeem them by years. "And the habitation of the children of Israel in Egypt and in other lands was four hundred and thirty years." This is one of the verses that they (the seventy-two elders changed) in transcribing (the Torah) for King Ptolemy, viz. (Megillah 9a): Once King Ptolemy assembled seventy-two elders and placed each in a separate house (without telling them why he was doing so), and he said to each of them: "Transcribe for me [into Greek] the Torah of Moses your teacher." The Holy One Blessed be He placed goodly counsel in the heart of each, and they all wrote as one (Genesis 1:1): "G d created in the beginning" [so that Ptolemy could not structure the words as: "In the beginning, god was created."] [They wrote] (Ibid. 1:26): "I will make a man in image and form" [and not, literally: "Let us make a man, etc.", so that he would not be able to argue for a plurality of gods]. [They wrote] (Ibid. 2:2): "And He finished on the sixth day, and He rested on the seventh day" [and not, literally: "And G d finished His work on the seventh day," so that he could not argue that G d worked on the seventh day]. [They wrote] (Ibid. 5:2): "Male and female He created him" [and not, literally: "Male and female He created them" (which Ptolemy could use as an argument for the creation of two separate bodies)]. [They wrote] (Ibid. 11:7): "Let Me go down and confound their tongue" [and not, literally: "Let us go down", so that he would not find support for his polytheistic views]. [They wrote] (Ibid. 18:12): "And Sarah laughed bikrovehah" ["among her neighbors", and not, literally: "bekirbah" ("within her"), so that Ptolemy would not question why Sarah should be punished for laughing, and not Abraham, if they both laughed inwardly]. [They wrote] (Ibid. 49:7): "For in their wrath they killed an ox" [instead of: "a man" (so as not to give Ptolemy a pretext to call Jews murderers)], "and in their willfulness they razed a manger" [instead of: "an ox"]. [They wrote] (Exodus 4:20): "And Moses took his wife and his sons and he rode them on the bearer of men" [instead of "on the ass" (so that he not say that Moses lacked a horse or a camel)]. [They wrote] (Ibid. 12:40): "And the sojourning of the Jews, their dwelling in Egypt and in other lands was four hundred years." [(and not just: "their dwelling in Egypt," as per the verse, which would be open to dispute by Ptolemy's reckoning)]. [They wrote] (Ibid. 24:5): "And he sent the dignitaries of the children of Israel" [lest "youths" be taken demeaningly]; (Ibid. 11): "And to the dignitaries of the children of Israel, He did not stretch forth His hand." [They wrote] (Numbers 16:15): "Not one desirable object of theirs" [(instead of, literally: "Not one ass of theirs")] have I taken" [thus preventing Ptolemy from contending that it was only an ass that Moses had not taken]. [They wrote] (Deuteronomy 4:19): ["all the host of heaven …] which the L rd your G d bequeathed for illumination to all the peoples under the heavens" [and not, as in the verse: "which the L rd your G d bequeathed to all the peoples under the heavens," thus preventing him from construing this verse as a license for idolatry]. [They wrote] (Ibid. 17:3): "and he go and serve other gods … which I did not command to serve" [instead of, as per the verse: "which I did not command", lest he misconstrue it as: "which I did not command to exist" (and which "forced themselves" into creation against My will)]. And instead of (Leviticus 11:6): "And the arneveth (hare) […it is unclean to you"], they wrote: "the slender-legged"; for Ptolemy's wife was called "Arneveth", and Ptolemy would [otherwise] say: "The Jews have poked fun at me and put my wife's name in the Torah!" (Megillah 9a) (Exodus 12:41) "and it was at the end of four hundred and thirty years": We are hereby apprised that when the time arrived, the L rd did not delay them for one moment. On the fifteenth of Nissan the ministering angels came to Abraham to apprise him (that Isaac would be born); (on the fifteenth of Nissan he was born) and on the fifteenth of Nissan the decree went forth (in the covenant) between the pieces, it being written "And it was at the end" — there was one end for all of them. "and it was on this very same day that all the hosts of the L rd went forth": (The Shechinah, too, went forth with them.) And thus do you find, that whenever Israel is in bondage, the Shechinah is with them, viz. (Exodus 24:10) "And they saw the G d of Israel, and under His feet, as the work of a sapphire brick" (the sign of that bondage). And what is written of their redemption? (Ibid.) "and as the appearance of the heavens in brightness." And it is written (Isaiah 63:9) "In all of their sorrows, He sorrowed." This tells me only of communal sorrows. Whence do I derive (the same for) those of the individual? From (Psalms 91:15) "He will call upon Me and I will answer Him; I am with him in sorrow," and (Genesis 39:20-21) "And Joseph's master took him and placed him in the prison house … and the L rd was with Joseph, etc.", and (II Samuel 7:23) "… before Your people whom You have redeemed from Egypt, a nation and its G d." R. Eliezer says: Idolatry passed with Israel in the sea, viz. (Zechariah 10:11) "And a 'rival' passed in the sea, and struck waves in the sea." Which was that? The idol of Michah (viz. Shoftim 17:4). R. Akiva said (on II Samuel 7:23): Were it not explicitly written, it would be impossible to say it, Israel saying before the L rd, as it were, "You redeemed Yourself!" And thus do you find, that wherever they were exiled, the Shechinah was with them. They were exiled to Egypt — the Shechinah was with them, viz. (I Samuel 2:27) "Did I not reveal Myself to your father's house when they were in Egypt? They were exiled to Bavel — the Shechinah was with them, viz. (Isaiah 43:14) "For your sake I was exiled to Bavel." They were exiled to Eilam — the Shechinah was with them, viz. (Jeremiah 49:38) "and I set My throne in Eilam." They were exiled to Edom — the Shechinah was with them, viz. (Isaiah 63:1) "Who is This coming from Edom, His garments crimsoned, from Batzrah?" And when they return in the future, the Shechinah will be with them, viz. (Devarim 30:3) "And veshav the L rd your G d." It is not written "veheshiv" ("He will return" [you]), but "veshav" ("He [Himself] will return.") and it is written (Song of Songs 4:8) "With Me from Levanon (the Temple), My bride (Israel); with Me from Levanon come." Now is she (Israel) coming from Levanon? Is she not ascending to Levanon? (The intent is: You and I were exiled from Levanon) and we will ascend) together) to Levanon.

V. 40. Es heißt nicht: ושלשים שנה וארבע מאות שנה ישבו בני ישראל במצרים, sondern: ומושב אשר ישבו וגו׳. Nun heißt מושב nirgend sonst die Zeitdauer des Wohnens oder Sitzens, sondern durchweg die Örtlichkeit des Wohnens oder Sitzens, Wohnsitz, Sitz. Einmal heißt es auch die Art des Sitzens. So bewundert die Königin von Seba beim Salomo (1. Kön. 10. 5.) מושב עבדיו ומעמד משרתיו: die Art und Weise, wie seine Diener an seine Tafel gesetzt und seine Bedienten um seine Tafel gestellt waren. Wir glauben daher, auch hier den Sinn dahin verstehen zu dürfen: Dieselbe Art des Aufenthaltes, wie Israel in Mizrajim gewohnt, hatte vierhundertdreißig Jahre gedauert. Unmittelbar zuvor erfahren wir den letzten und prägnantesten Zug aus dieser Art des Aufenthaltes: sie wurden mit dem unfertigen Teig auf der Schulter aus dem Lande gejagt; in diesem einzigen letzten Moment konzentrierte sich noch das עברות, גרות und ענוי ihres Aufenthaltes in ungeschwächter Mächtigkeit. Und nun heißt es weiter: Dieses Fremdsein im Lande, das ihren Aufenthalt in Mizrajim charakterisierte, und alle die Ungeheuerlichkeiten erzeugte, hatte eigentlich vierhundertdreißig Jahre gedauert. So lange war Israel bereits als Fremdling, ohne berechtigte Heimat auf Erden, und es datiert dieses Geschick bis zu dem Augenblick zurück, in welchem ihrem Stammvater Abraham, der selbst ja als Fremdling auf fremdem Boden lebte, das Verhängnis des noch Jahrhunderte andauernden גרות angekündigt worden. Von Isaaks, des ersten זרע אברהם Geburt an waren vierhundert Jahre, von dem Tage an, an welchem das verhängnisreiche: ידוע תדע כי גר יהי׳ זרעך וגו׳ gesprochen worden, waren vierhundertdreißig Jahre verstrichen. Von Jakobs Einzug in Ägypten waren zweihundertzehn Jahre verflossen. Wenn, nach einer Überlieferung, die Siegesnacht Abrahams, ויחלק עליהם לילה (Bereschit 14, 15) die Nacht vom 14. auf den 15. Nissan gewesen, so kann jenes Verhängnis im ברית בין הבתרים am 15. Nissan ausgesprochen worden sein, und darin das בעצם היום הזה des folgenden Verses seine Erklärung finden.

שלשים שנה וארבע מאות שנה FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS — Altogether from the birth of Isaac until now were 400 years, and we must reckon from that event, for only from the time when Abraham had offspring from Sarah could the prophecy (Genesis 15:13) “Thy offspring shall be a stranger” be fulfilled; and there had been 30 years since that decree made at “the convenant between the parts” until the birth of Isaac. It is impossible to say that this means that they were 430 years in the land of Egypt alone, for Kohath was one of those who came into Egypt with Jacob (Genesis 46:11); go and reckon all his years and all the years of Amram his son and the whole eighty years of Moses, the latter’s son, until the Exodus and you will not find that they total to so many; and you must admit that Kohath had already lived many years before he went down to Egypt, and that many of Amram’s years are included in the years of his father Kohath, and that many of the 80 years of Moses are included in the years of his father Amram, so that you see that you will not find 400 years from the time of Israel’s coming into Egypt until the Exodus. You are compelled to admit, even though unwillingly, that the other settlements which the patriarchs made in lands other than Egypt come also under the name of “sojourning as a stranger” (גרות), including also that at Hebron, even though it was in Canaan itself, because it is said, (Genesis 35:27) “[Hebron] where Abraham and Isaac sojourned”, and it says, (Exodus 6:4) “[the land Canaan], the land of their sojournings wherein they sojourned”. Consequently you must necessarily say that the prophecy, “thy offspring shall be strangers… [four hundred years]” began only from the time when he had offspring. And only if you reckon the 400 years from the birth of Isaac will you find that from the time they came into Egypt until the time they left it, was 210 years (as alluded to in Genesis 15:13). This was one of the passages which they altered for king Ptolemy (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:40; Megillah 9a).