THE ATHEIST'S COMPLAINT:
How long did the Hebrews dwell in Egypt, 430 years (Exodus 12:40) or 400 years (Acts 7:6)?

RESPONSE:
Let us first note the texts which are under consideration:

"Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years." (Exodus 12:40)

"But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years." (Acts 7:6)

Though both Moses and Stephen are speaking about the children of Israel in Egypt, they are not looking at their stay there from exactly the same perspective. In Exodus 12, Moses reveals that they spent four hundred and thirty years in Egypt, to the day (Exodus 12:41). Stephen speaks of only four hundred years, but qualifies his statement. The Egyptians brought "...them into bondage and oppress(ed) them four hundred years." That is exactly what the Lord foretold Abraham, "...Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years." (Genesis 15:13).

What of the thirty years, then? Those were years at the beginning of their stay in Egypt, when they were not in bondage, nor oppressed or afflicted. It was not until after the death of Joseph, and the coming of a new Pharoah that the four hundred years of oppression began.

There is no contradiction.

This article is a response to Skeptic's Annotated Bible

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