Genesis 15:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 15:13
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Abram
לְאַבְרָ֗םle.'av.Ram
H87
Abram · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
Know
יָדֹ֨עַya.Do.a'
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal infinitive absolute
surety
תֵּדַ֜עte.Da'
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
seed
זַרְעֲךָ֗zar.'a.Kha
H2233
seed · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
stranger
גֵ֣רger
H1616
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
land
בְּאֶ֙רֶץ֙be.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
serve
וַעֲבָד֖וּםva.'a.va.Dum
H5647
to work (in any sense) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
afflict
וְעִנּ֣וּve.'i.Nu
H6031
to depress literally or figuratively · conjunction + verb, piel sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
four
אַרְבַּ֥ע'ar.Ba'
H702
four · cardinal number, both genders singular construct
hundred
מֵא֖וֹתme.'ot
H3967
a hundred · cardinal number, feminine plural absolute
years
שָׁנָֽהsha.Nah
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 7:6-7 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them e…
Exodus 1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raam…
Exodus 12:40-41 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
Acts 7:17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
Exodus 1:1-2 Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.
Galatians 3:17 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, canno…
Leviticus 19:34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers i…
Genesis 17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting poss…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 15:12-16
We have here a full and particular discovery made to Abram of God's purposes concerning his seed. Observe,
I. The time when God came to him with this discovery: When the sun was going down, or declining, about the time of the evening oblation, Kg1 18:36; Dan 9:21. Early in the morning, before day, while the stars were yet to be seen, God had given him orders concerning the sacrifices (Gen 15:5), and we may suppose it was, at least, his morning's work to prepare them and set them in order; when he had done this, he abode by them, praying and waiting till towards evening. Note, God often keeps his people long in expectation of the comforts he designs them, for the confirmation of their faith;…
Take me an heifer, &c.--On occasions of great importance, when two or more parties join in a compact, they either observe precisely the same rites as Abram did, or, where they do not, they invoke the lamp as their witness. According to these ideas, which have been from time immemorial engraven on the minds of Eastern people, the Lord Himself condescended to enter into covenant with Abram. The patriarch did not pass between the sacrifice and the reason was that in this transaction he was bound to nothing. He asked a sign, and God was pleased to give him a sign, by which, according to Eastern ideas, He bound Himself. In like manner God has entered into covenant with us; and in the glory of the…
Four hundred years - "Which began," says Mr. Ainsworth, "when Ishmael, son of Hagar, mocked and persecuted Isaac, Gen 21:9; Gal 4:29; which fell out thirty years after the promise, Gen 12:3; which promise was four hundred and thirty years before the law, Gal 3:17; and four hundred and thirty years after that promise came Israel out of Egypt, Exo 12:41."
John Gill on Genesis 15:13
And he said unto Abram,.... While he was in a deep sleep; this he said to him in a vision of prophecy:
know of a surety, or "in knowing thou shall or mayest know" (n); and be assured of it, being now told it by the Lord himself, who foreknows all things that ever come to pass; many of which he acquaints his people with beforehand, nor would he hide from Abram his friend what should befall his posterity, as follows:
that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs; this prophecy could not take place at this time, since Abram had then no seed; but at the birth of Isaac, in whom his seed was called, who sojourned, or was a stranger in Gerar, a part of the land of Canaan, as Jaco…
The Church Fathers
This word anticipates the sojourn of the people in Egypt, for they were to sojourn as it were in a land not their own. They would be reduced to slavery by the Pharaoh and mistreated in many ways by him and by the Egyptians. There is no discrepancy between what is said here and what is written in Exodus. There it is said, "After 430 years, the army of the Lord left the land of Egypt." Here: "After four hundred years." It should be noted that it is not said that they left when four hundred years were completed but rather after four hundred years, which leaves room for the thirty years.And the promise "I will judge the nation to which you will be enslaved" was realized in the very way described in Exodus: God afflicted the Egyptians with ten plagues, and in the end "they sank as lead in the mighty waters." Finally, they were to leave "with much baggage," as history would show. From this we learn that if God maltreats someone for a time, he does this not as a matter of indifference but only for some good purpose. Consider too whether this passage might also allude to the sojourn of the saints.
And it was said to him: Know for certain that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not their own, and they will enslave them, and oppress them for four hundred years, etc. This was very clearly prophesied about the people of Israel who were to serve in Egypt. Not that this people were to be afflicted for four hundred years in the same servitude under the Egyptians who oppressed them, but it was foretold that this would happen within the four hundred years. For four hundred years are called so because of the fullness of the number, although they are somewhat more; whether computed from the time these promises were made to Abraham, or from when Isaac was born because of the offspring of Abraham of whom these promises are spoken. They are counted from Abraham's seventy-fifth year when the first promise was made to him, to the exodus of Israel from Egypt, four hundred and thirty years, of which the Apostle thus makes mention: Now this I say, says he, the covenant confirmed by God, which was made four hundred and thirty years later, does not nullify the promise (Galatians 3:17). Therefore, these four hundred and thirty years could already be called four hundred, which are not much more; how much more so when a few of this number had already passed when these things were shown and said to Abraham in a vision, or when Isaac was born to his hundred-year-old father twenty-five years after the first promise; when of those four hundred and thirty, four hundred and five remained, which the Lord wished to call four hundred.
Dictionary and topics
Chronology — Is the arrangement of facts and events in the order of time. The writers of the Bible themselves do not adopt any standard era according to which they date events. Sometimes the years are reckoned,…
Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
Exodus — The great deliverance wrought for the children of Isreal when they were brought out of the land of Egypt with “a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm” (Ex 12:51; Deut. 26:8; Ps 114; 136), about…
Exodus, The — of the Israelites from Egypt. the common chronology places the date of this event at B.C. 1491, deriving it in this way:—In (1 Kings 6:1) it is stated that the building of the temple, in the forth…
Moses — Drawn (or Egypt. mesu, “son;” hence Rameses, royal son). On the invitation of Pharaoh (Gen. 45:17-25), Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years…
Abraham · General references — General references
Afflictions · God determines the continuance of — God determines the continuance of
Afflictions And Adversities · . — .
Condescension Of God · Enters into covenant with Abraham — Enters into covenant with Abraham
Covenant · By offering a sacrifice — By offering a sacrifice
Covenant, The · Made with: Abraham — Made with: Abraham
A deep sleep fell upon Abram. The vision is now mingled with a dream. Thus the Lord here joins those two kinds of communication together, which I have before related from Numbers 12:6, where it is said,
When I appear unto my servants the prophets,
I speak to them in a vision or a dream.'
mention has already been made of a vision: Moses now relates, that a dream was superadded. A horrible darkness intervened, that Abram might know that the dream is not a common one, but that the whole is divinely conducted; it has, nevertheless, a correspondence with the oracle then present, as God immediately afterwards explains in his own words, "Thou shalt surely know that thy seed shall be a stranger,"…
"And when the sun was just about to go down (on the construction, see Ges. 132), and deep sleep (תּרדּמה, as in Gen 2:21, a deep sleep produced by God) had fallen upon Abram, behold there fell upon him terror, great darkness." The vision here passes into a prophetic sleep produced by God. In this sleep there fell upon Abram dread and darkness; this is shown by the interchange of the perfect נפלה and the participle נפלת. The reference to the time is intended to show "the supernatural character of the darkness and sleep, and the distinction between the vision and a dream" (O. v. Gerlach). It also possesses a symbolical meaning. The setting of the sun prefigured to Abram the departure of the su…
Not even 400 years of bondage could interfere with God’s plan to fulfill the covenant.
15:13 oppressed: The same word is used in Exod 1:11-12. Egypt, like predatory birds (Gen 15:11), would try to destroy Israel and hinder the covenant’s fulfillment. • Apparently 400 years is a round number (also Acts 7:6; cp. Exod 12:40; Gal 3:17). Using the chronology in the Hebrew text, the family moved to Egypt around 1876 BC, and the Exodus occurred around 1446 BC (though many scholars date the Exodus later, around 1270 BC; see Exodus Book Introduction, “The Date of the Exodus”).
Rashi on 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 Mo…
But note what is said to Abraham, "Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land not theirs, and they shall reduce them to servitude, and shall afflict them four hundred years." This is most clearly a prophecy about the people of Israel, who were to be in servitude in Egypt. Not that this people was to be in that servitude under the oppressive Egyptians for four hundred years, but it is foretold that this should take place in the course of those four hundred years. It is written of Terah the father of Abraham, "And the days of Terah in Haran were 205 years," not because they were all spent there but because they were completed there. So it is said here also, "And they shall reduce them to servitude and shall afflict them four hundred years" … because that number was completed, not because it was all spent in that affliction. The years are said to be four hundred in round numbers, although they were a little more—whether you reckon from this time when these things were promised to Abraham, or from the birth of Isaac, as the seed of Abraham, of which these things are predicted. For, as we have already said above, from the seventy-fifth year of Abraham, when the first promise was made to him, down to the exodus of Israel from Egypt, there are reckoned 430 years, which the apostle thus mentions: "And this I say, that the covenant confirmed by God, the law, which was made 430 years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of no effect." So then these 430 years might be called four hundred, because they are not much more, especially since part even of that number had already gone by when these things were shown and said to Abraham in vision, or when Isaac was born in his father's one hundredth year, twenty-five years after the first promise, when of these 430 years there now remained 405, which God was pleased to call four hundred. No one will doubt that the other things that follow in the prophetic words of God pertain to the people of Israel.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Covenants
· Made by passing between the pieces of the divided sacrifices
— Made by passing between the pieces of the divided sacrifices
Egypt · .Prophecies against — .Prophecies against
Israel · .Prophecies concerning — .Prophecies concerning
Sacrifices · The covenants of God confirmed by — The covenants of God confirmed by
Sign · .Abraham — .Abraham
Time · Computed by: Years — Computed by: Years
Vision · .Concerning his — .Concerning his
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
