Sections

Joseph, the son of Jacob, is one of the most fascinating men of the Old Testament, where no evil actions of him are recorded which is a honor from God that we should also benefit from studying the life of Joseph for our benefit and to God's Glory.  Critics of the Bible can sometimes mention a supposed discrepancy or error with 400 and 430 year scripture references, when there is no error dealing with Israel becoming a nation that started under the administration of Joseph that Pharaoh put in charge over all of Egypt.

As recorded in the scriptures and found in archeology, there were ancient civilizations that put the interpretation of dreams as a highly valued professional career.  There were libraries that were maintained of dreams and the meanings of dreams.  As one example, there was a recent "Dream Book" that was unearthed in the Deir el-Medina cemetery near the Valley of the Kings in Egypt as reported by the British Museum.  Some ancient societies used plants known to cause hallucinations to see visions which obviously are wrong and even possibly resulting in evil as part of religious ceremonies. 

At the time that the nation of Israel was forming from Jacob starting the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the interpretation of dreams was part of the men that advised the Pharaohs.  In the future times before the Tribulation Period, there is a remarkable verse concerning dreams. 

Obviously, our dreams according to modern-day research indicate that our subconscious mind is active during sleep periods to process our desires, problems and every day experiences into a type of stability to allow us to live.  Many of us will go to sleep after working on a problem and wake up with a solution.  The scriptures have examples of God using dreams and visions to direct God's People and also sometimes people who are enemies of God's people.

The 400 and 430 Two Scriptural References

Most Christians that study the scriptures very seriously will perhaps come across the a reference by critics that the reference of 400 and 430 years of Israel in the scriptures is proof that the Bible is full of errors, which is completely incorrect.  There are mistakes in translations that are due to meanings of words, which change over time, that have been corrected in revisions of translations along with being well documented.

Perhaps the most famous case of a misunderstood and none error is the circumference reference of the Bronze Basin / Sea of Brass in 1 Kings 7:23 and 2 Chronicles 4:2 that reveal an astounding Hebrew encrypted code of 47.12264150943 feet for the circumference which contains 11 decimals of accuracy in the circumference.

God often uses patterns of two witnesses and two scriptural references to confirm principles, knowledge and His Words through multiple authors separated by periods of history.  The following passages confirm that there was 430 years in Egypt, where the

1. 400 years referenced dealt with bondages and slavery, and
2. 30 years were good years under Joseph, the son of Isaac the man renamed by God as Israel.

The key scriptural passage references are: listed in the Books of Genesis, Acts, Exodus and Galatians.  Notice the references in these scriptural passage that read 400 and 430 years, where Acts 7:6 explains the difference between the two referenced years concerning the nation of Israel.

Four Hundred Years

Four Hundred and Thirty Years

Joseph's Under Pharaoh and Explains the 400 and 430 Years

Jacob, and his family, went to Egypt and spent thirty years in prosperity before the four hundred years of affliction.  God renames Jacob to Israel and this is how the descendents of Jacob gained the name of Israel.  During the first thirty years, Jacob's son Joseph was "second-in-command", like a modern-day Prime Minister under a King's authority, over the entire nation of Egypt, where Joseph was directly under the Pharaoh.  The details on how Joseph, the son of Israel, became second-in-command are detailed in the next section of this topic.

Because of Joseph's authority and "second-in-command", the entire family of Israel prospered until something changed for the family of Israel.

• In Exodus 12:40, the scripture states that the children of Israel will dwell in Egypt for 430 years.
• In Genesis 15:13, the scripture states the children of Israel will be "afflicted" for 400 years.  

There is NOT a discrepancy as the difference between the two scriptural passages is the key part of "afflict", which means: "A problem that causes pain and suffering, an affect of being in a trouble situation".

God chose Joseph for the Building of the Nation of Israel

• Suffers at the hand of his brothers,
• Becomes a slave at Potiphar's house, with sexual temptations and later saves the families from a horrible period of famine, and then creates a wonderful home land with the best of everything that Egypt had to offer.

Some Biblical Commentaries, which this author agrees, make mention that Joseph not only saves his entire father's family, but he also save the Nation of Egypt along with many other peoples who came to Egypt to purchase food.

Some highlights and milestones of Joseph's life are:

Additional Notes:

1. The whole family of Jacob, renamed to Israel by God, comes to Egypt and Joseph is in charge of them that fulfilled the two dreams that Joseph had as a young boy that had his family bowing down to him.
2. Pharaoh gives the best land of Egypt for Israel to live and they live in peace for the time of Joseph's life in Egypt.  Read Genesis 45:17-18.
3. The sons of Jacob will be made into the nation of Israel.  Read Genesis 46-1-3.

Egyptians Detested the Hebrews

While Pharaoh greatly honored Joseph for saving the entire nation of Egypt during the great famine, the people of Egypt had a cultural dislike of people who were sheep herders.  The scripture does not elaborate on the reason, but Joseph instructed his brothers to tell Pharaoh that the entire family were tenders of livestock.

When Joseph's brothers met Pharaoh, they did not do as Joseph instructed and told Pharaoh they were shepherds.  This was an offense to Pharaoh, but the admiration of Pharaoh for Joseph allowed the comments of the brothers to not cause a negative incident.  The question is why would the brothers of Joseph not do as they were instructed, where the possible theory is they had envy and a dislike for their brother Joseph that had been there since childhood even though Joseph had saved everyone from starvation. 

The proof of the brothers dislike of Joseph appears to be based on fear that they should offend Joseph while they had the ability.  When the father Jacob dies, the brothers thought that their protection from revenge of Joseph from selling him into slavery when Joseph was gone.  Joseph tells them the most wonderful God inspired revelation that God wanted the brothers to know.

The death of Joseph occurred at the age of 110 years old.  The men of Israel embalmed Joseph, put him in a coffin while they were in Egypt to be brought to the Promise Land.

The Good Years in Egypt

The two milestone events in time are:

1. Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years before his death at one hundred and forty seven years old.
2. Joseph dies at one hundred and ten years old, where Joseph lived in Egypt for ninety three years.

After the death of Joseph, there was thirty years that were good for the family of Jacob, where during the thirty years, all of the sons of Jacob died.

The Bad Years in Egypt began with a New Pharaoh

After thirty years of exceeding prosperity, and Joseph's death in Genesis 1:6, a new Pharaoh came into power who had no respectful knowledge of Joseph and how God saved Egypt during the famine through Joseph. 

This new Pharaoh was also afraid of the nation of Israel.  All of the descendents of Jacob had become a great nation called the Israelites.  The scriptures point out these points:

1. A new Pharaoh came into power that did not have any allegiance or favor for the deceased Joseph's people.  Read Exodus 1:8
2. The new Pharaoh became afraid of the nation of Israel.  Read Exodus 1:9-10
3. The Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites.  Read Exodus 1:11
4. During the enslavement, Israel still prospered in growing in size of the Israelites nation even though they were treated ruthlessly.  Read Exodus 1:12
5. The Egyptians became to dread, meaning fear, of the Israelites.  Read Exodus 1:12
6. The new Pharaoh devised a plan to limit the birth rate of Israelites, but the plan did not work.  Read Exodus 1:15-21

Note that the new Pharaoh of Exodus 1:8, "Then a new Pharaoh, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.", according to one historical reference, and Isaiah 52:4, this new Pharaoh was Assyrian and not of Egyptian lineage.

This author has not seen the linkage in any Biblical Commentaries, but it is very interesting the scriptural pattern:

• The Antichrist will be an Assyrian.
• Nimrod inhabited the land of Assyria and was the leader that built the Tower of Babel that later becomes Babylon.  The scriptures, when dealing with city locations, can be stated that Jerusalem is God's city and Babylon is Lucifer's city.  Babylon has a future destiny in the Book of Revelation where it will be utterly destroyed permanently where the city Babylon still currently exists.
• There are absolutely people that are of Assyrian lineage that love God and have Salvation.  There is a pattern in the Assyrian reference which this author would speculate is because Lucifer and the Fallen Angels are territorial about their reigns in specific places on the Earth as shown with Babylon is Lucifer's city.

The Nation of Israel spent 430 years in Egypt

As detailed at the start of this topic on the Egyptian bondage, the relevant scriptural reference are Exodus 12:40-41 with the confirmation of Galatians 3:16-20.  There was thirty years of great prosperity and no bondage before a new Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites.

Great Possessions After 430 Years

A very important point on the Judgments against the Pharaoh at that time, along with Egyptians that participated in the enslavement, is these Judgments are a model for the future Tribulation Period's Judgments against the Antichrist, and the people with the Mark of the Beast who have rejected God.

Some Biblical Commentaries correctly note that there were Egyptians that did not oppose Israel and did not treat the people unfairly despite the Israelites being enslaved.  These Egyptians were most likely around or heard of God rescuing Egypt through Joseph, where these Egyptians became and remained God worshipers as God's word and actions never go out into nothing (see Isaiah 55:11).  Many of these Egyptians became part of the Exodus and were adopted into a Tribe's lesser hierarchy.

Note as mentioned in many topics the reference of the Amorites with their iniquity is not full.  The Amorites were adversaries of God's people, and associated with many groups of people and tribes.  

Why The Bondage in Egypt?

1. The 400 years were necessary for the tiny family of twelve sons of Jacob to grow into a future mighty nation and army that would be required to conquer the Promise Land. 
2. There are scriptural references that God always gives peoples time also to repent, such was the case of Egypt, who should have began the worship of the true God because of the leadership of Joseph during the famine that proved God's existence, but Egypt did not. 
3. During the suffering of the nation of Israel, the nation still grew in number which meant:
   (a) Families were growing where a father, wife, sons and daughters were together with one another and taken care of.
   (b) There was a place they trusted to be their home to allow a family to be secure even under difficult slave labor.
   All of which meant God was there during the daily struggles and mistreatment, as none of us would go into marriage and have a family if we were in fears of being tortured, killed, and our family taken from us.
4. When the nation of Israel faced Pharaoh's mighty army during the Exodus from Egypt, God showed the nation of Israel His Power in the Red Sea crossing and death of Pharaoh's army.  The deaths of Pharaoh's army would have been told to surrounding peoples besides the Egyptians, who would also be in fear of the God of Israel, and should have recognized God as the true God.
5. When God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 15:12-16 and other scriptures, then this put Lucifer on notice that God was preparing offspring of Abraham to come back and out of the another nation.  During the 400 years hardship, Lucifer knew that when the 400 years were approaching the end so Lucifer once again orchestrated opposition in the Promise Land (Amorites) to fight against the Nation of Israel, which also included the reemergence of the Nephilim.  The future well-known David of the scriptures, before he became King David, fought a descendent of the Nephilim in Goliath as read in "1st Samuel 17".
6. The entirety of the Old Testament scriptures, in so many ways of types and models, all point to God's Glory and the future Messiah Jesus Christ.

   Psalm 40:7-9	7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. 9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.
   Hebrews 10:6-8	6 In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: 7 Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. 8 Saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (the which are offered according to the law),

What to read next?

Is it possible to lose Salvation?  We have eternal life.  Evolution is not real.  When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it.  Rewards in heaven.  Do we Tithe?  What does the 3rd Commandment tell us?  What is Salvation?  What is Grace and Mercy?  Is there an Age of Accountability?  Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?