What is the significance of 400 years (Genesis 15:13)?
In Genesis 15:13, God tells Abraham the fate of his descendants, stating, "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years." In subsequent verses, God announces His judgment upon the nation that would enslave Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 15:14), and that Abraham's descendants "shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete" (Genesis 15:16). The 400–year timeframe is a generic, round number that probably refers to the four generations that lived during the period.First, the 400–year prediction compels us to acknowledge God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge of the future—even the tragic part—and how He orchestrates His plan through the choices of His creation. Every decision from Abraham to Isaac, and onward to the new Pharaoh who enslaved the Israelites, converged to enable God to fulfill His plans to establish His sovereignty over the nations and acquire a people through whom Jesus would enter the world.
Moreover, the 400–year sojourn in Egypt serves as a backdrop to Israel’s redemption. Their exodus from slavery foreshadows our deliverance from sin and our acceptance into God’s kingdom. Just as the Israelites were enslaved and oppressed by the Egyptians, Christians were bound by sin, only to be liberated by God our Redeemer. In fact, Moses in many ways prefigures Christ.
Israel’s extended stay in Egypt also provided an opportunity for God to mold them into a distinct nation, fostering qualities such as resilience, perseverance, and dependence on Him. Elsewhere, Scripture affirms that God can use suffering to develop perseverance, which in turn shapes character and births hope (Romans 5:3–5). Suffering is, admittedly, undesirable, but God in His sovereignty can turn hardship into good.
In the 400–year prediction, we can also see God’s mercy and patience toward another group of people, the Amorites. As Genesis 15:16 reveals, God refrained from displacing the Amorites for four centuries till the Israelites returned (Numbers 21:31–32; Joshua 10:10; 11:8). The pagan Amorites had 400 years to repent and turn from their wickedness.
God often has a different perspective on suffering than we do. While we tend to prefer comfort and luxury, God sometimes permits suffering to carry out His intentions. Additionally, He operates on His own timeline, often taking longer than human expectations to fulfill His purposes. Four hundred years is a long time, in our estimation. But, as the apostle Peter noted in 2 Peter 3:8, "with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." For God, 400 years is nothing.
The people of God have always wondered about the timing of God’s plan. Those who received the promises often did not live to see their fulfillment: "This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward" (1 Peter 1:10–11, NLT). The predicted salvation unfolded years after the prophets’ deaths, but those prophets had learned to walk by faith, not by sight.
Abraham was assured that his descendants would inherit the land in which he sojourned after 400 years in Egypt. The time was set. The event was in God’s planner, and He would not forget. So Abraham, who in Genesis 15 was still childless, could rest in the goodness of his faithful God and trust that what was promised would indeed come to pass.
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Truth about Everything Else
