Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth; but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.””
(Genesis 15:13-16)

God isn’t in the business of keeping secrets for the sake of keeping secrets. If we are willing to lean into Him, submit, and obey, He will tell us what we can handle (Amos 3:7). From this moment until the Law being given at Sinai, four hundred years passed (plus an extra thirty because Moses messed up – Exodus 2:11-15; 12:40). God told Abram what the deal was going to be. They would be afflicted. The one Egyptian government chose to take that as a license to abuse (for up to 154 years), which is why they got judged. But God didn’t promise easy street to Abram. He DID tell him that at several times it would look like the promise wasn’t coming to pass, but that it WOULD. God gave Abram exactly what Abram asked for: something to hold onto while the promise appeared to be slipping away. Something to cling to. God is a GOOD God.

These verses are an INCREDIBLE picture of God’s forgiveness. The Amorites were already fallen away from Him. They were already giving into their sins and iniquities. They were already worshipping idols. They were already worthy of judgement. But God isn’t rushing it. In fact, He is giving them chance after chance. Over FOUR HUNDRED YEARS will be given – not including however much time has already passed (at this point it was 377 years since the flood and 276 years since the Tower of Babel. The Amorites could have fallen away at any point from the Flood on.). God is not quick to judge. Not quick to punish. He is long-suffering. And if God is willing to give 400+ years grace to SINNERS, how much more is He giving US grace who follow Him?

God promises that Abram will have a peaceful end. He will not see the tumult that will come to pass. But he is also given a message that he can pass on to his children and his children’s children: they will end up prosperous. People will try and take their riches, take their possessions, and keep them down. But God will raise them up prosperous. They won’t be kept down. They WILL walk in God’s promises and they WILL get the inheritance that God has given Abram (Psalm 105:37; Joshua 21:43-45).

Based on God’s timeline regarding the Land, He viewed a generation as one hundred (100) years. In the fourth generation they would return and it was 400 years before they returned. This is interesting when we read later in scripture about how long God seeks to be faithful and to bless us (Deuteronomy 7:9; Psalm 103:17).

The sage Rashi writes: ‘בארץ לא להם IN A LAND THAT IS NOT THEIRS — It does not say here in the land of Egypt but in a land that is not theirs; for soon after Isaac was born it states, (Genesis 21:34) “And Abraham sojourned (ויגר) [in the land of the Philistines]”; in regard to Isaac it is said, (Genesis 26:3) “Sojourn (גור) in this land (Canaan)”, and of Jacob Scripture states, (Psalms 105:23) “Jacob sojourned (גר) in the land of Ham”, whilst of his sons it is said, (Genesis 47:4) “To sojourn (לגור) in the land (of Egypt) have we come”.’

The sage Ramban writes: ‘THAT THY SEED SHALL BE A STRANGER. This is a verse that is to be transposed, its purport being that “thy seed shall be a stranger for four hundred years in a land that is not theirs, and they shall enslave them, and they shall afflict them.” He has thus not specified the length of the period of servitude and affliction. There are many cases in Scripture where verses must be transposed if they are to be interpreted properly. Thus: There came unto me the Hebrew servant, who thou hast brought unto us, to mock me;And all countries came into Egypt to buy corn to Joseph;For whosoever eateth leavened bread, that soul shall be cut off from Israel, from the first day until the seventh day;In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats;Come, and hearken, and I will declare, all ye that fear G-d, what He hath done for my soul;They cry unto Me, My G-d we Israel know Thee;And they shall be Mine, saith the Eternal of hosts, in the day that I do make, even Mine own treasure, and I will spare them. There are many other such verses. The sense of the verse is: “Even though I tell you that I have given this land to your children, you should surely know that before I give it to them they shall be strangers for four hundred years in a land not belonging to them, and they shall also enslave them and afflict them.” Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said [that the verse should be interpreted as follows]: “You should surely know that your children shall be strangers in servitude and affliction until the end of a four hundred year period commencing from this day of the covenant.” If so, G-d informed Abraham of the time of the redemption, but He did not inform him of the exact length of the exile. This too is correct.’

The sage Sforno writes: ‘וגם את הגוי אשר יעבדו דן אנכי, just as I judge your descendants, for the wickedness with enslavement and cruel suppression, so I will judge the nation that enslaves them.”‘

The sage Steinsaltz writes: ‘But these travails will not affect you personally, and you will not be exiled or suffer, but rather, you shall go to your fathers, you will die and be united with your ancestors in peace, and you shall even be buried at a good old age; you will live a long and peaceful life.’

The sage Rashbam writes: ‘A generation in those days was considered a period of 100 years, as we know from Ediyot 12,9 so that 400 years equal 4 generations. We know from the second of the Ten Commandments, (Exodus 20,5 that G’d frequently extends His patience to sinners and their offspring until the fourth generation, waiting if finally someone will redeem the errant parents and grandparents by returning to the true lifestyle approved by G’d. This is why G’d described the sin of the Emorites at this time as לא שלם, “not complete,” in the sense of not yet irreversible, עד הנה until such time.’