three times two thousand years (2) – Abraham to Exodus

Originally posted on February 25, 2026 – by Andre Piet
reading time: approximately 5 minutes

from Abraham to the exodus: five hundred years

In the previous article it was established that the period from Adam to Abraham comprises two thousand years. Thus Abraham’s birth forms the starting point of the second period in the Biblical reckoning of time. In this article it is demonstrated that the first five hundred years of this second period form a closed and ordered span of time, which runs out at the exodus from Egypt.

The Biblical data do not stand on their own, but belong together. By reading the various time indications in their mutual connection, it appears that the period between Abraham’s birth and the exodus comprises five hundred years.

the promise to Abraham and the beginning of the reckoning

The Bible connects a clear reckoning of time to the promise which Abraham received. This promise forms the point of departure for a long period which runs out at the liberation of his descendants from Egypt. According to Scripture, Abraham received this promise when he was seventy years old. That moment marks not merely a spiritual beginning, but also a chronological reference point.

From this moment onward a longer period is reckoned in Scripture, while Abraham’s descendants begin only later. Between the promise and the birth of the son of promise lies a distinct intervening period.

the birth of Isaac as a fixed reference point

Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac was born. Thus there are thirty years between the promise to Abraham and the beginning of his descendants in the proper sense. These thirty years form a fixed, explicitly stated period within the chronology.

Scripture makes a distinction here. Isaac is not merely a son, but the son of the promise. With his birth Abraham’s descendants begin, from whom counting is later made. It is noteworthy moreover that Abraham’s age at Isaac’s birth comprises exactly two fifty-year cycles. This observation does not direct the calculation, yet it does mark a recognizable point.

the four hundred and thirty years: from promise to law

Besides the four hundred years spoken of elsewhere, Scripture also mentions a longer period of four hundred and thirty years. This period is explicitly connected with the promise to Abraham and with the giving of the law at Sinai.

Exodus 12:40–41 reads in the NBG translation:

The time that the sons of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

This wording has given rise to discussion, because it may give the impression that the entire four hundred and thirty years were spent exclusively in Egypt. Other textual witnesses and translations, however, provide a broader reading, in which also the stay of the patriarchs in Canaan is included. That this broader reading is necessary appears from other passages of Scripture.

Paul confirms this explicitly when he writes:

Now this I am saying: A covenant ratified beforehand by God, the law, which came four hundred and thirty years after, does not invalidate, to nullify the promise.
— Galatians 3:17

Here it is stated unambiguously that the four hundred and thirty years begin with the promise to Abraham and run out at the giving of the law, which takes place shortly after the exodus. The exodus and the law chronologically belong to the same concluding phase.

the four hundred years: the sojourning of the seed

Besides this longer period, Scripture also speaks of four hundred years of sojourning. This designation finds its origin in the promise to Abraham:

Know certainly that your seed shall be a sojourner in a land not their own, and they shall be enslaved and afflicted four hundred years.
— Genesis 15:13

These four hundred years explicitly concern Abraham’s seed. They therefore cannot begin at the promise itself, but only at the moment when this seed actually exists. That moment lies at the birth of Isaac, thirty years after the promise.

Thus the four hundred years fall entirely within the broader period of four hundred and thirty years. They do not form an alternative reckoning, but concern that part of the period in which Abraham’s seed lives as a sojourner.

the coherence of the reckonings

When these data are read together, a clear timeline emerges. From the promise to Abraham a period of four hundred and thirty years is reckoned until the giving of the law. Within this period, thirty years later, the sojourning of his seed begins, lasting four hundred years and running out at the exodus.

Thus the total span of time from Abraham’s birth is determined as follows: seventy years until the promise, followed by four hundred and thirty years from promise to law. Together these periods form a closed whole of five hundred years between Abraham’s birth and the exodus from Egypt.

the generations as confirmation

In Genesis 15:14–16 it is announced that Abraham’s descendants will be oppressed, but that in the fourth generation they will return to the land. This designation concerns the stay in Egypt and indicates the generations born there. Thus no complete genealogy is given, but a clear limitation of the duration of this stay.

Scripture makes clear that the sojourning comprises four generations born in Egypt and is thereby bounded. The genealogical line in Exodus 6 is selective and marks the line through which the exodus takes place, without mentioning all births. The generations are not used here to calculate, but to show that the stay in Egypt remains within five hundred years.

the exodus in the year 2500 since Adam

When the outcome of this reckoning is placed within the broader Biblical timekeeping, it follows that the exodus took place in the year 2500 since Adam (Anno Hominis). Thus the exodus marks the end of the first five hundred years of the second two-thousand-year period.

It is noteworthy that this year coincides with the fiftieth “jubilee year” — the jubilee year squared. This fact does not function as the starting point of the calculation, but as its outcome. Only after the span of time has been established does this concurrence become visible.

The liberation from Egypt is a turning point in Israel’s history and a fixed point in the Biblical reckoning of time. The exodus concludes the first five hundred years after Abraham’s birth. Thus Scripture shows that this phase is not an open whole, but an ordered span of time. In the following articles it will be examined how the further history within this second period of two thousand years is also structured according to fixed measure and coherence.

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