The conclusion that the 430 years refers to the time between Abram entering Canaan and the Exodus, and that the 400 years counts from the birth of Isaac to the Exodus, still leaves the Chronology at 307 years. Extending the chart to 430 years leaves a 123 year gap between the year Levi died and the Exodus. The next step is filling the gap, starting with plugging Moses' and Aaron's life dates into the Chronology.
Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh. (Exodus 7.7)
| Chart 1: Life Years during Years in Egypt | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ICB | Life Yrs | Event | Ref |
| T170 Can | T085 Jac | Levi born | Gen 29.34 |
| T175 Can | T090 Jac | Joseph born | Gen 30.22-24 |
| T180 Can | T095 Jac | Jacob returns to Canaan | Gen 31:38 |
| T192 Can | T107 Jac | Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers | Gen 37.25 |
| T205 Can | T120 Jac | Isaac dies at 180yo; Joseph at 30yo stands before Pharoah | Gen 35.28 |
| T215 Can | T130 Jac | Jacob meets Pharoah | Gen 47.9 |
| T232 Can | T147 Jac | Jacob dies at 147yo; Josephh at 57yo; Lewi at 62 yo | Gen 47.28 |
| T285 Can | T115 Levi | Joseph dies at 110yo | Gen 50.22 |
| T307 Can | T137 Levi | Lewi dies at 137 yo | Exo 6.16 |
| T347 Can | T00 Aaron | Aaron born | Calculation |
| T350 Can | T00 Moses | Mosesh born | Calculation |
| T430 Can | T80 Moses | The Exodus; Moses at 80yo; Aaron at 83yo | Exo 7.7 |
If Moses was 80 years old in T430 Can, then he was born in T350 Can. Likewise, if Aaron was 83 years old in T430 Can, then he was born in T347 Can. Plugging in the birth dates for Aaron and Moses reduces the 123 year gap in the Chronology to 40 years. Since the Chronology has gaps of more than 40 years elsewhere in its timeline, plugging in the birth dates sufficiently fills in the Chronology. However, Scripture has more information on the timing of events that took place during the 215 years that the children of Israel spent in Egypt. THE FOUR GENERATIONS The genealogy list of Moses and Aaron in Exodus 6 gave life length years for the three generations preceding Moses and Aaron: Levi lived for 137 years (Ex 6.16), Kohath lived for 133 years (Ex 6.18), and Amram lived for 137 years (Exo 6.20)). So that made Moses and Aaron the fourth generation. YHWH said the following to Abram at the Friendship Covenant:
Then a fourth generation will return themselves ~ for the Amorites [are] not yet full of inquity. # (Gen 15.16)
Thus, it would seem that the four generations to which YHWH was referring would be Levi, Kohath, Amram, and Aaron/Moses. One interpretation of Scripture providing life lengths for this line of Jacob's sons only is that the provision of this information is confirmation that this is the line to which YHWH was referring. The next question was how to fit them into the Chronology. Unfortunately, Scripture does not indicate when Kohath and Amram were born in relation to Levi or anyone else for that matter. However, after playing around with different generation lengths for the four generations, it turned out that a 60-year generation worked best in plausibly spreading the four generations over the 215 years. Levi (Generation 01) was 60 years old when Kohath was born, Kohath (Gen 02) was 60 years old when Amram was born, and Amram (Gen 03) was 60 years old when Moses (Gen 04) was born.
| Chart 2: The Four Generations | ||||
| ICB | Life Yr | Event | Generation # | Ref |
| T170 Can | T085 Jac | Levi born of Leah (16 Nisan) | G29.34 | |
| T215 Can | T130 Jac | Levi (45) moved to Egypt with his father Jacob | 1st generation | Ex 1.2 |
| T230 Can | T145 Jac | Kohath born to Levi (60) | 2nd generation | Estimate |
| T232 Can | T147 Jac | Jacob (147) dies | Gen 47.28 | |
| T285 Can | T115 Levi | Joseph (110) dies | Gen 50.22 | |
| T290 Can | T120 Levi | Amram born to Kohath (60) | 3rd generation | Estimate |
| T307 Can | T137 Levi | Levi (137) dies at 137yo | Exo 6.16 | |
| T347 Can | T057 Amr | Aaron born to Amram (57) | Estimate | |
| T350 Can | T060 Amr | Moses born to Amram (60) | 4th generation | Estimate |
| T430 Can | T080 Mos | The Exodus; Moses (80), Aaron (83) | Exo 7.7 | |
Thus, the Chronology now has a probable date for Amram's birth. The next question that came up was how Jochebed, the mother of Moses and Aaron, and their sister Miriam fit into the Chronology. The Masoretic text records Jochebed as the sister of Amram's father, and thus his aunt. But once again, YHWH forbade incest in the Mosaic Law. Since He does not change, incest would have been just as unacceptable to Him before He gave the Law as when He gave the Law. So, there must be something else going on here. So, on to the next essay. Filling the Gap: Jochebed and Amram Return to blog post Return to ICB Menu
sssSite Creator:Dori This page last modified: January 4, 2021 Send correspondence to: dori@badgerholt[dot]com. Legal Stuff: Copyright 2021 by D.M. Doede. All Rights Reserved. Permission to distribute this material via e-mail, or individual copies for personal use, is granted on the condition that it will be used for non-commercial purposes, will not be sold, and no changes made to the format or content. When quoting, please keep the context and provide the source URL: https://www.badgerholt.com. Scriptures are cited from New American Standard Bible (NASB), English Standard Version (ESV) Young's Literal Translation (YLT), Geneva Bible, 1599 ed., Jay Green's KJ3' Literal Translation, Gary Zella's Analytical Literal Translation of the New Testament, or my own translation ( dmd).