Lesson from our Session…………………………..
(Genesis 15:13) Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years;
God told Abram this future fact, and Abram’s later descendants could verify this fact through their own experience. When this future fact eventually became true, a fact they could not deny from their own experience because of the suffering they would endure and the miraculous rescue by God from slavery in Egypt, they would know with certainty that the contract or covenant God made with Abram included them as well.
They would know with the fulfillment of Abram’s prophecy that indeed God had given Abram and Abram’s descendants the land to possess. 400 years is a rounded number for a period of time that Abram’s descendants would be slaves in Egypt. One hundred years was a rounded number for an average generation in Abram’s lifetime; however, blessed by God, Abram lived to be 175 (Genesis 25:7) and Moses lived to be 120 (Deuteronomy 34:7).
Lesson: God alone can foretell the future with complete accuracy and astonishing detail (vss. 12-15)
Reflection: Why do we seek that which we cannot have? What God offers to our limited minds is the affirmation of the present and the promise of the future. Yet we seem to hound God to give us more insight to that which we would not fully understand since we struggle with what is already revealed.
Im confused about your comment about 100/400 years being a rounded number. Can you give more detail? Thanks.
100 years is rounded off as an approximation of the life span in Abram’s time. We cannot know for sure but we do see that they lived longer then we do today. With 400 years in Egypt, I am estimating that covers four generations. Those who began the period would still be fresh memories to most of them living at the end of that period. We tend to think those who left with Moses could not remember the times of Joseph. Hope that helps.