When did the 430 years begin?

 

Noel Rude

Pendleton, Oregon

 

The exodus occurred precisely 430 years after—after what?  It is not exactly clear in Exodus 12:

 

Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:40-41)

 

In rabbinical tradition the 430 years are counted from the covenant between the parts in Genesis 15 and the 400 years begin with the birth of the promised seed—namely Isaac.[1]  It is there that God says (Gen 15:13-14), “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.”

 

Event

Age

Verses

Abraham leaves Haran

75

Genesis 12:4

Conception of Ishmael

85

Genesis 16:3

Birth of Ishmael

86

Genesis 16:16

Covenant of Circumcison

99

Genesis 17:1, 24

Birth of Isaac

100

Genesis 17:17; 21:5

Abraham dies

175

Genesis 25:7

Genesis dates five things in the life of Abraham—seven if we count his birth and death.  These include Abraham’s departure from Haran, the conception and birth of his son Ishmael, and the covenant of circumcision and the birth of his son Isaac.  Genesis does not date the original move from Ur to Haran (Gen 11:21), the covenant of the parts (Gen 15) nor the binding of Isaac (Gen 22).  But according to rabbinical tradition the covenant between the parts occurred when Abraham was 70 years of age—five years before he departed from Haran.

 

The Unconditional Promise

Paul, in the book of Galatians, seems to offer some insight on where to begin the 430 years.

 

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. (Galatians 3:16-17)[2]

 

So what is Paul saying?  The law came 430 years after what?  Was it after the covenant?  Or after its confirmation?  The covenant was cut in the covenant between the parts (Gen 15:18), “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram,” and its token was established in the covenant of circumcision (Gen 17:10-11), “This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.”  Genesis 15 records the cutting of the covenant and Genesis 17 recalls it ten times—the last being in verse 21: “But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.”

 

So the covenant comes in three stages—in the covenant between the parts it is cut (כָּרַת), in the covenant of circumcision it receives its sign (אוֹת), and in Abraham’s seed (זֶרַע) it is established.  Then 430 years later it flowers in the Exodus and Israel’s encounter with God at Sinai.  Paul’s point is that the covenant with Abraham was unconditional whereas the covenant at Sinai was predicated on Israel’s obedience (Exodus 19:5): “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant…”  But is Paul counting from the seemingly undatable covenant between the parts, or from the birth of Isaac which confirmed it?  Or was it from the original promise to Abraham at his departure from Haran (Gen 12:1-4)?

 

Paul is counting from “a covenant confirmed before by God” and in context this seems to mean confirmed in the promised seed Isaac (“which is Christ”—i.e., a type of Messiah).

 

The Selfsame Day

In Exodus 12:41 it says, “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass...”[3]  The expression “the selfsame day”—which

translates עֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה ‘the bone of this day’—occurs 16 times in the Tanakh.[4]  It is not mentioned in connection with Abraham’s departure from Egypt, nor in the covenant between the parts, nor in the birth of Isaac, but it is mentioned in regard to the covenant of circumcision (Genesis 17:26): “In the selfsame day (בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה) was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.”

 

Three times the birth of Isaac is designated as ‘at the appointed time’ (לַמּוֹעֵד)—the term has to do with the calendar, same as in Gen 1:14 (“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons [וּלְמוֹעֲדִים], and for days, and years…”):[5]

 

ü     Genesis 17:21—“But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time [לַמּוֹעֵד] in the next year.”

 

ü     Genesis 18:14—“Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed [לַמּוֹעֵד] I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

 

ü     Genesis 21:2—“For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time [לַמּוֹעֵד] of which God had spoken to him.”

 

The term occurs again in Exodus in regard to the fifth plague (Exodus 9:5): “And the LORD appointed a set time [מוֹעֵד], saying, To morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land.”  And then it is used of the Passover:

 

ü     Exodus 13:10—“Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season [לְמוֹעֲדָהּ] from year to year.”

 

ü     Exodus 23:15—“Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed [לְמוֹעֵד] of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty…)”

 

The obvious conclusion is that Abraham was circumcised on Nisan 15 and Isaac was born on the very same day a year later.  And according to Seder Olam the covenant between the parts also occurred on the 15th of Nisan.[6]

 

Forty Three Jubilee Cycles and Forty Three Decades

Assuming that Abraham left Haran at the death of his father (Acts 7:4), then the covenant of circumcision and the announcement of Isaac’s birth came in the 43rd jubilee of Adam:

 

—————————————— 43 jubilee cycles ——————————————

 

——— 1656 years ———

——— 427 years ———

——— 24 years ———

 

 

 

Creation of Adam to

the flood of Noah

The flood of Noah to

the death of Terah

Departure of Abram to covenant of circumcision

Genesis 5

Genesis 11:10-32

Genesis 17:1, 24

 

The 2nd century bce Book of Jubilees charted out the history of the world according to the jubilees of Adam.  Thus where it says (Gen 5:5), “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years,” Jubilees has it,

 

And at the close of the nineteenth jubilee, in the seventh week in the sixth year thereof, Adam died, and all his sons buried him in the land of his creation, and he was the first to be buried in the earth. And he lacked seventy years of one thousand years; for one thousand years are as one day in the testimony of the heavens and therefore was it written concerning the tree of knowledge: “On the day that ye eat thereof ye will die.” (Book of Jubilees 4:29-30)[7]

 

Eighteen jubilees (18 × 49 years) plus six sabbatical years (6 × 7 years) plus 6 more years equals altogether 930 years.  There is, thus, an early precedent for viewing history this way.  So what might Adam’s 43rd jubilee have brought?

 

The number 43 seems to separate times of exile and redemption (and vice versa), as in the following:

 

ü     The 1290 days in Daniel 12:11 equal 43 prophetic months.

 

ü     The 2nd temple was destroyed 43 years after the beginning of Messiah’s ministry.

 

ü     Messiah ascended to heaven 43 days after his death.

 

God announced the sacred year (Ex 12:2), “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.”  And might this special year not recall the year in which Abraham was circumcised and God announced the birth of the promised seed?  That 43rd jubilee of Adam was a year of redemption for the children of Adam.  Paul was not so far from rabbinical tradition when said (Gal 3:16), “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”[8]

 

If the year of the confirmation of the covenant with Abraham was also the 43 jubilee of Adam, might not the year of the redemption from Egypt have come 43 decades after that?

 

Seder Olam, as we have seen, separates the birth of Isaac from the Exodus by 400 years and places the covenant of the parts 30 years earlier.  Abraham’s 100th year is seen as a forerunner of Moses’ 80th year (Exodus 7:7).  The incident at the burning bush is said to have occurred on Nisan 15 precisely one year before the exodus, and Moses is seen as arguing with God for the seven days that comprise the festival (Exodus 12:15).[9]

 

Abraham’s 100th year

400 or 430

years?

Moses’ 80th year

Nisan 15

Nisan 15

Nisan 15

Nisan 15

Token of Circumcision (Genesis 17)

Isaac was born

(Genesis 21)

Moses at burning bush (Exodus 3)

Passover and Exodus (Exodus 12)

 

According to Seder Olam the 430 years began when Abraham was 70 (and 5 years before he left Haran), and Abraham left Haran 60 years before the death of his father Terah:

 

The Pattern in Seder Olam

 

 

——————————430 years——————————

 

 

————30 years————

————400 years————

 

 

—5 years—

————60 years————

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Covenant of the Parts

Abraham departs Haran

Birth of Isaac

Death of Terah

Exodus
                   

 

The Covenant Between the Parts

The only place in Genesis where the making (Heb. ‘cutting’) of the covenant is mentioned is in the covenant between the parts (בְּרִית בֵּין הַבְּתָרִים)—in Genesis 15:18: “In the same day the LORD made [כָּרַת ‘cut’] a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land…” 

 

Abraham’s rival sons in the years of his life

 

 

—————————15 years—————————

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

——13 years——

Genesis 17:25

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

85

Conception of Ishmael

Gen 16:3

86

Birth

of Ishmael

Gen 16:6

 

99

Conception of Isaac

Gen 17:1, 24

100

Birth

of Isaac

Gen 17:17; 21:5
                 

My friend Yves Péloquin—based on many mathematical symmetries and patterns[10]—separates the 43 jubilee cycles from the 43 decades by the ten years mentioned in Genesis 16:3—“And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.”  Here one could argue that the “sojourning of the children of Israel” [מוֹשַׁב בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל] (Ex 12:40) began with the conflict between Hagar and Sarah (and will not completely be resolved until the exile of Ishmael ends[11]).

 

 

——43 jubilee cycles——

—10 years—

—————————43 decades—————————

 

—15 years—

—15 years—

—400 years—

 

2083

2093

2108

2123

2523

Adam

created

 

Abraham departs Haran

Promise of the land

Birth

of Isaac

Binding

of Isaac

Exodus from Egypt

 

 

Genesis 12:4

Genesis 15:18, 16:3

Genesis 21:5

Genesis 22

Exodus 12
                         

 

It may well be that the covenant between the parts occurred the same year as the conception of Ishmael.  The accounts are joined by an ‘and’ (­וְ),[12] and the “and unto thy seed” (καὶ τῷ σπέρματι σου) of Galatians 3:16 is satisfied.

 

In the same day the LORD made [כָּרַת] a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed [לְזַרְעֲךָ / τῷ σπέρματί σου] have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. Now Sarai [וְשָׂרַי ‘and Sarai’] Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. (Genesis 15:18-16:2)

 

If the 430 years are to be dated from the covenant between the parts and the sages understood this, why then did they postdate it by 30 years?  Perhaps they were motivated by a desire to have Jesus born too late to fulfill the prophecy of Elijah preserved in the Talmud.[13]  At least that is the view of Heinrich W. Guggenheimer.[14]

 

… Seder ‘Olam is a rabbinic text in the tradition of the Sadducee Book of Jubilees, which treats the history of the world from Creation to the theophany on Mount Sinai.  Since Sadduceeism was practically extinct at the time of composition of the book, a polemic against Sadducees cannot be the central theme.  Naturally, since Christianity took over some Sadducee tenets, the book may have had some value in the fight against Christian encroachments on the Jewish population.  In particular, some fathers of the early church wanted to prove that their savior died exactly in the year 4000 of the world, to finish the 2000 “years of Torah” and to start the “2000 years of the Messiah”.*

 

Footnote*: Sanhedrin 97a: Six thousand years does the world exist: 2000 years tohu, 2000 years Torah, 2000 years Messiah, and by our many sins there passed of them all that is already passed. [It is possible that the insistence on a very short duration of the Persian empire in Seder ‘Olam chapters 29 and 30 is directed against Christian interpretations.  According to our sources, the current area begins in year 3760 Anno Mundi.]”

 

I do not know of any direct references to Elijah’s prophecy in the writings of the Church Fathers, nor does the 2nd century ce Seder Olam mention it.  But that does not mean it was not known. Edward Gibbon spends some time on the subject in which he says this:[15]

 

The ancient and popular doctrine of the Millennium was intimately connected with the second coming of Christ. As the works of the creation had been finished in six days, their duration in their present state, according to a tradition which was attributed to the prophet Elijah, was fixed to six thousand years. By the same analogy it was inferred that this long period of labor and contention, which was now almost elapsed,* would be succeeded by a joyful Sabbath of a thousand years; and that Christ, with the triumphant band of the saints and the elect who had escaped death, or who had been miraculously revived, would reign upon earth till the time appointed for the last and general resurrection.

 

Footnote*: The primitive church of Antioch computed almost 6000 years from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ. Africanus, Lactantius, and the Greek church have reduced that number to 5500, and Eusebius has contented himself with 5200 years. These calculations were formed on the Septuagint, which was universally received during the six first centuries. The authority of the Vulgate and the Hebrew text has determined the moderns, Protestants as well as Catholics, to prefer a period of about 4000 years; though, in the study of profane antiquity, they often find themselves straitened by those narrow limits.

 

In the covenant God said to Abraham (Gen 15:13), “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their’s, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years…”  How might this begin with the binding of Isaac (עֲקִידַת יִצְחָק)?  Perhaps if we better understood the meaning and symbolism of the Akidah it would be clear.  When Jesus said (John 3:16), “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,” he is likening himself to Isaac—the term μονογενής doesn’t mean “only begotten” but rather as in Hebrews 11:17 it equates with the Hebrew יָחִיד, as in Genesis 22:2—“Take now thy son, thine [special, unique] son Isaac, whom thou lovest…”  Perhaps the Akidah represents the beginning of the affliction of the beloved seed.  Did it also occur on Passover?
 

 


Endnotes:

[1] Seder Olam 1 (סֵדֶר עוֹלָם א):

אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ הָיָה בְּשָׁעָה

Abraham our father was

שֶׁנִּדְבַּר עִמּוֹ בֵין הַבְּתָרִים

when he was spoken with between the parts

ע" שָׁנָה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר

70 years, as it is said (Exodus 12:41),

וַיְהִי מִקֵּץ

“And it came to pass at the end

שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וְאַרְבַּע מְאוֹת שָׁנָה וְגוֹ'.

of the four hundred and thirty years,” etc.

לְאַחַר שֶׁנִּדְבַּר עִמּוֹ יָרַד לְחָרָן

After that he was spoken with he returned to Haran,

וְעָשָׂה שָׁם חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר

and remained there five years, as it is said (Genesis 12:4),

וְאַבְרָם בֶּן־חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים וְשִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה

“and Abram was seventy and five years old

בְּצֵאתוֹ מֵחָרָן.

when he departed out of Haran.”

 

[2] Galatians 3:

16 τῶ δὲ ἀβραὰμ ἐρρέθησαν αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι

16 Now to Abraham were the promises made

καὶ τῶ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ.

and to his seed.

οὐ λέγει, καὶ τοῖς σπέρμασιν, ὡς ἐπὶ πολλῶν,

He doesn’t say,  “And to the seeds,” as of many;

ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἐφ᾽ ἑνός, καὶ τῶ σπέρματί σου,

but as of one, “And to thy seed,” [Gen 13:15; 17:8]

ὅς ἐστιν χριστός. 

which is Christ.  [i.e., Isaac is Messiah]

17 τοῦτο δὲ λέγω·

17 And this I say,

διαθήκην προκεκυρωμένην ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ

a covenant confirmed before of God,

[here the Textus Reciptus adds:  εἰς Χριστὸν ‘unto Christ’]

ὁ μετὰ τετρακόσια καὶ τριάκοντα ἔτη γεγονὼς νόμος

a law which was 430 years after

οὐκ ἀκυροῖ,

cannot disannul,

εἰς τὸ καταργῆσαι τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν.

that it should make the promise of none effect.

 

[3] Exodus 12:

מ  וּמוֹשַׁב בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר יָשְׁבוּ בְּמִצְרָיִם

40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt,

שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וְאַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה׃

was four hundred and thirty years.

מא  וַיְהִי מִקֵּץ

41 And it came to pass at the end

שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וְאַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה

of the four hundred and thirty years,

וַיְהִי בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה

even the selfsame day it came to pass,

יָצְאוּ כָּל־צִבְאוֹת יהוה מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם׃

that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

 

[4] The phrase עֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה ‘the bone of this day’ is found in Genesis 7:13; 17:23, 26; Exodus 12:17, 51; Leviticus 23:14, 21, 28, 29, 30; Deuteronomy 32:48; Joshua 5:11; 10:27; Ezekiel 2:3; 24:2; 40:1.

 

[5] Genesis 17:21

כא  וְאֶת־בְּרִיתִי אָקִים אֶת־יִצְחָק

But my covenant will I establish with Isaac,

אֲשֶׁר תֵּלֵד לְךָ שָׂרָה

which Sarah shall bear unto thee

לַמּוֹעֵד הַזֶּה בַּשָּׁנָה הָאַחֶרֶת׃

at this set time in the next year.

Genesis 18:14

יד  הֲיִפָּלֵא מֵיהוה דָּבָר

14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD?

לַמּוֹעֵד אָשׁוּב אֵלֶיךָ

At the time appointed I will return unto thee,

כָּעֵת חַיָּה וּלְשָׂרָה בֵן׃

according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Genesis 21:2

ב  וַתַּהַר וַתֵּלֶד שָׂרָה לְאַבְרָהָם בֵּן לִזְקֻנָיו

2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age,

לַמּוֹעֵד אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּר אֹתוֹ אֱלֹהִים׃

at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

 

[6] Seder Olam 5 (סֵדֶר עוֹלָם ה'):

וְכֵן בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בְּנִיסָן

And so on the 15th of Nisan

נִדְבָּר עִם אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ בֵין הַבְּתָרִים.

was our father Abraham spoken with between the parts (Gen 15)

בְּט"ו בְּנִיסָן ּ

On the 15th of Nisan

בָּאוּ הַמַּלְאָכִים אֵצֶל אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ לְבַשְּׂרוֹ

the angels came near to our father Abraham to inform him (Gen 17)

וּבְאוֹתוֹ הַפֶּרֶק לְשָׁנָה הַבָּאָה

and in the same episode the next year

נוֹלַד אָבִינוּ יִצְחָק

was our father Isaac born (Gen 21)

שנ' לַמּוֹעֵד לָשׁוּב.

As it says (Gen 18:14), “At the time appointed I will return…”

וּבְט"ו בְּנִיסָן יָצְאוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרַיִם שנ'

And on the 15th of Nisan Israel departed from Egypt, as it says (Ex 12:41),

וַיְהִי מִקֵּץ שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וְגוֹ'

“And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years …”

קֵץ אֶחָד לְכֻלָּן.

There is one climax to complete them all.

בְּי"ד יוֹם בוֹ

On the 14th day of it

שָׁחְטוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־פִּסְחֵיהֶן בְּמִצְרַיִם

Israel slaughtered their Passover in Egypt

וְיוֹם חֲמִשִּׁי הָיָה וּבוֹ בַלַּיְלָה לָקוּ הַבְּכוֹרוֹת.

and it was the 15th day and in that night the firstborn were struck.

 

[7] The book of Jubilees (סֵפֶר הַיּוֹבְלִים).  The only complete manuscripts are in Ethiopic, but large fragments survive in Greek, Latin and Syriac, and in Hebrew from the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The translation is from R. H. Charles, The Book of Jubilees. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1917.  Available on line at http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/jub/jub17.htm.

[8] Seder Olam 3 (סֵדֶר עוֹלָם ג'):

נֶאֱמַר לְאַבְרָהָם בֵּין הַבְּתָרִים ּ

It was said to Abraham between the parts (Gen 15:13),

וָדוֹעַ תֵדַע כִּי גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ וְגוֹ'

“Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger,” etc.

וְאֵי זֶה זֶרַע

And where is this seed?

זֶה יִצְחָק שנ'

This is Isaac, as it is said (Gen 21:12),

כִּי בְיִצְחָק יִקָּרֵא לְךָ זָרַע.

“…for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”

 

[9] Seder Olam 5 (סֵדֶר עוֹלָם ה'):

כָּל־שִׁבְעַת הַיָּמִים הָיָה הקב"ה

All seven days was the Holy One blessed be He

מְדַבֵּר עִם מֹשֶׁה בִּסְנֵה ...

arguing with Moses at the bush (Exodus 3) …

וּפֶרֶק הַפֶּסַח הָיָה

And it was the period of the Passover

וּמְכַוְּנִין אוֹתוֹ לְט"ה בְּנִיסָן 

and they (chazal) fix it to the 15th of Nisan,

וּבְאוֹתוֹ זְמַן לְשָׁנָה הַבָּאָה

and at that same time in the coming year

יָצְאוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרָיִם.

the children of Israel departed from Egypt.

 

[10] See his article at http://ezekielmasterkey.com/wp-content/uploads/WP_Paper3_Ezekiel-390.pdf.

 

[11] One is reminded of Psalms 110:1 where chazal relate David’s lord to messiah ben Joseph, e.g., Zohar, Pinchas 242b (the passage is part of the 14th century addition called רַעְיָא מְהֵימְנָא):

נְאֻם יְיָ׳ לַאדֹנִי

“Hashem said to my lord,”

דָּא צַדִּיק לָקְבְלֵיהּ מָשִׁיחַ בֶּן יוֹסֵף

this is the righteous one corresponding to messiah son of Joseph,

וְאָמַר לֵיהּ

and He said to him (Psalms 110:1),

שֵׁב לִימִינִי

“Sit at my right hand,”

דְּרוֹעָא דְּאַבְרָהָם בְּגָלוּתָא דְּיִשְׁמָעֵאל

which is the arm of Abraham in the exile of Ishmael.

עַד אָשִׁית אֹיְבֶיךָ הֲדֹם לְרַגְלֶיךָ

“until I make your enemies your footstool.”

 

[12] Thus the ArtScroll Chumash on Exodus 1:1: “וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת — And these are the names.  The Book of Exodus begins with the conjunction and in order to relate it to the concluding chapters of Genesis.”

[13] Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 97a-b; Abodah Zarah 9a):

תָּנָא דְּבֵי אֵלִיָּהוּ

The words of Elijah were studied:

שֵׁשֶׁת אֲלפִים שָׁנָה הֲוֵי עָלְמָא

The world endures six thousand years—

שְׁנֵי אֲלָפִים תּוֹהוּ

tohu two thousand,

שְׁנֵי אֲלָפִים תּוֹרָה

Torah two thousand,

שְׁנֵי אֲלָפִים יְמוֹת הַמָּשִׁיחַ

the days of the messiah two thousand.

 

[14] Heinrich W. Guggenheimer, Seder Olam: The Rabbinic View of Biblical Chronology Translated and with Commentary. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., page xi.

 

[15] Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776-78. (London: The Folio Society, 1984, pg. 109-110.