Exodus 12:41

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(41) The selfsame day . . . all the hosts . . . went out.—All started, i.e., on one and the same day—the fifteenth of the month Abib. Some would start during the night, some in the morning, others at different periods of the day. They had different distances to traverse in order to reach the appointed halt, Succoth.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:37-42 The children of Israel set forward without delay. A mixed multitude went with them. Some, perhaps, willing to leave their country, laid waste by plagues; others, out of curiosity; perhaps a few out of love to them and their religion. But there were always those among the Israelites who were not Israelites. Thus there are still hypocrites in the church. This great event was 430 years from the promise made to Abraham: see Ga 3:17. So long the promise of a settlement was unfulfilled. But though God's promises are not performed quickly, they will be, in their season. This is that night of the Lord, that remarkable night, to be celebrated in all generations. The great things God does for his people, are to be not only a few days' wonder, but to be remembered throughout all ages; especially the work of our redemption by Christ. This first passover-night was a night of the Lord, much to be observed; but the last passover-night, in which Christ was betrayed and in which the first passover, with the rest of the Jewish ceremonies, was done away, was a night of the Lord, much more to be observed. Then a yoke, heavier than that of Egypt, was broken from off our necks, and a land, better than that of Canaan, set before us. It was a redemption to be celebrated in heaven, for ever and ever.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Who dwelt - Read, which they sojourned. The obvious intention of Moses is to state the duration of the sojourn in Egypt.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

41. even the selfsame day—implying an exact and literal fulfilment of the predicted period.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

If this be the right translation, the four hundred and thirty years mentioned Galatians 3:17 are to be taken in a latitude, for about or near so many years, as is very frequent in Scripture and other authors; else there wants one year of it, because the law was not given till about a year after their coming out of Egypt. Nor was it of any concernment to the apostle’s argument there, whether it wanted a year of that number or no, as here it is. But the words may be rendered here, as Genesis 7:12, in the body or strength of the day, i.e. when the day-light was full, and clear, and strong, when it was broad day-light, the Egyptians seeing and not being able to hinder them. If it be said they went out by night, Deu 16:1, that is true, in regard of their resolution, and preparation, and the beginning of their journey; but their actual marching forth was by day-light, or in the morning; nor could it be done sooner from the nature of the thing, and the time necessarily required for so great a work.

The selfsame day: this circumstance is noted to set forth the accurateness and infallibility of God’s foreknowledge, and the efficacy of his providence in accomplishing all his own counsels in his own appointed time.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years,.... As soon as completed:

even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt; which was the fifteenth of Nisan; and Jarchi says it was on the fifteenth of Nisan that the decree was made known to Abraham between the pieces, concerning the affliction of his posterity four hundred years in a land not theirs; but this is not to be depended on; yet it looks as if at the close of the four hundred and thirty years, from the date of them, exactly to a day, the children of Israel, the armies of the Lord, came out of Egypt in great order: however, it seems certain by this that they all came out the same day, which was very wonderful that such a large number should be collected together, and that they should march out of the land on one and the same day; and it is pretty plain it was in the daytime, and very likely in the midst of the day; for they were not to stir out of their houses till morning, and then they had what remained of the passover to burn, as well as many other things to do, it is very probable, and some which they could not do; so that they did not go by night, or by stealth, but openly at noon day; and the words will bear to be rendered, "in the strength or body of the day" (r), when it is at its height, as it is at noon; and so the Jews represent the Lord speaking after this manner (s),"If I bring out Israel by night, the Egyptians will say, now he does his work after the manner of thieves; but behold, I will bring them out in the midst of the day, in the strength of the sun, as is said, "and it was in the selfsame day", &c.''

(r) "in corpore diei hujus", Pagninus, Montanus; "in the body" or "strength of that day", Ainsworth. (s) Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. fol. 58. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

And it came to pass at the end of the {s} 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.

(s) From Abraham's departing from Ur in Chaldea to the departing of the children of Israel from Egypt are 430 years.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

41. the selfsame day] See on v. 17.

the hosts of Jehovah] cf. v. 17; and see on Exodus 6:26.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 41. - The self-same day... all the hosts went out. The setting forth upon the journey is regarded as the "going out" - not the actual exit, which was only effected by the passage of the Red Sea. Exodus 12:41

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt had lasted 430 years. This number is not critically doubtful, nor are the 430 years to be reduced to 215 by an arbitrary interpolation, such as we find in the lxx, ἡ δὲ κατοίκησις τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ ἥν κατῷκησαν (Cod. Alex. αὐτοὶ καὶ οί πατέρες αὐτῶν) ἐν γῇ Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ ἐν γῇ Χαναάν, κ.τ.λ. This chronological statement, the genuineness of which is placed beyond all doubt by Onkelos, the Syriac, Vulgate, and other versions, is not only in harmony with the prediction in Genesis 15:13, where the round number 400 is employed in prophetic style, but may be reconciled with the different genealogical lists, if we only bear in mind that the genealogies do not always contain a complete enumeration of all the separate links, but very frequently intermediate links of little historical importance are omitted, as we have already seen in the genealogy of Moses and Aaron (Exodus 6:18-20). For example, the fact that there were more than the four generations mentioned in Exodus 6:16. between Levi and Moses, is placed beyond all doubt, not only by what has been adduced at Exodus 6:18-20, but by a comparison with other genealogies also. Thus, in Numbers 26:29., Exodus 27:1; Joshua 17:3, we find six generations from Joseph to Zelophehad; in Ruth 4:18., 1 Chronicles 2:5-6, there are also six from Judah to Nahshon, the tribe prince in the time of Moses; in 1 Chronicles 2:18 there are seven from Judah to Bezaleel, the builder of the tabernacle; and in 1 Chronicles 7:20., nine or ten are given from Joseph to Joshua. This last genealogy shows most clearly the impossibility of the view founded upon the Alexandrian version, that the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt lasted only 215 years; for ten generations, reckoned at 40 years each, harmonize very well with 430 years, but certainly not with 215.

(Note: The Alexandrian translators have arbitrarily altered the text to suit the genealogy of Moses in Exodus 6:16., just as in the genealogies of the patriarchs in Genesis 5 and 11. The view held by the Seventy became traditional in the synagogue, and the Apostle Paul followed it in Galatians 3:17, where he reckoned the interval between the promise to Abraham and the giving of the law as 430 years, the question of chronological exactness having no bearing upon his subject at the time.)

The statement in Exodus 12:41, "the self-same day," is not to be understood as relating to the first day after the lapse of the 430 years, as though the writer supposed that it was on the 14th Abib that Jacob entered Egypt 430 years before, but points back to the day of the exodus, mentioned in Exodus 12:14, as compared with Exodus 12:11., i.e., the 15th Abib (cf. Exodus 12:51 and Exodus 13:4). On "the hosts of Jehovah," see Exodus 7:4.