back in Rome, for Claudius had died and Nero was then ruling. Many of the other Jews had also moved back to Rome.​—Ac 18:18, 19; Ro 16:3, 7, 11.

In fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy at Luke 21:24, the Roman army under Titus, in 70 C.E., surrounded Jerusalem, which was then crowded with Jews from many lands assembled for the Festival of Unfermented Cakes. The Romans besieged and finally destroyed the city; 1,100,000 Jews perished and 97,000 were taken captive, to be scattered among the nations.

The deliverance of the nation of Israel from bondage to Egypt. Jehovah spoke to Abraham (before 1933 B.C.E.), after promising that Abraham’s seed would inherit the land, and said: “You may know for sure that your seed will become an alien resident in a land not theirs, and they will have to serve them, and these will certainly afflict them for four hundred years. But the nation that they will serve I am judging, and after that they will go out with many goods. . . . But in the fourth generation they will return here, because the error of the Amorites has not yet come to completion.”​—Ge 15:13-16.

It is clear that the beginning of the 400-year period of affliction had to await the appearance of the promised “seed.” While Abraham had earlier visited Egypt during a time of famine in Canaan and had experienced some difficulties with the Pharaoh there, he was then childless. (Ge 12:10-20) Not long after God’s statement about the 400 years of affliction, when Abraham was 86 years old (in the year 1932 B.C.E.), his Egyptian slave girl and concubine bore him a son, Ishmael. But it was 14 years later (1918 B.C.E.) that Abraham’s free wife Sarah bore him a son, Isaac, and God designated this son as the one by means of whom the promised Seed would result. Still, God’s time had not yet arrived for giving Abraham or his seed the land of Canaan, and so they were, as foretold, ‘alien residents in a land not theirs.’​—Ge 16:15, 16; 21:2-5; Heb 11:13.

Time of the Exodus. When, therefore, did the 400 years of affliction begin, and when did it end? Jewish tradition reckons the count from Isaac’s birth. But the actual evidence of affliction first came on the day that Isaac was weaned. Evidence points to 1913 B.C.E., when Isaac was about 5 years old and Ishmael about 19, as the date of the start of affliction. It was then that Ishmael “the one born in the manner of flesh began persecuting the one born in the manner of spirit.” (Ga 4:29) Ishmael, who was part Egyptian, in jealousy and hatred, began “poking fun” at Isaac, the young child, this amounting to much more than a mere children’s quarrel. (Ge 21:9) Other translations describe Ishmael’s action as “mocking.” (Yg; Ro, ftn) The affliction of Abraham’s seed continued on during Isaac’s life. While Jehovah blessed Isaac as a grown man, he was nevertheless persecuted by the inhabitants of Canaan and forced to move from place to place because of the difficulties they brought against him. (Ge 26:19-24, 27) Eventually, during the later years of the life of Isaac’s son Jacob, the foretold “seed” came into Egypt to reside. In time they came into a state of slavery.

By what internal evidence does the Bible fix the date of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt?

The 400-year period of affliction thus ran from 1913 B.C.E. until 1513 B.C.E. It was also a period of grace, or of divine toleration, allowed the Canaanites, a principal tribe of whom were Amorites. By this latter date their error would come to completion; they would clearly merit complete ejection from the land. As the preliminary step toward such ejection, God would turn his attention to his people in Egypt, setting them free from bondage and starting them on the way back to the Promised Land.​—Ge 15:13-16.

The 430-year period. Another line of calculation is provided in the statement at Exodus 12:40, 41: “And the dwelling of the sons of Israel, who had dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came about at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it even came about on this very day that all the armies of Jehovah went out of the land of Egypt.” The footnote on Exodus 12:40 says regarding the expression “who had dwelt”: “In Heb[rew] this verb is pl[ural]. The relative pronoun ʼasherʹ, ‘who,’ can apply to the ‘sons of Israel’ rather than to the ‘dwelling.’” The Greek Septuagint renders verse 40: “But the dwelling of the sons of Israel which they dwelt in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan [was] four hundred and thirty years long.” The Samaritan Pentateuch reads: “. . . in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt.” All these renderings indicate that the 430-year period covers a longer period of time than the dwelling of the Israelites in Egypt.

The apostle Paul shows that this 430-year period (at Ex 12:40) began at the time of the validation of the Abrahamic covenant and ended with the Exodus. Paul says: “Further, I say this: As to the [Abrahamic] covenant previously validated by God, the Law that has come into being four hundred and thirty years later [in the same year as the Exodus] does not invalidate it, so as to abolish the promise. . . . whereas God has kindly given it to Abraham through a promise.”​—Ga 3:16-18.

How long was it, then, from the validation of the Abrahamic covenant until the Israelites moved into Egypt? At Genesis 12:4, 5 we find that Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran and crossed the Euphrates on his way to Canaan, at which time the Abrahamic covenant, the promise previously made to him in Ur of the Chaldeans, took effect. Then, from the genealogical references at Genesis 12:4; 21:5; 25:26; and Jacob’s statement at Genesis 47:9, it can be seen that 215 years elapsed between the validation of the Abrahamic covenant and the move of Jacob with his family into Egypt. This would show that the Israelites actually lived in Egypt 215 years (1728-1513 B.C.E.). The figure harmonizes with other chronological data.

From Exodus to temple building. Two other chronological statements harmonize with and substantiate this viewpoint. Solomon began the building of the temple in his fourth year of kingship (1034 B.C.E.), and this is stated at 1 Kings 6:1 to be “the four hundred and eightieth year” from the time of the Exodus (1513 B.C.E.).

‘About 450 years.’ Then there is Paul’s speech to an audience in Antioch of Pisidia recorded at Acts 13:17-20 in which he refers to a period of “about four hundred and fifty years.” His discussion of Israelite history begins with the time God “chose our forefathers,” that is, from the time that Isaac was actually born to be the seed of promise (1918 B.C.E.). (Isaac’s birth definitely settled the question, which had been in doubt because of Sarah’s barrenness, as to whom God would recognize as the seed.) From this starting point Paul then goes on to recount God’s acts in behalf of his chosen nation down to the time when God “gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.” The period of “about four hundred and fifty years,” therefore, evidently extends from Isaac’s birth in 1918 B.C.E. down to the year 1467 B.C.E., or 46 years after the Exodus of 1513 B.C.E. (40 years being spent in the wilderness wandering and 6 years in conquering the land of Canaan). (De 2:7; Nu 9:1; 13:1, 2, 6; Jos 14:6, 7, 10) This makes a total number that clearly fits the apostle’s round figure of “about four hundred and fifty years.” Both these chronological references therefore support the year 1513 B.C.E. as the year of the Exodus and harmonize as well with the Bible chronology concerning the kings and judges of Israel.​—See CHRONOLOGY (From 1943 B.C.E. to the Exodus).

Other views. This date for the Exodus, 1513 B.C.E., and consequently the Israelite invasion of Canaan and the fall of Jericho in 1473 B.C.E., 40 years after the Exodus, has been considered far too early by some critics, who would place these events as late as the 14th or even the 13th century B.C.E. However, while some archaeologists place the fall of Jericho down in the 13th century B.C.E., they do so, not on the basis of any ancient historical documents or testimony to that effect, but on the basis of pottery finds. Such calculation of time periods by pottery is obviously very speculative, and this is demonstrated by the research at Jericho. The findings there have produced contradictory conclusions and datings on the part of the archaeologists.​—See ARCHAEOLOGY (Differences in dating); CHRONOLOGY (Archaeological Dating).

Similarly with the Egyptologists, the differences among them in dating the dynasties of Egypt have amounted to centuries, making their dates unusable for any specific period. For this reason it is impossible to name with confidence the particular Pharaoh of the Exodus, some saying it was Thutmose III, others Amenhotep II, Ramses II, and so forth, but on very shaky foundations in each case.

Authenticity of the Exodus Account. An objection against the Exodus account has been that the Pharaohs of Egypt did not make any record of the Exodus. However, this is not unusual, for kings of more modern times have recorded only their victories and not their defeats and have often tried to erase anything historical that is contrary to their personal or nationalistic image or to the ideology they are trying to inculcate in their people. Even in recent times rulers have tried to obliterate the works and reputations of their predecessors. Anything regarded as embarrassing or distasteful was left out of Egyptian inscriptions or effaced as soon as possible. An example is the chiseling away by her successor, Thutmose III, of the name and representation of Queen Hatshepsut on a stone monumental record uncovered at Deir al-Bahri in Egypt.​—See Archaeology and Bible History, by J. P. Free, 1964, p. 98 and photograph opposite p. 94.