Bible Discussion Thread

Most commentaries online take the 4th generation mentioned in Genesis 15:16 as just another way of describing the same span of 400 years (or 430 years) that the nation of Israel spent in Egypt which is covered in Genesis 15:12-14. This cannot be the case.

Genesis 15:16 answers Abraham's question in Genesis 15:8 about how he would know God would cause his seed to inherit the land God had brought him out of Ur to see that Abram was standing on in Hebron. The thought of asking God about when his seed would leave Egypt had nothing to do with Abrams question in Genesis 15:8, since he knew nothing about his seed going to Egypt until God revealed His plan in Genesis 15:12-14.

Numbers 14:13-25 shows that God made the Israelites wander in the wilderness according to Moses word, which specifically acknowledged God's right to visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the 3rd and 4th generations. The 1st generation that left Egypt punished as the fathers was 20 years old at the census in Numbers 1:1-54. The 2nd generation was their children who were born in Egypt and seen God's wonders, but who could not enter God's promised land until 40 years of wandering with their fathers had passed. That generation spent a maximum of 40 years of their years in military service wandering in the wilderness.

The 3rd generation would be born over the first 20 years in the wilderness and would spend a maximum of 20 years of their military service wandering in the wilderness. The 4th generation was born in the last 20 years in the wilderness and first served in the army after entering the promised land. The 5th generation spent no time in the wilderness and began entering the army 20 years into Joshua's campaign.

Caleb was promised Hebron when he was 85 years old, which was 5 years after Israel left the wilderness. Caleb was from the tribe of Judah, the first tribe to gain its inheritance, and he obtained Hebron before he turned 100, the age he would be 20 years into Joshua's campaign.

This interpretation gives God the glory for telling Abram the whole truth that his seed would not actually take possession of the promised land until 40 years after they left Egypt. Any interpretation that says God was promising Abraham that his seed would possess the land that fails to account for the 40 years Israel spent in the wilderness has to suppose either that God for some reason intentionally left that out and misled Abram about the timing of the answer to his question in Gen 15:8, or that God didn't know about that delay until it occurred.

Both of those positions are much worse than saying that God did know about the wandering in the wilderness and did reveal a complete answer to Gen 15:8. At the same time, God left Abram and his seed uninformed on certain details, such as which nation Abram's seed would be enslaved by and why it would take another four generations before his seed got back to Hebron other than delaying His judgement on Abram's Amorite allies who had just helped him deliver Lot from captivity. God did not have to tell Abram that the generation that could have entered the land immediately upon leaving Egypt was going to rebel against God and create a 40 year delay.

If it is acknowledged that this prophesy includes the revelation of God's foreknowledge of Isreal's wandering in the wilderness directly connected with His determination to delay judgement on the Amorites, this prophesy actually becomes one of the earliest examples of God hiding in His revelation the mystery that Israel's rebellion and hardening was going to prove to be riches for the Gentiles.