Bible Discussion Thread

I have a problem that I am certain has an easy answer. How long did Abraham spend in Egypt since Sarah gave Hagar 10 years after they came back to Canaan. Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86 minus one year of being with child and then 10 years in Canaan. Abraham left Haran when he was 75, thus 75 from (86-1-10=75) leaving no time for Abraham and Sarah to live in Egypt.

So, here is my effort to do the calculation of the span of time Abram may have been in Egypt. I will start using the widest span of time allowed while Abram's ages could be given as 75 and 86.

If Abram left Haran on his 75th birthday he would have been 75.0 years old. If Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram on the day before his 87th birthday he would have been 86.997 years old. This allows a maximum of 11.997 years (just under 12 years) between events.

Subtracting Hagar's pregnancy removes 0.75 years of that time and I will assume she became pregnant the same day that she was given to Abram as a wife leaving 11.247 years.

If the day Abram left Egypt and the day Saria gave Hagar to Abram occurred on the same day of the year 10 years apart that would remove 10.0 years leaving 1.247 years.

The 1.257 years has to accommodate the amount of time Abram spent traveling from Haran to Canaan and the time he sojourned in Canaan before he decided the famine was too severe and entered Egpyt. I have no way of knowing how long that took, but I'll say a little over 3 months (0.257 years). That leaves 1.0 years or a full year for Abraham to be in Egpyt.

Of course these assumptions all maximize the time Abram would have spent in Egypt and I don't think Abram spent a full year lying about Saria being his sister and allowing her to become part of pharoah's harem before God made the plagues on Pharoahs house and Abram had to leave. If those events were actually completed in 3 months (0.25 years) then the total span of time between when Abram is said to be 75 and 86 can contract by 0.75 months to be a total span of 11.247 years. If that is the case, the day Abram left Haran does not have to be his 75th birthday and the day Hagar bore him Ishmael does not have to be the day before he turned 87.

The circumcision of Abraham at 99 and Issac at 13 and Issac's birth to Abraham at 100 could refine my answer but Genesis 16 seems to allow 3 mo. min to 1 yr max for Abram's time in Egypt.

I meant to say: "The circumcision of Abraham at 99 and Ishmael at 13". I accidentally wrote Issac when I meant to write Ishmael.

First of all your question applies to Genesis 16:1:16, not Genesis 15 where you posted your question. First I will cite the verses that provide the relevant time spans separating the events in question.

Genesis 12:4-5

4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

5. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

Genesis 12:10

And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.

Genesis 13:1

And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

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.

Genesis 16:16

And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

Note that none if these events list the month or day of the year that any of these events happened and some of the events listed have no specific time reference at all. In these texts God has reserved these details as hidden things that He alone knows with certainty. He has only chosen to reveal enough information for us to apply logic to verify that these events in His words are possible, if not probable, based on what we commonly know about the span of time a person is a certain age (any day beginning on their birthday that falls within a 1 year span) and the length of time a normal pregnancy lasts (9 months, not 1 year as you have stated).

I don't have space to work out the details for you and there are later events and ages given for Abraham later that refine what you work out. However, calculating fractions is hard using rounded numbers

Thank you for your input. I did eventually find some older Hebrew writing that does call out for Abraham being in Egypt three month. So this does work out with what you were stating. I just felt that this was not enough time for Abraham to gain such wealth but I will assume that Pharoah gave him all these gifts when he took Sarah and shortly thereafter Pharaoh was plagued thus this would be more than enough time. Thanks again.