Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 19:25:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Russell Hendel <  rhendel@mcs.drexel.edu>
Subject: Re: Numbers

I recently discussed the "400 years in Egypt" problem. I suggested based on
a Rashi/Malbim that the verse "Your children WILL BE sojourners in a land
not their own"  means that (POINT 1) they WILL CONTINUOUSLY be
sojourners--(POINT 2)just as all the patriarchs were sojourners and (POINT
3) they will be sojourners in MANY lands.

Eliyah Teitz in Volume 1 Number 85 responds:
<  <   While I agree that the 400 years starts with the patriarchs, I don't
agree with point two above.  The only one of the patriarchs who wandered
into a land not their own was Yaakov.  Yitzchak remained in Canaan his
entire life, and Avraham's wanderings don't count, as the promise is that
Avraham's offspring will be the wanderers.

Also, the entire sequence refers to one land and one nation, the offspring
will wander in a land not their own, serve them (the people of the land),
and be subjugated by them.  And, HaShem promises that He will also judge
the nation that they will serve, all pointing to a single exile to a single
country, not wandering from land to land. >  >

But if you open Rashi on the verse in question (Gn 15:13), he EXPLICITLY
says WILL BE SOJOURNERS IN A LAND NOT THEIR OWN--(Rashi) It does not say
WILL BE SOJOURNERS IN EGYPT but IN A LAND NOT THEIR OWN. So the count of
400 years starts from Isaac. And indeed we find all the patriarchs were
sojourners as it says: AND ABRAHAM SOJOURNED Gen 31:34, AND ISAAC LIVED IN
GRRAR (From which he was thrown out because of jealousy--so he was only a
sojourner there---Gen 26:6-24), WE(JACOB) HAVE COME TO SOJOURN IN THIS LAND
(Gn 47:4) (Comment: Rashi's citing of Abrahams sojourning is based on a
Midrash Rabbah "Great is sojourning since all the patriarchs were sojouners")

For further details see Posting >  v1a15-13<   on my Rashi website at
http://www.shamash.org/rashi/

Russell Jay Hendel; Phd ASA; rhendel@juno.com

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