Praised is the one who keeps His promise: There are several questions that must be answered here: Why is it necessary to tell us that God ‘keeps His promise’ – isn’t this obvious? Why does this passage say that God kept His promise to Israel; wasn’t the promise made to Abraham at the covenant between the pieces? What does it mean when it says that, “The Holy One determined their end?” What does this mean? Surely the text tells us that they would be strangers in a strange land four hundred years. There are many words in the passage from Joshua which seem redundant. For instance, the word la’asot is unnecessary here – what does it mean in this passage?¹¹³ In the proof text we find a double word: “Certainly know (yodoah teidah) that your offspring shall be strangers…” What is the meaning of this double expression? The verse also says that the offspring of Abraham would be enslaved and afflicted 400 years; and yet they were only enslaved 210 years. It should have said, “Your offspring shall be strangers 400 years.” Scripture says: “Just as a person chastises his child, so your God shall chastise you.”¹¹⁴ We shall see in this explanation that even when God becomes angry with his children he still remembers to be compassionate and lightens his decree. This teaching can be applied to the amount of time that the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. The time period of 400 years refers to two different events; “Your offspring will be strangers in a land not their own” and, “They will be enslaved and afflicted.” Both of these events will take place during the 400 year period. It will begin after the birth of Isaac and continue up to the Exodus from Egypt. When Joseph brought his family down to Egypt, he did not allow them to become settled in one place, unlike other nations – so they were strangers in the land.¹¹⁵ However, we might also say that they were strangers because unlike Isaac, they did not live in the land of Canaan for an extended period of time. The decree of slavery and oppression was supposed to be applied to a full period of four hundred years aside from living as strangers in a strange land. However, if the people repented and prayed to God, then God would calculate the period from the birth of Isaac and the end would come sooner. But if the people did not repent, then there would be a period of four hundred years of slavery and oppression. God did not reveal this to Israel because human beings must have free will to make choices on their own. This is alluded to in the expression *yodoah teidah-*there are two possible outcomes of God’s will depending on the choices the Israelites make. The 400 years can begin from the birth of Isaac or it can be 400 years of misery in Egypt. And so also the nations that they served I will judge: Even though God had decreed Israel’s exile and slavery, Egypt still was subject to punishment because they choose how severe to make Israel’s servitude. God only decreed that they live in a land not their own and be oppressed for 400 years – He did not decree the extent of the oppression. The Egyptians chose to oppress them ruthlessly for 210 years – therefore they deserved to be judged by God. The verse says “the nations that they served I will judge (dan anochi).” The word anochiis unnecessary here. It is a reference to the tenth plague about which it is written: Ishall go forth in Egypt and strike down the first born.”¹¹⁶ The words, “And so, also” implies that even if they only enslave but don’t oppress the Israelites they will be judged. “And afterwards they shall go forth with great wealth:” afterwards, whether they served the full 400 years or only part of them, they shall go forth with great wealth. We know that the Israelites repented because the Torah says, “And God heard their sighs.”¹¹⁷ “And God remembered His covenant” – that God would begin counting the period of exile from the birth of Isaac. “The God of our fathers,” God made a covenant with Abraham, with Isaac he promised that the period of exile would begin from his birth, and with Jacob. God can be counted on to keep all of His promises particularly to our forefather Jacob to whom He said: “I will go down with you to Egypt and I will certainly come up (alo a’aleh) with you.”¹¹⁸ The Ba’al Haturim points out that the word alois written with a heiinstead of a vavto teach that Israel would be enslaved for five generations: Jacob, Levi, Kehat, Amram and Moses. Praised is He: the word hu, he, is third person.¹¹⁹ hidden or concealed language. Therefore, third person words reflect something hidden, particularly when it refers to God. The calculation of the period of exile and enslavement was hidden by God. Only God could calculate the end of this period from the birth of Isaac. That is why it says that God calculates the keitz, the end. The gematriah of keitzis 190 leaving 210 years. Also Sarah was 90 and Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born – adding up to 190, keitz. The number 190 is also associated with the different spellings of the name Isaac: sometimes it is spelled yud-sin-chet-kuf¹²⁰ and usually yud-tzadi-chet-kuf – the difference between these two spellings is 190! The 210 years of slavery is fulfilled if we count from the birth of Isaac – then there are 190 years of slavery. Another way of interpreting this passage is to say that it applies specifically to Jacob/Israel. “Praised is the One who kept His promise to Israel” – that is, our forefather Jacob. The Holy One said to Jacob: “I (anokhi) will go down with you to Egypt and I (anokhi) will go up with you.”¹²¹ Why does it say anokhi, “I,” twice in this verse? The Midrash says that when Jacob’s family went down to Egypt, God was counted as one of the seventy members of his household, and when the Israelites left Egypt, God was the six hundred thousandth necessary for them to leave. The Israelites could not leave Egypt until there were six hundred thousand like the number of letters in the Torah. They were lacking just one so God counted Himself as the One. In other words God was the anokhi that went down to Egypt and the anokhi that left with the people of Israel.¹²² – Masekhet Pesachim, Perek Torah Orah, Matzah Shemurah; v’hi sh’amda The Israelites could not wait another moment to leave Egypt so God did them a kindness and counted himself among the six hundred thousand. We can now understand the expression differently, God numbered himself among the people of Israel because the end was so near.

footnotes: ¹¹³ This passage would literally be translated “God calculated the end to do (la’asot)…” ¹¹⁴ Deuteronomy 8:5 ¹¹⁵ This explanation is problematic – didn’t Joseph settle the people in Goshen? ¹¹⁶ Exodus 11:4 ¹¹⁷ Deuteronomy 26:7ff ¹¹⁸ Genesis 46:4 ¹¹⁹ In Hebrew third person is called lashon nistar; literally ¹²⁰ Psalms 108:9 ¹²¹ Genesis 46:4 ¹²² See Shenei Luchot HaB’rit