And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger, ... It will be seen by inspecting the Hebrew text that the words, 'they shall serve them, and they shall afflict them,' are, from the accentuation, to be regarded as parenthetical; so that the passage, these words being omitted, would stand thus: 'Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs four hundred years.' The actual duration, however, neither of their servitude, nor of their sojourn extended over the whole of this period (see the note at Genesis 15:16). "A stranger " [Hebrew, geer (H1616)] is usually derived from х guwr (H1481)] to dwell, so that it signifies a sojourner-one living out of his own country. But Aben Ezra maintains that it is rather connected with gaarar (H1641), to shake off fruit from a tree; so that in this sense it will denote a person or thing forcibly detached from the native soil. "Four hundred years." The statement is made here in round numbers, as also in Acts 7:6; but more exactly 430 years in Exodus 12:40; Galatians 3:17. Josephus also mentions the former number ('Jew. War,' B. 5: 9, sec. 4; 'Antiquities,' 2: 9, section 1); and the latter ('Antiquities,' 2: 15, section 2).