Israel [Is'rael] in Egypt.
The details of the history of Israel in Egypt are few. When Joseph was in power, Jacob and his whole household settled in the land: there they multiplied and became a great nation. In time a king reigned who knew not Joseph, and the people were reduced to cruel bondage. Through God's intervention and after dire judgements upon the Egyptians, the Israelites were delivered. See EGYPT and JOSEPH
A question not easily answered is, How long were the Israelites in Egypt? In Genesis 15:13; Acts 7:6, the period seems to be stated as four hundred years. Exodus 12:40 says "the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years;" and Galatians 3:17 declares that the law was given four hundred and thirty years after the promise to Abraham. The promise to Abraham was long before Israel went into Egypt, and the law was given after they came out; so that according to this passage their sojourning in Egypt must have been much less than four hundred years. A much shorter period is implied in Genesis 15:16, which says of Israel in Egypt that "in the fourth generation they shall come hither again;" and if we turn to Exodus 6:16-20 we find exactly four generations, thus:
Jacob's son Levi.
Levi's son Kohath.
Kohath's son Amram.
Amram's son Moses.
Or, if we start with Levi, who entered with Jacob, there was ample time for Moses to have had a son, as he was eighty years old at the Exodus. Now if we reckon that at that time a man had his first son when he was forty years of age, there would have been ten generations in four hundred years. Further, the mother of Moses (Jochebed) was Levi's daughter, (Numbers 26:59), Amram having married his own aunt. Exodus 6:20. Levi lived only a hundred and thirty-seven years in all, and supposing (it can be approximately proved) that he lived in Egypt eighty-eight years, Jochebed was born during those years. If Moses was born when she was forty-seven years of age, and Moses was eighty years old at the Exodus, these sums (88 + 47 + 80 = 215 years) show that Israel may have been in Egypt about two hundred and fifteen years, and this is the period now generally supposed.
If we admit this to be the time of the occupation, we must endeavour to See how it agrees with the four hundred and thirty years of Galatians 3:17.