Genesis 15:13

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And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that your descendants shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

But note what is said to Abraham, “Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land not theirs, and they shall reduce them to servitude, and shall afflict them four hundred years.” This is most clearly a prophecy about the people of Israel, who were to be in servitude in Egypt. Not that this people was to be in that servitude under the oppressive Egyptians for four hundred years, but it is foretold that this should take place in the course of those four hundred years. It is written of Terah the father of Abraham, “And the days of Terah in Haran were years,” not because they were all spent there but because they were completed there. So it is said here also, “And they shall reduce them to servitude and shall afflict them four hundred years” … because that number was completed, not because it was all spent in that affliction. The years are said to be four hundred in round numbers, although they were a little more—whether you reckon from this time when these things were prom... Read More

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Didymus the Blind

AD 398

This word anticipates the sojourn of the people in Egypt, for they were to sojourn as it were in a land not their own. They would be reduced to slavery by the Pharaoh and mistreated in many ways by him and by the Egyptians. There is no discrepancy between what is said here and what is written in Exodus. There it is said, “After years, the army of the Lord left the land of Egypt.” Here: “After four hundred years.” It should be noted that it is not said that they left when four hundred years were completed but rather after four hundred years, which leaves room for the thirty years. And the promise “I will judge the nation to which you will be enslaved” was realized in the very way described in Exodus: God afflicted the Egyptians with ten plagues, and in the end “they sank as lead in the mighty waters.” Finally, they were to leave “with much baggage,” as history would show. From this we learn that if God maltreats someone for a time, he does this not as a matter of indifference but only ... Read More

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

Strangers, and under bondage This prediction may be dated from the persecution of Isaac by Ismael, in the year of the world 2112, till the Jews left Egypt, 2513. In Exodus xii., and St. Paul, 430 years are mentioned; but they probably began when Abram went first into Egypt, 2084. Nicholas Abram and Tournemine say, the Hebrews remained in Egypt full 430 years, from the captivity of Joseph; and reject the addition of the Septuagint which adds, "they and their fathers dwelt in Egypt, and in Chanaan. "On these points, we may expect to find chronologists at variance.

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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20