1 The following comes from Allen P. Ross, "The Literary Analytical Approach," 10-11.

2 For further archaeological studies see Unger's Archaeology and the Old Testament, and Kitchen's Ancient Orient and Old Testament.

3 Abraham dies at ages 175 (Gen. 25:7).

4 Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 in 2066 (Gen 21 :5) and died at age 180 in 1886 (Gen 35:21).

5 Jacob was born when Isaac was 60 in 2006 (Gen 25:26), moved to Egypt at age 130 in 1876 (Gen 47:9), and died at age 147 just 17 years after he moved to Egypt in 1859 (Gen 47:28).

6 Chronology from the Exodus back to Joseph (adapted from Allen P. Ross, "Genesis" BKC, 89):

Therefore, Joseph was born in 1915, sold into Egypt at age 17 in 1898 (Gen 37:2, 28) and died at age 110 (Gen 50:26).

7 Exodus 12:40-41 proclaims that Israel lived in Egypt for 430 years to the very day of their Exodus (cf. Gal. 3:17).

This are two basic views about the 430 years mentioned in this verse.

(1) There are 430 years from Genesis 15 to Exodus 20 (e.g. 215 years from Abraham to the captivity, and 215 years from the captivity to Sinai). However, these dates do not fit with a conservative chronology (e.g., Abraham was c. 2,000 BC, and the Exodus was c. 1446 BC; Also the captivity was prophesied to be 400 years in Genesis 15: 13, not 215 years)

(2) There are 430 years from Genesis 46 to Exodus 20. In Genesis 46 Jacob receives the last confirmation of the Abrahamic covenant and then goes into Egypt as one of the patriarchs c. 1876 BC. Acts 7:6, and Genesis 15:13-16 both describe 400 years of captivity. Perhaps they are using rounded numbers. Or perhaps from the final giving of the promise to Abraham's descendant, Jacob, in the Land until the Exodus is 430 years. This would make the captivity proper 400 years. 1 Chronicles 7:20-21 describes ten generations from Joseph to Joshua. It would take 400 years to grow from 70 to 2-3 million.

8 This date emphasizes the literal interpretation of the biblical numbers in Exodus 12:40 ("Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years"), Judges 11:26 ("While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?") and 1 Kings 6:1 ("Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord") .

Hill and Walton offer the following arguments for an early date (A Survey of the Old Testament, 108):

1. 1 Kings 6:1 indicates the Exodus occurred 480 years prior to the 4th year of Solomon's reign. His 4th year is variously dated at 966/960/957 B.C., placing the Exodus at 1446/1440/1437.

2. According to Judg. 11 :26, Israel had occupied Canaan for 300 years before the judgeship of Jephthah, which is dated between 1100 and 1050. This dates Joshua's conquest between 1400 and 1350. Adding Israel's 40 years in the desert puts the Exodus between 1440 and 1390.

3. Moses lived in exile in Midian 40 years (Acts 7:3; cf. Exod. 2:23) while the pharaoh of the oppression was still alive. The only pharaohs who ruled 40 years or more were Thutmose III (1504-1450) and Rameses II (1290-1224). 

4. The Merneptah Stela (ca. 1220) indicates Israel was already an established nation at the time.

5. The Amarna tablets (ca. 1400) speak of a period of chaos caused by the "Habiru," very likely the Hebrews.

6. The early date allows for the length of time assigned to the period of the judges (at least 250 years). The late date allows only 180 years.

7. The Dream Stela of Thutmose IV indicates he was not the legal heir to the throne (i.e., the legal heir would have died in the tenth plague).

8. Archaeological evidence from Jericho, Hazor, etc., supports a 15th-century date for the Exodus

9. Exod. 12:40 dates the entrance of Jacob into Egypt during the reign of Sesostris/Senusert III (1878-43) rather than during the Hyksos period (1674-1567)."

Therefore a plausible (and approximate) reconstruction would be as follows (Wood, A Survey of Israel 's History, 88-90):