[A] See Geikie's _Hours with the Bible_, vol. 1, chap. xiii; _Bible
Commentary_, note at the end of Gen. 8.
[B] From the fact that in several genealogies four generations are given
to the sojourn in Egypt, the shorter period, from 1706 to 1491, has been
generally assumed. But it is almost impossible that seventy people could
become two million in four generations by natural increase alone.
Moreover, the genealogy of Joshua (1 Chron. 7. 22-27) gives either ten
or eleven generations to this period. It is probable that the other
tables name only sufficient links to show the line, and omit many of the
generations. This was frequently the case with Jewish records. (See the
genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matt. 1, where several names are omitted.)
We conclude that the sojourn began about 1900 B. C., and the call of
Abraham was about 2100 B. C., or earlier; but we give in the text the
usual chronology.