Levi's last word

1Q21 Words of Levi

http://www.bibleandscience.com/archaeology/exodusdate.htm
This fragment is about the testament of Levi, the last words he uttered before dying. This was part of a larger collection of testaments called Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. Levi summarizes his life by saying: I was nineteen years old when I became a priest, and I was twenty-eight when I took a wife for myself, and I was forty-eight when God brought us into the land of Egypt. I lived eighty-nine years in Egypt. In all I lived 137 years and I saw my descendants to the third generation before I died (Wise, Abegg, and Cook 1996, 257). According to this fragment Levi saw the deliver of Israel, Moses and Aaron, before he died. Levi was 94 years old when Amram married Jochebed who were the parents of Aaron and Moses. This was after only 46 years in Egypt. The time in Egypt was at least 89 years to over 126 years plus when the 80 years for Moses is taken into account. When Levi was 118 years old his brother Joseph died. This seems to indicate that the stay in Egypt was much shorter than 200 years.

4Q543-48 The Vision of Amram

The opening paragraph of this fragment gives some helpful chronological information. It is the testament of Amram who is the father of Aaron and Moses. It says: A Copy of the book 'The Words of the Vision of Amram [son of Levi.' It contains everything that] he told his sons and everything that he commanded them on [the day he died, in the] one hundred and thirty-sixth year, that is the year of [his death, in the one hundred] and fifty-second year of [Israel's sojourn in Egypt...] (Wise, Abegg, and Cook 1996, 434). The text continues to say that Amram and Kohath went back to Canaan to build tombs for their fathers. While they were in Canaan a war broke out between the Philistines and Egypt. As a result they could not return to Egypt because the border of Egypt was closed for 41 years. The Philistines are anachronistic, they came much later. This could be referring to the Hyksos. This probably happened when Jacob died, and Joseph buried him in Canaan (Genesis 50:14). Note that Israel had been 152 years in Egypt when Amram died.