<p>7:17 <i>But as the time of the fulfilment of the promise which God made to Abraham drew near, the people grew</i>- The Greek says simply &ldquo;the time of the promise&rdquo; drawing near- putting &lsquo;the promise&rsquo; for &lsquo;the fulfilment of the promise&rsquo;, so sure are God&rsquo;s promises of fulfilment. <br />The promises to Abraham received their major primary fulfilment at the Exodus. Seeing that their ultimate fulfilment will be at the second coming, it follows that the deliverance of Israel from Egypt was typical of this. Or we can read this as meaning that the Abrahamic promises had their potential fulfilment at this time, involving a resurrection to eternal inheritance of the land- but Israel failed to meet the preconditions, and so their fulfilment was reinterpreted and rescheduled, just as was to happen as a result of their rejection of the Lord Jesus.</p><p><em>And multiplied in Egypt</em>- See on 6:1 <em>Multiplying</em>.</p>