Exodus Numbers

Dear Friends,

I have been forwarded a document attributed to Danny Kellum, Headmaster of Donelson Christian Academy. He estimates that 3 1/2 million people were involved in the Exodus from Egypt, requiring 1,500 tons of food each day. To contain that much food would require two freight trains each a mile long; to cook it would require 4,000 tons of firewood, supplied by several more freight trains.

He further calculates they would need 11,000,000 gallons of water each day, which if supplied by railroad tank cars would compose a train 1,800 miles long.

Kellum judges that the path through the Red Sea was more than two files wide, so as not to require 35 days and nights for all the people to cross. He suggests that to cross in one night they marched 5,000 abreast along a path 3 miles wide.

He estimates the Israelite campground at 750 square miles, or two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island. Having dazzled us with the above numbers, the document concludes, "Do you think God can take care of your needs, too ???"

Of course God is able to accomplish whatever He sets out to do. But Mr. Kellum's calculations raise some important questions about what God actually did.

The Bible reports that the people's need for food and water was met by God's miraculous intervention. And such was just the beginning of miracles.

Most of the "great cities" of the Old Testament were small towns by modern standards. Yet despite the passage of millennia, many such sites have been convincingly identified. In AD 73 Masada was besieged by Roman armies, whose campsites still exist. To discover or create, in the rocky and mountainous Sinai, a series of camping sites two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island is a seldom-listed miracle. Once these 750-square-mile sites had served their purpose, to disguise them so that they are now invisible to geographers required another miracle.

Why does Mr. Kellum believe the Israelites numbered 3 1/2 million people?

The books of Moses contain several census reports:

Exodus 12:37 mentions "about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children."

Numbers 1:45, 46 So the whole number of the people of Israel, by their fathers' houses, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go forth to war in Israel--their whole number was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

Exodus 38:26 every one who was numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty men.

The first passage refers to the men, the second and third to the warriors (minus the Levites).

Numbers 2:32 These are the people of Israel as numbered by their fathers' houses; all in the camps who were numbered by their companies were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

Here the "people of Israel," less the Levites, are numbered.

Numbers 11:21 But Moses said, "The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot; and thou hast said, 'I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!'"

Numbers 26:51 This was the number of the people of Israel, six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty.

In these last three references, the "people of Israel" are reported to total variously between 600,000 and 603,550. It is customary to interpret all of these numbers as referring only to the men. If there were about 600,000 men, adding the presumed numbers of women and children would lead to estimates of millions, with a minimum of 2 million.

I once heard of a family who had meager resources for their home school, but taught their children arithmetic from the book of Numbers. Such could be most stimulating. Let us first consider the conquest of Jericho:

According to the physical evidence, ancient Jericho had a maximum length of 850 feet and maximum width of 450 feet. This calculates to an area of 382,500 square feet, or at 43,560 square feet per acre, approximately 9 acres. Let us assume that this area is basically a rectangle, which would have a perimeter of about 2,600 feet.

We will assume that the Israelite army's march stayed well out of bowshot range of the walls, so let us add 500 feet x 2 or 1,000 feet to each of the four sides of the march. The path around Jericho was thus about 6,600 feet, or 1.25 miles. Israel was camped west of the Jordan, which is only 8 miles away. The maximum hike was thus about 20 miles.

Let us assume that those who marched about Jericho were only the 600,000 men, without women or children. Let us further assume there was 3 feet between the marching ranks, allowing for 1,760 ranks per mile. If they marched 18 abreast there were 30,000 men per mile, and the first returned from their 20-mile hike as the tail left camp. But maybe they marched 36 abreast, so the parade would be only 10 miles long, or perhaps 72 abreast, for 5 miles long.

But the day that they marched around 7 times, they were all there. At 1,760 ranks per mile, times the perimeter of 1.25 miles, their path had room for 2,200 ranks. Dividing the 600,000 men by the 2,200 ranks, we learn that the men were massed 273 deep on all sides. And when they all rushed the city walls, the perimeter shrunk to 0.5 mile. Now the 600,000 men merged to only 880 ranks, 682 men deep.

They approached the wall shoulder to shoulder, 3 feet apart, giving each only room enough to very carefully swing his sword. Each front man was followed by 681 behind him. When they got inside the city, there was standing room only. If we allow only 1 square foot for each man to stand very quietly and peacefully, the town could contain only 390,000 of them. There remained 210,000 outside still trying to get in. Once the walls had fallen, we can wonder whether this massive army simply stomped the town to death. We might also compare these 600,000 Israelite soldiers with the population of Nineveh, “that great city” (120,000), or the total US forces in the Gulf War (525,000).

But let us return to an earlier period of the Exodus:

Numbers 3:43 And all the first-born males, according to the number of names, from a month old and upward as numbered were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

Let us presume that there can be only one firstborn male per family. Thus the number of firstborn males should approximate the number of nuclear families.

Let us divide 603,550 adult males by the 22,273 firstborn males to learn that the average nuclear family contained 27 adult males. Let us further assume that there were as many adult females as adult males, and that children younger than age 20 were almost half that number. Thus the average nuclear family would include the following children:

27 adult males

27 adult females

13 juvenile males

13 juvenile females

For a total of 80 children per family. Of course some families might be smaller, in which case to maintain the average, some would need to be larger.

Amram and Jochebed had three children: Aaron, Miriam and Moses:

Numbers 26:59 The name of Amram's wife was Joch'ebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister.

1 Chronicles 6:3 And the children of Amram; Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam.

So Amram and Jochebed must have been dependent on some other family to maintain the average of 80 children; perhaps that other family had 157 children?

Let us consider more closely the tribe of Levi, of which Amram and Jochebed were members.

Levi's descendants composed 5 or 6 clans:

Numbers 26:58 These are the families of Levi: the family of the Libnites, the family of the He'bronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Ko'rahites. And Kohath was the father of Amram.

Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

Genesis 46:11 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merar'i.

Exodus 6:16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merar'i, the years of the life of Levi being a hundred and thirty-seven years.

1 Chronicles 6:16 The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merar'i.

Now we look at the clan of Kohath. Kohath had four sons of whom one was Amram.

Exodus 6:18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uz'ziel, the years of the life of Kohath being a hundred and thirty-three years.

Numbers 3:19 And the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uz'ziel.

1 Chronicles 6:2 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uz'ziel.

1 Chronicles 6:18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uz'ziel.

1 Chronicles 23:12 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uz'ziel, four.

Amram married his father's sister, Jochebed.

Exodus 6:20 Amram took to wife Joch'ebed his father's sister and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being one hundred and thirty-seven years.

Exodus 2:1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

Numbers 26:59 The name of Amram's wife was Joch'ebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister.

Was Jochebed a daughter of Levi or perhaps a granddaughter of Levi? Whichever she was, Amram had two sons: Aaron and Moses.

1 Chronicles 6:3 And the children of Amram; Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam.

Did Amram also have a third son, Shu'ba-el?

1 Chronicles 24:20 And of the rest of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram, Shu'ba-el; of the sons of Shu'ba-el, Jehde'iah.

Let's give Amram the benefit of the doubt, 3 sons.

Now all the Kohathite males numbered 8,600.

Numbers 3:28 According to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand six hundred…

Of these Amram fathered no more than 3, leaving the balance of 8,597 males to be fathered by his three brothers--or an average of 2,866 sons per brother.

Perhaps, like Amram, the brothers produced only one daughter per three sons, so in addition to 2,866 sons, each had 955 daughters.

So each of Amram's prolific brothers fathered, on the average, 3,821 children.

Can this be a valid conclusion? What are the alternatives? Could there be something dreadfully wrong with the numbers, or was Amram not the father of Moses but his remote ancestor, or what?

Faced with such questions, Dr. Siegfried Horn is reputed to have quoted the following texts of Scripture:

Titus 3:9 But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels over the law, for they are unprofitable and futile.

1 Timothy 1:3,4 …charge certain persons not to… occupy themselves with… endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the divine training that is in faith;

But if we must proceed, let us consider more evidence:

At the time of the birth of Moses, how many midwives were serving the Hebrew people? [two]

Exodus 1:15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiph'rah and the other Pu'ah.

We are left to wonder how many hundreds of thousands of Hebrew women were attended in childbirth by only two midwives.

Although the Hebrew people were numerous, Moses listed seven Canaanite nations larger and mightier than they.

Deut. 7:12 When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, and he clears away many nations before you--the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations mightier and more numerous than you...

Moses referred to the Israelites as "the fewest of all people."

Deut. 7:7 It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you--for you were the fewest of all peoples.

As we have noted before, the Exodus was the product of a series of miracles. Any summer camp counselor who has tried to lead eight juniors through the wilderness, can testify that the Exodus was a miracle, regardless of the number of people involved.

All the above arithmetic has assumed that we know exactly what the Hebrew numbers mean. But there may be some ambiguity about large numbers. The word in question is the first letter of the alphabet, aleph. It means ox, and it also means 1,000--and other things:

Psalm 144:14 ox, NIV

Micah 5:2 clan, NIV

Jeremiah 13:21 captain, KJV

Matthew 2:6 ruler, quoting Micah 5:2

Micah 5:2 thousands, KJV

Now who went out to fight? Was it 600,000 men, or 600 clans, or 600 captains?

We don't know for sure. And I think that's the best answer. We have ample evidence of God's care and concern for us. God is strong and able to save, on much better evidence than the mathematics of the Exodus. We may safely trust in Him.