But I read recently that the number was in the millions! Is this true? It is written in the Torah, "The Children of Israel journeyed Since the verse only includes the number of men who were 20 till 60 years of age, we can extrapolate the total population by including the women, children and elderly as well.
A plausible estimate, commonly propounded, is three million. He writes that each of the , had on average 5 children under the age of However, some understand that it means there was a ratio of 5 to 1 men to everyone else, implying 3.
See also Igros Moshe O. By the way, the Talmud says that 80 percent of the Jews never even left Egypt. They were so steeped in Egyptian culture that they were unwilling to join the Exodus. As such, they were lost to the Jewish nation forever. I noticed something very curious. Can you explain to me something about the difference between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewry? What exactly do those terms mean and what are the I have several frustrating issues going on in life today, as well as a relative who is really not well.
Is there a I am allergic to grapes. Overview map Click on photo for high resolution. Satellite map Click on photo for high resolution. The Bible is the inspired word of God and sometimes there are things in it that are questioned because they defy human reasoning.
The number of Jews who exited Egypt with Moses is one of the facts that are questioned like Noah's Ark, the story of Jonah being swallowed by the sea monster etc.
The exodus population was sustained by miracles: Pillar of fire provided light; cloud provided shelter and water Isa ; manna provided food, water from a rock, their cloths and shoes did not wear out; Deut God gave them supernatural strength in fleeing Egypt when crossing the Red Sea because nobody even stumbled.
We do not believe that an exodus population of 2. We have reviewed all arguments for the various estimates of the exodus population of the Jews in detail and have come to the conclusion that the Bible is consistent in its view that there were , men excluding women and children who left Egypt. We find no reason to question this number for any reason. Israel was "as the sand on the seashore" when they left Egypt and went to occupy the promised land.
Josephus says this number is wrong and is "contrived to agree with Lysimaehus. Although the number is wrong, we can be sure it is not too high , but rather too low. Apion was trying to discredit the Jews and therefore his incentive was to fabricate a number of the exodus that was lower than the known number. This makes it pretty certain that there were at least , Jews in the Exodus. See our page on Apion for detailed discussion.
Exodus census populations given in the bible:. Master Census Summary Chart. The Census of Numbers 1, at Mt. Sinai in BC: , Numbers 26 in BC.
Large Population Numbers Summary Chart. AD Using known world population growth rates starting with 75 persons when Jacob entered Egypt in BC produces these exodus populations in BC after years:.
Some say the exodus population was 12, in BC with an annual growth rate of 0. Their initial population of 12, in BC grows with a. This they say is reasonable. Then they show how unreasonable starting with an exodus population of 3 million is because it grows to 96 million in BC. In BC, years later, with an annual growth rate of. This shows their annual growth rate is too low.
And consider this: If you start with 12, in BC and run the numbers down to the time of Christ with an annual growth rate of. Cutting the population down to , because of the Assyrian captivity in BC still produces a population of 47 million in AD Suggesting that God will reduce their fertility rate because of their idolatry Deut ignores the fact that. A total population of , men, woman and child at the time of Solomon contradicts the Bible:.
In BC the combined armies of Abijah and Jeroboam numbered 1. In BC Asa had an army of , men who defeated an army of 1 million Ethiopians 2 Chronicles Something is seriously wrong when a population model starts with 75 person in BC but is 8 times smaller than their starting bench mark of in BC and 10 times smaller at the time of Solomon in relation to the large armies revealed in scripture.
Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house [eleph]. Taking a single exceptional metaphoric use of eleph and redefining it to mean something different than violates a long list of Hebrew Grammar rules and common sense. Using "clans" results in an exodus population of men. Using "thousands" results in an exodus population of , men. Advocates of this false view would suggest the total exodus population was about between and 35, But as we will see, the only way anyone can take this position is by trashing the reliability of the text of both the Old and New Testament.
A census that reported clans provides no useful data to a commander because a clan can be 10, , or 10, etc. Josephus and Philo both interpret the large number of the Old Testament on face value. Approach 1: Taking Naphtali as an example with 45,, means 45 clans for a total of individuals. Approach 2: 45, means 45 clans plus non-Hebrews from the "mixed multitude. Exodus In this approach only the non-Hebrew are actually counted and we have no idea how many 45 clans equals.
A "head by head" count, would not round off the actual headcount to the nearest ! This system of counting by clans in census taking is never found anywhere in the Bible, but is a modern human invention read back into the text. The Jews never counted this way. There are no examples in archeology of this kind of counting. This approach is wrong because the sum of 12 clans does not match the grand total of clans This approach is wrong because the sum of 12 individuals does not match the grand total Stated Total:.
When we compare the grand total with the actual sum of the 12 tribes, we find that that number of clans does not match and the number of individual men is way off. Advocates suggest the grand total doesn't match because of scribal changes in the text. We reject all of this outright and are happy to accept the numbers as they read in every Bible. There is no problem to solve but this solution creates more problems than is solves.
None of the census number can be added up with any known system, which directly challenges inspiration. A New Testament scribe must have changed 1 Cor This would mean that we cannot really trust our Bible at all. Under their direction was an elite army of ,, who could wage war with great power, to help the king against the enemy.
Notice that , men are under 2, commanders. This would translate to units of men for a total of men in submission under 2 units of commanders totaling commanders. Professional Biblical archeologists look at the small sizes of ancient walled cities like Jericho, Shiloh, Beersheba, Megiddo and Hazor etc. However, from excavations carried out by a German team in the first decade of this century, we know that people were also living on the embankment between the upper and lower city walls.
In addition, those Canaanites living in surrounding villages would have fled to Jericho for safety. Thus, we can assume that there were several thousand people inside the walls when the Israelites came against the city.
The city was a symbolic refuge for the kingdom and was never intended to house half a million citizens. The small size of Late Bronze age cities, therefore, does not prove small indigenous Canaanite populations of 45, Deut Biblical archeologists use small LB II walled city sizes to first generate dramatically deflated populations of Canaanites of 45, to then argue Israel could not be 3.
A classic case of circular reasoning based upon a false assumption of population based upon the small size of walled LB II cities. We need not throw out the exodus population numbers in the Bible and resort to pure guesswork with numbers like ranging from to 35, Firstborn Summary Chart.
And the Levites shall be Mine; I am the Lord. Then Moses gave the ransom money to Aaron and to his sons, at the command of the Lord , just as the Lord had commanded Moses. The ransom difference between the firstborn of Israel and the total number of Levites is a precisely persons. The firstborn of Israel numbered 22, but the number of Levites numbered 22,, so a 5-shekel "head tax" had to be paid as a ransom for each of the difference of Not does the difference between the two numbers larger census number precisely equal , but the total money collected based upon the five-shekel ransom also precisely equals Shekels.
The silver of those of the congregation who were numbered was talents and 1, shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; a beka a head that is, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary , for each one who passed over to those who were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for , men. The hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets of the veil; one hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.
Of the 1, shekels, he made hooks for the pillars and overlaid their tops and made bands for them. The bronze of the wave offering was 70 talents and 2, shekels.
The total silver collection given to the sanctuary was the sum of a "head tax" of one beka donation from each of the , men. The total silver collected was talents plus 1, shekels. Since we know that a talent equals bekas and one shekel equals 2 bekas, the total number of bekas for the head tax is exactly , bekas. The gold and bronze contributions were not based on a donation from every man, but the silver was. Total gold given: 29 talents plus shekels about lbs of gold.
Total silver given: talents plus 1, shekels about lbs of silver. Total bronze given: 70 talents and 2, shekels about lbs. It is the silver that is directly connected with the census of Num Irrefutable Argument 3: 24, in Num matches 23, in 1 Cor The Holy Spirit is showing us in the New Testament that the exodus population was much larger than both or 12, if 23, died in a single day because of sin at the hand of God.
The fact that there is a difference in the two numbers 24k vs. The cities built therein are three hundred and three thousands and three tens of thousands, and threes twain and nines three , and in them the lord and master of all is proud Ptolemy. In density of population it far surpassed of old all known regions of the inhabited world, and even in our own day is thought to be second to none other; for in ancient times it had over eighteen thousand important villages and cities, as can be seen entered in their sacred records, while under Ptolemy son of Lagus [Ptolemy I Soter: BC] these were reckoned at over thirty thousand, this great number continuing down to our own time.
It is for this reason that, according to our historical accounts, the ancient kings Egypt built great and marvellous works with the aid of so many hands and left in them immortal monuments to their glory.
But these matters we shall set forth in detail a little later; now we shall tell of the nature of the river and the distinctive features of the country. At the time when we were in Egypt, those who kept the census returns of the population said that its free residents were more than three hundred thousand , and that the king received from the revenues of the country more than six thousand talents. AD Josephus said the population of Egypt at the time of Christ was 7.
Refuted Arguments of those that reject the Bible and want an exodus population less than 1 million:. False argument: Too many to fit on the King's Highway. It would be a line of people miles long! We will not pass through field or through vineyard; we will not even drink water from a well. We will go along the king's highway, not turning to the right or left, until we pass through your territory. False argument: Organizational hierarchy too small: If there were a million people, Jethro would have said, 10 thousands, thousands and Hundreds.
Of course this may be clans, not actual head count. False argument: 2 million Marching around the tiny town of Jericho is absurd:. False argument: How could 2 million hear Moses talk, it must have been a far smaller crowd:. This objection is equally valid for 2 million, 20, or even people. Scripture is not intending to say that everyone in the audience would hear the natural voice of Moses, but that Moses directed his words to the entire congregation.
I don't think he led three million Israelites out of Egypt in an exodus across the Sinai. I don't think he was the founder of Israelite religion, but I think there was a Moses. I argue, and I think some other archaeologists will, too, there was a small exodus group -- not millions of people, but perhaps a few thousand -- who did escape from slavery in Egypt.
When a Jewish child turns 13 years old and prepares for his or her bar or bat mitzvah, they study the story of the Exodus and sing the ancient song of freedom.
In the Jewish tradition, it is the same song that was supposedly sung by Moses' people when they made it out of Egypt, making the story of Exodus timeless and never-ending. Jerusalem is an idea. Jerusalem is an ideal place where there are no slaves, where we don't have to continue on this perpetual march towards freedom because everybody has freedom. We'll notify you here with news about. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest?
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