Exodus Numbers

A hundred years ago archaeology had unearthed almost nothing of Biblical import, and the scoffers seemed justified in saying that the Bible was nothing more than fanciful myths or legends. One of their favorite scoffs concerned the Hittites. According to the Bible, they were one of the mightiest nations facing Israel after the Exodus. Yet the “higher critical” view maintained that if the Hittites existed at all, “No Hittite king could have compared in power to the king of Judah.” Then some evidences of a Hittite nation were discovered at Carchemish in 1871, and in 1906 Hugo Winckler excavated Hattusa, ancient capitol of the mighty Hittite nation.

From that day to this, hardly a year has gone by without some major archaeological discovery confirming the Biblical account. Those “higher critics” have been all but silenced, and some archaeologists and historians even use the Bible as one of their most reliable ancient source documents.

But to be fair, some major archaeological discoveries seem to contradict the Bible. One of the worst of these involves the numbers of people and nations, which the Bible seems to regularly inflate beyond all reason. A good example is the men of Bethshemish (1 Sam 6:19), when 50,070 were struck down for peeking into the Arc of the Covenant. It is inconceivable that 50 thousand men plus their wives and children ever lived in the town of Bethshemish. It has now been uncovered as the modern site of Tell er-Rumeileh. It covers roughly seven acres, and seems more fit for a population of 1,000 than 100,000.

Believing as I do that the Bible is inerrant only in its original languages, I conclude that somebody made a mistake in translation. In this case the solution is easy, as the Hebrew word for thousand (Strong’s 505) comes from a root word meaning “to associate with” as in a family or clan under one patriarch, and can therefore also mean family, clan, head of a family, leader, or chief. The correct translation should read that 70 men died, of which 50 were leaders in Israel.

 Accuracy in Genesis carries this scheme much farther. See their essay on the population of the Israelites at the Exodus at www.accuracyingenesis.com. They suggest that the 600,000 men coming out of Egypt (Num 11:21) should read 600 families or clans. When God formed the Israelites into an army at Mt. Sinai, He commanded a census of the men only, by their clans, by their father’s households, twenty years old and upward, able to go out to war. (Numbers 1 & 2) Reuben, for example, is listed as having 65,500. Accuracy in Genesis suggests this should read 65 clans or families of Reuben, with 500 men able to go out to war. Carrying that scheme on down, we reach a total of 598 families of the 12 tribes (excluding Levi, who was not to go to war), and 5,550 men able to go to war. If we add another 5,000 wives plus 10,000 children, we reach about 20,000. In chapter 3 Levi is numbered. Using the same scheme we get 21 families and 1300 men from a month old and up, giving roughly 3,000 Levites, totaling 23,000 Israelites at the Exodus.

Another census was taken after Israel entered Canaan (Num 26) to divide up the land as an inheritance for the families of Israel. The totals were quite similar.

Accuracy in Genesis concludes the total number of Israelites at the Exodus was between 20,000 and 40,000, including the “mixed multitude” of unspecified size that went out of Egypt with Israel. (Ex 12:38) They have built up a remarkably good case in their essay, which I would love to accept, for lots of reasons.

•  Every archaeological dig of this time period matches the lower population.

•  It is certainly true that the Hebrew word translated “thousand” can also mean “family, clan, head, chief, head of household, leader” as in 1 Samuel 6:19.

•  The Scriptural 600,000 fighting men would require roughly 2.5 million total with their wives and children. This forms a column ten abreast and nearly 500 miles long if they try to travel on a road, and that’s hardly allowing for their flocks and herds. That could be well over a mile wide and 10 miles long if they spread out over the desert. The logistics of this huge crowd crossing the Red Sea in one night or following a narrow wadi between the mountains seems unreasonable.

•  It is surprising, though not impossible, for the 70 immigrants of Jacob into Egypt to multiply up to 2.5 million in a mere 215 years. (Ex 1:5)

•  Current estimates of the time period conclude a world population of about 40 million, and a total population in Egypt of roughly 3 to 5 million. That does not seem to match an Exodus of 2.5 million, more than half the total in Egypt.

•  The land of Goshen, while large, does not seem large enough to support a population of 2.5 million. Remember, it is mostly pasture and marshland.

•  If they really had 600,000 fighting men, why were the spies so scared of the Canaanites? (Num 13)

•  Moses told the Israelites,  “When Jehovah your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you…” (Deut 7:1) The Hittites, Amorites, and Canaanites were indeed large and powerful nations. But the other four listed were rather small, with territories as small as 1000 acres. For them to have populations greater than 2.5 million would require a population density two or three times that of modern Israel.

•  Archaeology seems to indicate that the walls of Jericho surrounded less than 10 acres. God told Joshua to have “all the men of war” march around the city. If it had been much larger than that, they could not have encircled it seven times in one day. Yet 600,000 men circling 10 acres would form a continuous dense crowd out to nearly a half-mile from the city.

•  Numerous times Moses, Aaron, or Joshua spoke to the entire congregation. (Examples Ex 16:10. 35:1, Lev 19:2, Num 20:10; Deut 31-32; Josh 8:35) Without amplification, that would be quite a feat if the congregation numbered 2.5 million.

•  Just before his death, Moses told the assembled congregation that, “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.” (Deut 7:7)

 Well, I guess that chinches it. All our Bible translations are all messed up.  All those “thousands” actually refer to families or clans, and the actual numbers of the Israelites were nearly two orders of magnitude fewer than our translations say.

But wait. “The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes to question him.” (Prov 18:17) There are some serious Scriptural arguments against the lower population. Yes, they were the “fewest of all peoples” – back when God first chose and called Abram! He had no kids at all! Even when they first came to Egypt they only numbered 70 males. (Ex 1:5) When did God first set His love on them and begin to bless them? Back when they were the “fewest of all peoples.”

•  God told Abram (Abraham) that He would make of him a great nation, with descendents as the stars of the heavens and as the sands of the seashore. (Gen 12:2, 15:5, 22:17)

•  God told Jacob (Israel), “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.” (Gen 46:3)

•  The seventy who came into Egypt (Ex 1:5) certainly did not grow into the Children of Israel all by themselves. I’m sure they also intermarried with the Egyptians and with others of the Kasdim (the family of Heber) who had come down to Egypt because of the famine. 

•  After Joseph died, Scripture says that “the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land (of Egypt) was filled with them.” (Ex 1:7)

•  Pharaoh quite agreed with that. “He said to his people, ‘Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.’” (Ex 1:9)

•  The Israelites were probably not that numerous when they crossed the Red Sea. God had promised to make Abraham the “father of many nations.” (Gen 17:5) The census of Numbers 1 and 2 was not taken until a year later (Num 1:1; 10:11) when they were about to set out for Canaan. I have no doubt that the total number in the census included not only Egyptians but also Amalekites and Midianites who had repented, and had been purified and adopted into the families of Israel.

•  The Deut 7:1 passage lists seven nations  “greater and mightier” than Israel which God would cast out before them. Three of them were world powers, certainly greater and mightier than Israel. The other four were smaller numerically, but still greater and mightier from the perspective of their long history of fierce warfare, trained armies, and walled cities. Look at the Jebusites, for example. They had the smallest territory, yet their mighty warriors and impregnable defenses were world famous for successfully resisting the aggression of the powerful Amorites, Hittites, Canaanites, and Philistines, each of whom tried to conquer them at some time. At first, the Israelites had no weapons and absolutely zero battle experience.

 •  When Israel crossed the Jordan, Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh decided to stay behind and claim their territory out of what they had taken east of the river. Yet they sent some of their number across the river to help conquer the rest of the land. The number given, ”about 40,000, equipped for war,” cannot possibly be translated “40 families” as they did not send families, only men. (Josh 4:13 ff)

•  In numerous battles the numbers given or implied are very high. Amalek, for example, was called “first of the nations” (Num 24:20) and may have fielded half a million warriors. (Ex 17:8) After loosing to the Israelites, they went on to conquer all of Egypt, Canaan, and Syria. Gideon started with 32,000 from just three tribes (Jud 6:35 ff) yet his opponents were “as numerous as locusts, and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.” (Jud 7:12) The Philistines had 10,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and “people like the sand on the seashore” when they gathered to fight Israel. (1 Sam 13:5) These nations were surely greater and mightier than Israel, even at the higher 2.5 million population.

•  Also in numerous battles, the numbers given for the Israelites seem much higher than can be allowed if they started with only 5,550 men of war. In most of these, changing “thousands” to “families or clans” doesn’t work, as these numbers are clearly men of war and not families going out to fight. For example, Moses sent a small number out of the “thousands of Israel” to take vengeance on Midian - 1000 from each tribe, totalling 12,000. (Num 31:1-5) In attacking the “small” town of Ai, Joshua sent 5000 to the west in ambush, and brought his main force from the north. Surely his main force was bigger than 550 men! (Josh 8:12 ff) Barak used 10,000 just from the two tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun (Jud 4:10, 14) and later Deborah sang of 40,000 Israelite men of war in that battle. (Jud 5:8)

•  When constructing the tabernacle, the gold was a freewill offering, but the silver was a “head tax” specified as “a beka a head.” (Ex 38:26) This equalled a half-shekel for each man numbered in the census, twenty years old and up. That came to 603,550 men, agreeing with the census in Numbers 1:46. This is clearly counting heads and not families.

 •  Though the Hebrew word for “thousands” obviously can also be translated as families or clans in some places, there are other places in Scripture where it must mean “thousands.” For example, two plagues killed 14,700 and 24,000. (Num 16:49 & Num 25:9) After their affair with the golden calf, 23,000 were killed in one day. (1 Cor 10:8) King Solomon had 40,000 stalls for his war horses. (1 Kings 4:26) 42,000 men of Ephraim were slain at the fords of the Jordan. (Jud 12:6)

•  If the two censuses (Num 1 and 26) really did refer to families rather than thousands, the numbers don’t add up right. Num 1:46 should read 598 families with 5550 men and Num 26:51 should read 596 families with 5730 men. But they don’t. In a simple addition of thousands, Num 1 totals 603,550 and Num 26 totals 601,730. The math is correct only if the word means thousands. God can add.

•  Numbers 2 repeats the numbers of the census from chapter 1, except here it speaks of “their army, with their numbered men…” and doesn’t mention families or clans. If their army was really much smaller, it should have said so here.

•   Look at what the Moabite King Balak told Balaam about the Children of Israel: “... a people came out of Egypt; behold, they cover the surface of the land... now come, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me...” (Num 22:5-6) Balak was there. He was an eyewitness. And he claims that they covered the surface of the land. 

•  Numerous other places in Scripture also agree with the high census numbers. (Such as Ex 12:37; Num 11:21; Jud 20:15,17,35; and 1 Sam 11:8) If we are really going to make the Israelites nearly two orders of magnitude fewer, there seem to be an awful lot of Scriptures that need “fixing.”

My goal is not to force Scripture to match our scientific understanding from archaeology. Archaeology has been wrong too many times in the past. It is based on a series of educated guesses, subject to both limited, deteriorated data and biased interpretation. Just look at what archaeology first said about the Hittites!

 No, my goal is to find plausible ways to harmonize Scripture with itself. I put my faith in God as the author and protector of Scripture, and He is the only one who really knows. He was there. We weren’t. As much as I’d love to have only 50,000 or so going into Canaan, the preponderance of Scripture indicates 600,000 fighting men plus all their wives and children - a minimum of 2 million total. Yes, Accuracy in Genesis could be right, our translations could be wrong, and I do appreciate their sincerity, but their scheme seems to mess up too many other Scriptures for me to accept it.