Six hundred thousand
That is, There was this number of effective men, twenty years old and upwards, who were able to go out to war. But this was not the whole number, and therefore the sacred writer says they were
about 600,000; for when the numbers were taken about thirteen months after this they were found to be
six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty, without reckoning those under
twenty years of age, or any of the tribe of Levi; see
Numbers 1:45,46. But besides those
on foot, or footmen, there were no doubt many
old and comparatively
infirm persons, who rode on camels, horses, or asses, besides the immense number of women and children, which must have been at least three to one of the others; and the mixed multitude,
Exodus 12:38, probably of refugees in Egypt, who came to sojourn there, because of the dearth which had obliged them to emigrate from their own countries; and who now, seeing that the hand of Jehovah was
against the Egyptians and
with the Israelites, availed themselves of the general consternation, and took their leave of Egypt, choosing Israel's God for their portion, and his people for their companions. Such a company moving at once, and emigrating from their own country, the world never before nor since witnessed; no doubt upwards of two millions of souls, besides their
flocks and herds, even
very much cattle; and what but the mere providence of God could support such a multitude, and in the wilderness, too, where to this day the necessaries of life are not to be found? Suppose we take them at a rough calculation thus, two millions will be found too small a number.
Effective men, 20 years old and upward.600,000 Two-thirds of whom we may suppose were married, in which case their wives would amount to.........400,000 These, on an average, might have 5 children under 20 years of age, an estimate which falls considerably short of the number of children each family must have averaged in order to produce from 75 persons, in A. M. 2298, upwards of 600,000 effective men in A. M. 2494, a period of only 196 years.......2,000,000 The Levites, who probably were not included among the effective men....45,000 Their wives...............33,000 Their children.............165,000 The mixed multitude probably not less than..............20,000 _________ Total 3,263,000
Besides a multitude of
old and
infirm persons who would be obliged to ride on camels and asses, proportion that such bear to the young and healthy, amount to many thousands more! Exclude even the Levites and their families, and upwards of three millions will be left.
"In
Numbers 3:39the male Levites, aged one month and upwards, are reckoned 22,000, perhaps the females did not much exceed this number, say 23,000, and 500 children, under one month, will make 45,500."-Anon. Had not Moses the fullest proof of his Divine mission, he never could have put himself at the head of such an immense concourse of people, who, without the most especial and effective providence, must all have perished for lack of food. This single circumstance, unconnected with all others, is an ample demonstration of the Divine mission of Moses, and of the authenticity and Divine inspiration of the Pentateuch. To suppose that an impostor, or one pretending only to a Divine call, could have ventured to place himself at the head of such an immense body of people, to lead them through a trackless wilderness, utterly unprovided for such a journey, to a land as yet in the possession of several powerful nations whom they must expel before they could possess the country, would have implied such an extreme of madness and folly as has never been witnessed in an individual, and such a blind credulity in the multitude as is unparalleled in the annals of mankind! The succeeding stupendous events proved that Moses had the authority of God to do what he did; and the people had at least such a
general conviction that he had this authority, that they implicitly followed his directions, and received their law from his mouth.
