I've begun a series of lessons about some of the great characters of the Bible in our Sunday morning class and our first "character" was Abraham with the 11th chapter of Hebrews used to illustrate his "faith." How that "by faith" he lived and accomplished what God wanted him to do.
During our study of Abraham, we discussed his sojourn in the land of Egypt. While studying this portion of his life we took note of one of the promises and predictions God made to him. In the 15th chapter of Genesis you can read where God told Abraham that his "seed" (descendants) would be "strangers" in a land that wasn't theirs and that they would be slaves in that land. Then after 400 years they would "come out with great substance" and be given the land of Canaan.
It was this part of our lesson that brought about comments on the fulfillment of that promise which we know as "the exodus" of the Israelites from Egypt. We turned to the 12th chapter of Exodus where we read about this mass migration which engendered some thoughts on what a sight this must have been.
When God told Abraham that his descendants would leave with "great substance" we read the evidence of the truth of God's promise. First we noted that they had increased in number from 70 to a multitude estimated to have been about 2 million people at the time of their leaving. It doesn't tell us exactly how many Israelites were involved in this move but, I'll go out on a limb and say this - there was a whole bunch of them. Plus, they had others going with them along with their "flocks, herds and very much cattle."
The amount of souls making this exodus from Egypt is derived from the fact that we're told that there were 600,000 "footmen" (Num. 11:21) which didn't count the women and children. And, as more evidence of their "substance" we're told that the Egyptians wanted them gone so bad that they gave them "jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment." And, guess what? They had been in Egypt for 430 years. (Ex. 12:31-40)
Well, a discussion ensued on the logistics of that mass migration. I count it as praiseworthy on Moses' behalf that there is no evidence of him ever saying "Hey wait a minute, this is impossible" which is something I'm sure that most of us would have said. No, Moses never said a thing about the aspects or logistics of this movement. He simply did as God directed him and it's no wonder he's cited as an example of faith to us.
We can see from passages in Ex. 16 and Deut. 29 that God provided everything Israel needed during their 40 year journey from Egypt to the "Promised Land." Their shoes and clothing never wore out. They had food and water provided on a continual and daily basis. What I found interesting about this is that their daily food (manna) ceased the day after they celebrated Passover in the land of Canaan and after they had eaten the food of the land. (Josh. 5:12) Could this have been just a coincidence? I think not.
But, let's return to the discussion of the logistics of the exodus. Have you ever given much thought to what it must have taken to sustain that many people and their animals? I think that the logistics of this undertaking would stagger our imagination. The following figures come from the calculations of the Quartermaster General of the Army. And I see his estimations as being believable because that office is responsible for figuring out the amount of provisions necessary for sustaining a large amount of people (like an army).
According to their figures, 1500 tons of food would be needed "daily." To put it in a modern illustration, that amount would take up 2 freight trains, each one being a mile long. If they needed to have fires, the amount of fuel or firewood necessary for that large group of people would have been 4000 tons per day. And remember, they were out there for 40 years.
How about water? (This was brought up in our class discussion). If they only had enough to drink and do light washing, you're looking at 11 million gallons a day. If we stick with our freight train illustration, this would require a train 1800 miles long. Isn't this alone mind-boggling?
Remember the crossing of the Red Sea? Let's look at the logistics of that incident itself. The path through the sea would have to have been at least 2-3 miles wide in order for all of them to get across in one day (Ex. 14). To give you a better idea of this crossing, it's estimated that if they went across two abreast, there would have been a line 800 miles long and would have taken 35 days and nights for all to cross.
And when they stopped, the encampment of that many people would have been enormous. It would have to have encompassed an area of approximately 750 square miles. Again, using a modern day illustration, that area is about 2/3 the size of the state of Rhode Island. Unbelievable, isn't it? Especially when you remember that they moved locations from time to time.
I just don't think that we've ever really considered the magnitude of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their wondering in the wilderness for 40 years. And, you know what? They never lacked food or water nor any of the necessities of life. How could this have occurred? Only one way - God! Something to consider, isn't it?
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Covey
