358 
« there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a 
thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed lor war 
(Numb. xxxi. 4, 5 ; see also w. 48, 52, 54). 
23 Far more emphatic than any of these is that invocative 
formula which Moses was wont to utter when the Ark rested 
(Numb. x. 36) : — “ Return, 0 Jehovah, unto the many 
thousands (lit. the millions,—^ niam) _ of Israel ! —a 
phrase which, I think, has not been noticed m this con- 
troversy ; yet one surely of great weight. 
24 And, finally, there are numerous occurrences ol higfa 
numbers, as characterizing Israel, expressed, not only in 
rounded phrase— “ totus, teres, atque rotundus —but in minute 
business-like exactness. For, not to speak of the judgments 
inflicted by the Divine sword on great masses ol the people 
at once, as the 14,950 who perished in Korah’s conspiracy 
(Numb. xvi. 49), and the 24,000 on the defection of Baal-peor 
(xxv. 9), this latter confirmed by an inspired Apostle (1 
x. 8), who reckons it as 23,000 (the exact sum lying probably 
between the two round numbers), — not to press these, thoug 
these alone are quite sufficient to overthrow Dr. Thornton s 
hypothetic estimate, there are no fewer than four enumera- 
tions, all quite distinct and disconnected, of the sum total ol 
the able males of Israel. In two of these, the round number 
alone is given. In the narrative of the Exode itself, it is 
recorded (Ex. xii. 37), -“.The children of Israel journeyed 
about 600,000 on foot that were men, besides 
children.” And, on the promise of flesh at Taberah, Moses, 
himself quailing before the vastness of the gift, remonstrated 
with the Almighty Jehovah thus “ The people among whom 
I am, are 600,000 footmen Shall the flocks and the 
herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shad all the fish 
of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them . 
(xi 21 22), where not merely the arithmetical expression 
must be looked at, for this might possibly have been mis- 
copied, but the wonderment of the language must also be 
weighed, as expressing the vast equivalent of that number in 
Moses’s estimation— “ the flocks and the herds, all the fash 
of the sea l ” , . ~ 
25. But in other cases the round total is exchanged lor tne 
careful exactitude of an actual census. Twice were tne people 
accurately counted by Jehovah’s express command : first,™ 
the early part of the desert sojourn, when the total sum ot tne 
able warriors was (Numb. i. 46). 603,550 ; and again jus a 
its close, when it amounted (xxvi. 51) to 601, /30. 
26. Moreover, in both of these two cases last named, not 
only is the totality set down with much precision, but a great 
