383 
he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few, and 
became there a nation great, mighty, and populous."* 
12. Take next the two statements which may be said to be in 
round numbers. The first occurs in the solemn description of 
the march out of Egypt “ of all the hosts of the Lord ;"f the 
second is in the address of Moses to Jehovah, when a supply of 
flesh for a whole month had been promised. “ The people 
amongst whom I am are 600,000 footmen ; and Thou sayest, I 
will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall 
the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them ? Or 
shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to 
suffice them ? ”% It has been said that numbers have nothing 
to do with the miracle, in the narrative of which they occur : 
we may receive the miracle while giving up the numbers as 
untrustworthy. Have numbers nothing to do with this 
miracle ? 
13. But turning now to the more exact statements of numbers, 
let any judge if casual error in all of these together be within 
the range of possibility. In the second and in the last year in 
the wilderness, Moses, at the command of Jehovah, “took the 
sum of the congregation of the children of Israel, all that were 
able to go out to war/'’ On the first occasion he and Aaron 
did this in conjunction with twelve assessors, each of them a 
head of the house of his fathers. On the second occasion 
Eleazar was appointed with Moses, and, as we may conclude, 
the same number of assessors. At each census every tribe is 
numbered separately (46,500, 74,600, &c.), and then the sum 
total is set down — in the first instance 603,550, and in the 
second 601, 730. § 
14. These numbers are exclusive of the tribe of Levi, which 
subsequently is numbered with the same exactness. The 
families of Gershom, Kohath, and Merari are first numbered 
separately, and the total is then given— 22,000 souls. || The 
firstborn males, instead of whom the Levites were taken as 
the Lord's, were found on a similar numbering to exceed the 
number of the Levites by 273. This minute difference is 
noted, and five shekels a head, or 1,365 shekels redemption 
money required of the 273, and, according to the word of the 
Lord, given by Moses to Aaron and his sons. 
15. In giving the arrangement of the camp^f in four divisions 
of three tribes each, the number of each tribe is repeated; 
the number of each division is given; and the grand total is 
again stated to be 603,550. 
* Deut. xxvi. 5. + Exod. xii. 40. + Numb. xi. 21, 22. 
§ Numb. i. xxvi. || Numb. iii. IT Numb. ii. 
