40 Years of Wandering and the Exodus Population

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 Farrell Till:

The exodus stories ask us to believe that about 3 million people wandered in
this wilderness for a period of 40 years, but how likely is it that 3 million 
people could do that in a relatively confined area without finding their way 
out of the wilderness?
 
Let's suppose that these 3 million traveled, say, 200 abreast, taking with 
them their tents, herds, and other possessions as they marched along.  How 
long would this line of humanity have been?  If they traveled this way, there 
would have been 15,000 columns, and if they had only 3 feet between the 
columns, they would have been strung out over a distance of almost 9 miles.
 ===============
 > Joe Alward:
 > 
 > I have one question, and then a comment.
 > 
 > First, does the Bible says that the Hebrews were *lost* in the wilderness?
 > I've seen references to "wandering", but I've not seen any that make it 
clear
 > that they made continuous efforts to find Canaan but failed.
 > 
 
 > On another matter of less importance:  I think that Till must mean that 
there
 > were 15,000 "rows", not columns.
===================== 
 WALT
 Joe,
 All military movements of massed troops(except in battle) are performed
 in "columns". I can well-remember morning parades and the command, "Pass
 in review", followed by, "Columnn of companies, leading company, right
 turn".....and we were off. Also, you may wish to check any dictionary,
 or maybe not, 'cause you might consider that to be "research".
 Best wishes,
 Walt
 =====================

JASON
If it doesn't require too much of your effort, Alward, just click on
http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?db=web1913&term=Column&config=define
================
Joe Alward:  

Walt, can you also remember that the columns in which you marched were five 
"abreast", and that the number of men in single-file was typically twenty, or 
more, for a company? 

And, Jason, here is what your dictionary says: 

4. (Naut.) A number of ships so arranged as to follow one another in 
single or double file or in squadrons; -- in distinction from ``line'', 
where they are side by side.

Soldiers march in columns, usually five "abreast"; each group of five is a 
"row", or a "line", not a column.  Columns are vertical, aligned in the 
direction of movement; rows are horizontal.  

Till speaks of  three million persons walking "200 abreast"; that means there 
were 200 persons marching side by side, shoulder to shoulder; that's 200 
columns, each containing 15,000 persons.

Am I right?
    
-----------------
The more important question for me was whether the Bible says that the 
Hebrews were looking for Canaan for 40 years but couldn't find it.  Is there 
such a verse?  If not, I wonder whether one can just say that the Hebrews 
wandered for 40 years--for whatever reason--and then decided only in the 
final month to go to Canaan.  I realize this exposes my ignorance of the 
Bible story, but perhaps I'm not the only uninformed person on this list.  
Can anyone provide a definitive reference in the Bible which clears this up 
for us?

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