40 Years of Wandering and the Exodus Population
Walt Nusbaum errancy@infidels.org
Mon, 17 May 1999 22:16:52 -0500 (00927015412, 3740DBA4.1A5C@airmail.net)
WALT
JAlw@aol.com wrote:
>
> 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?
>
WALT
Joe,
You are correct. My apologies and
Best wishes,
Walt
> 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?