40 Years of Wandering and the Exodus Population
Farrell Till errancy@infidels.org
Wed, 19 May 1999 01:18:15 -0700 (00927119895, 2.2.32.19990519081815.008ea71c@midwest.net)
At 08:13 PM 5/18/99 -0400, you wrote:
>> Farrell Till:
>> 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:
>> On another matter of less importance: I think that Till must mean that there
>> were 15,000 "rows", not columns.
>
>BAKKE
>Since I am a US Army soldier in real-life, I can confirm that Till is
>correct. In military parlance, the 200 people standing abreast in a
>marching formation would constitute a "column". Each of the 200 people
>would be leading a "file" that would be 15,000 people in length.
>Therefore, the formation would consists of 200 "files" and 15,000
>"columns".
>When giving marching orders to such a formation, the commands "column
>left" and "column right" would be given to order the formation to
>execute a left or right turn, respectively. Upon receipt of the
>command, the 200 people in the lead column would begin to change their
>direction of march 90 degrees to the left/right while remaining abreast
>of each other. The effect is like a wheel spoke rotating about the
>hub. Members of each succeeding column follow the marcher directly in
>front of them. A command to "file from the left (or right), forward
>march" directs the left/rightmost member of the lead column to march
>forward and for all men behind him in the same file to follow while all
>others in the remaining columns stand fast. When the last man in that
>file clears the lead man in the next column, that column begins to march
>and falls in behind the first file, and so on, until the entire
>formation is marching in single file.
>
TILL
We're seeing a good example of Alward's real intentions. His obvious
purpose from the beginning of his presence on the Errancy list has been to
disrupt the list with ridiculous explanations of biblical discrepancies.
Because I soon recognized his purpose and expressed my frank opinion of what
he was doing, he has become more obsessed with finding fault with me than
any biblical inerrantist has ever been. I still trash his postings through
my e-mail filter, but I gather from the responses of others to his postings
that he is quibbling at a furious pace about my use of the word column
(which usage I still maintain is proper). All of this is coming from
someone who posted the following statement, which contains the very basic
errors that I have emphasized in upper-case letters.
>I agree completely with you, Josh--unless someone provides me the verses
>which support Till's notion that the Hebrews were lost and just couldn't find
>THERE way into Canaan. I know of KNOW reason why they should wander, but
>there easily could be some reason or reasons that may not strike skeptics as
>extraordinary; you have named a couple.
>
In addition to this grand display of linguistic ignorance, he has made the
following criticism of the same posting ("Forty Years of Wandering and the
Exodus Population").
>I put this same question--essentially--to Till and the list several hours
>before receiving your post, and I've not received a single response--not even
>the usual insults. I'll wait another day; if nothing comes in by then, then
>I'll conclude that there is no strong evidence to support Till's notion that
>the Hebrews were lost for forty years.
The reason why I didn't react to "this same question" posted by Alward is
that I filter his postings, so I don't see anything he has said until
someone quotes it in a response to whatever quibble he has selected for that
particular day. At any rate, I would like for him to quote the place in
"Forty Years of Wandering..." where I used the word "lost." It isn't there.
The Bible used the word "wandering," which word I used in the title of my
posting, because it is the word that the Bible used. The Bible claims that
Yahweh condemned the Israelites to "wander" in the wilderness for forty
years, so they were certainly unwilling subjects in the matter. This story
of a divinely imposed period of wandering isn't believable for three
reasons: (1) The Sinai region could not have supported a population of 3
million for 40 years. (2) Numbers 33 listed 41 separate camping sites that
the Israelites used in their wanderings, so if 3 million people broke camp
and moved on 41 times, they would surely have happened by sheer accident
onto a more friendly environment than the Sinai region. (3) The wilderness
wandering stories depicted the Israelites as people who bellyached over
every little inconvenience they experienced in the wilderness, so if three
million unwilling subjects should have come upon a more environmentally
friendly territory than the Sinai, why wouldn't they have disregarded what
Moses wanted them to do and entered into the friendlier territory? After
all, they had rebelled over things far more trivial than this.
Anyway, let Alward continue his games. I've decided that I have more
important things to do than cater to his desire to be the center of
attention on the list.
Farrell Till
Skepticism, Inc.
jftill@midwest.net