The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. The census number — six hundred thousand men — is one of the most discussed figures in biblical scholarship. Whether taken literally or as a round number indicating a very large population, it represents the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:5 and to Jacob in Genesis 46:3. The family of seventy that descended to Egypt has become an uncountable multitude. Numbers 1:46 gives the military census figure of 603,550 men of fighting age, consistent with this verse. The journey from Rameses to Sukkoth is the first step of the Exodus — the distance between the slave quarters and the wilderness. The march of six hundred thousand men with their families and livestock is one of the great logistical events of ancient history, organized in one night by the power of God.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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