(February 26, 2009)
There are at least four passages that tell you how many men made up Israel at that time, Exodus 12:37, Numbers 1:46, Numbers 2:32 and Numbers 11:21. In Exodus 12:37 and Numbers 11:21 an approximate number of 600,000 footmen is given. In Numbers 1:46 and 2:32 the number is more specific as Moses was asked by God to count the men, the number here is 603,550 men over twenty years of age and able to go to war, so say up to about sixty years of age. If we use common demographics we have at least as many women, 600,000. That brings them to about 1.2 million. In Canada today about 20% of the population is below 20 years of age, so lets add 400,000 children. There is also about 20% of the population in Canada above 60 years of age so lets add another 400,000 elderly. That brings us to 2 million people, a very conservative estimate since they tended to have much larger families back then and people lived longer lives.
For two million people to cross the Red Sea in one night I suspect that they walked about 600 people wide by about 4000 people deep. With 5 feet for each person they would be about 4 miles in length. That would allow for the tribe of Levi which was not numbered (see Numbers 1:47 and 2:33) and for some of the much cattle and perhaps wagons for the elderly or about 2.4 million people. If the Red sea was 20 miles across at the point of crossing, plus the 4 miles of people, they would have walked at about 2 miles per hour for 12 hours, sunset to dawn (Exodus 14:20, 24, Deuteronomy 16:1).
There is evidence that the Israelites were very well organized. Their camps for example were set up in a cross formation with three tribes on each compass point from the tribe of Levi which was set up in the middle (Numbers 2). Whether they got organized before or after the crossing does not deter from the fact that they could not have crossed single file or in a narrow file, such as was depicted in the Movie Exodus, since it would have taken them too long to cross.
At 4 miles per hour they could have traveled 48 miles in 12 hours. That would have allowed for about 80 people wide and 30,000 deep, more or less. The line would have been about 28 miles long with five feet per person. They would have walked about 48 miles.
At 8 miles per hour they could have been 30 people wide and 80,000 deep. The line would have been about 76 miles long and the people at the rear would have traveled about 96 miles. Most would probably have died of exhaustion at this pace.
Just to give you an idea.
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