How many slaves left Egypt?

Philip Ryken

The Bible describes the exodus in careful detail. Nevertheless, it has often been challenged on historical grounds. One standard objection concerning information given in Exodus 12 is the size of the Exodus. It deserves a response.

The text says, “The people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds” (vv. 37–38). This account gives the kind of who, what, when, where, and how information that a good historian is careful to include. But what about “How many?” Can we really believe that God brought so many Israelites out of Egypt?

That’s a good question. There are three common answers to choose from.

Answer #1: Inflated Statistics

If there were 600,000 men, then there were perhaps 2 million Israelites in all, and this number presents difficulties. If there were so many Israelites, why aren’t they mentioned in the annals of Egypt? They would have formed one of the largest populations anywhere in the world at that time. Could the land of Goshen have supported them? And why can’t we find any trace of them in the Sinai?

Their exodus was one of the largest migrations in the history of the world. When they traveled, they must have formed a column more than 10 miles long. These are the kinds of questions scholars have asked, with many concluding that whoever wrote the Bible must have inflated the numbers. S. R. Driver wrote that “tradition, in the course of years, greatly exaggerated the numbers of the Israelites at the Exodus.” N. H. Snaith calls the total figures “fantastic and incredible.”

Answer #2: Face Value

There are two ways to handle the objection of inflated statistics. One is to believe that the Bible does indeed mean to say 600,000 Israelite men (plus women and children) came out of Egypt, and therefore this is exactly how many people there were. Although some scholars think there are difficulties with that view, there are no impossibilities.

It’s not a question of whether the Bible is true; it’s a question of what the Bible means to say.

The Israelites receive little mention in Egypt because they were only slaves there and because the manner of their departure was a complete embarrassment to the Egyptians. Nor should we be surprised we don’t find much evidence for them in the Sinai. They were nomads after all, and their remains have been covered by 3,000 years of sand. In addition, one good reason for accepting 600,000 as the right number is that it matches the statistics given elsewhere in Exodus (38:26) and also in the book of Numbers (cf. 1:46; 2:32; 26:51).

Answer #3: Thousand Means ‘Clan’

There’s another possibility, however—one that may also be faithful to the biblical text. The Hebrew word eleph can mean “thousand.” However, early in the Old Testament, it may also be used as an inexact term for a sizable cluster of people. Some scholars think it means something like “clan.” Or it may be a military term for a fighting unit, like a platoon. Exodus 12:37 could then be read as follows: “There were about six hundred clans” or “There were about six hundred military units.” On this reading, the total population of the Israelites would have numbered in the tens of thousands, not in the millions.

One scholar who accepts this interpretation is James Hoffmeier, who writes,

The issue in Exodus 12:37 is an interpretive one. The word eleph can be translated “thousand,” but it is also rendered in the Bible as “clans” and “military units.” When I look at the question as an Egyptologist, I know that there are thought to have been 20,000 in the entire Egyptian army at the height of Egypt’s empire. And at the battle of Ai in Joshua 7, there was a severe military setback when 36 troops were killed. If you have an army of 600,000, that’s not a large setback.

It’s not a question of whether the Bible is true; it’s a question of what the Bible means to say. What’s certain is that God brought a great crowd of people out of Egypt. Indeed, as the Scripture says, “All the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt” (Ex. 12:41).