| 1 |
1 Then Yăhwēh made to be spoken unto Mōshēh and unto A̕harōn saying, 2 “Each |
| 4 | 4 (And his host, even their numbering, was four and seventy thousand and six hundreds.) |
| 5 |
5 “And the ones camping next to him |
| 7 | 7 “The tribe of Zev̱ūlūn, and the leader of the sons of Zev̱ūlūn, E’li̱av̱, son of Ḥēlōn, 8 and his host,” (even its numbering: seven and fifty thousand, and four hundreds.) |
| 9 | 9 All the ones being numbered by the camp of Yehūdah were a hundred thousand and eighty thousand, and six thousands, and four hundreds, by their hosts. They pulled out first most.‡ |
| 10 |
10 “The standard of the encampment of Re’ūv̱ēn |
| 12 | 12 “And the ones encamping next to him are the tribe of Shim‘ōn. And the leader of the sons of Shim‘ōn is Shelūmi̱’ēl, son of Tsūri̱-Shaddai̱.” 13 (And his host, and their enumeration: nine and fifty thousand, and three hundreds.) |
| 14 | 14 “And the tribe of Gâd, and the leader of the sons of Gâd, E’lyasaph son of Re‘ū’ēl.” 15 (And his host, and their enumeration was five and forty thousand, and six hundreds, and fifty.) |
| 16 | 16 (All the ones being enumerated by the camp of Re’ūv̱ēn were a hundred thousand, and one and fifty thousand, and four hundreds, and fifty, by their hosts.) “And they will pull up second.”‡ |
| 43 | 43 Then all the first born males, in connection to the number of names from a son of a month and upwards, by their enumerations, were two and twenty thousand, three and seventy and two hundreds.‡ |
| 29 | 29 Then Mōshēh said to Ḥōv̱av̱ son of Re‘ūē̕l, the Midyani̱, the in-law of Mōshēh, “We are pulling out unto the place which Yăhwēh has said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will have done good to you, because Yăhwēh has made to be spoken good concerning Yisra’ēl.” |
| 21 | 21 Then Mōshēh said, “Six hundred thousand on foot are the people whom I am in the midst of, and you, you have said, ‘I will give meat to them, and they will have eaten a month of days?!” |
| 1 | 1 Then, Qōraḥ son of Yitshar, son of Qehat, son of Lēυi̱ was carried away, and Datʰan, and A’vi̱ram son of E’li̱a’v̱, and Ō’n son of Pelet, son of Re’ūv̱ēn. |
| 2 | 2 Then, they rose up before the face of Mōshēh, even men from the sons of Yisra’ēl, fifty and two hundred, princes of the congregation, called for meeting, men of renown. 3 Then they assembled against Mōshēh, and against A’harōn. Then they said to them, “It is enough for you, because all the assembly, all of them are holy, and in their midst is Yăhwēh. And why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of Yăhwēh?” |
| 4 |
4 Then Mōshēh heard. Then he fell on his face. Then he made be spoken unto Qōraḥ and unto all his assembly, saying, “At daybreak, then Yăhwēh will make known who is for him, and the one who is holy. And he will have brought near unto himself, even whom he will choose for himself, he will make |
| 18 |
18 Then he took up his parable. Then he said, “Rise Balaq, and listen. Give ear unto me son of Tsippōr: 19 Gŏd is not a man that¹ will make a lie, or a son of man that he should repent himself, |
| 1 |
1 Then Yăhwēh made to be
spoken unto Mōshēh, saying, 2 Make to be commanded the sons of Yisra’ēl: And you will have said unto them, “My offering, my bread, for my fire, my soothing aroma, you will watch to make |
| 1 | 1 These are the decampings of the sons of Yisra’ēl when they had gone out from the land of Egypt by their hosts, by the hand of Mōshēh and A’harōn. 2 Then, Mōshēh wrote their goings out by their decampings according to the mouth of Yăhwēh. And these are their decampings by their goings out. 3 Then, they decamped from Ra‘mesēs in the first month, in the fifteenth day of the first month. In the day after the Passover, the sons of Yisra’ēl went out with a high hand before the eyes of all Egypt. And Egypt was making to be entombed that which Yăhwēh had struck down among them, all the firstborn. And on their gods Yăhwēh executed judgments. 4 Then the sons of Yisra’ēl decamped from Ra‘mesēs. Then they encamped in Sūkkōt. |
2:9‡ ^Real Hebrew vs. Jeff Benner. All the ones being numbered by the camp of Yehūdah were a hundred thousand and eighty thousand, and six thousands, and four hundreds, by their hosts. The sums are 74,600; 54,400; 57,400. The total is 186,400. The total for the tribes on the east was 186,400 men eligible for war. Jeff A. Benner hosts an article on his website, Ancient Hebrew Research Center, by Jacob Gebhart, titled “How many came out of the exodus of Egypt,” (Click here if Benner removes the article supporting this remark) in which is is argued that only 7000 Israelites came out of Egypt. This absurdly reduced number is obtained by attempting to translate the word אלף (thousand) as “chief,” which the word may mean in isolation without other numbers present to indicate it is the number 1000. Using Gebhart’s rules, the numbers for the three tribes on the east are 74 chiefs, and 600 people; 54 chiefs and 400 people; 57 chiefs and 400 people. Adding up the chiefs is 185, and the people is 1400. If we now convert 186,400 to chiefs and people by Gebhart’s rules, then that is 186 chiefs and 400 people. We see that the numbers do not add up, since it is one too many chiefs and 1000 too few people. This is not the only deception that Benner promotes, and despite his excellent sales job his “Hebrew” should be avoided like the plague, and also that of any of his disciples who are increasingly repeating nonsense from him.
Benner has the same article posted on his website under his own articles without the name of Jacob Gebhart. It appears that Jacob Gebhart was a character in a novel Jeff Benner was writing. If that is the case, then Gebhart is being used as a pen name. The website currently links the article without the Gebhart name on it here.
2:16‡ ^The numbers here are 46,500; 59,300; 45,650. The sum for the south quarter is 151,450. What are the chances of three large numbers correctly adding up to their sum? This question is important as many have tried to undermine these census numbers, not believing, due to many false teachings, false traditions, and other incorrect assumptions about population, that so many people did not come out of Egypt. There are those who outright reject the Scripture, and those who try to make their interpretation of Scripture sound reasonable. The latter claim that the Hebrew word for “thousand” may mean something like a grouping meaning a squad or a position meaning a squad leader. The meaning chief is attested for אלוף in Genesis, which is spelled differently than אלף, the word for “thousand.” So if we assume that e’leph means either a squad chief or a squad, then the numbers do not add up, i.e. 46 squad leaders, 500 people; 59 squad leaders, 300 people; 45 squad leaders, 650 people. The total should be 150 squad leaders and 1450 people. But we see by that interpretation that the total ought to be 151 squad leaders, and 450 people. The attempt to reinterpret the text by undermining the number 1000 to mean something else is an utter failure. The numbers simply do not add up. The critics usually only try to reinterpret the total for the entire nation, which itself does not add up using their math. They propose that there is an error in the text to justify their interpretation over the fact that their numbers do not add up, and then they neglect to state that the subtotals for each quarter also fail to add up. They are thus in the position of saying that five totals need to be changed and are in error because they do not agree with their theory. Their position is less reasonable than those who simply reject the Scripture outright.
All the census numbers add up correctly in Scripture according to their sums. The subtotals add up correct, and the total adds up correct. For the span of 210 years in Egypt the population of 3 million at the Exodus is reasonable according to growth rates proved by other historical examples, including modern examples. A larger world population on the order of 150 million is also reasonable. And a larger Canaanite population on the order of 10 to 20 million is reasonable given the fertility of the Levant, the rapid reproduction of Canaan, and the relative concentration of man in the middle east vs. elsewhere. Also given a corrected location of Mt. Sinai in Midian, and wandering not in the “traditional” Sinai, but in the vast Arabian desert, the numbers make sense. The archeology adds up, and so does the chronology. What does not add up is the lies of the Scripture critics.
3:43‡ ^The number is much too small to be all the first born. The number, in fact, is all the first born that were born after the Exodus in the space of one year. See Num. 1:1, and Exodus 13:1-2 where all the first born after the Exodus were to be given to Yăhwēh. Those born in Egypt were exempt. The expected increase of a population of 3 million at 5% growth rate over one year is P = 3x10^6 x e^(.05*1) = 3,153,813. That is 153,813. The Levites numbered 22,000 men a month old and up. The total Levite census would be about 5 times that number for women and children, or 110000. This means the first born number is skewed by about 5640. So 153,813 minus 5640 = 148,179 non Levites born in one year. Of these 22,273 were first born, a ratio of 1 to 6.6. The family size need not have been 6-7 children, however. Probably there were an unusually high number of new marriages in the first months after the Exodus, which dropped off later. So the family size need not have been more than 5 children on average.
23:19¹ ^Literally, “Gŏd is not a man and he lies...and he repents himself.” The and’s are conjunctive in the sense of logical AND. Both conditions together make the statement true. “Gŏd is not a man” on its own is not absolute truth, as Gŏd has taken on humanity in Mĕssiah. But we put it together with a logical and, “Gŏd is not a man AND he will lie.” This is a peculiarity of Hebrew, often translated “that.” וִיכַזֵּב = and he will make a lie (Hiphil imperfect).
28:4† ^The first lamb you will do in the daybreak, and the second lamb, you will do between the settings.† The first lamb was offered about an hour after daybreak, and burned all that day, and all the night following. The second lamb was offered about 3 pm in the afternoon, and burned all the rest of the day, and all night. Both offerings ended at daybreak when the priest cleaned the ashes out of the altar (cf. Lev. 6:9-10).
The definition of the day, like that in Genesis, for the daily offerings is from one dawn to the next dawn. There were two offerings for each day. And each offering was offered up by burning for a day and a night (cf. Lev. 6:9-10). For a day and a night the offering ascended by fire, a soothing aroma to Yăhwēh. And this day and night was one calendar day.
The Passover offering is also offered “between the settings”; this time period is between noon and sunset. At noon the sun begins to set, and at sunset it finishes setting from a visible point of view. The time between these two points is about 3 pm. The same time is the 9th hour of the day (counting from sunrise), and is the hour of prayer, and the hour of incense. This is because mid afternoon is the time of the second daily offering.
There are those who accuse the Jews of following tradition and neglecting the Scripture by offering the Passover in the afternoon of Nisan 14, and eating it the following night. To correct them, they claim with the Samaritans, liberal translators, and the higher critical schools, who brought forth the Documentary Hypothesis that Mōshēh did not write the Torah, that “between the settings” (בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם, bēi̱n haa̒rbayim), that the phrase means evening “twilight”, between sunset and full dark.
This innovation redefines “between the settings” so that it is not the 9th hour of day, and so contradicts Scripture. The hours of prayer where the same as the hours of the two daily offerings, the first at the daybreak, and the second at the ninth hour. Also these times were the times of the incense offering (cf. Acts 3:1; Luke 1:9-10; Exodus 30:7-8; Acts 10:3, 30).
The translators and translations which aver to translate “between the settings” as
Now this error is combined by certain Christian sects with the error that the day for sacrificing
However, in making their innovation, they have paid little attention to Numbers 28:1-4, as it is in the Hebrew. Little known to the founders of this
Numbers 28:1-4, therefore, brings forth the most absolute form a contradiction can take, viz. a viz. the twilight view imposed on a sunset epoch for the day: 1 = 2.
The only way out of this contradiction is to admit that the epoch of a day for the daily offering is from dawn to dawn, and to agree with Lev. 6:9-10 that the offering burns for a day and a night, and that it is not over until daybreak. Acknowledging this would require the Passover to be slain about 3 pm. on the 14th, and the Seder to be conducted in the night following. And both the sacrifice time and the Seder time are reckoned as the 14th day using the dawn epoch for the day.
Hopefully, when faced with this proof of error, proponents of the twilight doctrine do not resort to arbitrarily changing the definitions of when a day ends. For they may say in the case of Numbers 28:1-4 that a day ends after twilight, when full dark comes, and then in respect of a Passover offering, they may change the definition so that a day ends before the twilight. Such reasoning would be arbitrary
Philo gives a historical witness as to when the Passover was offered, and what the definition of “between the settings” is. Here is an interlinear version:
μετὰ δὲ τὴν νουμηνίαν ἐστὶν ἑορτὴ τετάρτη after yet the new moon is feast fourth, τὰ διαβατήρια, ἣν Ἑβραῖοι Πάσχα πατρίω the offerings which ‘Hebrews Passover’ in-patriarchal γλώττῃ καλοῦσιν, ἐν ᾗ θύουσι πανδημεὶ tongue they-call, in which they-sacrifice enmass πολλὰς μυριάδας ἱερείων ἀρξάμενοι many, ten thousands of priests beginning ἀπὸ μεσημβρίας ἄχρι ἑσπέρας, ὁ λεὼς ἅπας,from midday until evening , the people whole πρεσβύται καὶ νέοι, κατ᾽ ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν ἱερωσύνης old and young, on that - day of-priests ἀξιώματι τετιμημένοι· τὸν γὰρ ἄλλον χρόνον with worthiness being honored, because another time οἱ ἱερεῖς τάς τε κοινὰς θυσίας καὶ τὰς ἰδίας ἑκάστου the priests both the-common sacrifices and their own each one προστάξει νόμων ἐπιτελοῦσι, τότε δὲ σύμπαν τὸ ἔθνος by rule of law finished, and then with all the nation μετὰ πάσης ἀδείας ἁγναῖς χερσὶν ἱερουργεῖ with all amnesty with pure hands acting as priests καὶ ἱερᾶται. and being priests. (Philo Special Laws 2:145). ἄξιον μέντοι καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν παρασημήνασθαι Worthy moreover also is the day to-take-note τῆς πανδήμου εὐωχίας· ἄγεται γὰρ of-the public feasting, because~it-brings-along τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ μηνός, ἥτις ἐκ δυεῖνthe-fourteenth of-the month , which of two ἑβδομάδων συνέστηκεν, ἵνα μηδὲν ἀμοιρῇ sevens has consisted, so that nothing may-lack-share τῶν ἀξίων τιμῆς ἑβδομάδος, ἀλλ᾽ αὕτη of the worthy honor of-seven, but this one κατάρχῃ πᾶσιν ἐπιφανείας καὶ σεμνότητος. holds-fast in-every appearance and dignity. (Philo Special Laws 2:149).
Philo specifies that the Passover offering begins at midday. The only way he can hold this opinion is if he believes that “between the settings” means between noon and sunset, which is the afternoon of the 14th day. The sacrifice has to be kept “until the fourteenth day” (Exodus 12:6). Midday in Philo cannot, therefore, mean the 13th, nor time after sunset at the end of the 13th day.