What Is the Tent of Meeting?

What is the “Tent of Meeting”?

The “tent of meeting” (Numbers 1:1) is frequently used to designate the pre-Solomonic sanctuary, while elsewhere the entire structure is often called the tabernacle. The phrase, “Tent of Meeting,” probably derives from the belief that this structure served as the meeting place between God and Moses (Leviticus 1:1) and also between God and the people of Israel (Exodus 29:42–43).

-Dictionary of Old Testament Theology

Did the Israelites Ever Make Camp in the Desert?

During the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness, did they ever stop to set up camp?

The Israelites camped throughout the journey. For example, they camped at Mt. Sinai for at least eighty days while Moses was on the mountain (Deuteronomy 9:9,18). Numbers 33 gives a comprehensive list of the encampments along the way.

–Don Porter

How Did the Jews Survive 40 Years in the Desert?

How did the Jews survive 40 years in the desert?

The objection that the natural resources of the Sinai desert could never have supported two million people or more for a period of forty years' wandering is absolutely valid. But it completely overlooks what the Pentateuch makes abundantly clear: Israel did not receive its food and drink from the ordinary natural resources of the Sinai terrain. This multitude was said to have been supplied in a miraculous way with manna from the sky and water from the cloven rock, all during the journey through the wilderness. The God who led the Israelites in the pillar of fire and the cloud was the one who supplied them with their nourishment by way of a supernatural intervention on their behalf.

–Dictionary of Bible Difficulties

How Many Jews Left Egypt?

How many Jews left Egypt?

Jacob's family came to Egypt with a total of 70 people (Exodus 1:5). After 430 years of brutal slave labor, that number rose to about 600,000 men (Exodus 12:37), which is remarkable considering the fact that many of the people would have died under cruel and dangerous work conditions. The book of Numbers begins with a national census (1:45-46). This census was conducted after the exodus from Egypt and it totals 603,550 men above the age of 20. Since these figures apply only to adult males, it has been traditionally assumed that the total number of participants including women and children, could have approximated 2.5 million people.

Some believe that the number could have been much higher than that. The estimated 2.5 million people is reached by estimating that the men would have been married and each family having at least 2 children. Among the Jewish people of ancient culture, large families were considered an honor. It is reasonable to believe that families would have totaled many more children than just two. If the number of children per family were just four, then the number of people that left Egypt could have been 3.5 million people.