ofwexoduslogistics

OUR FATHER'S WORD

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

Psalm 119:105

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The Exodus Logistics Problem

by Jim Lisenby

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The exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt had to be one of the most awesome undertakings in history. When you think about it, the problems associated with moving approximately 2,000,000 from one place to another are mind boggling, regardless of the distance. And what about the logistics involved with supplying that many people with the necessities of life after a few days, or at the most, a few weeks? Friends, I'm afraid that the quaint stories that we have heard about this event are sadly lacking in many things. First of all, it had to be very organized, so Moses and Aaron, and many others, had to be very busy setting it all up during the time of the plagues. That may not have been all that easy because undoubtedly many of the Israelites did not understand what was happening, and they probably did not want to leave their homes in the lush land of Goshen. The land of Goshen was situated in the very fertile Nile river delta.

All in all, there is much more to it than you have been told, so let's take a brief look at that event and see what falls out.

The conditions in Egypt just prior to the exodus.

A long series of natural disasters had left Egypt in a shambles. The population was decimated, sick, and confused with the exception of the Israelites who lived in the Nile delta. The economy was destroyed, as well as most of the buildings and houses. The former infrastructure that supported the most magnificent culture in western civilization up until then was now nonexistent.

What were the disasters that caused such widespread destruction? I stated above that they were natural disasters. "Whoa! Hold on a minute, you say. They weren't natural, God did that deliberately to the Egyptians because they would not let the Israelites go." I agree, but I also know that God works in natural ways. Why? Because He is supernatural, and He is the creator of nature, hence the term "natural disaster". He does things naturally, using nature, to control and fine tune the cosmos, as well as to intervene in the affairs of men.

Take the first plague for instance. You don't believe that the river Nile, one of the largest rivers in the world, actually turned to blood, do you? If so, what kind of blood was that? Human? Hippopotamus? Crocodile? No, it was not literally blood. Be reasonable! The use of the word "blood" in the case of the first plague in Egypt is a figure of speech only. It was probably a little critter known as Pfisteria, or something similar, that started the sequence of events that produced the first six plagues.

Pfisteria, or something like it, rapidly multiplied in the river turning it a brownish red color. Such a thing is not uncommon today, and it is sometimes referred to as a "red tide". It rapidly depleted the oxygen in the water as well as producing toxins that were deadly to the fish. The water quickly became non-potable and the Egyptians had to immediately start digging wells to find safe water.

The toxins in the water, along with the bloody, rotting, dead fish caused the amphibians in the river, the frogs and toads, to climb out onto the land. There were so many of them that they got into everything and the people resorted to killing them and piling them in large piles. The river was contaminated with dead fish and other denizens, and the amphibians that had escaped the river died upon the land and lay rotting. That created an environment for disease to develop as well as a breeding and feeding ground for insects and pestilence.

With the frogs and toads dead, the insect population grew very quickly into swarms. The biting insects infected the animals and the people with disease, which in turn, produced more cadavers for the worms and bacteria to feed on multiplying the effect. Apparently the flying and crawling insects did not move quickly into the area in the land of Goshen where the Israelites lived. It may have been too far away for them to get to in a short period of time. By the time they arrived, the children of Israel were already gone.

Notice that so far the plagues are all natural in form. The plague of the hail came next, also natural in form. It was not ice because it was very large, hot, and accompanied by fire and great noise. It was pieces of the Earth's crust and discharge from a huge vulcanian event occurring nearby.   It destroyed the land as well as all unprotected plants and animals, including humans. Exodus 9:18 records that it had never been seen like that before in Egypt. Like nearly all economies during that time, Egypt's was agrarian in form. Now their infrastructure and economy was basically destroyed. But it was not over.

Locusts came on a strong east wind and devoured what was left of the crops, trees, and vegetation leaving food in very short supply. The Egyptians would undoubtedly starve except the land of Goshen was unharmed, and it was very rich delta soil which would produce food abundantly and quickly. But it was occupied by the Israelites. Could that be some of the reason that the Egyptians were willing to give them whatever they wanted if they would just leave? Perhaps they knew that they needed that region immediately to survive. Who knows?

So far it has been all natural disasters, right?

Next there were three days of total darkness indicating a monstrous vulcanian discharge from somewhere nearby. It was probably the island called Santorini, or Thera, that was producing a supercollosal eruption of ash and pyroclastic discharge that obscured the sky for at least 72 hours.

That darkness had to be terrifying and I am sure that the people prayed earnestly to their gods for comfort, but alas, there was one more plague to come. No one knows for sure what killed the Egyptian people on the night of the Passover, but it was stated in Exodus 12:30 that "there was not a house where there was not at least one dead". Two possibilities come immediately to mind. Huge falling debris from the eruption of Santorini, possibly accompanied by a powerful earthquake destroying the houses and crushing the people inside to death. Or, it could have been the result of the diseases mentioned above. Perhaps one or more diseases had completed its incubation period and people were dying quickly from it. Both scenarios are possible and natural.

Bottom line   Egypt was laid low to the extent that it would take centuries to recover. They were the first great civilization and kingdom of western civilization, and now they were nothing but death and rubble. What a sad situation for such a mighty and proud people.

The Israelites leave Egypt.

Like I stated above, moving a huge multitude of people on foot anywhere would be absolutely mind boggling.   Moses and Aaron were truly great men who trusted God, but they had to be concerned. They obviously had some sort of administrative infrastructure in place, otherwise there would have been mass confusion and the crowd would have been unmanageable.

The exact number of those who left has never been absolutely determined, but it was a very large contingent. Exodus 12:37 seems to indicate that there were 600,000 men on foot. Many take this to mean fighting men (ages 20-50). Curiously, this verse also mentions children but does not mention anything about women. Verse 38 is interpreted by some to mean that there was a sizable crowd of people who were not of Israelite extraction who left with them.

Anyway, as to the size of the crowd, the only figure we can use to extrapolate a "guesstimate" is the 600,000 men. These men would have wives and some children. In Exodus 1:7 it states that the Israelites were fruitful, and increased abundantly, but let's be conservative and assume only two children per family, and let's reduce the number of men to 500,000 who were married. That would work out to be 500,000 men, plus 500,000 women, and 1,000,000 children, for a total of 2,000,000 souls. That figure seems reasonable, based on the 600,000 men statement in Exodus 12:37. Of course, there could have been more, and there also could have been less.

The Israelites left Egypt in a hurry, at the behest of the Egyptian people who were left alive. They were absolutely desperate for Israel to leave at once. Basically, they literally thrust them out and the Israelites skedaddled. Exodus 12:37 states that their journey began at Rameses and that their first stop was Succoth, about 40 miles away and just outside of the land of Goshen where they had dwelled. Thus began the trip to the land of Canaan which would take the next 40 years to complete.

The logistics problems.

Here we have two million people moving about with no home and no economy.   That's 2,000,000 starting out. We really don't know how large they were at any given time during that 40 years. Obviously there were many births, and many deaths during that time. In any case, there are some things here that are seriously problematic for the logical mind, even if we assume no increase or decrease. How do you feed and care for a host this large? Let's play with some figures.

Food. Exodus 16:16 seems to indicate that the Israelites were to gather one omer of manna for each family member. My handy-dandy conversion chart says that an omer equals 2.4 liters. In this case that is a dry measure of capacity and does not directly equate to weight. We don't know the weight of manna so we will have to make some assumptions. Assuming each person ate an average of one pound per day, that would require 1,000 tons each day for the whole group. The food would have to extremely nutritious for one pound per day per person to suffice. Two pounds per day may be more realistic, and that would work out to 2,000 tons per day. If the average boxcar carried 50 tons of that food, that would be 40 boxcars per day. 2,000 tons of manna every day, except on the 6th day of the week when it would be 4,000 tons, and the 7th day when it would be zero tons. Whatever the requirement, God provided it for them on a continuing basis for 40 years.

In order to grasp the magnitude of such an undertaking, let's put it in terms of the the American Indian. Think about 2,000,000 native americans living on the great plains. They moved with the herds of bison which was their staple food. Assume that each bison dressed out at 1,000 pounds. They would have to consume 4,000 buffalo per day based upon the average consumption of two pounds per day per person. That would be 1,460,000 animals per year. How long would the herds last?

Water. If each individual used just one gallon of water per day, that would require 2,000,000 gallons per day. A more realistic figure would be at least two gallons per day or more. They not only drank the water, but needed it for personal hygiene and other purposes as well. Let's assume that they required a very conservative 4,000,000 gallons per day. The average large water tank that you see rising above the trees in the cities of America today contains about 150,000 to 250,000 gallons. Let's just say 200,000 to make the math easy. They would drain 20 of those large tanks per day to survive.   Put another way, if we assume that a railroad tank car holds about 20,000 gallons, it would take 200 of them each day. That would be a train approximately 1.5 miles long consumed each day.

Today the area where they wandered for 40 years is an arid area, very short on water. Perhaps it was a wetter area 3,500 years ago. Its possible. In Lot's day the area where the Dead Sea is today was a lush plain according to Genesis 13:10. Regardless, our Father provided them with enough water even if there were some problems on occasion. Hey, the wilderness was not exactly paradise, was it?

Area of encampment. Assuming four persons per family, and assuming that they had tents to dwell in, a camping area of 500 square feet would not be too large for each family. If they camped together with no spaces in between, it would take nine square miles, or 5,760 acres for their tents. But, obviously it would not be possible for them to camp like that, so let's double it to 18 square miles, or 11,520 acres. We have to do that to account for the hygiene facilities that they would need, the area for the tabernacle, the Levites, and for their livestock. Also, if there was indeed a contingent of a mixed multitide that went with them, they had to have somewhere to camp. There also had to be a defensive perimeter set up at every encampment. Even occupying 18 - 20 square miles, they would be crowded.

A city of 2,000,000 today in the United States could be as much as 400 square miles or more, and be crowded to our way of thinking. So each campsite had to provide enough room, and enough sustenance to provide for a crowd as large as a major city. An incredible thing considering that they moved often.

Consider these things.

Think about it, if your mind isn't too boggled already. Some have thought about these things and decided that they could not happen. That 2,000,000 could not have left Egypt and survived, and that there was no exodus at all. They say it is all a fabrication. They have some basis for their argument, but God's hand is not shortened that He cannot save. Their big mistake is limiting God to being no more capable than man. Always remember that God is very natural, and that He works in supernatural ways through nature. He sustained Israel in those days, that much is evident if you believe the Bible.

What do you think? Bring these things up and discuss them, especially in Sunday School. Let them see the extraordinary way that God can provide for those who love and obey Him. In so doing you can increase everyone's faith.

God bless with understanding of His word.

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