How Many Jews Really Left Egypt?

Archeologists suggest that the population of both kingdoms of Israel could not have been much more than 1 million. At the battle of Kadesh, the largest battle in approximately the same time period, Egypt fielded an army of roughly 35,000 and were fighting a Hittite force of 27,500.

Hertz Chumash:

"What is meant is the number of first-born males under twenty years of age at the time of the census. The law did not have retrospective force, so as to include all first-born sons throughout the nation who themselves were fathers or grandfathers at the time"

Each “ אֶ֖לֶף”, according to Petrie, yields an average of 9 fighting men, for a total invasion force of 108 fighting men in Year 1, and only slightly more in Year 40, when they invade Midian.

Ani Maamin, Joshua Berman

The sums indicated for each tribe are a reflection of status. It is not a coincidence that we have in the book of Numbers positive stories about the tribe of Menashe (such as the daughters of Tzlofhad [Numbers 21] and the exploits of Yair ben Menashe [Numbers 32]) and negative stories about the tribe of Shimon (Zimri, Numbers 25). Due to those events, it may be that Menashe receive a “raise” in numbers, and Shimon a “penalty.” Whatis fascinating here is that the relative sizes of the tribes in the final census of chapter 26 neatly mirror the relative standing of each tribe within the blessings of Jacob to the brothers in Genesis 49. There, the two most celebrated tribes are Judah and Joseph. The least “blessed” tribes are Reuven, Shimon, and Levi, who are subject to censure from Jacob. The other tribes receive brief blessings. In Numbers 26, Judah and Joseph (ie. Menashe and Ephraim) have much larger populations than any other tribe, both in excess of 75,000. At the bottom of the list are Shimon (22,200) and Levi (23,000), with all the other tribes tallying between 45,000 and 64,000. The clincher is this: Reuven (43,980, prior to the Korah rebellion) is nearly twice the size of the smallest tribe (Shimon). That is, Reuven, as a censured firstborn, receives the smallest possible double portion of blessing, at twice the size of the smallest tribe, Shimon. Seen through this prism, the “census” numbers are manipulated by the text of the Torah as a way of encoding status to the tribes in accordance with Jacob's blessings, just as the census of Genesis 46 was manipulated to ascribe status to the matriarchs Leah and Rachel.

A Mathematical Conundrum, Eryl W. Davies

The most ingenious attempt to explain the large numbers of Israelites was undoubtedly that offered by H. Holzinger, who interpreted the figures by means of the principle of gematria, a system by which each letter of the Hebrew alphabet was given a specific numerical value." The first ten letters of the alphabet represented the numbers one to ten, the next ten letters represented the number of tens, and the remaining letters the number of hundreds. On the basis of this system, Holzinger calculated that the numerical value of the letters in the Hebrew phrase bene-yisrael (Num. i 2), when added together (viz., 2 + 50 + 10 + 10 + 300 + 200+1+30) yields the sum of 603, which represents the total, in thousands, of those counted in the first census (603,550; cf. Num. i 46). With regard to the remaining 550, Holzinger suggested two possibilities: (i) the letters in the clause kol-zdkar lekol-yose) sdbda (cf. Num. i 2, 45) yield a numerical value of 551, which can be reduced to the requisite 550 if Moses is discounted; (ii) the Samaritan text suggests reading ("company by company") in Num. i 45 which yields the sum of 563, or 550 if Moses and his twelve assistants are discounted. The sum total of 601,730 in the second census (Num. xxvi 51) is derived, on the same principle, from the phrases kol-rdasim (= 601; i.e., 20 + 30 + 200+1 + 300 + 10+40) and wekol-peqdde Cadat (= 730; i.e., 6+20 + 30 + 80+ 100+6+4+ 10+70+4+400)

Judaic Seminar, Parshat Bamidbar Part II- ttp://judaicseminar.org/bible/bemidbar2.pdf

“Consistent with his understanding of number symbolism in the Torah, Rabbi Sassoon considered it significant that the total of the twelve tribes plus the Levites (never explicitly stated in the text) is 612,130 (603,550 + 8,580). While rejecting nearly all cases of gematriot… his research demonstrated that such number symbolism was a genuine element in some scriptural writings. Here, he considered 612 to be intended as the gematria of ברְּיתִ (covenant), while 130 is the decimal multiple (10 x 13) of the gematria of אחד (one.) This depicts an ideal state of the nation united in its covenant with the one G-d (see Natan Hochmah Lishlomo, Heb. p. 55).” -

A Mathematical Conundrum, Eryl W. Davies

A different approach to the high numbers contained in the two census lists of Num. i and xxvi has been advocated by M. Barnouin,who argued that some striking affinities exist between the census figures recorded in these two chapters and various calcula- tions found in Babylonian astronomical texts. According to this theory, the census figures, when divided by 100, can be related to specific planetary periods calculated by the Babylonian astrologers. The clearest example of such a correlation is found in the case of the Benjaminites, whose total in the first census comprised 35,400, i.e. 100 times a short lunar year (354 days). Other cases are more complicated, and involve adding together, or subtracting, various numbers in the census lists. For example, the number given for Ephraim in the first census (40,500 + 100 = 405) added to the number given to this tribe in the second census (32,500 + 100 = 325) gives a total of 730, which is exactly twice the length of the solar year (365 days).