Numbers

In summary, the troops of Israel listed by their families totaled 603,550. But as the LORD had commanded, the Levites were not included in this registration. So the people of Israel did everything as the LORD had commanded Moses. Each clan and family set up camp and marched under their banners exactly as the LORD had instructed them. [Numbers 2.32-34]

603,550 accounts only for "troops" (men ages 20 and up).

In a culture very focused on family, it would seem most likely that each of these men had a wife. So, the number of adult Israelites could have been at least twice the number of men, so, 1,207,100. Wow, that's a lot of people!

As stated above, Israel was very much a family-oriented people, so it is no stretch of my imagination to believe that each family had a least four children (probably more, but most families were known to have at least two male children, so it safe to conclude there could easily have been two females as well). So, if that is so, then 603,550 families would sum up to 3,621,300 humans (1,207,100 adults plus 2,414,200 children).

Oh, but then there were the Levites. There were 22,000 males one month old or older. Could we assume 2/3 of them were old enough to be married? 14,667 women could potentially be added to this number. And then there would be other children besides the firstborn males...

But here is an interesting fact, there were only 22,273 firstborn males in all the tribes of Israel beside the Levites. And this number included males one month old and older. If there were 603,550 adult males, there would have been a whole lot of "little brothers" in that bunch! What this indicates (and I have no idea how to do the math on it) is that families had to be very large, otherwise, the number of firstborn males would have been significantly higher. So with further consideration, the number of children with Israel in the wilderness could have been astronomical!

But, obviously of the 603.550 adult males, there is no way they could have all had families based on conclusions here. If they did, the number of firstborn males one month old and older would have been in the hundreds of thousands and not just 22,273. And so, if they did not have children, it would most likely have been because they were not married. If they were not married, then the number of total humans could have been way less than my assumptions here.

Bottom line: I have no idea how many humans were in the wilderness with Moses. Not today anyway.

Father, I know all the numbers matter to You. I furthermore believe the number have significance to me. Help me to understand more of what these numbers all mean.