•  It is surprising, though not impossible, for the 70 immigrants of Jacob into Egypt to multiply up to 2.5 million in a mere 215 years. (Ex 1:5)

•  Current estimates of the time period conclude a world population of about 40 million, and a total population in Egypt of roughly 3 to 5 million. That does not seem to match an Exodus of 2.5 million, more than half the total in Egypt.

•  The land of Goshen, while large, does not seem large enough to support a population of 2.5 million. Remember, it is mostly pasture and marshland.

•  If they really had 600,000 fighting men, why were the spies so scared of the Canaanites? (Num 13)

•  Moses told the Israelites,  “When Jehovah your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you…” (Deut 7:1) The Hittites, Amorites, and Canaanites were indeed large and powerful nations. But the other four listed were rather small, with territories as small as 1000 acres. For them to have populations greater than 2.5 million would require a population density two or three times that of modern Israel.

•  Archaeology seems to indicate that the walls of Jericho surrounded less than 10 acres. God told Joshua to have “all the men of war” march around the city. If it had been much larger than that, they could not have encircled it seven times in one day. Yet 600,000 men circling 10 acres would form a continuous dense crowd out to nearly a half-mile from the city.

•  Numerous times Moses, Aaron, or Joshua spoke to the entire congregation. (Examples Ex 16:10. 35:1, Lev 19:2, Num 20:10; Deut 31-32; Josh 8:35) Without amplification, that would be quite a feat if the congregation numbered 2.5 million.

•  Just before his death, Moses told the assembled congregation that, “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.” (Deut 7:7)

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