Exodus 12:37
in Exodus 12The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth with about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, besides children.
KJV
And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.
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This verse in Exodus 12
Commentary
9 notes on this verseAnd the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth,.... Rameses was a place in Goshen, or rather the land of Goshen, from whence the country was so called; See Gill on Gen 47:11. The Targum of Jonathan takes it to be Pelusium, or Sin, now called Tinah, formerly the strength of Egypt, and which lay at the entrance of it, and says it was one hundred and thirty miles to Succoth; and Jarchi says one hundred and twenty.
This site's exposition
from Rameses to Succoth
on Exodus 12:37-38
Six hundred thousand men on foot beside children is the figure the text gives, and the size of the total it implies has been argued over for centuries without agreement. A mixed multitude goes up with them, named here without comment, and Numbers 11:4 will say the trouble began among them. What leaves Egypt is larger and less uniform than the family that came down in Genesis 46.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Joseph came into Egypt alone, and soon thereafter six hundred thousand depart from Egypt. What is more marvelous than this? What greater proof of the generosity of God, when from persons without means he wills to supply the means for public affairs?
From their single ancestor, in not much more than four hundred years, the Hebrew people became so numerous that at the time of the exodus from Egypt there were, we are told, six hundred thousand men of military age. This number does not include the Idumeans, who were not reckoned with the people of Israel, although they were descended from Israel's brother Esau, who was a grandson of Abraham. Nor does it include those other descendants of Abraham who were not of the line of his wife Sarah.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
About six hundred thousand men - The word means strong and able men fit for wars, beside women and children, which we cannot suppose to make less than twelve hundred thousand more. What a vast increase was this to arise from seventy souls, in little more than two hundred years.
What a vast increase was this, to arise from seventy souls in little more than 200 years' time! See the power and efficacy of that blessing, when God commands it, Be fruitful and multiply. This was typical of the multitudes that were brought into the gospel church when it was first founded; so mightily grew the word of God, and prevailed.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Rameses - See Exo 1:11 note. Rameses was evidently the place of general rendezvous, well adapted for that purpose as the principal city of Goshen. The Israelites were probably settled in considerable numbers in and about it. Pharaoh with his army and court were at that time near the frontier, and Rameses, where a large garrison was kept, was probably the place where the last interview with Moses occurred. The first part of the journey appears to have followed the course of the ancient canal.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
In journeying from Rameses to Palestine, there was a choice of two routes--the one along the shores of the Mediterranean to El-Arish, the other more circuitous round the head of the Red Sea and the desert of Sinai. The latter Moses was directed to take (Ex 13:17). to Succoth--that is, booths, probably nothing more than a place of temporary encampment.
From Rameses to Succoth - Rameses appears to have been another name for Goshen, though it is probable that there might have been a chief city or village in that land, where the children of Israel rendezvoused previously to their departure, called Rameses. As the term Succoth signifies booths or tents, it is probable that this place was so named from its being the place of the first encampment of the Israelites. Six hundred thousand - That is, There was this number of effective men, twenty years old and upwards, who were able to go out to war. But this was not the whole number, and therefore the sacred writer says they were about 600,000; for when the numbers were taken about thirteen months after this they were found to be six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty, without reckoning those under twenty years of age, or any of the tribe of Levi; see Num 1:45, Num 1:46. But besides those on foot, or footmen, there were no doubt many old and comparatively infirm persons, who rode on camels, horses, or asses, besides the immense number of women and children, which must have been at least three to one of the others; and the mixed multitude, Exo 12:38, probably of refugees in Egypt, who came to sojourn there, because of the dearth which had obliged them to emigrate from their own countries; and who now, seeing that the hand of Jehovah was against the Egyptians and with the Israelites, availed themselves of the general consternation, and took their leave of Egypt, choosing Israel’s God for their portion, and his people for their companions. […]
How the passage was read
On Exodus 12:1-51On Exodus 12:1-51
The night Israel still keeps
This chapter founds Passover, in Hebrew Pesach, the spring feast that remembers the night God struck Egypt's firstborn and passed over the blood-marked houses. Jewish families keep it to this day with a ceremonial meal called the seder (Hebrew for “order”): unleavened flatbread (matzah), bitter herbs, cups of wine, and the retelling of this chapter's story, with the children asking the questions.
Honesty about the timeline helps the reader: in the Bible's own period the center of the feast was the lamb, slain and eaten as this chapter commands. The seder as now practiced took its shape after the Temple fell in AD 70 and the lamb could no longer be offered; its oldest written outline is in the Mishnah, the first code of Jewish oral law (about AD 200), which already includes the four cups and the rule that “in every generation a person must see himself as if he personally came out of Egypt.”
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Pesachim 10 (the seder's oldest outline) · Mishnah Pesachim 10:5 (“in every generation”) · The Feasts of the LORD (this site's study)
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּסְע֧וּ | vaiyisu | and they set out | H5265 → | 146 times |
| בְנֵֽי־ | venei- | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| מֵרַעְמְסֵ֖ס | mera'meses | from Rameses | H7486 → | |
| סֻכֹּ֑תָה | sukotah | Succoth towards | H5523 → | |
| כְּשֵׁשׁ־ | keshesh- | [were] about six | H8337 → | 216 times |
| מֵא֨וֹת | meot | hundred<s> | H3967 → | 581 times |
| אֶ֧לֶף | ʾelef | thousand | H505 → | 505 times |
| רַגְלִ֛י | ragli | foot soldier[s] | H7273 → | |
| הַגְּבָרִ֖ים | hagevarim | the men | H1397 → | |
| לְבַ֥ד | levad | <to> apart | H905 → | 200 times |
| מִטָּֽף׃ | mitaf | from little one[s] | H2945 → | 42 times |
וַיִּסְע֧וּand they set out
vaiyisuH5265 →146 times
בְנֵֽי־[the] people of
venei-H1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֛לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
מֵרַעְמְסֵ֖סfrom Rameses
mera'mesesH7486 →
סֻכֹּ֑תָהSuccoth towards
sukotahH5523 →
כְּשֵׁשׁ־[were] about six
keshesh-H8337 →216 times
מֵא֨וֹתhundred<s>
meotH3967 →581 times
אֶ֧לֶףthousand
ʾelefH505 →505 times
רַגְלִ֛יfoot soldier[s]
ragliH7273 →
הַגְּבָרִ֖יםthe men
hagevarimH1397 →
לְבַ֥ד<to> apart
levadH905 →200 times
מִטָּֽף׃from little one[s]
mitafH2945 →42 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 38:26a beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years of age or older who had crossed over to be numbered, a total of 603,550 men.
it leads to
- Numbers 1:46
And all those counted totaled 603,550.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 30:13
Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.
- Numbers 1:46
Through
Numbers 1:46And all those counted totaled 603,550.
it leads to
- Exodus 38:26
a beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years of age or older who had crossed over to be numbered, a total of 603,550 men.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 2:32
These are the Israelites, numbered according to their families. The total of those counted in the camps, by their divisions, was 603,550.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 26:51
These men of Israel numbered 601,730 in all.
- Exodus 38:26
Through
Numbers 33:3On the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after the Passover, the Israelites set out from Rameses. They marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians,
it leads to
- Exodus 14:8
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out defiantly.
- Exodus 13:4
Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving.
- Exodus 14:8
Through
Numbers 11:21But Moses replied, “Here I am among 600,000 men on foot, yet You say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.’
it leads to
- Genesis 12:2
I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
- Genesis 12:2
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, City of God 15.8; Gregory of Nazianzus, ORATION 42.5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.