Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 1-2.

This passage is one of the reasons which leads secular historians to dismiss the Exodus account as untrue.  They are convinced that the Sinai Peninsula could not support this many people.  In my opinion they are making two mistakes in dismissing the Exodus account on this basis.  The first mistake is that they are assuming that the Sinai Peninsula was no more capable of supporting human life several thousand years ago than it is today.  It would not be at all surprising if a marginally more fertile Sinai Peninsula had been turned into the hostile wilderness it is today by the passage through it of a large group of nomadic people with their flocks and herds.  The second mistake they are making is that they are dismissing God’s ability to provide sustenance to His people in a miraculous manner.   Some variation on the preceding thoughts goes through my head every year when I read this.  However, today I was struck by the fact, a fact I must have seen before, but never noticed, that not only did Moses conduct a census wherein he counted all of the Israelites older than 20 years old, but he also recorded their names and genealogies.  We give little thought to what a daunting accomplishment such an endeavor would be.  Of course the fact that they registered them by clans and families would have allowed for verification that each person they registered was who they said that they were, since the other members of their clan and family would know whether or not they belonged.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.